could you please explain your take on the "Slifkin Affair" including whether u believe its possible that Chazal may have erred and (albeit briefly) the age of the universe?

When I had surgery on my shoulder, I was put under anesthesia.  I remeber the nurse telling me to close my eyes, and then I remember when I awoke.  In between, four two hours, I had dissapperaed.  I was gone.  And it wasnt' an altered state of conciuosness like sleeping and dreaming, it was 100% not here, not aware. completely gone.  If I had never woken up from that deep, dark sleep, I would have died and never realized it.  Like the way a person dies from a lethal injection.  This experience to me is no personal evidence of the existence of an afterlife.  I have read many Torah sources that discuss an afterlife, and can understand an afterlife on an intellectual level.   But the one time I was close to death, my neshama was no where to be found.  Where was my soul?  Where was I?

Why is purple a mystical color?

What makes a kosher pickle kosher? How are they different from unkosher pickles?

I would like to thank you for your insightful answers that I have questioned. You see, I married at 34 and was blessed with 3 terrific boys, one son however was a still birth and i have never gotten over if, through it, but never over. the tikun story helped alot, however, i ache for another child and I have ben praying with kavanah for a while,although i am older, I have faith, thank you for your guidance. I have big problem with regretting the past, ie, I should have moved here sooner, had more children, etc, etc, howver, reading Tehillim in both languages shows me that Hashem is in control, so this is the way it would have turned out anyway instead of beating myself up till i am black and blue. By the way, I went to Yeshiva as do my sons now, my husband was robbed of his religion and tradition, so even though he did not even attend talmud torah, which is minimal in my views, he did agree to bring up our boys in the Young Israel tradition which is what I wanted, so Ii saved 3 souls and my 4th angels soul is in heaven