Written Torah

According to Genesis 38, Judah begat Er, Onan, and Shelah, and Er and Onan grew up old enough to marry Tamar before they died. Then Judah had two sons by Tamar, Perez, and Zerah, the former who grew up old enough to beget Hezron and Hamul, whom he entered Egypt with after Jacob. But what's the problem? There isn't enough time for all that! According to Genesis 38:1, Judah moved near Hirah the Adullamite "at that time." What time? Well, the previous chapter tells us. According to Genesis 37, Joseph was seventeen, and the Medanites had sold him to an Egyptian named Potiphar. So that's the front-end. What about the backend? Joseph's brothers arrived in Canaan in the second year of the seven years of famine, according to Genesis 45:6, 28. And we know that Joseph was 39 at that time because of Genesis 41:46, which states that Joseph was 30 when he entered the service of the Pharoah. Joseph lived throughout the 7 years of plenty and 2 years into the years of famine, making him 39. Between Joseph's 17th and 39th years of life are 22 years, which is thus our window for the events of Genesis 38. The youngest possible age that a male can discharge is 11 years old. Let's say Er was born in Joseph's 17th year and married Tamar at 11 (Joseph's 28th year) before dying the same year. Then, let's say Onan was born in Joseph's 18th year and that he married Tamar also at 11 (Joseph's 29th year) before dying the same year. So if Shelah was born in the 19th year, he was only 10—too young. Thus, Tamar seduced Judah, and then Perez and Zerah were born in Joseph's 30th year. This only gives us 9 years for Perez to grow up before he moves to Egypt, so he's too young to have a kid, let alone two. I'm sure Jews for the last 4000 years noticed this and have had an explanation; I just don't know what that explanation is.

Does a scroll have to be the work of a single Sofer, or could two of them work together?

Hey there, why this word רֶמֶשׂ translated as everything that moves in genesis 9:3 versus other times when it is used and clearly different from "all animals, or all moving things" other times it seems to be mostly translated as "creeping things" (whatever those are) and google translate says "insects" Thanks

Shalom aleicheim! From learning about Judaism over the years I know that only descendant of Adam have free will. That means that angels, including Satan/yetzer hara do not have free will and are only capable of acting on the orders of the Creator. However, I have encountered a commentary that seems to suggest the opposite. A note in the Saperstein Edition of the Chumash Rashi Bereshis 3:14 (page 35) states the following: "5. In capital cases, the court is commanded to search for any legal avenue for acquittal. Our verse teaches us that this is not so in the case of one who incites another to commit idolatry. The serpent here was guilty of that sin, for he convinced the woman of the idolatrous idea that she could be "like God." See also Rashi to Deuteronomy 13:9." How can the nohosh be guilty of sin? Doesn't he act on Hashem's behalf? Please help me reconcile this. Thank you so much!

Psalms Chapter 14 has in English the word "fool" however in Hebrew the word is "Nabal" Is this talking about the person found in 1st Book of Samuel Chapter 25?  

Shalom dear Rabbi, my name is Valentin and I’m a noahide, I have a question about the Torah if that’s ok? in Devarim 22:23-24 we read the following: 23 “If a girl who is a virgin is engaged to a man, and another man comes upon her in the town and has sexual relations with her; 24 you are to bring them both out to the gate of the city and stone them to death — the girl because she didn’t cry out for help, there in the city, and the man because he has humiliated his neighbor’s wife. In this way you will put an end to such wickedness among you. my question is this: is that woman a rape victim that hasn’t screamed loud enough, or is it a woman that was having consensual intercourse with someone that was not her fiancé? Because if she was raped but couldn’t scream because she was knocked out, or gagged, how is stoning her justified? thanks in advance for your answer!

There are two verses in 1 Samuel I have wrestled with for a while now. In 1 Samuel 15 (ESV): 10 The word of the Lord came to Samuel: 11 “I regret that I have made Saul king, for he has turned back from following me and has not performed my commandments.” And Samuel was angry, and he cried to the Lord all night. and 35 And Samuel did not see Saul again until the day of his death, but Samuel grieved over Saul. And the Lord regretted that he had made Saul king over Israel. The word regret bothered me. I wondered, if God is omnipotent and omniscient, how is it that He could regret something? It seemed contradictory to the notion of a perfect God. Regret to me is something that you feel when you have made an error, and I feel like God shouldn't be making errors. So I didn't know what do to with these verses. But after meditating on this on and off for over a year: I came to a conclusion, and I wanted to validate whether it is in line with scripture or not. My realization was: perhaps the reason why God can have regret is that something else is more important than Saul's obedience. In God's creation, He created us with free will (although I know there is debate about that). But if I assume that the free will of man is a part of God's (perfect) creation, then can we make sense of God's regret with respect to Saul as an indicator that the free will of man is so important and essential to his creation, and so perfect in His eyes, that He affirms and upholds it, and as a consequence, must suffer disappointment? So rather than force Saul (or any man) to behave a certain way, like a celestial puppet master, He leaves us be, and as a consequence can still be a perfect being, but suffer regret. So now, in my own head, I think of those versus of an affirmation of the importance and perfection of the free will of man. But I would love to know if that conclusion I came to is Biblically sound or not. Thank you!

Shalom aleichem Rabbi Lauffer. Thank you for answering my last question. Rashi explains that Egyptian women were black and ugly. Why then, was it such a nisayon for Yosef to resist the seduction of Potiphar's wife to sleep with him, to the point where his only recourse was to release his zerah by stuffing his fingers into the ground? Why was it such a nisayon to resist such an ugly woman? Do any of the meforshim address this? Thanks.

The text of the 10 commandments differs in parshas Yisro and Eschanan. What are the accepted explanations for the differences. Which text was actually written on the luchos? Is there an opinion that 1 was the text on the 1st luchos and the other on the 2nd luchos?   Another question. I know several people who passed away without children - distant relatives and friends. Is there any inyan for me to light a yarhzeit light for them on their yarhzeit or is it only for the children to do? Many thanks