I don't know if DovBear meant this seriously. But I see very few of these as plot holes. Indeed, many of them may be explained within the world of the megillah. They are, in many cases, simply questions. Thus: Why wasn't the first party co-ed? I don't know enough about Persian culture at the time. T...

Devarim 4:6רַק עַ�-חָכָ� וְנָבוֹן, הַגּוֹי הַגָּדוֹל הַזֶּה An interesting post at Matzav.com, which is a miracle story about miracle stories. We all hear miracle stories from time to time, and at the least, a good deal of them are made up. One such example i...

2009 Tetzaveh sources -- links by aliyah and perek to an online Mikraos Gedolos, and links to many meforshim on the parsha and haftara. 2008 Remove me Na -- also for Ki Tisa. How Moshe was removed from a sefer. 2006 Yerushalayim - Pretty as a Nymph? But what does nymph mean, and how does it relate t...

Someone sent me an interesting link to a Masechet HaChamah. I previously saw it linked at Menachem Mendel. An interesting collection of sources relating to the sun. But I think that all this production is making too much out of it, or too much of a ritual out of it. There is a bracha to say at this ...

Don't look for innovation or brilliant insights in this post. And please excuse any rambling. "הִלֵּל �וֹמֵר: �ַל תָּדִין �ֶת חֲבֵרְךָ עַד שֶ�תַּגִּיעַ לִמְקוֹמוֹ." פרקי �בות ב', משנה ה "Do not judge your neighbor until you walk...

Some nice sources on Eldad HaDani. A telling over of his story in a Gaon's correspondence, and a summary of some of the halachot found in Sefer Amar Yehoshua. (here, here, here) An article on CNN about how we are programmed to marry our parents. Not convincing to me. But I encountered this article s...

I touched on the modern kvetch on it in the previous post, how some are interpreting one sentence from this cryptic work to mean that an earthquake will destroy the Statue of Liberty (the idol of Rhodes) in preparation for mashiach's arrival. Here, a little bit of the history of authorship and backg...

I am holding myself back here, so that I do not call people a bunch of names they justly deserve. But I take great offense at the amateur, know-nothing kabbalistic wannabes who hope for the destruction of my country, which is truly a great country. Yes, that includes those who say that America is Ro...

8a {Bava Kamma 19a} בעי ר' �ב� בר ממל מר' �מי ו�מרי לה מרבי חיי� בר �ב� היתה מהלכת במקו� ש�י �פשר לה ��"כ מנתזת ובעטה והתיזה והזיקה מהוכיון ד�י �פשר לה �ורחה הו� �ו דלמ� השת� מיה...

The idea makes me uncomfortable. It is not our religion, and there is a danger of familiarity as we interpret another religion's scriptures. But there were two posts on this subject recently on different blogs, and rather than simply putting it into a blog roundup, I thought it might be nice to deal...