General Knowledge

Questions:

1. We find in Tanach that a son who was a slave fought against his father — who was this father and son?
2. Does a kos shel bracha need to be lifted higher than the ground or higher than the table?
3. What is the explanation of the saying: “Matan Torah did not occur in the Lower Hemisphere”?
4. What is the difference between the terms “parsha” and “sedra”?
5. What is the meaning of the principle: “Do not seek out an ‘old molad’”?
6. Which king of which country asked that the “Targum of the 70” be written?
7. Why was Rabi Yosef Karo’s commentary on the Tur called “Beis Yosef”?
8. What is the name of the sefer which records the ideas that the malach revealed to Rabi Yosef Karo?
9. Which shevet was called “the knowers of the times”?
10. What did the Rebbe Rashab reply as a child to the question of why there is a period after the word “bechemla — with mercy” in Modeh Ani?

Answers:

1. Eliezer the servant of Avraham. (Who was a son of Nimrod, and then fought him, in the war of the 4 and 5 kings, as “Amrafel” was Nimrod.)
2. If one is sitting at a table, then the cup must be raised higher than the table.
3. Just like in the body of a person — the brain can contain intellect, and from there, it spreads to the rest of the body: Similarly, Eretz Yisroel and the Upper Hemisphere can better contain and absorb the idea of Matan Torah, than the Lower Hemisphere.
4. “Sedra” means Bereishis, Noach, etc. “Parsha” can be a part of a sedra, and it denotes a separate topic.
5. If the molad of Tishrei is after 18 hours of the day — after chatzos or later, then Rosh Hashanah is set to be on the following day.
6. Talmai, the King of Egypt.
7. Similar to the House of Yosef in Mitzrayim, when he gathered grain and gave it to everyone to eat. This is also the idea of this sefer, with regard to explaining the sources and background for the halachos, etc.
8. Maggid Meisharim.
9. Yisachar.
10. There is a dot before the word “raba emunasecha — great is your trustworthiness,” and this is because these words denote the “pinteleyid — the essential point in a Jew,” upon which all other aspects of the Jew stand; and the goal is that this “essential point” should spread out into all other areas.