Best answer contest: Third quarter of 5778

Question

Have you seen (or written) a recent answer on Mi Yodeya that you thought was really great? Let's have a contest to help you tell everyone about it!

This contest had two phases: Nomination and Voting. It is now over.

1. Nomination - ending June 20, 2018

   Post an answer to this Meta post containing a link to the Mi Yodeya answer you want to nominate. Answers created in Nisan- Sivan, 5778 (from March 17, 2018 through June 13, 2018) are eligible.

   Please link to one answer in each entry. Nominate as many answers as you like in separate answers to this post.

   When you see a great answer, don't wait; post a link to it here before you forget!

   Please do not vote on any answers to this post during the Nomination phase.

2. Voting - June 20 - 27, 2018

   On June 20, this post was edited to indicate that the Voting phase has begun, and the featured tag was added.

   During this phase, everyone is invited to vote on the answers to this post however you see fit. Upvote (or downvote, I guess) as many as you like.

The answer linked in the highest voted answer to this meta post will receive a bounty of 300 points after completion of the event on June 27, 2018. In case of a tie, the distinction will be shared, and the prize will be split.

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^{Concept and words borrowed from Movies.SE.}

Answer 1

I'd like to nominate רבות מחשבות's answer to the question Source and etymology of כפירה kefirah 'heresy'. His answer is very concise and well sourced, getting straight to the point and answering the exact question of the OP.

Answer 2

I was originally skeptical of self-nominations but the community seems to deal kindly with them. So allow me to nominate my answer to Above ground burial which took quite some research to answer a question I asked myself many times.

That particular question was bumped up to the homepage the same day that I drove alongside such a cemetery pushing me to try and answer it.

Answer 3

mbloch's answer to Can 'cruelty to animals' render an animal not kosher? picked up a nearly-year-old complex, unanswered question and gave it a very well-researched and well-written answer, including helpful citations of contemporary responsa and literature. The question touched on halacha, ethics, economics, and industry practices, and the answer addressed all of these.

Answer 4

With the usual hesitation about self-promotion, I'd like to nominate my answer to If pirates demand you turn someone over, why can't you choose the person already subject to the death penalty?. It seems logical that if turning over somebody who's facing a death penalty anyway can save a group then you should do it -- but that's not the halacha. My answer expands the brief description of the talmudic starting point from the question, draws on other sources to explain the problem, and makes an argument from there.

Answer 5

I'd like to nominate my answer to What are some of the more 'controversial' statements that are found in Moreh Nevuchim (Rambam)?

(I'm not quite sure how to nominate the answer in this case because the answer exceeded the character limits of one post and had to be split into two posts. The two posts are here and here, but they are really one long answer.)

The question asked for controversial statements of the Rambam in Moreh Nevuchim, and my answer collected 30 passages from across the entire breadth of the work, with precise quotations, citations, and explanations of what the controversial points were. While one can quibble about whether an individual passage meets the subjective threshold of "controversial", I think this answer is deserving of consideration for its scope alone.

Answer 6

In Joel K's answer to Punishment for Eating Non-Kosher, he responds to a simply-stated question informatively and authoritatively, convincingly citing and quoting relevant sources.

Answer 7

Micha Berger's answer to Who is the Ba'al Nefesh of the Mishnah Berurah? brings together academic quantitative literature with an understanding of the perspective and language of the Beit Yosef along with an analysis of the content of the Mishna Berura to present an apparently-novel, compelling, surprisingly deep take on the use of a particular term in the Mishna Berura.

Answer 8

I was originally skeptical of self-nominations but the community seems to deal kindly with them. So allow me to nominate my answer to May a woman be appointed as CEO of a Jewish company or principal of a Jewish school?.

This answer is part of a series of answers I wrote on what women can or cannot do, e.g., can they be yoetzet halacha, write a megila, touch and read a sefer Torah or write a commentary on a book of Tanakh?

Answer 9

WAF's answer to Why use the fire pans to cover the copper altar and not the gold one? picked up an old question post that had stated a simple, intuitive question and received a simple, intuitive answer, and addressed the question more comprehensively, citing three different commentaries to make its point clearly and interestingly. The way that this answer honors the premise of the question and addresses it directly and compellingly is particularly exemplary.

Answer 10

I'd also like to nominate רבות מחשבות's answer to my question, Hammurabi in the Book of Genesis, because I've never had to click the "mark as accepted" button faster... His answer was very good and exactly what I needed to know.