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status-completed: Days of Awe - Mi Yodeya?
I suggest a High Holidays book, perhaps billed as a "machzor companion," featuring:
Q&As related to particular parts of the Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur machzors.
Q&As related to Halacha and How-tos of Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur.
Q&As related to ideas about Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur in general, and ...
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Parsha Q&A, in five volumes. (Not necessarily contiguous; we might do one, then do something else, then come back and do another, and so on.)
This answer proposes writing new material (and divrei torah?) about the parsha. My suggestion is, instead, parsha-based Q&A drawn from our questions and answers.
This idea calls for some SEDE-assisted (or ...
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"Experience-based advice for focusing and slowing down prayers?" shows Mi Yodeya's ability to gather and curate practical advice based on personal experience, from all different kinds of people. In addition, I know from experience and conversation that participating in this Q&A has inspired individuals to deliver actually improved tefilot.
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I suggest creating a publication on Bein Hametzarim-Three Weeks-Nine Days.
The publication should include the halachos, minhagim and hashkafos of this time period.
I think it will benefit and enhance the Three Weeks for a lot of people.
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So far, all the suggestions seem to focus on holidays. I'm unsure if you're limiting the ideas to this category.
If not, I'd like to see a general "shul guide". My shul published, recently, a small booklet that explains the shul setup (physical structure such as what the Aron, Bimah, menorot and other furnishings are for), and general procedure / decorum (...
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I help run an 11th grade minyan and I sorely need a selection of Q's and A' related to practical aspects of tefilla (though I actually also need stuff on the spiritual side, but I think it would be tougher to find material for it). I have helped assemble a mini library of "readings" for students, but something cohesive and organized would be a boon.
If a "...
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Thanks very much for all of your participation and for all of these great insights!
Promotion
We have tried various measures to spread the word about MY in likely communities. Most of these can be found under site-promotion. I believe that these initiatives to date have tended to succeed in bringing in a few users each, including power users, but that none ...
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Yeyasher Kochacha!
I don't think we've ever produced a "guest post" on someone else's blog, but people, including active Yodeyans have certainly blogged about Mi Yodeya material before. Perhaps some of those posts could serve as partial examples.
One place to find rhetoric that could be used in an Intro is the Intro sections of our publications.
For ideas ...
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Not to preclude any other ideas (and perhaps to complement them somehow), there will be an in-person celebration on Shabbat Parashat Vayeishev (Dec. 12-13) in Silver Spring, MD. By default, it will be one Shabbat meal for Yodeyans who happen to live in the area (and their families). If people are interested in coming in from out of town, we can put together ...
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How about making us some more swag?
(Yes, i noticed this in Bam.)
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When it's in-season, our Purim Torah provides a great deal of fun for askers, answerers, and readers. In addition, Purim Torah questions are a stimulating exercise in source-finding and creativity for answerers and expose readers to sources from all different aspects of Judaism - Scripture, Talmud, Halacha, language, etc.
If you'll excuse the departure from ...
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Implementation notes:
This is, as the question requests, a model guest post. It could potentially fit on many different blogs frequented by people who are well-versed in Judaism. The format used here can be applied to other Q&As, too.
I chose the question for its seasonality at the moment (Adar I). It's not a slam-dunk fit for Rationalist Judaism's ...
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One of the less-appreciated treasures in Mi Yodeya's repository is the collection of intriguing, unanswered questions. Someone might notice a promising connection, as Menachem did in "How are the two tales of dancing in vinyards on the 15th of Av related?," and ask for sources explaining its significance. Even if no one who looks at the question initially ...
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What is the halachic source for objection to gay (civil) marriage?
This question is quite possibly our best example of how we handle sensitive topics. Due to a combination of active use of moderation tools and our general culture of handling questions seriously, this question received multiple high-quality answers that provided on-point sources and ...
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What exactly happened on the 25th of Kislev?
The question is so simple that it could occur to anyone who has even heard of the holiday at all, but there are nonetheless various interesting answers.
This could be split up so that the more basic answers, sam's and LazerA's go on the Wide side, and the more involved answer, DoubleAA's goes on the Advanced ...
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Present these two questions together, perhaps under a title like "Due respect for your menora":
Can one throw out a Menorah?
Cleaning chanukia in a bathroom?
The questions could be enhanced if we could get permission to republish photos of odd-material menoras, such as the ones linked by HodofHod in the first question.
It should be possible to present ...
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I suggest a Sukkot book, featuring:
How-tos, since Sukkot observance includes many practical considerations, and because we've covered many of them usefully.
Halacha questions related to all aspects of Sukkot and Shemini Atzeret.
Agada questions related to things like the meaning of Sukkot and Shemini Atzeret and their observances, understanding the Torah ...
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Another idea for Sukkot, which could be a stand-alone project or part of a larger Sukkot book: Ushpizin pages.
Similar to our eight-sheet (16-page) Chanuka booklet, we could make a seven-sheet Ushpizin booklet. Each sheet would contain one or two Q&A about one of the Ushpizin. We have plenty of material to choose from in the tags avot-patriarch-fathers, ...
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Wide audiences:
Third blessing on the second night of Channukah
Anyone who uses a standard listing of the blessings will notice that one is only said on the first night, so most Chanuka-observers are likely to understand this question, and many may have thought of it themselves. The sole answer is well-sourced and uncovers interesting related laws. Some ...
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I like the octapartite idea (and the word :-) ). Maybe we could provide a bit of learning at candle-lighting each night -- something to share with the family either before lighting or after the lighting and singing. Doing this might call for more "bite-sized" portions than the other projects, but this could take the form of a short Q&A "above the fold" ...
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9 Days of Chanukah?
Why are there eight days of Chanukah if there were only seven miracles?
Both questions ask about why there are 8 days of Chanukah.
I'm not sure which one is simpler. They might both be advanced. Answers are also long.
Why aren't Purim and Channuka considered a violation of לֹא תֹסִפוּ? (thanks @IssacMoses!)
Both are about why ...
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"m'nora" on Chanuka
What do we call this thing anyway, and how long has it been that way?
I don't have a companion more-advanced question to propose (anybody, feel free to add one). One of the answers hints at the question of how long we've had specialized candelabra for Chanukah, versus other ways of producing the requisite number of ...
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How-to questions
Sukkah construction:
How do I do the car-door-sukkah trick?
What green plants can I use for s'chach?
Plans for building a sukkah shlock
Plans for an all-wood sukkah (maybe, if it gets more answers or a report of successful use)
How can i prevent schach from flying off in the wind?
How to select the spot for my Sukkah
Sukkah use:
...
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"One of my favorite questions" is "Height of a mezuzah and children:." It's a great example of the value of multiple perspectives in one place. The question is a simple halachic one, and its top-voted answer provides a clear-cut answer from an on-point source. Two additional answers provide stories of rabbis, one from the Litvak tradition and the other from ...
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I think something like Is it acceptable under kashrut to eat tyrannosauridae meat? shows our sense of fun. The question seems silly on the surface, but got several answers and community participation, while still keeping the spirit of the thing.
I particularly like Isaac's comment there, currently with 11 score:
Earwin, welcome to Jewrassic Park(1), and ...
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Woman with 2 wombs in regards to pidyon haben
This is my favorite question on the site. It is a great example of an intriguing question, which I would never have even known of the circumstances which the question is predicated on if not for seeing it here, plus it has a direct answer! How crazy is that!
So the question itself broadens the horizons of the ...
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status-completed: “Hagada - Mi Yodeya?” Second Edition - Expanded and Improved!
I think it would be great to update and extend Hagada - Mi Yodeya? to the point that it has sufficient quantity and quality that we could try to get it published with Hagada text as a complete Hagada book.
Ways we can update and extend it:
Add more Q&A that didn't make it ...
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Please link to (and categorize) candidate questions here. Feel free to include notes (e.g. to identify particular answers). If you think something should change in the question or answers, edit it there please so that the site, and not just the book, benefits from that improvement.
If a question plausibly fits into a section of the machzor, please include ...
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We Jews don't live in a vacuum; we also live in a world full of people who don't understand our laws and customs, people we interact with on a regular basis. This can be especially challenging for somebody who wasn't always observant but wants to become more observant now -- how do you do that, practically speaking? It's one thing to know the halacha; it's ...
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Chanukiyah height restriction and modern architecture?
Could possibly be presented with Making Bracha on Channukah Candles in Jail
Both focus on irregular places for placing candles.
Only top voted, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible