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Unveiling by myself

Question: Good Morning Rabbi, I am mourning the loss of my beloved mama and I have tentatively scheduled the unveiling within the next two weeks. Am I permitted to conduct the unveiling by myself? Thank you very much for your consideration.   Answer: Hamakom yinachem eschem b’toch shar aveilei T’zion v’Yrushalayim. The generally accepted minhag […]

Brocha on ice-dream with ‘cookie-pieces’

Question: What is the correct brocha to make for ice-cream with small pieces of biscuit/cookie added to give crunch or flavour? Do we apply the rule of ‘kol sheyesh bo m’chameshes haminin mevoroch olov borei minei mezonos’? What if this is eaten at the end of a ‘bread meal’? Please give marei mekomos if possible. […]

Birchas Hamazon on an Airplane

Question: Hi, Is there any part of Birchas Hamazon that one does not say when Bentching on an airplane? Does it make any difference if the airline is Jewish or not? Thanks!   Answer: Hello, When traveling on a plane one would say “הרחמן הוא ישלח לנו ברכה מרובה בהליכתנו ובישיבתנו עד עולם” , and […]

Non-kosher contact

Question: Unfortunately, my step-daughter’s biological father feeds her non-kosher food when they are together. I am often worried that she might track non-kosher residue into our kosher kitchen. I have her wash her hands when she comes home but recently she was in our kitchen talking close to our pots and I’m worried she might […]

Maaser money for non-obligatory tuition

Question: Hi – I know the general rule for maaser money is that it cannot be used to pay for obligations including things like day school tuition for a person’s children. However, can maaser money be used for non-obligatory tuition/education? For example, a person who wants to use maaser money to pay for a semicha […]

Extent of respect to our parents?

Question: Toward what extent according to the Torah do we need to apply respect to our parents? Unfortunately to the common scenario that people live with abusive relationships with their parents, how would a person cope with law of the Torah “respecting your parents” if they show none toward you, i.e, narcissism, physical/verbal abuse, etc. […]

hashem’s name on a Foreign language

Question: Shalom. Are expressions like “Thank the good Lord”, “G-d Almighty” or “Allahu Akbar”, “Subhan Allah”, etc… permissible to be said and/or written down by Jews?   Answer: Hello, Before answering your question, why would a Jew want to use a Muslim term, what they are using for their religion?! It is definitely unbefitting for […]

Shacharis shemone esrei after chatzos

Question: I thought I had enough time to daven Shacharis shemone esrei before chatzos (I’m a woman) but when I finished davening, I realized it was one or two minutes after. Was I oiver an aveirah? Answer: Hello, Understandably you should try to make sure that this doesn’t happen again, however in retrospect, since there […]

chalala? yisrael? bas cohen? what is her status?

Question: A cohen gets a divorcee pregnant and then marries this divorcee. The Pregnancy came before the marriage. What is the status of the daughter born from this? for clarity, the timeline is: Cohen meets divorcee, cohen impregnates divorcee, they get married, then a daughter is born.   Answer:  Hello, An internet site is not […]

Lighting Shabbos Candles and Davening Minchah

Question: A woman lighting Shabbos candles generally davens Minchah before she lights. Let’s say I try to light ten minutes earlier than the zman hadlakas neiros, but I see that I’m running late. Should I daven Mincha and then light candles even if I end up lighting later than I would want to? (Though it […]

calculating maaser on house sale, when buying somewhere else to live

Question: Be”H we shall be selling our house because we need to go to a sheltered housing complex due to medical problems. We shall pay two thirds of what we receive from the sale to the complex to ‘buy’ an apartment but the monthly ‘maintenance’ payments are very high and we shall need to use […]