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Author Archives: Rabbonim of the Beis Hora'a

Using contact lens solution on Shabbos

Question: Can I use contact lens solution on Shabbos and Yom Tov? Answer: According to many poskim, contact lenses should not be soaked in a solution that will clean the lens from proteins etc, that get absorbed inside them, as it may be Mileches Melabein. However they may be soaked before Shabbos in the cleansing […]

Repeating Maariv if I davened too quickely

Question: If one rushed through Maariv on motzoi YK, as is the custom of many, including swallowing words, and after he ate he feels really bad that he did that, may he repeat it as a voluntary prayer? Answer: Technically you can say a prayer as voluntary, however it isn’t recommended since there are a […]

Fasting on Yom Kippur with anxiety and high blood pressure

Question:   I am currently on psych medications for chronic anxiety, depression and high blood pressure with chest pains. What are my fasting options on Yom Kippur. Answer: I am sorry to hear about your medical condition. This is a question that you have to ask your doctor, the one who knows your specific case, […]

King David’s choice of punishment

Question: Why was King David given a choice of punishments in Divrei Hayamim 1 21:9? Do we find anyone else being given such a choice? Answer: The Malbim explains that David was told that he really should get all three punishments, however if he will accept one of them upon himself then he will be […]

Beyond hope for teshuva if I transgressed a Chiuv Kares?

Question: BS”D I’m in a very very dark place. I’m a frum, Gd-fearing person but not long before Yom Kippur I succumbed to the Yetzer Hara and behaved in a way that violated a few very severe transgressions. Immediately following the acts I felt a hollowness within myself at the knowledge that I let Gd […]

Fasting on Yom Kippur may damage my body

Question: I always fast on Yom Kippur, but I’m not sure what to do this year. I’ve recently been diagnosed with stage 2 chronic kidney disease. I’m told that it may have been caused by elevated blood calcium which damages the kidneys. I may have to have surgery to remove the parathyroid gland which regulates […]

Dairy and meaty dishes washed together

Question: Our domestic help washed our meaty and dairy dishes, silverware, glasses etc in the same sink. What do we need to do in terms of kashering etc? Since this happened the items washes have been put away in their respective cabinets and we don’t know exactly which ones were cleaned together Answer: The dishes […]

May a Rav give the reasoning to Yuchsin questions to the questioner?

Question: I was asked by a divorcee today if she can marry a bal teshuva Kohen since she wants to do “הפקעת קידושין” (she claims there was a major bad information withheld from her, before the marriage, him being abusive …) I told her that the Kohen might not be a halachik Kohen in the […]

Washing for dipping vegetables

Question: If you dip celery into a yogurt- or milk-based dip, like a blue cheese dressing, do you have to wash first (without a brocha)? Answer: For those people who are careful to wash before eating davar shetibolu bemashkeh, this would also be considered something to wash on because it is milk based. Additionally even […]

Had in mind to give tzedaka and poor person disappeared

Question: If I see a man going around my shul collecting tzedakah and I have in mind to give him some tzedakah (is there a difference if I think of a certain amount) and then he leaves; do I have to find him to give him the tzedakah because I had in mind to give […]

Writing a Sefer Torah on parchment

Question: Why does a Sefer Torah have to be written as a scroll on parchment? If modern technology has been around at the time, would printed Sifrei Torah have been Kosher? Looking at Rambam. I’m not clear how much of these laws are to do with intrinsic laws of holiness and how much are simply, so […]

Parents Respecting Children

Question: Hi, Are there any sources that discuss a parents obligation to respect their (adult) children? Thank you. Answer: In Shulchan Aruch there is discussion about children respecting and honoring their parents.  There is no specific mitzvah for a parent to honor his child; however we are commanded to respect all people. Parents should not treat […]

Avel going to someone else’s shiva

Question: Is an avel allowed to go during his shiva to be menachem avel someone else sitting shiva? Answer: This question,  may an avel go to another avel to be menachem him, is discussed in Y”D 393-2 the opinion of the Shulchan Aruch and the minhag of the Sefardim is  that it is permitted after […]

Bringing a sefer torah for a minyan

Question: Shalom, we have a minyan in the living room of an apartment on shabbos morning with about 20 people. Last week we discovered a mistake in the Torah during the leining. There is a shul very close by who would allow us to use their sefer torah (they had finished davening already). Is the […]

Beged Ish/Isha questions

Question: We were having a discussion last night about the dinim of Beged Ish/Isha. Are they based or dependant on the manufacturer’s designation (or intent), style or color? For example: 1.  Is it permissible for a Man to wear a Pink (or color variation thereof) man’s dress shirt, even though pink is traditionally a female […]

Duchaning during the Mourning Year

Question: Is it permissible to duchan during a mourning year – after Sh’loshim – after a parent has died? Answer: There are different minhagim regarding a cohen duchining during the aveilus year. In Eretz Yisroel where the cohanim duchin evey day, the cohanim duchin even during the shloshim. However in Chutz La’aretz the Ashkenazi minhag […]

Vinegar on Rosh Hashana

Question: Can you please tell me if salads which use vinegar (along with sugar and/or mayonnaise), like coleslaw or hearts of palm & avocado, is OK for Rosh Hashana? The salad doesn’t seem to be bitter or sharpness particularly, although vinegar is one of the main ingredients. Thank you! Answer:   There are different minhagim […]

Bracha on fruits on Rosh Hashana

Question: Can you please tell me if one should say “hoetz” on a fruit eaten near the beginning of the meal on Rosh Hashana, after already having made hamotzi? Should one say “haodama” on beets used as simanim eaten after the fruit? Thank you! Answer: One should say Haetz, on the fruit eaten, because fruits […]

Guidlines for Hataras Nedarim

Question: I am spending R”H and Y”K in a small out-of-town community in America that does have a Rabbi but he is more of the “ceremonial” type, not a posek. I know that I need to do hataras nedarim before R”H but I was wondering if you could give me a very concise guide as […]

Saying Tachanun when davening selichos after shacharis on Erev Rosh Hashana

Question: If Selichos are said after Shachris on Erev Rosh HaShannah, is Tachanun/Nefilat Apayim said? Thank You. Answer: Although we do say tachanun when saying selichos even if it already daytime, however in this case since he already davened shacharis and he didn’t say tachanun there, so he doesn’t say it in selichos either.

May I bring mail to the post office on Erev Shabbos

Question: Is it allowed to bring a letter (addressed to a Non-Jew) on Friday to a post office (the post’s emoloyees are not Jewish), so it would be probably transported/delivered on Shabbat? Answer: It is permitted because the gentile is not doing the work for you specifically, rather because he was hired by the government […]

What do I do if I am bothered by a bad dream

Question: What should one do if they had a bad dream a couple of weeks ago and still can’t forget about it? Answer: Most dreams come from things that we have thought about or experienced in the recent past, (even up to 40 days). Even when a dream is from shomayim , one of the […]

How was Moses born from someone who married his Aunt

Question: How did GOD chose his great prophet MOSES from the wrong and shamefully odd way? I mean ((the way of marriage of man and his aunt??)) Can any man ever feel his aunt as the chosen future wife?!!! Answer: If our society we might look at it in a shameful way, however throughout history, the royal […]

Removing Curlers from a Shaitel on Shabbos

Question: CAN ONE REMOVE ROLLERS WHICH WERE PUT IN BEFORE SHABBOS FROM A SHAITEL ON SHABBOS Answer: Your question is an excellent one. According to a number of poskim that I have spoken to, rollers in a shaitel are considered mixed together with the hair, since they are surrounded by the hair. Therefore removing them […]

Kippahs, Star of David and Idol Worship

Question: Why do we wear Kippah to segregate ourselves from the world? Or symbols like the Star of David which was branded on my family as they died. Idolatry is the central obstruction to Hashem. So …to an idol worshiper these are symbols are used to promote a further misunderstanding which leads to a division […]

passover significance

Question: From what I have read, to Jewish people, the Passover is a remembrance of the time when the 10 plagues were unleashed upon Egypt and if the Jews killed a lamb and spread the blood on their doors, the destroying angel would pass and their firstborn would be spared. What, though, is the symbolism […]

Is it permitted to put seforim on chairs?

Question: Is one allowed to put a sefer on a chair in a flat or upright position? Also, is one allowed to put a sefer on an ottoman when one’s foot are not on it? Answer: We are allowed to put a sefer on a chair that we are not sitting on flat or upright, […]

follow-up question regarding walking in front of a person davening

Question: If it happened that I am in front of the person davening a long S”E and the only way to step back is into his 4 amos in front of him, would it be permitted to step back after a certain point, or am I trapped until he finishes? Answer: Take the steps back in […]

Saying 13 middos with a minyan

Question: In order for the minyan to say 13 middot, does there actually have to be 10 people saying it or 10 people in the room is enough? Is there a chiyuv for one to answer 13 middot if he is in the room? A similar question, for the Aramaic parts of selichot, does there […]

Walking in front of someone davening a long Shmona Esrei

Question: If the person behind me is davening a long S”E, and I need to leave, am I required to wait for him to finish before stepping back, even if he is davening for half an hour and I will be late to work, or can I step back into his daled amos after a […]

Mumar shut off light on Shabbos. May I benefit from it?

Question: If a goy shuts off the light in a room on Shabbos I can sleep in it because its not call being nehene from the melocho, since a lack of light is not a considered hanahah. Does this also apply to a mumar who shut off the lights, meaning can I now sleep in […]

Fingernails the fell in car, Pets nails

Question: 2 questions: 1) I noticed that a small piece of my fingernail was loose right before getting into my friends car, and then while in the car noticed that the piece was gone,he said that it is possible that pregnant women would ride in the car should I make sure that my friend vacuums […]

Married men being friends with other women

Question: Is it halachicly allowed / appropriate for married men to be friends with other women? And is it allowed for married men to drive every day with another women (married or single) to work? Answer: It is definitely not appropriate or allowed for a man to be friends with other women. The fact that […]

Harachaman for Birkhat Hamazon

Question: If I am reciting at Birkhat Hamazon at someone else’s house and we are benching together but there is not a mezuman (just the husband and wife), should I still include a harachaman for the baal/baalas habayit or this considered as if benching alone and thus say the harachaman for a yachid? Also, what […]

Blessing after learning Torah

Question: Is it appropriate to say an after blessing for learning Torah if the learning is via watching videos on the weekly portion? (Torah anytime.com etc…) And if so, is it said at the end of the day? (In case more learning occurs before sleep)…What is the after blessing? Thank you in advance for your […]