Question: Hello How Are You! Lately I’ve been thinking or wondering about since the Torah says Hashem wrestled with Yisrael and changed his name from Jacob to Yisrael I believe… Read more »
Category: Uncategorized
Pouring backwards
Question: Is there an ענין not to pour backwards/underhanded because that is what the chevra kadisha does? If so why do we refrain from tahara-like activities? Answer: I don’t know… Read more »
parnassa
Question: can i read parashas hamann every day twice a day if i need to pay off my debts and student loans quicker. Answer: I haven’t even heard of this… Read more »
Transporting a Sefer Torah
Question: If you are driving with a Sefer Torah long distance do you still say tefillat haderech? Answer: I don’t see why you shouldn’t.
הסתכלות
Question: עבודה זרה דף סה. אזל אשכחיה דיתיב כו׳ וקיימן זונות ערומות קמיה כו׳ לכאורה צריך לומר שרבא ובר שישך יצאו מן המרחץ כדי לדבר,(אולם לא משמע כן מלשון הגמרא)… Read more »
What am I supposed to do?
Question: What is my obligation when everything I tried failed? I don’t have any more fight left in me for mental health battles. Nobody knows how bad it is and… Read more »
Is there maris ayin in ordering a drink from a non-kosher restaurant?
Question: Is there a problem with maris ayin to enter a non-kosher restaurant and order just a drink? Let’s say that in the first case the restaurant in question is… Read more »
Halacha of science monitoring
Question: Dear Rabbi, Odd question. I made a purchase of a barometer digital. Seems neat. It did not fully work but had sunrise set times. Now I wanted that feature… Read more »
dream meaning
Question: To the Reverend Rabbi: I ask Your Reverence to advise me on this subject: I dreamed that inside my room was a small hole in the ground, and from… Read more »
Guarding your eyes
Question: Dear Rabbi, When a man observes a woman in pants, should he mind the aggression? The fear of G-d is clearly marked off. How does Jacob exist when women… Read more »
How should we respond to the shooting in Florida?
Question: How should we respond (physically, monetarily and emotionally) to the shooting in Florida? Answer: You are asking a very important question. As Jews we certainly have to respond to… Read more »
Which item is more important
Question: If you want to buy more tzitzis (you already have at least one kosher pair you just want to buy more ) or a gemara and you only have… Read more »
Preventing bad things by doing a bad thing?
Question: DISCLAIMER: Hypothetical only, but on my mind a lot these days. What is the Torah view regarding someone doing something terrible on purpose with the intention of preventing any… Read more »
Smartphone
Question: Son is Israel wants to work for Hatzalah. They need to give him a Smartphone with מושגח on it. can I rely on this hechsher? Attached: Attached file 1… Read more »
Funeral Home actions
Question: If a Funeral Home advertises itself as following traditional Jewish values, and an orthodox rabbi is acknowledged as associated with it on their website …. 1) Isn’t t the… Read more »
Pashtun people
Question: Are the Pashtun people in India part of the tribe of Efraim? They have many customs similar to Halachic laws and purport to be part of Efraim. Answer: There… Read more »
Is it okay for a man to go to mikveh at night?
Question: Is it okay for a man to go to mikveh at night? Like when your going to visit a tsadiks kever at night… Answer: As far as I know… Read more »
Agencies ctd.
Question: In effort considered with your clarification, I had considered America a deist nation because of separation of church and state. Is an agency like the CIA an outlet by… Read more »
Agencies
Question: Dear Rabbi, Can jewish applicants apply to societies or organizations in America who use a christian bible verse as their motto? I would say no, but today I discovered… Read more »
Closing a broken window
Question: If a window is broken and can’t be fixed Can you board it up with wood That window is in an un finished basement but part of my house… Read more »
Bad care
Question: Dear Rabbi, All family eats treif. I do not. I got sent for psychiatric evaluation which family endorses. No soul refuses abomination and Torah is forbidden. This is real…. Read more »
Reading a conservative book
Question: I recently became fascinated and developed a strong interest in learning Midrashim and Aggadah. I’ve head about the work of Louis Ginzberg who is the author of Legends of… Read more »
Drowning children
Question: Is there a law that if both your son and daughter are drowning, and you have the ability to save either one but only time enough to save one… Read more »
Doubts in brachot
Question: I have many doubts in brachot that consume my time. I feel stuck in cases when I have a saphek about a law from the Torah (such as fulfilment… Read more »
Who Eats First?
Question: Should a wife serve her husband or her guests first at a home meal? What if they are guests at someone else’s house and she is helping serve who… Read more »
The Spirit of the Halacha
Question: I have been told that certain things are not exactly assur, but are not in the “spirit of the halacha.” What are the sources to support this idea that… Read more »
Tzniyus with eidim
Question: Gemara in baba basra 56 says “achas bgaba viachas bkraisa” and the rashbam and tosfos learn that aidim check to see if the girl is a Gedola. Isn’t this… Read more »
The Solar Eclipse
Question: Dear Rabbi, What halacha is known for viewing or discussing an eclipse? Meaningful event to many but chaos and terror for the natural world. Manners of animals and insects… Read more »
Naming a baby after someone of the opposite gender
Question: Are there problems with naming a baby after someone of the opposite gender (already done, curious if it’s a problem and how to address it). The name is not… Read more »
Are you permitted to invent your own tefillin minhag?
Question: The method in which a man wraps the strap of the tefillin shel yad around his arm and hand is generally passed on from father to son. So in… Read more »
Learning a proper dress code
Question: Dear Rabbi, I am a ba’al teshuvah. I have grown up and continue to exist in the communities that are not yeshiva trained or with much if any jewish… Read more »
Rashba’s Cherem
Question: Does the Rashba’s cherem still aplly to learning the sciences? Can I read my anatomy or other science books on the side (assuming no objectionable material) even for interest?… Read more »
The beginning of Shulchan Aruch vs. the beginning of Mishnayos.
Question: The Torah says: ‘Vayehi erev vayehi boker” (mentioning night before day). The Talmud also starts out by discussing the dinim of krias Shema at night. Why, then, does the… Read more »
Learning Torah and do Mitzvos to help others
Question: Are there any classical sources saying that one can learn Torah and do Mitzvos to help others eg the sick? Answer: There are numerous sources for learning torah and… Read more »
Burial traditions in judaism
Question: Was it tradition between jews in 1 century AD to bury a person with doned tefillin? Is it possible that Jesus Christ had put a tefillin when he was… Read more »
Maternal DNA
Question: I took a DNA test that came with a result of being 7% European Jewish. I do not believe it is accurate to state that I am Jewish because… Read more »
Is a reform male rabbi a valid rav?
Question: Is a reform male ‘rabbi’ who is halachically Jewish a ‘rav’ from our (Torah-observant) perspective or is his semicha invalid? Answer: Unfortunately the Reform movement does not recognize and… Read more »
Birth control
Question: Hi my name is Alaijha. In health class we are working on projects due March 3rd and the topic I chose is the beliefs about birth control between Catholics… Read more »
Depression
Question: Hi, I’ve asked many Halacha shallow to you before. I’m sorry to involve you in this, but my cousin, a 21 yr old girl suffering from depression, and stays… Read more »
Do the dead see?
Question: Hi, What do we Jews believe as far as whether or not people who have died can see the past, present and future happenings in this world? Thank you…. Read more »
raise your hand
Question: I heard that based on kabbalah, one is never to raise his hands above his head except in prayer, such as when blessing al netilas yadyaim. May one be… Read more »
College professor who says things that are forbidden to hear
Question: When attending a college class with a professor who says things that are forbidden to hear [e.g., he says that the Exodus never happened], what is the appropriate response… Read more »
Can an adopted child inherit, and can he be called to the torah with the adopted parents name.
Question: About 40 years ago as a childless Mekubal and a fatherless young man grew ever so close, as a father to a son and vice versa, they mutually decided,… Read more »
Don’t know mother’s Hebrew name.
Question: Dear rabbi, I do not know either of their mother’s Hebrew names and am unable to know what to ask for if I need a tehillim for their health…. Read more »
Knocking Before Entering
Question: Although the gemorah in Pesachim (112a) strongly suggests knocking before entering a room is a good custom to have, is there an obligation to do so? If there is,… Read more »
Chillul Hashem
Question: I was a student in law school. There are a few Orthodox students in the school, and I was the most visibly Orthodox among them. Unfortunately, due to my… Read more »
Forgotten Psak(s)
Question: Years ago I asked on AskMoses chat some questions about certain issues. Today I cannot remember what exact questions I asked and what answers I got. The site looks… Read more »
Asking a previous rabbi a question who seemed to give a very unclear and seemingly unrelated response
Question: I asked you this question which you responded in a way that actually makes sense to the question: When does a thoughts to do something become binding. However I… Read more »
Population Control for non Jews.
Question: I was recently asked by a Righteous Non Jew (Ben Noach) about birth control. In countries like Niger or South Sudan, the birth rate is around 7 children per… Read more »
Cutting through Photos
Question: My wife has got a hakpodoh not to cut through photos of people. I would like to know if this is a genuine minhag or a minhag beta`us. I… Read more »