NOTE: Like Wikipedia, this site makes no guarantee of validity, and does not offer professional (particularly rabbinic) advice. Treat information from this site like it came from a crowd of your friends. // Jewish law. Specifically, the legal process beginning with the written Torah and continuing ...
11
votes
5answers
392 views
Why does the Tefilin Shel Yad have a protective cover?
When you purchase Tefilin, the Tefilin Shel Yad has a protective cover. Why? Is it Halachically necessary?
8
votes
1answer
131 views
Would a metallic prosthetic hand require immersion?
Normally, a metal utensil used to eat with, such as a fork, requires immersion before its first use if it had been owned by a gentile. If a person has a metallic prosthetic hand which he uses to eat, ...
7
votes
3answers
3k views
What is the earliest time one can daven Shacharis?
When is the earliest time you can Daven Shacharis?
4
votes
1answer
153 views
If you didn’t put on tefilin at shacharis, when should you? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Putting on tefillin late
Someone was unable to put on tefilin when he 'davened' (prayed) shacharis.
When should he put on tefilin — immediately when he has the ...
3
votes
0answers
65 views
When is it permissible to collect charity during prayer?
In my shul someone usually brings around the pushka (charity box) during the chazzan's repetition of shmoneh esrei. I have also heard that it is appropriate to give tzedaka during v'yivarech Dovid. ...
3
votes
1answer
1k views
When is the earliest time you can daven ma'ariv during the week?
When is the earliest time you can Daven Maariv on a weekday?
0
votes
0answers
30 views
Additional names for refuah shlema
When praying for someone's refuah shlema (fully recovered health), is it halakhically required to use their additional names on top of their first names? Is it simply custom?
If someone is named ...
5
votes
1answer
54 views
May a male swim without a head covering?
Having never seen a man cover his hair with a kippah while swimming I always assumed it was permitted to do so. However I am curious if there is any halachic discussion recorded which explicitly ...
3
votes
4answers
1k views
Is a Kohen required to marry a virgin?
In a recent conversation with several friends regarding ba'alei teshuva marrying Kohanim (specifically college students), one person present said that a Kohen can only marry a virgin. I contested this ...
2
votes
1answer
55 views
Internet-advertising on Shabat (by and for Jews)
Others here have raised the general questions of whether or not various forms of Internet-presence (belonging to a Jew) can remain open on Shabat:
blogs/websites, in general
e-commerce sites, in ...
3
votes
0answers
18 views
Can one rely on Kol Nidrei?
In Kol Nidrei, one says
All vows, and prohibitions, and oaths, and consecrations, and konams and konasi and any synonymous terms, that we may vow, or swear, or consecrate, or prohibit upon ...
4
votes
1answer
120 views
Must a parent vaccinate her child?
Is a parent compelled by Halacha to vaccinate her child if it can be statistically proven that, without the vaccine, the likelihood of the child contracting the disease that he is being vaccinated for ...
0
votes
1answer
62 views
Baby born bein hashmoshos — when to make pidyon haben?
We know that if a baby is born bein hashmoshos we make the bris according to if the baby was born on the following day (i.e. if it was bein hashmoshos between Monday and Tuesday we would count 8 days ...
4
votes
1answer
130 views
May one have augmentative cosmetic surgery?
I realize much of the discussion on plastic surgery can be found in the answers to this question. However, the actual question was only addressing nose surgery. I would like to to know:
If there ...
5
votes
1answer
69 views
Why don't we have to work every non-Shabbos day?
We are told multiple times in the Torah
ששת ימים תעבוד
Six days you should work.
But many people do not actually work 6 days a week. For example, in the United States, Sunday is considered ...
4
votes
0answers
38 views
After-death care of a non-Jewish relative
If a Jew has been entrusted with the after-death care of a non-Jewish relative, what should be done? Specifically, if the non-Jewish relative requested to be cremated after death, can or should a Jew ...
4
votes
3answers
71 views
Were any books written on the beur haGra?
I was wondering if there exists a book/work that was written exclusively as a perush on the beur HaGra whether it be on only a chelek of the Shulchan Aruch or otherwise?
-1
votes
1answer
24 views
What is the extent of Rishut haYachid?
We know that one may not carry anything on Shabbos outside of a private domain (rishut hayachid). A person's house is considered a private domain. My question is: how far outside of the house is ...
1
vote
1answer
20 views
Chanukiyah height restriction and modern architecture?
I have learned that, to publicize the miracle, the Chanukah candles must be within 20 amot of the ground. Yet when I was in Jerusalem during Chanukah some years ago, I saw chanukiyot in windows of ...
1
vote
1answer
1k views
What is the earliest time to daven maariv during the week? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
When is the earliest time you can daven ma'ariv during the week?
On Shabbos one could accept Shabbos early and thereby daven Maariv early. During the week, when ...
1
vote
0answers
17 views
Chanukah in a hotel: where to light?
I might be attending a convention over the Shabbat in Chanukah. I am not worried about opposition from the hotel; this one has historically been pretty liberal about candles in rooms. So if I go I ...
6
votes
1answer
200 views
Reading a newspaper
Are there any works that discuss the permissibility of reading secular newspapers on a weekday? The Ketzos HaShulchan (Badei HaShulchan 107:43) holds that it's forbidden:
Other [i.e. not Torah] ...
4
votes
1answer
105 views
To say the 13 midos in “tachanun” weekday mincha, should the Sha"tz wear a tallis?
I asked the question "The Gemoro in Rosh Hashono 17b says that HKB”H put on a talis like a shaliach tzibbur and taught Moshe the 13 middos and said whenever Israel sins they should perform before Me ...
12
votes
1answer
339 views
Is one allowed to drink alcohol on regular weekdays?
Is it permissible to drink alcohol in any circumstance other than Holidays and Shabbat? Please cite sources.
CYLOR.
5
votes
1answer
116 views
Are weekday-afternoon naps permissible?
I wonder what Jewish law and thought say about taking weekday-afternoon naps. Are they encouraged? Allowed? Discouraged? Forbidden?
Please cite sources.
8
votes
1answer
147 views
Minimal Body Covering to say Blessings
Can a man say a brachah with just boxer shorts on, or does he need to be fully dressed, for example with a "double covering" like pants, and/or wearing a shirt, when I wake up and want to wash netilat ...
0
votes
0answers
15 views
Brachot with no shirt on [duplicate]
Can a man say a bracha when not wearing a shirt? In the morning, for example, before getting fully dressed, one might wash his hands, put on pants and a kippa, say 'al netilat yadayim,' 'asher ...
2
votes
1answer
76 views
When to say the Bracha on Tallit Katan
I was recently wondering if I am saying the bracha on my tallit katan at the right time (I'm not married and don't wear a tallit gadol). When should the bracha on the tallit katan be said? Before it ...
12
votes
2answers
217 views
Gabai speaking during chazaras hashatz, kaddish or kriyas hatorah for the sake of the tzibbur
Is a gabai allowed to speak during chazaras hashatz, kaddish and/or kriyas hatorah for the sake of the tzibbur (e.g. to ask someone if they are a Kohen or Levi)?
5
votes
0answers
72 views
What constitutes a shinui?
I was recently taught the concept of a shinui to be "something done in a way that is unusual compared to the norm in one's area of residence", with respect to the permissibility of actions done on ...
3
votes
1answer
83 views
What's the bracha for a circumzenithal arc?
Upon seeing a rainbow, we say,
זוכר הברית, ונאמן בבריתו, וקים במאמרו
...who remembers the covenant, is faithful in his covenant, and fulfills his word.
I recently witnessed a natural event ...
2
votes
1answer
146 views
Halachic Relevancy of 'Proving God'
The first halacha in the Mishnah Torah states that you must know for certain that God exists (Yesodei Hatorah 1:1). Does this mean that according to Rambam, God can be proven to exist through ...
3
votes
0answers
33 views
Would adding buttons and button holes to a tallis gadol disqualify it?
I've seen fitted tallisim katanim with buttons connected the front and back for smooth wear. Could you also add buttons and button holes to a tallis gadol to hellp it stay on? Or would that ...
10
votes
1answer
145 views
Are there two things from which kares can cut one off?
In B'midbar 19:13 the Torah says that the punishment for entering the mikdash while impure is spiritual excision, using the words
וְנִכְרְתָה הַנֶּפֶשׁ הַהִוא מִיִּשְׂרָאֵל. . .
. . .that ...
0
votes
1answer
36 views
If one surpasses ones rebbi does one still have to honor him
One has to give kovod, honor to ones main rebbi (teacher). There are many dinim of how this kovod must be shown. One pertaining to the gemoro in eiruvin,is that one must not be in a bath house at the ...
2
votes
1answer
69 views
Bracha Achrona with a little pasta and a lot of rice
Suppose someone makes a borei minei mezonos bracha on pasta (whose bracha achrona is al hamichya), and exempts rice (whose bracha achrona is borei nefashos) that he is planning on eating as well. If ...
3
votes
2answers
38 views
A vessel with “bugs” on it — does it become muktzeh
If someone has a vessel that is muter to move around on Shabbos and it had on top of it something that is "muktzeh" during Bein Hashmoshes than the vessel would be considered a "busis" (a vessel that ...
10
votes
3answers
175 views
Can you learn during chazarat hashatz?
Are you allowed to learn Torah silently during the chazzan's repetition of Shmonah Esrei?
(This is a case where you are davening with that minyan.)
3
votes
3answers
132 views
What is the status of the psak of a Maharat?
If an orthodox male Rabbi bestows semicha on a woman (dubbed Maharat), what is the status of her halachic decisions? This question is irrespective of whether or not the male Rabbi should confer ...
5
votes
1answer
153 views
Waiting after using the bathroom before having relations
Where is it brought down that one should wait after going to the bathroom and before having relations. I have heard this before and 2 reasons given. One is that because of the "ruach rah" in the ...
-2
votes
1answer
108 views
How we can we mutar shaving?
It says in sefer vayikra in perek יט posuk כז, "You shall not round off the corner of your head, and you shall not destroy the edge of your beard." Now I shave my face because many poskim have made ...
2
votes
1answer
67 views
Is it necessary to buy a burial plot while still alive?
Must someone buy a burial plot while still alive? Moreover, is doing so a segula to stay alive or the opposite? The segula can be because he shows he believes in life after death and does not want to ...
2
votes
1answer
36 views
Mevushal wine used for avoda zara?
Suppose that while you are away, your non-Jewish housekeeper borrows your mevushal bottle of wine and pours some off for avoda zara (apparently, despite the fact that it's mevushal, it's "good enough" ...
4
votes
0answers
77 views
Facebook in the bathroom
While it's certainly very crude, if not plain gross, it's not all that uncommon for people to use social media sites like Facebook while in the bathroom.
Many Posekim forbid speaking in the bathroom, ...
14
votes
3answers
325 views
Is ad-blocker software permissible?
Kalashnikover_Rebbe at hashkafah.com asks:
Isn't blocking ads stealing??? The people put them on the sites for a reason....
He elaborates:
On one hand the argument can be made that [forum ...
1
vote
1answer
56 views
May I play a computer game which includes Greek mythological creatures?
I sometimes play a computer role-playing game (RPG) in which my character fights creatures and retrieves treasure.
But some of the creatures are derived from Greek mythology. Is it still permissible ...
11
votes
4answers
435 views
The Ability to Pasken
What gives someone the ability to Pasken? At what point do we say that he is knowledgeable enough to decide questions on a topic? Does this have to do with "Semicha"? Does it have to do with being a ...
0
votes
1answer
47 views
Subjectivity in Halacha
I'm learning the Sugya of pas haba'ah b'kisnin. This seems like an extraordinary area of Halacha, because the beracha on this type of food is entirely subjective, based on what others would be koveah ...
-7
votes
2answers
59 views
Do black hats make the Jew? [closed]
It seems that wearing a hat is required, because the Shulchan Aruch says you need to wear a double covering. But some apparently-frum men don't wear a hat. How is this possible?
1
vote
0answers
30 views
Continuing to eat somewhere else because of the das of bal habayis
When someone starts a seudah they may have das (have in mind) to continue eating the seudah somewhere else; if they do, they sometimes can do so without saying a new beracha (see Rama, Orach Chayim ...
