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 ...
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58 views
How does one own and operate a hotel on Shabbat?
Assume we're talking about a hotel that is open every day of the year. How does someone own and operate a hotel while still keeping the laws of Shabbat?
Are there sources that discuss this?
An ...
2
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0answers
182 views
Can I tuck tzitzit into the fabric square corners?
These are Neatzit,
a tzitzit undershirt. In dealing with a child who fidgets and therefore picks at the tzitzit, such that at the end of the day, they are entirely undone, can I tuck the tzitzit ...
2
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0answers
56 views
What is the proper way to wrap a tallis?
Before donning a tallis one is supposed to wrap himself in it and make a blessing. I have seen many different ways of performing this wrapping. What is the correct way to wrap yourself in a tallis?
2
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38 views
Continuing to eat in a place that is visible from the initial eating place
The Shulchan Aruch Harav brings in Orach Chaim 178:1
א) היה אוכל בחדר זה ונטל המאכל בידו והלך לחדר אחר לאכול צריך לחזור
ולברך שכיון שעמד והלך למקום אחר עמידתו זו היא גמר אכילתו וזו אכילה
אחרת ...
2
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0answers
41 views
Removing dirt from Sefer Torah on Shabbos
In SA OC Siman 340 in the Taz Sif-Katan 1 and brought in M"B Sif-Katan 10 that one shouldn't remove wax from on top of an ois (letter) in a Sefer because of the issur of "erasing" (mechika). The Biur ...
2
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0answers
67 views
Which Names of Hashem can/can't we say [in regular conversation]?
Kitzur Shulchan Aruch (6:3) writes that one shouldn't say Hashem's name except by way of praise or blessing whenever required, or when learning (Torah)
[see this answer and this question ]
Indeed, ...
2
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0answers
70 views
Is it permitted to listen to instrumental secular music by an antisemite?
Assuming it is permitted to listen to music composed or performed by a non-Jew, is it prohibited, ill-advised, or outright permitted to listen to instrumental secular music by a composer who ...
2
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0answers
86 views
Can a healthy person use a shabbos elevator?
Can a person who has no health issues make use of a shabbos elevator?
2
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0answers
55 views
Should I rend k'riyah if I witness the death of a non-relative? If so, what's the procedure?
In "Must EMTs and others rend Kriyah each time they see a patient die?", Chalutznahal cites Yoreh De'ah 40:5, which says that when I witness a fellow Jew die, I must rend my shirt out of sadness. And ...
2
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0answers
62 views
Fill m'nora in order?
I know that (at least when lighting at a window), one lights the Chanuka m'nora from left to right: the new lamp first and rightward from there. I've seen people careful to fill them with oil (or ...
2
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0answers
54 views
Maaser on Sal Klita
As a new immigrant to Israel I am receiving a little bit of money ( http://www.jewishagency.org/NR/exeres/A2A4F6FE-5CB4-469E-A45C-517CF14D59D5 ) to get started here.
Should I pay maaser on this ...
2
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0answers
75 views
May one make obscene gestures?
I was told that sign language does not qualify as actual speech (ergo one cannot make a beracha via sign language) as such would obscene gestures be permissible (since they would ostensibly not ...
2
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0answers
58 views
Sources on the Halachic status of creating three parent child
See here for the background. The basic idea is that the DNA is taken from the mother and father, but rather than traditional IVF, the nucleus is implanted in a donor egg. So there is no male donor ...
2
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0answers
72 views
Tefillin on top of a wig if someone can only wear Tefillin once a day
As a rule, there shouldn't be anything that is a separation between a man's head and the tefillin, so seemingly a wig would be a problem. In Igros Moshe Orach Chaim Chelek 4 Siman 40 Ois 18, Rabbi ...
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0answers
32 views
Should I say all blessings aloud?
I find that most people have tendency to say most blessings (on food, going to the bathroom etc.) quietly to themselves. This may preclude others from having a chance to answer amen afterwards. Is the ...
2
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0answers
67 views
Protocol for unconventional Siyum
What is the protocol for an unconventional Siyum (see the linked-to page)?
Do you say Hadran? If so, what would you say in the Hadran if, for example, you learned a Daf of Gemara over the course of ...
2
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0answers
50 views
What if the Gabbai Tzedakah runs away?
Suppose a Gabbai Tzedakah passes our good friend Reuven while making his collection rounds. Reuven reaches into his pocket for his wallet and removes the money he wants to donate. By the time Reuven ...
2
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0answers
71 views
Are epilators halachically allowed?
I just read on wikipedia that epilators were invented on a kibbutz in Israel.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epilator
An epilator is a device that plucks hair out from the root. Would it be OK for a ...
2
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0answers
73 views
Frozen clothes during the Nine Days
Recently, some have advocated freezing clothing, particularly blue jeans, instead of washing them to conserve water.
Assuming this works to some extent, can it be done during the Nine Days? Can I ...
2
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0answers
53 views
Changing the 'Omer sign
If a Shul has an 'Omer sign that is manually changed, may someone change it before making the Berachah on the night's count?
If not, and if the solution is to change it before Bein HaShemashoth, can ...
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0answers
42 views
Reasons for the laws of the prayers in Aramaic
Parts of the davenning are in Aramaic. I understood that the Malochim (Angels) do not understand Aramaic. Since HKB”H does not “attend” prayers with less than a Minyan, one does not say the Aramaic ...
2
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0answers
89 views
How does one proceed at a stand-up Kiddush?
How does one proceed at a Kiddush where the one making Kiddush can sit down but everyone else stands? The cake is not covered before kiddush. In every case attendees make a brocho before eating or ...
2
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0answers
96 views
Buying products from store that sells avodah zarah?
What is the Halacha on buying products (not used for Avodah Zarah and not intended) from stores that sell things that can be used for Avodah Zarah?
Assuming that buying such products is forbidden, ...
2
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0answers
46 views
Is there a source that obliges attendance at a shiur after say several years of attendance?
Is there a halakhic or hashkafic source for the idea that if I attended a shiur over a period of time, this creates an obligation on me to continue to attend?
2
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61 views
Washing three times in the morning
From what I understand, there are three times when one should wash their hands in the method used for negel vasser that occur every day
in the morning (negel vasser)
between going to the bathroom ...
2
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0answers
168 views
Can't use the name of Gd during spontaneous prayer?
What is the rationale in suggesting that a person who wishes to pray to Hashem outside the context of formal communal prayer, that they may not use Gd's name in doing so?
This seems to me to go ...
2
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0answers
52 views
Nedarim on Questions and Answers
Let's say someone was asked "are you going to shul tomorrow?" and the other person answers "yes." Does that count as a Neder?
BTW Rav Mutzafi says that Nedarim are only on Mitzvot, Torah etc.
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39 views
Can a Jew cut a non-Jew's nails consecutively?
Can a Jew cut a non-Jew's nails consecutively? This would relate to a profession in which one trims nails such as podiatry, nursing, pedicurist etc.
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0answers
33 views
When do we add Ye'aleh V'yaboh?
According to Shulchan Aruch, (please cite Saeef and Siman so I can read further):
What are all the days we add Ye'aleh V'yaboh?
What happens if we forget to say it?
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0answers
26 views
Being m'ziah (sweating) individual body parts on Shabbos
If one looks into the Tur Beis Yosef (and Shulchan Aruch) in Orach Chaim Siman 326 you will find the halachos of bathing on Shabbos. The Beis Yosef there points to the gemorah where it outlines the ...
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38 views
Not eating from the Lechem Mishnah
Take for example the following case. Someone only has one piece of bread. However his neighbor has 2 whole challas (and only 2.) May the first with the piece of bread take from his neighbor the 2 ...
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0answers
192 views
May a Jew own/operate a blog open to comments?
In light of recent events I would like to know if a Jew may own and operate a blog or website which is open to comments if it is found that comments can often contain lashon hara, rechilus or motzei ...
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0answers
57 views
Cooperating with the authorities on Shabbos
To what extent, if any, must a Jew go through in order to cooperate with authorities, who are not seeking to persecute Jews, in ways that violate Shabbat? May he violate rabbinic ordinances, or actual ...
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0answers
43 views
Stopping gentile from doing borer on Shabbos
Consider the following situation.
A shul makes a large Kiddush every Shabbos morning after Davening. They have many food items that need to be prepared and set up for the Kiddush however the ...
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0answers
34 views
Can I prevent trespass through (for example) my garden?
Does the Torah give me the right to stop other people using (for example) my garden as a short-cut between two places?
If I try to prevent this trespass, am I to be criticised (say for withholding ...
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0answers
52 views
What is the Halachic difference if people are kosher or not?
The Ramban derives that people are kosher from the gemara in Kerisos (21a i think) That since the rabbis said that human milk is kosher using concept that anything that comes from kosher animal is ...
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0answers
25 views
Eating Matzah of Tevel or Heqdesh
As DoubleAA has reminded me, the Mishna in Pesachim 2:5 forbids the usage of matzah that is tevel or heqdesh on the evening of Pesach. In his commentary on Nedarim 2:2, however, the Bartenura appears ...
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0answers
86 views
May I vote Stack Exchange answers up or down during Chol Hamoed?
Stack Exchange websites, such as Mi Yodeya, include a "voting" feature. They let me click an "up arrow" icon to indicate that a post is useful, or a "down arrow" icon to indicate that it's not useful.
...
1
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0answers
25 views
Does a cotton blanket for daytime use need tzitzis?
Regarding blankets, standard practice is that we don't attach tzitzis and we don't round off any corners.
Reddit user ShamanSTK asks:
I have a blanket on the couch with four corners which is ...
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0answers
55 views
Attending networking events under false pretenses
I've recently seen some events advertised for specific groups or for people who fit a certain description, and it got me wondering, would it be alright, from a Jewish perspective (Halachic, Hashkafic, ...
1
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0answers
57 views
Turn yourself in for a capital offense?
This question assumes that one should accept his punishment after being convicted of a capital offense.
Should one turn himself in to (Jewish) authorities after committing an offense for which he ...
1
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0answers
34 views
What Bracha do we say on bread baked with evaporated mei peiros?
If one bakes bread made out of flour and pure fruit juice, it becomes pas haba bekisnin and the bracha is (at times) mezonos.
What if one distilled fruit juice (to produce water) and baked bread out ...
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0answers
32 views
What if a Goel HaDam (Blood Redeemer) accidentally kills his kinsman's accidental murderer - inside the latter's 'Ir Miklat (City of Refuge)?
Another question asks what happens if a someone accidentally kills someone else inside an 'Ir Miklat (City of Refuge) in which the victim and/or his family live, and whether he needs to move to ...
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0answers
48 views
How to bury old s'farim
Suppose I have a printed Chumash with Rashi, or the like, which is worn out to the point of inutility, and I wish to discard it. My understanding (based in part on sources I supply below) is that I ...
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41 views
Is Sephardi Chief Rabbi Sholomo Amar's recent psak on fiduciary responsibility really “unprecedented”?
HaAretz, last week, reported that Sephardic Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar issued a halachic decision that "[b]usiness owners whose actions, either intentionally or through negligence, cause the public ...
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0answers
30 views
Answering Amen to Kaddish when you don't know where they are holding
It says in SA OC Siman 124 Sif 11 that one may answer Amen to a bracha even if they didn't hear the bracha (only because they know the bracha is being said and as long as they know which bracha is ...
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0answers
73 views
Which Sacred Books Require Burial?
A straightforward question: can anybody please source for me a full discussion of which seforim require burial and which do not. (By way of an example, I have heard it said that a gemara need not be ...
1
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0answers
53 views
Typing on Shabbos
If one would type on a computer on Shabbos would he be ovar an issur d'oraisa in regards to the malacha of writing? (The other malachos involved aside for a moment.)
Is there any room to say this ...
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0answers
41 views
Probing Minhag Avoseinu
As discussed in this question and the comments there, we know, based on Beitza 4b, that there is some halachically binding concept of minhag avoseinu b'yadeinu (the custom of our forbears is in our ...
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106 views
Is wine touched/shaken by a non-idolatrous Gentile child forbidden to drink?
Shulchan Aruch (YD 124:1) states:
A Nochri child who does not mention idolatry or Meshamshim, if he
touched wine he forbids only drinking it, but not benefit from it.
(See this related ...
