Questions tagged [halacha]
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 through the Mishna, Talmud, and the legal codes (e.g., Rambam, Tur, Shulchan Aruch).
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questions with no upvoted or accepted answers
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How do we determine “population statistics” for population-dependent Halachot?
There appear to be several halachot that are based on "a majority of Israel". For example:
Mishnah Berachot 54a:
הרואה מקום שנעשו בו נסים לישראל אומר ברוך שעשה נסים לאבותינו במקום הזה
IF ...
18
votes
3answers
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Is there such a thing as “Veset Halom”
One friend of mine told me that his wife always sees a special dream before her veset. Always the same one.
Could such think be counted as veset kavua?
I understand that technically a dream doesn't ...
12
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565 views
Tattling on fellow Mi Yodeyans
We are currently in the beginning of the 2012 Mi Yodeya Moderator Election.
To what extent can one avail oneself of the exception of "to'elet"="for a purpose" to the standard rules of Lashon HaRa' (...
12
votes
1answer
845 views
May a woman with artifical metal legs wear a short skirt or pants?
May a woman (or a man) wear immodest clothing over an artificial part of her body?
(Lets assume that beged ish is not a consideration)
i.e. if she has artifical legs, may she wear short shorts?
...
11
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2answers
456 views
Is shenayim mikra (only) a minhag according to the Chofetz Chaim?
R. Yisrael Meir Kagan writes that every Jewish man needs to know the weekly Torah portion and understand it. He says that the reason why all of Israel reads the verses twice and the translation once (...
11
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2answers
240 views
+500
Contradictory extremely far-fetched conclusions
I've seen in halacha concerns for people making extremely far-fetched negative conclusions. The following are but two examples:
In Shulchan Aruch Orach Chaim 3:13 it says:
לא ישתין מעומד מפני ניצוצות ...
10
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0answers
281 views
May one ride in a utilitarian car?
A new study has confirmed the obvious: people want to survive:
even though participants approve of autonomous vehicles that might sacrifice passengers to save others, respondents would prefer not to ...
10
votes
1answer
175 views
Maaser to your own employer
I know there are many Jews who work for schools, synagogues, soup kitchens, and other such non-profit organizations that do a community service. Many people also give maaser money to these ...
10
votes
1answer
638 views
Notched 2x4 for maamid?
Let's assume that there is a lechatchila to not use metal object that are mekabel tumah (susceptible to tumah) for something that supports the s'chach ("maamid"), which can be avoided by using ...
10
votes
1answer
184 views
Is the obligation for Gentiles to establish a system of courts communal or individual?
One of the seven laws of Noah for gentiles is to set up a system of courts.
Is the obligation to set up a system of courts a communal obligation on Gentile communities, or does every single Gentile ...
9
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0answers
118 views
What is the status of professional video game players?
A friend remarked to me that playing video games professionally today is the equivalent of professional gamblers in the times of the talmud, specifically in that both are not involved in "Yishuvo shel ...
9
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0answers
144 views
Who is pulled to safety first?
If a group of people are in mortal danger, all of the same gender (cf. Horayot 13a; some suggest that the Mishnah on Horayot is not discussing a case of rescuing from physical danger, cf. Tziz Eliezer ...
9
votes
2answers
215 views
Exempt from mitzvah and do it, have you fulfilled it contradiction
In Hilchos Kriyas Shema, the SA (OC 71:1) says
מִי שֶׁמֵּת לוֹ מֵת שֶׁהוּא חַיָּב לְהִתְאַבֵּל עָלָיו, אֲפִלּוּ אֵינוֹ מֻטָּל עָלָיו לְקָבְרוֹ, פָּטוּר מִקְּרִיאַת שְׁמַע וּמִתְּפִלָּה.
Someone whose ...
9
votes
2answers
288 views
When and how often would someone say Kiddush Levana (Blessing for the moon) if he were on another planet?
This M.Y. answer says that there are differing views as to whether someone is exempt from mitzvoth while in space.
If we were to follow the opinion that one is obligated, should a person on Jupiter ...
9
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2answers
796 views
Kissing when one person is meaty and the other is milky
I know that someone cannot eat milk immediately after meat and vice versa. Is it ok for two people to kiss if one person has just had meat and the other has just had milk? Do they, perhaps, need to ...
8
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0answers
82 views
Those who observe “Ben Zachar” at night and “Shalom Zachar” by day
There's a pretty common custom to observe what's commonly called a "Shalom Zachar" on the Friday night after a baby boy is born. People go to where the baby's father is, eat snacks, sing and share ...
8
votes
1answer
212 views
Halacha of not being obligated to spend more than a fifth of one's money on a mitzvah
It is brought down in halacha (Orach Chaim 656) that a person is not obligated to spend more than 20% of his money on performing a positive mitzvah. Is the 20% calculated according to his total bank ...
8
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0answers
171 views
Could there be a Halachik issue with using a DNA kit such as 23andMe?
Besides learning fun facts about one's DNA and ancestry, there's a lot of good that can come out of using one. For example: people of Ashkenazi Jewish descent can learn if they're predisposed to BRCA1 ...
8
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0answers
116 views
Hackintosh in Halacha
A Hackintosh is a bootlegged version of Apple's macOS loaded onto a computer that has not been manufactured by Apple and doesn't have a license to run macOS. According to Apple's macOS license,
I. ...
8
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281 views
The status of Christian bibles nowadays
In Shulchan Aruch OC 334:21 it is established that holy scripture written by a pagan should be burnt,
האפיקורסים דהיינו האדוקים בעבודת כוכבים וכן מומרים לעבודת כוכבים
שכתבו להם
כתבי הקודש אין ...
8
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0answers
90 views
Spam texts to run up a person's bill
Many cell phone plans allot a person a certain number of texts each month and charge for every text over that limit. This is for both texts sent and received.
Now, phone calls can be denied, but ...
8
votes
1answer
259 views
How does a recent bar mitzva “complete the weekly portion with the community”
When a person becomes bar mitva during the year, 98% of the time the community has already read 1 or even 50 weekly portions.
Does the bar mitzva need to make up those portions?
Would it matter if ...
8
votes
2answers
239 views
Seemingly Hefker Esrog - used for the Mitzva
This past Erev Succos I arrived at a local synagogue that had a fellow selling Lulavim and Esrogim in their Simcha hall. The fellow left three Esrogim (not in the greatest condition - yet Kosher) on ...
8
votes
1answer
352 views
A Jew is born in space. What time rules does he follow?
I know that the title sounds like a sequel to a TV show (Lost in space). But based on a statement in this article :
The Rabbis therefore rule that a person should continue to follow the
time from ...
8
votes
2answers
128 views
If you take a COVID “smell test” every day, do you say a blessing on the scent?
Background
Some experts recommend that everyone test their own sense of smell once daily. This can help to screen for the novel coronavirus disease. This is because COVID often (but not always) ...
8
votes
2answers
292 views
What is the status when there are two anointed kings at the same time?
The Rabbi's teach that one kingship does not overlap with another even a hairbreadth (Yoma 38b). I understand this to mean that there may be only 1 Jewish king ruling at a time, or in the case where ...
8
votes
1answer
233 views
What in a siddur can be changed?
There are many different editions of siddurim with many commonalities but also many differences, see here for discussion on MY. Also different communities use different siddurim to match their ...
7
votes
1answer
198 views
Is fighting in a non-Jewish army against another army with Jews as well permissible?
Let me explain. This is something that actually happened, in World War One; Jews volunteered to fight with the Entente and many Jews volunteered on the Central Powers. Some could have served on the ...
7
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0answers
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Is there a halachic preference for milah over hatafas dam bris?
While hatafas dam bris is clearly valid for a convert who is already circumcised, is this considered bedieved? Suppose a man who is not already circumcised intends to convert.
Suppose he is also ...
7
votes
1answer
279 views
Buying online on friday
Can you buy something from a large online retailer (eg Amazon), which employs non-Jews, on Friday if it has one-day shipping?
This would force someone to do the work of mailing/transporting the ...
7
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0answers
36 views
Distribution of כבוד אב between kids
Imagine a family of parents and 5 kids sitting at the Shabbos table and the father says - "I'm thirsty - bring me some water".
All the kids are immediately obligated in כיבוד אב D'Oraysoh and the ...
7
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0answers
107 views
Telling yourself lashon hara
There are several websites that let you send an email to yourself in the future (example). It's also possible to accomplish something similar in a lower-tech way, like making a time capsule.
Are you ...
7
votes
0answers
191 views
Sources that allow “important women” to be taught/learn Torah?
The Shulchan Aruch (YD 246) codifies the law that women should not be taught the Oral Law. It seems it is also not the best thing to teach even the Written Law, but that if you do, it's not the same ...
7
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0answers
112 views
Can anyone warn a man's wife to give her the status of a sotah?
In the Mishna, Sotah 4:5 (and Bavli 27a) it explains that in certain situations Beit Din may warn a woman not to be secluded with a man and this warning carries the legal status of kinuy such that if ...
7
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0answers
128 views
Parameters of לא תעשון כן לה' אלקיכם
There is a prohibition to destroy a synagogue based on the verse (Deut. 12:4) לא תעשון כן לה' אלקיכם, "you shall not do so unto the Lord your God." Rambam, in the minyan hamitzvot at the beginning of ...
7
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0answers
161 views
Is altering human genetics wrong in Judaism?
So, our colonists of the oceanic planet Mayim (yes, that's its name), of whom every single one is a Jew, have encountered a problem: there is no more room on the buoyant-colony-thing that they live in,...
7
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0answers
184 views
Explicit shaimos printed in prayer books
The gemara in Shabbos 115b cites a Tosefta seemingly condemning those who publish prayer-books (and amulets) with G-d's name: "...מכאן אמרו כותבי ברכות כשורפי תורה". Nonetheless, it is common practice ...
7
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0answers
118 views
Why not read missing words (in Esther) from a printed copy?
Kitzur Shulchan Aruch 141:19:
צבור שאין להם מגילה כשרה כדינה מכל מקום אם היא כתובה כהלכתה רק שחסרים איזה תיבות באמצעה כיון שלא חסר בה ענין אחד שלם יכולין לקרות מתוכה עם הברכות והטעות יקרא הקורא בעל ...
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143 views
Is one allowed to bid on a house if he knows another Jew has already made an offer?
This question is related to the halachic concept of ani hamehapech b'charara, or tortious interference, which I happened to just come across in studying Mishnah Peah.
If one has been looking at a ...
7
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0answers
148 views
Is the mourning for a late relative dependent on the state of their relationship before death?
Are the halochos (laws) about observing mourning rituals for a relative (e.g., shiva, shloshim, etc.), affected in any way by the state of the relationship between the mourner and deceased before his ...
7
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0answers
211 views
Halachic opinions on tefillin peshutim
I was discussing the subject of tefillin with my father motzei-Shabbat and particular, the battim (leather boxes that contain the parshiyot, or parchment scrolls). We ended up wondering what the mid-...
7
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0answers
231 views
Beam for s'chach with wood glue + embedded screws
Let's assume that there is a lechatchila to not use metal object that are mekabel tumah (susceptible to tumah) for something that supports the s'chach ("maamid"), which can be avoided by using ...
7
votes
0answers
199 views
eBay Judaica auctions
I occasionally check eBay for assorted items; this is typically for the science half of my life, but I sometimes find Judaica which probably should not be sold there. For example, I know that in the ...
7
votes
1answer
253 views
Person in Eretz Yisrael making Eiruv Tavshilin for Bnei Chutz L'Aretz
This might seem like a "funny" question. I don't think this would be permitted and I really have no basis to think why it should be however I'm trying to work out why this wouldn't work (or perhaps ...
7
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0answers
430 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 ...
7
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0answers
332 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 ...
7
votes
2answers
592 views
Can you fulfill Netilat Yadayim by dipping your hands in a sink?
According to the Gemara in Hullin on 107a, if there's a vessel with a hole in it, and there's a "stream" (more than a drip but not necessarily the "sheffoferet hannod" required for a real mikveh) ...
7
votes
1answer
144 views
Hacking paywalls on newsites?
Many news websites (NY Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post etc.) make use of paywalls which pop up after the visitor starts reading the article requiring the visitor to pay in order to ...
7
votes
1answer
180 views
Can Yom Tov candles be lit at daytime if forgotten at night?
If one were to forget to light candles on Yom Tov eve, but remembers the next morning - can s/he still fulfill his obligation to light candles during Yom Tov day with a Brocha?
(Being daytime, it ...
7
votes
1answer
626 views
Davening in Open Orthodox Shul
Although there may be a wide range of Open Orthodox shuls, may one daven in an Open Orthodox shul if a woman leads as the chazan for shacharis or ba'al koreh? Would such an Open Orthodox shul have the ...
