Looking in the Mirror

Question: I have a pot and a Kitchen-Aid bowl and beater that I'd like to keep parve. I realized today that I hadn't designated a parve knife, and last Sunday I used milchig knives to cut the onions I fried in the pot and poured hot into the bowl. Nothing else was milchig, and truthfully,…

Question: A woman on our block is quite a nuisance to all the neighbors. She owns about 20 cats and about five dogs. The dogs are not such a problem, aside from the occasional noise – which doesn't disturb us much, although it does bother her next-door neighbors – and they are locked in her…

Question: According to Rashi, the phrase "Im Lovon garti" indicates that Yaakov kept all 613 mitzvos while living with Lovon. How does this statement fit in with the statement a few verses later that Yaakov was fearful lest, as a result of his sins, he deserved to be delivered into Esov's hands? What sin was…

Question: Is it permissible for a woman in active labor and in pain to use a TENS machine on Shabbos? It's a battery-operated machine that has pads that attach to her back to stimulate the nerves and ease the pain. Answer: I am not familiar with this machine, but a woman in active labor and…

Question: Answer: Transliteration from Hebrew to English is a thorny problem. The two languages are far from being phonetically congruent. Some Hebrew sounds have no equivalent in English and can only be represented by some contrived combination of letters that bear some resemblance to the sound to be reproduced. Furthermore, although the English language uses…

Question: Answer: ויאמר ד' סלחתי כדברך לאחר חטא המרגלים ד' מגלה רצונו כביכול לנטש ולהרג עם ישראל ולקיים הבטחתו לאבות דרך משה, (עיין פרק י''ד מפסוק י''א והלאה). משה רבינו טוען בעד העם שיצא חילול ש''ש, "ואמרו הגוים אשר שמעו את שמעך לאמר מבלתי יכולת ד' להביא את העם הזה אל הארץ אשר נשבע להם…