Looking in the Mirror

Question: Does a glass saltshaker require tevilla? Answer: A saltshaker that has a glass container to hold the salt and a glass cover with holes in it needs tevilla with a beracha. Salt is considered a food item, and since it comes in direct contact with the glass, it requires tevilla. A glass container that…

Question: Is 15 cups of flour enough to make a berochoh when taking challoh? It is 2 kilograms and a cup. Answer: Fifteen cups is a volume measurement and a kilogram is a measurement of weight or mass. They are difficult to convert unless dealing with water. Fifteen cups is equal to 3549 cc, which…

Question: May I wash my car using the water from the fire hose found in the parking lot? There is a main water meter for the building, and then the water passes through separate meters for each apartment. The water company adds the water usage of all the apartments and subtracts the total from the…

Question: I misspelled my name all my life, writing Leebah with a hei at the end. I found out when I got married that it was supposed to be an aleph. On the kesuva, it is written with an aleph, but if I signed my name with a hei all my life – no checks,…

Question: Why does our nusach for Shabbos Rosh Chodesh specifically exclude the usual formula "kadesheinu bemitzvosecho …" from Mussaf? The Rinas Yisrael siddur has re-inserted this phrase into the nusach. Answer: That is a good question for which I do not have a good answer. Since the question is so good I will elaborate on…

Question: As a female travel agent working with religiously observant coworkers, I rarely run into halachically problematic situations. When the office closes at 5:00 pm, the doors are locked and the shades are drawn. Sometimes a few employees stay working into the night. The nights I stay late there are usually two or three other…