Question: When my wife wakes in the middle of the night for feedings is she required to wash her hands every single time? What about when she wants a drink of water with these feedings? Does she have to wash her hands before making a shehakol? Answer: Upon awaking in the middle of the night…
Question: We are moving house soon, and I'm not sure exactly what standard of kashrus the previous owners keep. Is it necessary to ask them what hechsherim they rely on in order to see if we can continue using all the surfaces? They are taking their oven/stove so we don't have a question there at…
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: הבתים של תפילין שלי השתפשפו לאורך הזמן ויש בהם מקומות שאינם שחורים. האם הם כשרים? Answer: במנחות לה. מבואר דרצועות צריכין להיות שחורות.[1] אבל לא נזכר בתלמוד בבלי דבר לענין שחרות הבתים. אולם בתלמוד ירושלמי איתא תנה רבי יודה בן ביביי תפילין מרובעות שחורות הלכה למשה מסיני ע''כ.[2] בקרבן העדה פירש כוונתו לענין הרצועות…
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: I recently bought an apartment. A real estate agent made the initial contact between the contractor and myself but she was never available to help with subsequent issues when I needed her. Months after the sale went through, she contacted me and said she had heard that I had eventually bought the apartment and…
Question: Is there a halachic basis for insisting that girls wear shirts with sleeves to the elbows from the age of three? If not, at what age is there a halachic basis for it? Answer: There is a halachic basis for it from the age of three, but in my opinion it is not the…
Question: According to the Torah, a Kohen is allowed to marry a chalutzoh, so his child from that chalutzoh is also a kohen mide'oreisa. How, then, could Chazal call the child a Yisroel and permit him to be metamei and to marry a gerushoh himself? This is an issur de’oreiso for him, seeing that, as…
Question: What is the actual mitzvoh of hachnosas kalloh? I've heard many issues discussed on this topic, such as, "If they don't have money, they shouldn't have such a wedding" or "Let the guy go out and get a job." What is considered hachnosas kalloh? Answer: Both the Beis Yosef and the Ramo agree that…
Question: When my wife and I took on the ol mitzvos, we naturally accepted, as part of that, the practice of maaser kesofim, which we believed was at least a mitzva derabbonon. Recently, however, I read in the Artscroll guide to tzedokoh and maaser that maaser kesofim is merely a minhog—and that someone who took…