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: 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: 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: 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…

Question: My friend, who lives here, is making a bar mitzvah for his son on the Shabbos following Shavuos, which is the second day of Yom Tov for bnei chutz la'aretz. My friend's brother lives in the U.S. and will be at the bar mitzvah. Is there any problem with giving him an aliyoh on…

Question: Last week I purchased a sofa set, second-hand, from people who were about to leave the country. They told me that the sofas were leather and we agreed on a price of NIS 1200. I paid an additional NIS 240 to transport the sofas to my home. I just had an expert repairman over to give…

Question: Certain chocolate bars have a tiny bit of wafer inside but are mostly chocolate. Often the first bite is just chocolate (yummy!) and only afterwards do you hit the wafer. Is the berochoh shehakol or mezonos? Answer: The halachos of ikor and tafel are applicable when two or more foods are eaten together. If…

Question: What berochoh is said on a dish of rice with meat sauce on top or mixed together? Is it true that rice cannot be the ikor because it is an inferior type of mezonos? What if the meat is the most exciting part of the dish (what a treat!)? Does that mean the shehakol…

Question: Often I want to eat in a catering hall or restaurant and would like your opinion as to whether the kashrus is of a high enough standard for me. Can you give me a list of questions to ask that would help you to determine whether I should eat there? Answer: Choosing a restaurant…