Ask The Rabbi
Halachic questions answered by Hagaon Rav Shlomo Miller Shlit'a
5,519 questions and answers
# 3195 Cohen Hold your Liquor
A Cohen took part in a Kiddush after davening on Yom Tov and had some liquor. As he was going home, he was asked by a late minyan to say Birchas Kohanim for them, as they didn’t have any other Cohen a...
# 3194 One for the Holy Books
It says that if you leave a sefer open when you leave the room you are learning, it will cause forgetfulness. Does that apply also to one learning from a screen in a computer? Does one have to turn of...
# 3193 Your Very Own Enemies?
I daven in a Shul in which a Chasidic writer that writes and publishes constantly articles in the local press against Israel and its non-religious government, comes to join the minyan. Some people a...
# 3192 Outwitting the Smart Lights
I live in a building that uses in the halls a new type of electric bulbs. When one comes close to them they go brighter and then, as one walks away they dim. It is an individual process of each bulb. ...
# 3191 That is So Cool
I became aware that the cool water being pumped out of Lake Ontario and other major cities, before it reaches the treatment stages, is also used for cooling the pumps themselves and the motors that op...
# 3190 The Ring of Life
See question 3189 above. I heard that in Mexico City where armed street robberies are common, they permit carrying cash money on Shabbat in case one is assaulted and if he doesn’t have what to g...
# 3189 Are you Afraid of the Shots?
I heard that Horav Miller Shlit’a opposes carrying a gun on Shabbat, even on places where there is a valid safety concern, I don’t understand, doesn’t Sakanat Nefashot, or the danger to...
# 3188 Wait and Hear
On question 3187 above, even if one cannot comply with Tefilah, Shema or Brachot using using this technology, would he be able to use it on Shabbat just to communicate with his family?...
# 3187 Hearing Somebody's Thoughts
My father will because of cancer have his vocal cords removed. He will not be able to articulate any speech or words sound at all. Can he be yotze Keriat Shema and Tefilah by just moving his lips? Cou...
# 3186 Testing the Test
I saw that there is a clinic in my neighborhood that does Covid testing on Saturday. If it is in walking distance and I don’t have to do any melachos, can I go for a nasal swab?...
# 3185 Casting Aside Traditional Greenery
After Shavuos do the branches of the trees and flowers that were used for decorating the shul, have to be treated like the Schach or the Hoshanos after Sukos, and bury them properly?...
# 3184 Fuss the Feathers?
See question 3183 above. When the cat brought me a live bird it caught on Shabbos, there were feathers everywhere. Since I am allergic to them, I automatically cleaned them up. Then I wondered if the...
# 3183 For the Birds?
My cat brought me a live bird on Shabbos (door to backyard was open). Usually, when it does that on weekdays, I wrap it in a towel and release it before my cat kills it.- Fortunately, the bird went on...
# 3182 Watch Out for That Shemira
Can a woman be a Shomeres and watch over a deceased? Can the wife of the deceased do so?...
# 3181 To The Last Drop
If one made a bracha on a drink and it spilled out, is one mechuyev to take a drop with his finger from the floor?...
# 3180 Let The Minyan Count
If five people already davened and five need to daven, may one of those that already davened say a tefillas nedava so that there will be six mispallelim? May this be done in a case of need, such as wh...
# 3179 Lost in the Wash?
My wife entered a bathroom during davening in order to obtain a tissue or piece of toilet paper with which to blow her nose. A local Rebbetzin told her that even in such a case she is supposed to wash...
# 3178 Thank You, but Yes Thank You
The Mishna B’rura says that the reason, according to the Ramo, for joy on Lag BaOmer, is that the disciples of R. Akiva stopped dying on that day. The custom is to behave with signs of mourning ...
# 3177 Just a Handshake?
Re- question 3176 above. If I use a virtual office of the new Gather Town technology, with holographic Avatars that really resembles the person it represents and it shakes hands with a customer in a b...
# 3176 Look At Me!
I’m of a Chasidic background and I run an office for a company that is planing to update their Zoom office program, (as we work from home, and it is likely to continue) to the new Gather Town tec...