Ask The Rabbi
Halachic questions answered by Hagaon Rav Shlomo Miller Shlit'a
5,519 questions and answers
# 2297 It's a Dogs Life
I reside in a town where it is illegal to feed stray animals including dogs. There is a stray dog that from time to time shows up in our front yard and definitely looks as starving. I have called the ...
# 2296 Food for the Birds
A pair of pigeons have made a nest on the windowsill of my roofless but enclosed porch and the two eggs have already hatched into the cutest pair and fastest-growing little pigeons I have ever had the...
# 2295 Stay Tuned
Parshas Devarim is usually read before Tisha Beav or as in this year on Tisha Beav that is nidche, since there is no avelus in Shabbos. Why do many read on kerias Hatorah the posuk of: "Eicha essa leb...
# 2294 A Mixed Blessing
At a bris the mohel had a bit of a cold, so he asked someone else present to do the mitzva of metzitza (oral suction of the blood). What should be done then when reciting the Horachaman by the end of ...
# 2293 Show Why we Don't Show the Door
On Shabbos, in a reshus harabbim, (no eiruv), there is a Jew who is standing outside a shul because he does not know the password to open the door. The Jew is holding a bag (a mechallel Shabbos r"l). ...
# 2292 Good Things Come to Those Who Wait
One who is being driven to the mountains and suddenly remembers that he did not daven Maariv yet, and he can tell the driver to pull over and wait 15 minutes while he davens with a minyan (the last av...
# 2291 Eyes to the Feast
Can one eat meat\chicken Motzei Tishah B’av this year since the fast is a nidche?...
# 2290 Baby Blues?
Can you make a Sholom Zochor for a newborn baby on Shabbos Chazon that is also Tisha Beav (nidche) as in this year....
# 2289 An Easy Pill to Swallow
I was under the impression that one can take the pre-fasting pills. This (quotation bellow from dailyhalacha@aol.com) clearly says not "One should not say that one is eating to have strength for th...
# 2288 Encase the Staircase Case
In question 2280 you wrote that in a house where the basement is rented out to men, there is no prohibition of yichud (men and women secluding together) for the woman on the higher floor, if the door ...
# 2287 Rags or Riches
For those of us that follow the custom cited in the Ramo to wear weekday clothing on Shabbos Chazon, a custom that was practiced throughout the Rhineland for generations, is it OK for us to circulate ...
# 2286 Only Kosher Spirits?
(See above question 2283). Does it make a difference on food and drinks kept in a hospital room, if the patient who perished was a Jew or not?...
# 2285 Sure Cure?
(See above question 2283), Does one have to be concerned on food and drinks kept in a hospital room, if even when the patient recovered and went home, maybe someone else passed away during that time i...
# 2284 A Deadly Cover Story
(See above question 2283). Does it make a difference if the food and drinks kept in a hospital room when the patient died there, where still sealed or where covered?...
# 2283 Not a Kindred Spirit
Is it permitted to consume food or drinks that were kept in a hospital room when the patient died there?...
# 2282 Spot Check
Can one remove during the nine days only the stains and spots from clothing, without washing the garment? During the Nine Days, may one remove "ring around the collar" (sweat stains that form around ...
# 2281 Holds Promise?
Is there a source to the minhag that some have to perform a ceremony of Hatarat Nedarim,when a person is a goses or moribund and about to pass away? This is done for the purpose of absolving the dying...
# 2280 A Staircase Case
We have an open staircase going down to the basement of our house. We were thinking of making the basement into a home office. How much of a door would have to be added to prevent any issues of Yihud ...
# 2279 Giving a Hand
If women related to a dying father in law, uncle or similar visit him and want to hold his hand to provide much needed support, care and appreciation, is that permitted?...
# 2278 Finishing Davening
Since, (see prior question 2277), in our days it is difficult to ascertain when a terminally ill patient has reached the stage of becoming a goses, when should the tefilos and the tehilim as well as t...