Ask The Rabbi
Halachic questions answered by Hagaon Rav Shlomo Miller Shlit'a
5,519 questions and answers
# 2258 Dress the Ship?
If someone lives in a houseboat or a large boat, does he have to place mezuzos?...
# 2257 Coming In into His Boat
(Re- questions 2254, 2255 above) What if the person lives on a houseboat or a boat year round or just in the Summer? Does he have to have an eruv built around the boat to carry in and out?...
# 2256 A Point of Honor
Does one have to honor a Cohen with the mitzva of Vekidashto, to be first when entering a room, or to take food first when no mitzva is being performed?...
# 2255 Don't Rock the Boat?
Can someone enter a boat that is tied up to a dock on Shabbat?...
# 2254 Resorts for a Resort
Hi, we are going to Gibraltar for Shabbos and they have a hotel there that’s called the Sonburn Hotel. It is a boat that used to be in use. Now they took out the engine and they docked it with me...
# 2253 Buoys and their Toys
Are water toys like tubes, floats and inflatable mattress that are outside the water muktze on Shabbos? Since their primary use is for swimming inside the water, which is not allowed on Shabbos can y...
# 2252 Panic Button Help
An apartment next to a hospital, donated (to Bikur Cholim) primarily for providing necessary lodging of family staying with patients during during Shabbos, has two bedrooms permitting the stay of indi...
# 2251 Oh Say Can You Sing?
B"H Shalom, Dear Rabbi, Would it be ok to use the tune of the American national hymn (or the Canadian) for davening, such as Lechah Dodi or any other part of davening? (Perhaps as Hakarat hatov, c...
# 2250 A Teshuva to do Teshuva
A shul has a rather recent takana that no aliya to the Torah should be given to someone who does not keep Shabbat. Recently a group of youngsters were engaged on being mekarev a friend who’s fami...
# 2249 Doesn't Add Up
We became accustomed in our shul to announce when reading Parshas Ki Teitze, that one should have in mind to comply with the mitzva of remembering Mechias Amalek (the destruction of the Amalekites), s...
# 2248 Really! Again?
Regarding the minhag of fasting erev Shabbos Parshas Chukas (one who is accustomed to do so or made a neder to do so), one fasted in Israel and then came to Canada or America where the parsha is leine...
# 2247 Fast Talk
What is the source for some fasting on Erev Shabbos Parshas Chukas? Why would there be a fasting day on Erev Shabbos when we usually avoid it? A, Magen Avrohom (580: 9) and Mishna Berura (580: 16) ...
# 2246 Like a Kid in a Candy Shul
The candy-man in our shul gives out lollipops of different colors to children on Shabbat, often more than one if they so request. Is it permitted for him to give a candy of one color to child who is a...
# 2245 All In Good Time
A Kolel family lo alenu tragically lost a baby by smoke inhalation some years ago in a house fire, the rest of the family B’H survived. They sued the manufacturers of an appliance that caused the...
# 2244 What Can I Tell You?
When the economic situation of a family is known widely in the country they reside, can someone inform others of it in a different country? Is this a case of an item that is already publicly and openl...
# 2243 Expounding the Spread
Someone that has from very dry skin on his hands and thus suffers greatly, can he put some Vaseline on them on Shabbos?...
# 2242 A Hot Water Test
Our water kettle stopped working on Shabbos and we went to the neighbors to get some hot water. Can you cover the utensil with a towel to keep the water hot? Can you use a thermos flask if you leave i...
# 2241 What Was the Name Again?
In a simcha of a large family that share one grandfather, there may be cousins that share the same name. What is to be done if there are 2 people with the same name and the name was called for an aliy...
# 2240 Say Yes to the Yeast?
B"H Shalom. Dear Rabbi, Recently, scientists in Israel were able to reproduce wine and beer from remnants of yeast they had found in jugs (estimated to be from 850 BCE found in Gath near Yerushalayi...
# 2239 The Rack on the Rack
Does one have to tovel (immerse in a mikva) the metal racks inside a stove oven? With a brocho?...