Ask The Rabbi
Halachic questions answered by Hagaon Rav Shlomo Miller Shlit'a
5,520 questions and answers
# 2035 Snowed Inn
My kids build almost every year an igloo to play, eat and enjoy there games with their friends. Since we live in Montreal, the igloo stays up for usually 3 months or more. We want to join them for fun...
# 2034 Shed Some Light
Does a shed used in the backyard for storing a lawn mower, bicycles, water hoses etc. require a mezuza? Do you say a bracha?...
# 2033 Old Wine in New Bottles
Wine decanters have become a popular gift for a Shabbos or Yom Tov table. The reason to use this specialized bottles is to decant an aerate the wine. (Many young wines can be tight or closed on the no...
# 2032 The Fire-Millionaire Questionnaire
Is it true what they say that after suffering a fire one acquires wealth? (Noch a sreifa vert men raich - Yidish)....
# 2031 Searching For An Intelligence Answer
My ex-yeshiva bochur friend, is a specialized forensic accountant that works for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. He expertly searches and traces funds that could be used for terrorism purpos...
# 2030 Just Take a Look
Re- prior question 1985 - You also mentioned that the other side of a mechitza is not part of the shul, and people davening there are not part of the minyan. However, in many shuls men daven there whe...
# 2029 Silent Partners
On question 1989 you mentioned that" Rema (O.H. 156: 1) rules that Gentiles unlike Jews, who believe and serve G-d, are not proscribed from serving at the same time other gods, since they are not proh...
# 2028 Lost on Translation
In the beginning of Devarim is says that Hashem told Moshe to explain the Torah during the last forty days of his life in seventy languages. Why were they required to hear the Torah in all languages...
# 2027 I See The Light
If during Havdala the electric room lights are off, but the people on the corners of the large room can hardly benefit from that light, should they light another candle and repeat the bracha after Hav...
# 2026 The Smell Test
If many people are present when Havdala is said and it would take a long time, probably more than the time it takes to recite the complete Havdala, for everyone to smell the besamim, what should be do...
# 2025 Keep Their Name
(See question 2014 above). Would it be recommended that if the name given to an institution, was given "Leilui Nishmas" of one of his relatives, the donor should agree that at least those names, witho...
# 2024 Clear His Name
Someone donated a large sum to an institution and was therefore granted that his name should be given to it. Years later, the donor decided that he does not want the institution to carry his name anym...
# 2023 Play Your Cards Right
(See question 2022 above). Can someone staying in a hotel during Shabbat give the plastic card key for opening the room-door to a friend that uses that card key on Shabbat? The holder of the key uses ...
# 2022 Milk of Human Kindness?
Is it permitted for someone that is careful to eat only products that contain Chalav Yisrael, to serve to his guest that eat non Chalav-Yisrael pastries and chocolates as long as they have proper Kash...
# 2021 Thanks, But No Thanks
In past years, when rainfall has been middling, Rabbanim in Eretz Yisroel (and perhaps other countries) have called for extra tefillos to appeal to Hashem to send rain – so with this year’s surfeit of...
# 2020 Pump the Shailah
My one use hand soap pumps which turn the soap in to a foam, on Shabbos?...
# 2019 A Non-Baruch Bracha?
Can I fullfill my obligation to say a bracha, if I omit the word baruch? Or if I replace baruch with the word mishubach? (Because the words which baruch (or a word for root brch) is paralleled with ...
# 2018 The Impact of the No-Pact
The Baal HaTurim writes (Sh’mos 1:1) that the Yidden were redeemed from Egypt because they kept Shabbos and Milah there. How is it possible that they kept Milah? It says in Sh’mos Rabbah (1...
# 2017 A Pareve Shailah
Hello Rav, I like to use leftover Shabbas Challah to eat with dairy on Sunday mornings. In order to do this, I remove the extra challah from the table before the meat course (leaving just a small one...
# 2016 Of Dogs and Donkeys
Why were the dogs in parshas Bo rewarded with only scraps of treif animals, while the donkeys were honored with the holiness of kedushas bechora?...