Ask The Rabbi
Halachic questions answered by Hagaon Rav Shlomo Miller Shlit'a
5,520 questions and answers
# 1437 Have a Happy Rosh Hashana
Dear Rov, I have some questions that have bothered me a long time. Q) Is there a mitzva of simcha on Rosh Hashana, as in every other Yom Tov, so a vegetarian should make an effort to eat meat?...
# 1436 That’s One For The Books
Can you make a siyum when you finish learning any sefer?...
# 1435 The End Justifies The Means?
May one make a siyum if certain parts were skipped (due to difficulty or other reason), but the vast majority of the tractate was learned? Does one need to go back and do the few parts that were ski...
# 1434 At Wits’ End
May one make a siyum if certain parts of the masechta were learned mentally, but not verbalized? May one make a siyum if he learned in English (Artscroll)?...
# 1433 You Are Not In Hot Water
Is it permitted to use hot water to wash dishes on Yom Tov? Are there any problems of machshirey ochel nefesh?...
# 1432 An Even Break
Kavod Harav, Q. If one spoke after hearing Kiddush and before drinking the wine (before the cup was passed to him), he has to bless again. but if one spoke after hamotzi, after the baal habayis took...
# 1431 Disagree To Agree
There is a popular Zemer sung on Shabbos morning beginning with the words "Chai HaShem Uvaruch Tzuri". Most of the stanzas, while not making any overt mention of Shabbos, are understandable. However,...
# 1430 Creative Question
Dear Rabbi, I am a writer, and someone pointed me to a website where people can put up videos of themselves teaching any subject they feel they know something about. People pay a monthly or yearl...
# 1429 No Plucking!
Is a man allowed to remove or shave body hair for the purpose of helping to control body odor? If so, is there a preferred method? Shinui? If so, may it be done during the three weeks? The nine days...
# 1428 Brochos - Like a Box Of Chocolates?
Shalom Harav I recently was zoche to host a talmud chacham for a shabbos seudah. When it came time for desert. we served chocolate, and fruit. Since the bracha on the fruit was recited first he ask...
# 1427 Cat In The Sack?
We are a family of Bnei Torah but we have had a cat for many years that grew up with our children and is like part of the family. The cat is old and sick, the vet says he has a kind of animal cancer a...
# 1426 Living The Dream
Dear Rabbi What is Horav Miller’s opinion in regards to someone who had a repeated dream that he should not travel to a mishpacha simcha in Israel, because it will end in a tragedy, Can he go? Does ...
# 1425 On Cloud Nine?
Is dreaming about or choosing the number nine also represented on the letter Tet (see question 1424) also a good siman or a lucky number?...
# 1424 Tet Is Tov
How true is it that if one dreams of the letter "טּ" (tet) at night when they’re sleeping, it’s really a good siman? Thank you!...
# 1423 A Cover Up
What is the reason for the custom to cover pictures in a house of mourning? Why was the custom enacted, seeing as photography was non-existent before 5587?...
# 1422 Mirrors Mirrors On The Walls
On a shiva house, does one uncover the mirrors on Shabbos? Why do some people remove the mirrors from the wall in the house of mourning, when the vast majority just covers them?...
# 1421 Together Is Better
Shalom Aleichem Harav! Q. I daven in a minyan that davens nusssach sefard; most of the mispallilm are not well versed with the nussach and revert to nussach ashkenass. The question is regarding t...
# 1420 Call In Sick
What is the reason for the custom to say that someone has "yener machla" instead of saying he has "cancer"?...
# 1419 Don’t Look - Just See
Can you tell other people about a solar eclipse?...
# 1418 Eclipsed Blessings
Does one make a brocho (ose mase bereshis) when watching the solar eclipse?...