Ask The Rabbi
Halachic questions answered by Hagaon Rav Shlomo Miller Shlit'a
5,912 questions and answers
# 1629 Not Worth One’s Salt
I received once a very beautiful silver set of filled salt and pepper shakers; did the people who send them comply with the mitzva of mishloach mannot? does the salt and pepper count as two foods lech...
# 1628 Not Mishenichnas Odor
Hello Rav, Q. The kitzur Shulchan Aruch (5:11) says that after flatulating, its forbidden to utter any holy words until the odor is gone. Would the same apply to thinking Torah thoughts or reading ...
# 1627 Love Will Find A Way
The mitzvah of loving Hashem is in essence only a feeling and emotion of the heart. This being similar to fearing Hashem. Are those feelings, without images or added thoughts, permitted when one is i...
# 1626 Gentile’s Torah Show and Tell
I have to do a show and tell on some cultural artifact for school. Class is all non-Jews. Am I allowed to show them my tzitzis and explain the basic ideas behind this mitzvah, or is it forbidden to te...
# 1625 Good Bye To Good Bye?
Hello Rav, The Kitzur Shulchan Aruch (5:14) says its forbidden to speak (or think) sacred matters (davar sh’b’kedushah) in a bathhouse (meirchatz). I’m wondering how to apply this hala...
# 1624 Thoughts For Food
Re- your questions 1595-1598 on permitted liquid marijuana tincture drops for one that is medically recommended in its use. Can you be yoitze with shalach manos if you send a vial of the tincture sinc...
# 1623 The Law of the Spirit
If one sends hard liquor as one of the manos on Purim, is that valid? A normal person can drink only a very small amount of this liquor, so perhaps it should be considered that one sent only a small a...
# 1622 Not The Brightest Bulb?
What is Rav Shlomo’s opinion is regards to the shabbulb use on Shabbos? It is described on their web page as: The SHABBULB is certified to hide and reveal light with no risk of violating the laws of...
# 1621 Gifted in Gifting
Biur Halacha brings from Chayei Adam that the mishloach manos have to be in accordance with the chashivus of the recipient (if giving to a wealthy person, one has to give something that he will apprec...
# 1620 Nuts About Nuts
Flying a night flight towards New York from Eretz Yisroel on an El Al plane, probably most passengers are Jewish. A passenger boarded the plane and put his large stash of nuts in the pocket of the sea...
# 1619 Oy or Joy to the Goy
(See question 1617 above) My second question, is that although the term, “goy” simply means a person of the nations, it seems to always be used in the pejorative. How can we be Or HaGoyim if we look d...
# 1618 Two For One
I saw that the Sefer HaChinuch divides Mishpatim into two separate Sidrot, each with its own count of mitzvos. He calls the second one “Im Kesef”. Why?...
# 1617 Playing The Organ?
Dear Rabbi, Q. At a recent community event the issue of organ donation came up in discussion. A person who claimed to be knowledgeable in Halacha stated that Jews should not donate their organs s...
# 1616 Minor Details
Is it permitted to count a katan (6 or 7 years old) for a minyan if he is holding a sefer Torah? Is this a fulfillment of tefilla b’tzibbur? Or should I leave and go daven in a normal minyan with...
# 1615 Bris Milah Or Bris Torah?
I learned that attending a bris milah is a great mitzvah that enables one to have all his sins forgiven, and it is a eis ratzon to daven when the baby is crying. Therefore, whenever I hear that there ...
# 1614 Quick Study
Why does Rashi mention that we learn on “ushmartem es hamatzos,” that we should do a mitzvah immediately, we know that already from “vayashkem Avrohom baboker?”...
# 1613 Sing Along?
(Re question 1590 in regards to the song Leshana Haba’ah Beyrushalaim Habenuya, where Horav Shlomo Miller Shlit’a mentioned that for someone already living in Yerushalaim, the correct nusach would be ...
# 1612 The Neighborhood Good Flood
My son asked me how the animals which appear to be indigenous to Australia only (for example), arrived there after the flood? Were they there before the flood? Were they destroyed by the flood? Were t...
# 1611 Fate Worse Than Death?
Re- question 1561 where we wrote; “The Torah rules (Bereshis 9:5 ), “the blood of your own lives I will demand of you.” (Baba Kama 91b) and looses his part in Olam Habaah, therefore Shulchan Aruch (Y....
# 1610 Change Results
Do you say sheheyanu on new fruits that come from grafted trees or were genetically engineered?...