Ask The Rabbi
Halachic questions answered by Hagaon Rav Shlomo Miller Shlit'a
5,912 questions and answers
# 1589 A Touching Question
What is Horav Miller’s opinion on a blind person reading the parsha (shnaim mikra) in Braille, is that considered reading? Is it better than listening to someone else reading?...
# 1588 Translation To Follow....
Is someone does not understand the Hebrew or the Targum, does he comply if he listens to a tape? or even if he just reads it from the chumash, without knowing what he is saying?...
# 1587 Read, The Answer
What should the blind or the mute do in regards to the shnaim mikra mitzva? Are they obligated at all? Should they listen to someone else reading or even to a tape?...
# 1586 Reason To Listen
Can someone comply with shnaim mikra if he listens to a tape while he is driving?...
# 1585 Then Again
Does an avel sitting shiva read the parsha shnaim mikra, since he is prohibited in Torah learning?...
# 1584 Let’s Do It Again
There is a well known remez on the beginning letters of the word Shemos for reading the parsha every week twice mikra (text) and once targum, (Aramaic translation). Why is the allusion here at the be...
# 1583 Burial in De-Nile?
How come Yosef was placed in a coffin and then sunken into the bottom of the Nile, is that not a bitul of the mitzva of kebura, since you cannot bury in water?...
# 1582 The Brake-Bread Fix
On Shabbos, if an individual (invited) at the meal has a dietary restriction and can only eat certain special types of bread (e.g., gluten free, spelt), should the special loaf (even if it is not whol...
# 1581 A Rain Check
The Eida Chareidis in Yerusholayim posted an announcement that the population should begin saying the addition of "Va’aneinu Borei Olam" in the Bracha of Shomei’a Tefilah, since the dearth o...
# 1580 All Year Round
I heard from a chasidisher fellow that even if you answer daily to a “gut morgen” greeting in Yidish, a “gut yohr,” as many do, on New Year’s day you should avoid saying it, because of the connotation...
# 1579 A Promise Is a Promise
If I made a shevuah and use Hashem’s name A’’D, but I pronounce it as adinoy. i.e. (The daleth was pronounced with a chiriq). I am obligated to keep the shevuah – is this a shevuah according to the To...
# 1578 A Cover Story
Can one get undressed or have marital relations in a room were seforim or English Torah magazine articles are kept in a closed night-table drawer?...
# 1577 Lost in the Translation?
(See question above) Can one get undressed in front of closed printed seforim dealing with Torah topics written in English or other languages?...
# 1576 In Respect To...
Is it allowed to get undressed in front of sforim/mezuzos? If the sforim are closed?...
# 1575 Don’t Bottle Up
I received a bottle of whiskey as a gift from a non-religious Jew. Do I need to be concerned that it was possibly owned by him during Pesach (e.g., maybe he keeps whiskey in his house year round and w...
# 1574 Bury One’s Head In the Sand?
My friend’s sister-in-law does not keep mitzvos, except for Shmiras HaLoshon, which she keeps rigorously. She is also "married" to a gentile. Should she die, is someone obligated to inform the ...
# 1573 It’s a Pleasure
I would like to take the opportunity to thank Rav Miller, Rav Bartfeld, and the rest of the dedicated staff that are involved in Ask the Rabbi for their prompt attention to our questions, complex or o...
# 1572 Hear the End Of It
A congregation voted almost unanimously (two abstentions) to appoint Rabbi Ploni. After the vote was held, a few important members, though non elected by the congregation and not appointed specificall...
# 1571 Don’t Get Carried Away
I attended a city-wide gathering called for by Horav Shlomo in 2000 in which he asked the city to take upon themselves to not use the Eruv (i.e., not to be meikal just because it’s there and avai...
# 1570 Wine and Din
One has a choice to either make Havdalah himself and let someone else drink the wine, or to delay making Havdalah until a little bit later and make it himself and drink the wine. (If he does the first...