Ask The Rabbi
Halachic questions answered by Hagaon Rav Shlomo Miller Shlit'a
5,521 questions and answers
# 801 Lo Yoda Mordechai
After hearing our Baal Korei attempt to read Mordechai’s name in the Megillah with the pronunciation of the Chataf Komatz under the Dales, I realized that he was pronouncing it like a Komatz. Ost...
# 800 A Lift With a Real Lift
If I drive to the supermarket (see prior question #799) can I give my neighbors a lift when I know that they are buying non-kosher meat?...
# 799 Don't Bug the Neighbors
I help my non-religious elderly neighbors by doing shopping for them. When requested can I buy raspberries for them? If I instruct them how to wash them properly and inspect them, can I trust them tha...
# 798 Privacy @ Work?
Can an employer check the e mails of the people that work for him and suspects they may use his computers and paid time for their own private benefit?...
# 797 Just the Fax.
Is it permitted to pick up an open fax from the office’s fax machine, to see for whom it is, since you would be reading the information of someone else?...
# 796 Return To Sender
Since my business e mail address is similar to someone else, I sometimes get sent this individual’s e mails by mistake. (I know it is not for me because I have no dealings with the sender. I have...
# 795 Who Cut Down the Cherry Tree?
Can you cut branches from fruit trees, for Shavuos decorations? Many Poskim permit cutting branches from a fruit tree for use in the Suka or for Shavuos decorations since they maintain that the p...
# 794 Come to Shul, Get the Real Deal
Can you use artificial plastic plants and flowers for Shavuos decorations?...
# 793 Please Don't Touch the Display
Are they (plant decorations placed at home or shul) muktza on Shabbos or Yom Tov?...
# 792 Mame-Loshon Omer
Can someone count the Omer in his mother tongue when it is not the language of the country where he is?...
# 791 Deck The Halls?
Since the branches placed on Shavuos are from trees, is it permitted to place them in shul or even at home?...
# 790 My Family Tree?
Can one cut branches with flowers from city owned trees on the street (close to the curb) to be used for Shavuos decorations in a shul or house? (presumably the city won’t mind if it is only a fe...
# 789 Code Count
Can sefira be counted using Morse code or encrypted script?...
# 788 Sign Language counts?
Re- question above (785) on twitting sefira on a phone. Would someone who can’t speak comply with sefira by using the sign language he always communicates with? Or if you are asked what is the sefira ...
# 787 or ΨΠΖ or תשפ"ז
Would Rav Miller know why in the traditional Talmudic Hebrew or Aramaic we use letters for numerals, when that makes it so awkward for doing any math? Didn’t our sages ever make elaborated mathematica...
# 785 # Sefira
During sefira I twitter a reminder in the early night to the members of our college students group to count sefira. It has happened that I have forgotten to count myself later on when I miss mariv in ...
# 786 Do I Have To Spell It Out?
Does it make a difference (when twitting sefira, see prior question) if the twitter contains only numbers for the day to be counted (eg: today is day 36 = 5 weeks and 1 day Laomer. No words were used ...
# 784 Face the Music During Sefira
Out of curiosity, if someone‘s death sentence will be carried out during sefira, does he count with a bracha?...
# 783 Don’t Count on Me?
A very ill patient who the doctors say could go into coma soon and is not expected to remain alive more than a week; can he still count sefira with a bracha?...
#782 Read My Lips
Can someone count for a chole who can’t speak, if he is aware and just moves his lips?...