Ask The Rabbi
Halachic questions answered by Hagaon Rav Shlomo Miller Shlit'a
5,519 questions and answers
# 4565 Enlightening New Lights
Dear Rov. Can one, when no other option is available, such as when a patient is in hospital or one is traveling by plane use halogen lights for Chanuka?...
# 4564 It’s About Time
How long is the time that the lights of the Menorah have to remain lighted?...
# 4563 A Helpful Wife?
Is it proper and even desirable that the wife should be the one to fix and prepare the family menorah for lighting, as she usually does with the Shabbat candles?...
# 4562 Enlightening the Lighting
Can a patient that can’t light a fire on his Menorah by hospital rules, and has not anyone else to light for him outside the hospital use an electric battery menorah? Horav Shlomo Miller’s Shlit’a ...
# 4561 Protect the Serve
Can one use an electric light for the ‘Shamash’ (central light in the Menorah)?...
# 4560 On Bond Respond
Lechvod Harav Shlita. A couple of weeks I submitted a question on whether it is permissible to buy State of Israel bonds. My cousin in Sweden had asked me to buy a bond for a Bar Mitzvah boy because h...
# 4559 The Good Old Oil?
Should one use the leftover olive oil from last year Chanuka that looks and tastes O.K. or should one better buy new fresh oil? How about sealed oil cups with a wick already in them? How about if one ...
# 4558 Chag Chanuka?
See question above. Since I’m making a Siyum for my mother’s Shloshim honor, should it be better done during Chanuka as it will be a full seudah banquet serving meat and wine?...
# 4557 A Freilech’n Chanuka?
An Avel that during the thirty days after the death of his mother leads the services at the Amud. does he have to do it next week, after all Chanuka is called a ‘Chag’?...
# 4556 Uncovering the Uncovered
Dear Rabbi. Is it permitted ‘lekatchila’ (on the onset) to use olive oil for Chanuka lights that was left uncovered overnight in a bottle? Horav Shlomo Miller’s Shlit’a opinion is that as the Talmu...
# 4555- A Shining Lie
I inherited from my parents a most beautiful large “silver” Chanuka Menorah. It truly shines and reflects the best of what we can imagine a silver menorah would look like. Yet, it was as often is, onl...
# 4554 In Pain and in Joy
Kvod Harav. During the last days, as also published in Frum Toronto, some Jewish hostages have and are being released from Hamas captivity and it really is a true miracle. I wonder, just as much a...
#4553 Join In and Enjoy
The tradition of my family is to light the Chanuka candles on a Menorah that is outside in the front of the house and inside a glass box to protect it from winds and rain. In our days when terrible an...
# 4552 Black Market Day?
Is it permitted to go shopping on Black Friday?...
# 4551 Get The Picture?
At a weekly shiur that I attend we were discussing Lo Taasun Itti and we were wondering if 3D holograms of humans would violate it?...
# 4550 Is this Bar a Mitzvah?
Dear Rabbi Bartfeld shelitah: We would like to know if this document (copy sent to you) issued by the Rabbinical Alliance of America is enough to bar the man named from coming to our shul? He is obvi...
# 4549 If The Shoe Fits...
Dear Rabbi Bartfeld, I seem to remember your saying that footwear would be OK to use if it hadn’t been worn 30 days prior. Is that correct? Does the same apply to footwear used by women? Tha...
# 4548 Not a Patch in Ponim
Can one use a piece of a still usable but not actually constantly being used old taalis, that is kept in a shul for the ones that need it, as when visiting. This is now needed to make a patch of that ...
# 4547 Fast Fix For Fast
Does someone have to fast if when entering early to shul, he sees of a pair of Tefilin laying on the ground, that apparently fell from their bag when the shul was being cleaned?...
# 4546 A Blessing that is Not the Last
Why is there no mention of Chanuka when reciting the Beracha Acharona for Mezonot or wine? If someone wants to say it anyway is it correct?...