Halachah

by R. Daniel Mann Question: When I make Shabbat early, I make a break in the meal to recite Kri’at Shema when its time comes. Recently, a guest told me that this is not only unnecessary but one is called a hedyot (a moderately derogatory term) for doing so. Should I change my practice? Answer: The mishna (Shabbat 9b) lists ...

by R. Gil Student In the world of increased mobility in which we live, issues of custom become more complex than in the past. The Mishnah and Gemara (Pesachim 50a-51a) speak about someone who travels from a place that has one custom to a place that has another. If he is moving, and not just visiting, then he should adopt ...

by R. Daniel Mann Question: Must the tefillin shel rosh be exactly in the middle of the head, to the extent that some people spend several seconds fixing it in front of a mirror? Answer: [We saw a machloket whether the middle is a line on or (more likely) an area of the head. We will now search for the ...

by R. Daniel Mann Question: Must the tefillin shel rosh be exactly in the middle of the head, to the extent that some people spend several seconds adjusting it in front of a mirror? Answer: We have writing several times that the main issue with the position of tefillin shel rosh is their likelihood to be too far down. But ...

by R. Gil Student After Jews were formally expelled from Christian countries, those who remained had to convert to Christianity and maintain their Jewish identities at the risk of their lives. Many attempted to escape to Muslim countries, like Turkey, where they could live as Jews with relative freedom. One woman’s challenges in her difficult trek to freedom are catalogued in a ...

by R. Daniel Mann Question: [Adapted from part of a din Torah.] Reuven sold his car to Shimon (who paid immediately) and was to give the car to Shimon a week later. When Shimon received the car, the air conditioning was not working. Reuven apologized and said that his garage had promised to fix it already and that they would do so within a ...

by R. Daniel Mann Question: What is done differently this year, when Tisha B’Av falls on Shabbat and is pushed off to Sunday? Answer: Seuda Shlishit: The baraita (cited in Ta’anit 29a) says that one may eat an extravagant meal on Shabbat even when Tisha B’Av falls on Motzaei Shabbat. The Tur (Orach Chayim 552) cites minhagim that one is ...

by R. Daniel Mann Question: I am Ashkenazi. I was eating with a Sephardi and a katan (under bar mitzva). Were we supposed to do a zimun? Answer: We start with the only source I found on the topic, which provides practical (intuitively logical) guidance without explanation. Then we will provide the background and critique the ruling. V’zot Haberacha (p. ...

by R. Daniel Mann Question: Teenagers have been congregating in front of my apartment building, making noise, dropping cups and cigarette butts in our garden, etc. Many of them sit on the wall between our property and the sidewalk. One of my neighbors has begun to smear machine oil, to damage the clothes of the wall-sitters and thus discourage their ...

by R. Daniel Mann Question: My community has a small minyan for Kabbalat Shabbat that accepts Shabbat early, and no second minyan (there is a larger minyan for the rest of Shabbat). Must I accept Shabbat at the time the early minyan does, which is sometimes difficult for me? Answer: The Shulchan Aruch (Orach Chayim 263:12) rules, based on the ...