Halachah

by R. Daniel Mann Question: Sometimes I serve the same salad at a fleishig meal and again at a milchig meal. My daughter told me that her friend’s family does not do that. Is it okay? Answer: The main source on such issues involves bread. The Shulchan Aruch (Yoreh Deah 89:4) rules (based on a Yerushalmi in Pesachim, cited by ...

by R. Daniel Mann Question: Is it permitted to remove loose hair on Shabbat, which usually includes ripping it, that has gotten stuck in a necklace?    Answer: There are three potential Shabbat prohibitions that need to be addressed: borer (selecting), muktzeh, and koreiah (ripping). We have discussed in the past (see Living the Halachic Process, vol. IV, C-5) a similar ...

by R. Daniel Mann Question: When I tied a pair of tzitzit, I tied a double knot to the garment and for the final knot, but for the three knots in between the chulyot (subsections of string wrappings), I tied single knots. Is that sufficient?   Answer: The gemara (Menachot 39a) posits that the “upper knot” of tzitzit is a Torah-level ...

by R. Daniel Mann Question: My own question: What observations can we make about the way halachic rulings were made and disseminated during the first stage of the coronavirus crisis?  Answer: As a “student of the history of the halachic process,” I find breathtaking the difference in the tools available in reaching halachic rulings and sharing them in today’s society ...

by R. Daniel Mann Question: In what direction should one turn when getting up to “Bo’i B’shalom” at the end of Lecha Dodi? Many shuls seems to have confusion on the matter.   Answer: The practice of welcoming the Shabbat “bride” in a special physical manner has its roots at least a thousand years before Rav Shlomo Alkabetz wrote Lecha Dodi ...

by R. Daniel Mann Question: When I eat a fruit and drink, if I finish the fruit but will continue drinking for quite a while, when should I recite Borei Nefashot? If I do it after finishing the fruit, should I make a new beracha on the drink?     Answer: Even if you did not eat a fruit, what to do ...

by R. Daniel Mann Question: If one answers an inquiry about what day of the omer it is and does not count again that day, may he count the next day with a beracha? If yes, an onen (before funeral of close relative, who does not perform mitzvot) for a full day of sefira should be able to simulate such ...

by R. Daniel Mann Question: When visiting a hospital, I saw a kohen alert sign. Upon leaving, should I have done netilat yadayim due to exposure to tumah? Answer: We will first survey the point of netilat yadayim in various cases including yours.  When one becomes tameh on the level of Torah law in a manner that he needs rechitza ...

by R. Daniel Mann Question: When minyanim closed, I started davening vatikin (starting Shemoneh Esrei (=SE) at hanetz hachama (sunrise=netz)). If I do not know precisely when netz is, is it better to err on the side of starting SE before or after netz?    Answer: That is a noble approach (see Living the Halachic Process II, A-5 on whether vatikin ...

by R. Daniel Mann Question: When minyanim are taking place with the permission of health authorities under social distancing rules, what should be done to separate “functionaries”? Answer: [This is being written as small outdoor minyanim just became re-permitted in Israel, and little has been written on the topic. Health rules may change by the time the column is read, ...