Rabbis in Bais Din Question I am the rabbi of a large shul in America. Recently, I was summoned to bais din by some of my congregants who were upset with me, and I feel that the head of the bais din spoke to me with a tremendous lack of respect. He called me “adon,” a colloquial term for “Mr.,” and did not show even the slightest drop of respect for me. I understand that the dayanim are supposed to be impartial, but I really feel hurt by the way I was treated in bais din. Is

Benefiting From Withholding Tzedokah Question I have a relative who is struggling financially and needs a significant amount of money each month just to get by. I have a certain amount of money that I give every month, and if I take care of his needs, I will not be able to give to anyone else. Since relatives come first, I would like to know if I am obligated to give him all of my tzedokah money and not give to any other tzedakos. While we are on the subject of tzedokah, I ha

Hot Dog Eating Contests Question I am running a camp this summer, and we are trying to decide which activities we should plan. One person suggested that we have a hot dog eating contest, i.e., a contest to see who can eat the most hot dogs within a ten-minute span of time. My question is: If a person eats a massive number of hot dogs all at once, e.g., 20 hot dogs in buns within ten minutes, does he need to recite Birkas Hamazon afterward or is this included in what Chazal ca

Question I am a yungerman learning Gemara and halacha b’iyun with the she’ifah (goal) to, be”H, eventually serve as a posek. Recently, I came across two klalei hora’ah that are unclear to me, and if possible, I would like to ask Rav Auerbach to clarify them. D. Halevi Yerushalayim Safeik Pelugta Question My first question is in regard to one of the klalei hora’ah cited by the Mishnah Berurah (318:2). The Mishnah Berurah explains that when there is a case of doubt involving a

Tea in a Kli Shlishi Question May I make tea in a kli shlishi on Shabbos? Rav Auerbach The Chazon Ish ruled that kalei habishul are cooked even in a kli shlishi. However, the Mishnah Berurah (318:47) rules that it is permitted to put bread into a kli shlishi, and we do not say that there is bishul after afiyah. There are those who claim that there is a difference between that halacha and the halacha of kalei habishul, bringing proof from the fact that the Mishnah Berurah (ibi

Question Last Shabbos, my wife and I went to a tzimmer (an Israeli bungalow), and we forgot to bring a blech. We got to the tzimmer right before Shabbos, and my wife, who went to a choshuve seminary and knows halacha very well, ruled that we would have to forgo putting the half-cooked cholent on the fire that Shabbos. I myself learned in yeshiva, and I never really studied halacha, but I did learn Maseches Shabbos with Daf Yomi. It seems to me that the halachos listed there a

Question For the past 20 years, I have been hosting a minyan on Tisha B’Av in my home. During the minyan, we recite 13 selected Kinnos, all connected to a central theme, which is explained at length before they are recited by the rov associated with the minyan. This year’s theme is shirah—that just as we sing Hallel on the chag, so too, on Tisha B’Av, the Kinnos we recite are actually a form of shirah. The Kinnos place into perspective all of the tzaros that Klal Yisroel has

Question My brother and I are baalei teshuvah and we have a very interesting question to ask the rov. Before my father married our mother, he was engaged to a non-Jew. When his fiancée discovered that my father was Jewish, she got cold feet. Although he was able to convince her to go ahead with the wedding, she insisted that before they married, he first had to get baptized, Rachmana litzlan. My father very much wanted to marry this woman and he agreed. On the day the baptism

Question I have seen that people are very lenient regarding eating meat at a siyum during the Nine Days, and that even people who were not directly connected to the learning eat meat. I would like to know the parameters of this leniency. For example, if someone made a siyum in a restaurant, may everyone in the restaurant eat meat, even if they had no connection whatsoever to the siyum? On a similar note, I have been learning Sefer Yehoshua with a chavrusa once a week for over

Question Every day, I catch Mincha at a shtiebel. There are a lot of minyanim going on simultaneously, and each minyan can hear what is going on in the other one. I have the following questions: 1. If I hear the minyan next door reciting Kaddish or Kedusha, but I have already started Shemoneh Esrei by saying “Hashem sefosai tiftoch,” can I answer Kaddish or Kedusha and then go back to my Shemoneh Esrei, or is it forbidden for me to answer? 2. If after reciting “Hashem sefosai

Question My son is seven years old and is highly active. We were a little surprised on Purim when he decided to dress up like Robin Hood, who was famous for stealing from the rich and giving to the poor. When he started stealing candies from the local grocery store and distributing them to his friends, we retroactively understood why he had chosen that particular costume. We are doing everything possible to direct our son on the right path and to channel his energy into more

Question I am in the process of building a moshav called “The Shteitel” right outside of Yerushalayim, next to the neighborhood of Kochav Hashachar. The moshav will, be’ezras Hashem, have a kollel, and our goal is for English-speaking Jews to settle and live a simpler and more Torahdike life, like we once had in the shtetel. I would like to ask the rov for advice on how we can set up “The Shteitel” and its kollel in a way that will facilitate maximum growth in avodas Hashem f