Rosh Yeshiva Responds
Rabbi Linzer answers halakhic questions from rabbis and community members
A woman who is nursing a seven-week-old baby feels that it will be difficult for her to fast while drinking with shiurim (measured intervals). What is the ruling?
First, I would ask whether it would be manageable to drink at intervals of 30 seconds, within the range of opinions for kedei shetiyat revi’it (the time it takes to drink a revi’it;
If I blow shofar just for my wife later in the day, should she make both berakhot herself and I just blow?
Correct – she should make the berkahot. See the Rema (SA OH 589:6):
If someone blows shofar for another person before the main communal shofar blowing and is already yotzei the mitzvah, can he recite the berakhah again when blowing for the congregation later?
Yes. See the Rema (SA OH 585:2) and MB there (585:5):
קודם שיתקע, יברך “לשמוע קול שופר” ויברך “שהחיינו”.
הגה: ואין חילוק בין אם יברך לעצמו, או שכבר יצא ומברך להוציא אחרים, אפילו הכי מברך התוקע שתי ברכות הנזכרותBefore one blows one makes the blessing “to hear the sound of the shofar” and makes the blessing “shehecheyanu.” Rema: And there is no distinction
A kohen who suffered a stroke several years ago and currently has injuries affecting his right arm and leg is staying temporarily at a rehabilitation facility that serves assisted-living, nursing-care, and independent-living residents. He has been attending the facility’s minyan for the past couple of weeks and would like to duchen—recite the priestly blessing—on Yom Tov. He has continued to duchen at his regular synagogue since his stroke.
How do we determine whether a community is considered “accustomed to” a kohen with a mum—a physical blemish or impairment? In this case, he
Is there any halakhic issue with reconfiguring a synagogue’s davening space so that part of what was previously the men’s section is now designated as the women’s section, while the former women’s section is no longer regularly used for davening? Alternatively, may the men’s and women’s sections be treated as flexible spaces, with their respective sizes adjusted according to immediate need?
For context, the former women’s section was always explicitly designated as a multi-purpose space rather than exclusively as a place for davening.
In a tourist town with only one synagogue, many visitors — both Jewish and non-Jewish — may attend services. Is there an obligation to ascertain the Jewish status of visitors before counting them toward a minyan? Or does the general principle apply that, absent specific grounds for doubt, one may rely on a person’s statement that he is Jewish without investigating further?
The general principle applies. The fact that non-Jewish visitors also attend services does not change this. If a person says that he is Jewish, he may be counted for a minyan. Without specific grounds for doubt (leidat ha-safek) regarding
A woman would like to stop being a vegetarian after many years.
A. Does she need to do hatarat nedarim (annulment of vows), since being vegetarian may be considered a ma’alah (spiritual or religiously positive practice)?
B. If so, can she do the hatarat nedarim before three women?
Yes, I think she should do hatarat nedarim.
Being vegetarian is certainly a hanhagah tovah (positive religious practice). The Shulchan Arukh rules that when a person accepts a permitted practice as prohibited, or adopts a positive practice and repeats it three times, it can take on the status of a neder and require hatarah before being
Can a woman or child blow the shofar at the end of Shacharit during Elul?
I have not found much discussion of this question in the poskim. For some background, there is a widespread Ashkenazi minhag (custom) to blow the shofar at the end of Shacharit during the month of Elul (Rema, Orach Chayim 581:1). The purpose of this practice is not to fulfill the Torah mitzvah of shofar, which applies on Rosh Hashanah, but rather to awaken us spiritually as we prepare for the Yamim Nora’im (Tur OH 581). The sound of the shofar reminds us that Rosh Hashanah is
One of the local Reform shuls here runs a wonderful food pantry. They partner with a local organization and mainly serve non-Jews.
Our communities are very connected, and people from our shul volunteer there and donate food items. Can people donate chametz there before Pesach? I reached out to their Rabbi, but I’m not even sure what we would require, if anything. (Meaning does the shul own the chametz?)
Also, no one has asked me this, but I was curious: Can one volunteer there over Pesach?
The question is, as you note, who really owns the food in the food pantry.
A congregant went to see a show a few weeks ago, and her husband lost his AirPods there. He called the venue and left a voicemail describing the lost AirPods, and they said they had them. His brother went and picked them up. The husband got them, and they were the same make and model; however, when he opened them, he saw they were registered to someone else.
It’s not possible to figure out to whom the AirPods are registered, so they went to the
Rosh Yeshiva Responds
Rabbi Dov Linzer will be answering shailas from YCT rabbis and community members on video each week.