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
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.
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
Question regarding the construction of a new mechitza:
We have a chapel that seats 115 people. It opens from the back, straight into the middle aisle. The seats are distributed equally on both sides of the aisle, and the bimah is at the front of the room in the center. Our old mechitza for the space was 3 panels; two down the middle aisle, and a third to angle around the bimah so that there was a physical separation between the shaliach
A Jewish single woman considering embryo adoption wants to know if she needs to look for Jewish embryos, or if it will be sufficient for her to be the gestational mother to have the child be considered Jewish. My understanding is that there are differing opinions, and because so much is at stake I would like to be crystal clear on the halakha. Thank you so much.
Can women and men be counted together for a minyan for megillah reading for the purposes of saying הרב את ריבנו?
You mean would it be different than Rema (Shulchan Arukh OC 690:18) regarding the preferences for 10 where he writes – הגה: ויש להסתפק אם נשים מצטרפות לעשרה? Or are you asking whether we rule that way? I would say that the halakhot of berakhot and preference for 10 in general should definitely be the same. As to do we rule that way – one could argue ספק ברכות להקל, but also see Biur Halakha 692 ד״ה אלא בציבור who quotes shitot that you can make the berakhah even ביחיד. Given the
May a women hold one of the two sifrei Torah during Kol Nidrei? Neither person is on the bimah and they will be 8 or so feet away from the bimah, for Covid-19 reasons.
Should be fine, but I would make sure that there is a third man standing in front or whatever, and it’s clear that the three men are the beit din.
Rosh Yeshiva Responds
Rabbi Dov Linzer will be answering shailas from YCT rabbis and community members on video each week.