Question #1:

Raphael* sent me an e-mail which included an attachment with the layout of his new apartment (see attachment entitled “map”). He wants to know whether he needs to place a mezuzah at the doorway out of the lounge marked “Sofek 1″, and also whether the entrance to the kitchen requires a mezuzah. Both instances are not architecturally proper doorways, but entrances formed by walls.

Click to download Apt map pdf

*Although all questions mentioned here are authentic, names have been changed to protect each individual’s privacy.

Question #2:

Yisroel sent me photographs of his hallway to determine whether he needs to place a mezuzah at its entrance (see attachment entitled “is this a mashkof”).

This week’s parsha closes by mentioning that the daughters of Tzelafchad succeeded in finding husbands. I am certain that they had no secrets to disturb their shidduchin from happening, but what would happen if they did? Would they have been required to “spill the beans,” or could they have kept these dark secrets to themselves? [...]

Question #1: My company sent me out of town to meet a new client, and I forgot to have my hair cut before Shiva Asar B’Tamuz. May I have the bushier parts trimmed? Does it make a difference if I use a non-Jewish barber? May I shave? Question #2: My son wrote me that in [...]

    Question #1: You made a bracha on a cup of tea and sipped it, and then decided it needed more sugar. Do you need to make a bracha on the extra sugar? Question #2: You cooked a delicious vegetable-barley soup. What bracha do you recite before eating it? Does it make any difference [...]

Question #2: Why are most of the “Double Parshiyos” clustered together in and around Sefer Vayikra?

Question #3: Why are the Torah’s parshiyos of such disparate length? Some parshiyos are very long — the longest being this week’s Parsha, Naso, which contains 176 pesukim. Yet at the end of the Torah we have four parshiyos that are extremely short – all of them between 30 and 52 pesukim. Why aren’t the parshiyos of similar length?

The last sentence of the haftarah we read this Shabbos is the basis for our daily beracha Refa’einu. This provides us with the opportunity to review the laws that we need to know about Shabbos emergencies. I once received the following communication: “As an active member of Hatzalah, but not speaking on behalf of any [...]

Question #1: I keep reading about shatnez showing up in strange places: ladies sweaters, children’s clothes, and even baseball gloves. Am I required to take my family’s entire wardrobe to a shatnez laboratory to have everything checked? Question #2: "What does a shatnez tester look for?" Question #3: "The importer told me that the garment [...]

Shirley mentions to her friend: “I do not understand why some people keep chalav Yisrael today. Do they really think that someone is adding pig’s milk?”

At one point in my life, when I worked as a “rabbinic field representative” (aka a mashgiach), I once made a surprise inspection of a company that produced juice drinks – let’s call it Generic Juices Inc. I was surprised to discover that the plant was bottling beverages containing carmine red coloring, and other drinks colored with enocianina, a coloring derived from grape skins. Neither of these products was on the lists of approved ingredients, and for good reason. Of course, this created a serious problem for the hechsher, the company, and most of all, the unsuspecting consumer…

Question #1: Shacharis in the Air

Rabbi Nosaya called me recently with the following shaylah:

“My flight lands at a time that I can still get to a minyan, but I am sure that there will be a minyan davening on the plane before we land. Should I daven earlier on the plane, or after we land, where I will be able to daven with more concentration?

Question #2: New Mezuzos

Dovid and Rutie are purchasing mezuzos, but really nice ones are unavailable in the small Jewish community in which they live. Should they delay their purchase until they next visit a larger community, or should they buy the nicest ones available where they live?