From: Melanie Dear Rabbi, It’s been my impression that Judaism ascribes special importance to bread, like washing the hands for it, treating it with respect, making a special long blessing after eating it, and so on. Why is this? Dear Melanie, Your impression is right, there are many teachings that express the importance of[…]
From: Harry Dear Rabbi, I’m not the type of person to share my belongings with others, or loan them out, since I’m particular about their staying intact and I don’t want them to get ruined. So I’m having problems with the Torah idea of having to loan things in order to help others, and, even[…]
From: Jacob Dear Rabbi, Summer vacation is here. In our family, the girls have been on break from school for a while. The boys will be going on break soon. Everyone’s on break but my wife and I. And we feel we’re about to break. We certainly love our kids, and always (theoretically) look forward[…]
From: Ken Dear Rabbi, My wife and I are both professionals, work all week indoors, and don’t get to see each other, or our children very much. We are very much challenged by the idea of observing Shabbat indoors, first in shul, then in the house. We need to get out with our kids, be[…]
From: Benny Dear Rabbi, Perhaps you can help me. Singing seems to be a pretty important part of Jewish custom. I mean, the Shabbat meals all revolve around singing, as do a lot of the prayers, and also events like bar and bat mitzvas, or brit mila and other joyous occasions. So my problem is[…]
From: Michael Dear Rabbi, Since the blessings were instituted over the performance of the mitzvot, and the mitzva regarding Torah is to learn it, why doesn’t the blessing state, “Who commanded us to learn Torah”? Why does it rather say, “to be engaged in Torah”? Thanks in advance. Dear Michael, This is a very good[…]
From: Jonathan Dear Rabbi, My grandmother is in the final stages of dementia and she could leave us at any time now. We just don’t know when. My question is about her memories. I wonder where her memories are. Are they gone, are they in Heaven or will the memories “catch up” with her when[…]
From: Shelly Dear Rabbi, I ordered a particular craft item from an acquaintance to be prepared from materials that I bought and paid for. As it turned out, I was not particularly pleased with the final product and I preferred not to pay for it. So I offered that she keep it for herself, or[…]