Ha-Rav
answers hundreds of text message questions a day! Here's a sample:
Guarding One's Eyes
Q: Is guarding one's eyes
(deriving pleasure from the opposite gender (aside from one's spouse) or
looking at immodest images) a halachah or stricture?
A: It is certainly a Torah
Mitzvah. We recite three times a day:
"And do not be led astray after your heart and eyes" (Bemidbar
15:39).
Q: Where can I find sources
from a spiritual perspective on guarding one's eyes?
A: Sefer Reishit Chochmah,
Sha'ar Ha-Kedushah, chap. 5.
Q: Is it also forbidden to
look at single women?
A: Certainly. "I made a covenant with my
eyes, how then can I look at a young woman?" Iyov 31:1.
Rambam, Hilchot Isurei Biah, chap. 21.
Feet
Facing the Door
Q:
According to the Torah, should one refrain from sleeping with his feet facing
the door?
A:
It is a superstition taken from Feng Shui.
Yaakov
and Dinah
Q:
Why was Yaakov Avinu punished because he didn't want to give Dinah to Esav for
marriage – Esav was wicked?
A:
The Alter of Slobodka explained that he was punished because he was not pained enough
over his brother's state.
Selling
Food to Someone who will Not Make a Blessing
Q:
Is it permissible to sell prepared food, such as a drink or cookies, to someone
who will not make a blessing?
A:
It is forbidden to give such items as a gift to someone who will not recite a
blessing. Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim
163:2. But it is permissible to sell it
to him. Torat Chesed of Ha-Gaon
Mi-Lublin, Orach Chaim #5 (It is asked in Shut Divrei Chachamim, p. 281:
Regarding the law of "Do not place a stumbling block before the
blind," is it permissible for someone who owns a restaurant to serve food
to a secular Jew who he knows will not recite a blessing? Ha-Rav Yosef Shalom Elyashiv and the Steipler
Gaon answered that the world relies of Ha-Gaon Mi-Lublin to permit it).
Two
Worlds
Q:
I feel like I live in two worlds. I
learn Torah and perform Mitzvot, but I also sin a lot. Perhaps I should stop with the Torah and
Mitzvot so I can be complete with myself?
A:
You should certainly not give up but rather add as much Torah and Mitzvot as
you can. See Igeret Kiddush Hashem of
the Rambam. "Just because someone
ate garlic and his breath stinks, should he eat more garlic and make it
worse?!" (Berachot 51b and Ain Aya of Maran Ha-Rav Kook ibid.).
Fruit
of the Tree of Knowledge
Q:
Why do so many people think that the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge was an
apple?
A:
Christian art (see Berachot 40a and Bereshit Rabbah 77:7 that it was either a
date, wheat, grapes or Etrog).
Ten
Commandments
Q:
Were the Ten Commandments rounded or square on the top?
A:
Square. Baba Batra 14a. The idea that that they rounded is from Christian
art (The Lubavichter Rebbe was strongly opposed to using the round design. Shaarei Halachah U-Minhag, vol. 1 p.
199. And the same is true of the
Steipler Gaon. Shut Teshuvot Ve-Hanhagot
2:535. Ha-Rav Moshe Sternbuch writes, however,
that while it is preferable to use the square design, it is permissible to use
the round design since it is not an exact depiction but rather merely a
symbol. Ibid.).
Visiting
Sick Person Who Hates Him
Q:
Is it permissible for one to visit a sick person who hates him, or is there a
concern that he will be offended that he came to see him in his time of suffering?
A:
He should clarify the situation through a third party to see if the sick person
would want to see him or not. See
Shulchan Aruch, Yoreh Deah 335 with commentators (Shach ibid. #2 and Hagahot
Yad Shaul).
