Ha-Rav
answers hundreds of text message questions a day! Here's a sample:
Cohain who Embarrassed
Another in Public
Q: One who embarrasses
another person in public is considered as if he murdered him. If so, if a Cohain embarrasses someone in
public can he recite the Birkat Cohanim, or is it forbidden since a Cohain who
murders cannot recite Birkat Cohanim?
A: In this case, it is
permissible for him to recite it. Piskei
Teshuvot 128 note #332.
Faith and the Holocaust
Q: How can one still believe
in Hashem after the Holocaust?
A: Faith is something which
is stronger than horrible suffering.
Research has shown that at the time of the Holocaust, the percentage of
people who lost their faith was less than the same phenomenon before and after
the Holocaust. And see Chovot
Ha-Levavot, Shaar Ha-Ahavah, end of Chapter 1.
Learning Torah or the Kotel
Q: Which is preferable – learning
Torah or going to the Kotel?
A: Learning Torah is equal to
all of them [the Mitzvot]. One should
only go to the Kotel for special occasions (And our
Rabbi, Ha-Rav Tzvi Yehudah Kook, would not simply go to the Kotel at any
opportunity. He said: "I do not go
to the Kotel every day, but only when there is a need and a feeling. The Kotel
is a special place, a place from which the Divine Presence does not
depart." Rabbenu, p. 306. And when Ha-Rav Chaim Pinchas
Scheinberg was asked this same question, he answered: The Kotel is holy, but
the Shtender is the holy of holies.
Meged Givot Olam, p. 1).
Praying for Something More
than Twice
Q: Is it permissible to daven
for a match and a livelihood on a regular basis, even though it is said that
one should not ask for something more than twice?
A: There is no such
halachah. It is permissible.
Counting Jews
Q: It is forbidden to count
Jews. Magen Avraham 156:2. What then is the solution when it is
necessary?
A: It is permissible under
two conditions: 1. If it is for the sake of a Mitzvah. 2. If one counts not the
people, but something else, i.e. fingers (Yoma 22b) or pieces of paper. Piskei Teshuvot 156:24. And the custom is to say the verse (Tehillim
28:9): "Hoshia Et Amecha" (which has 10 words) to count a Minyan. Kitzur Shulchan Aruch 15:3 (And the Kaf
Ha-Chaim, Orach Chaim 55:11 in the name of Chesed Le-Avraham writes that many
people mistakenly think that it is only forbidden to count: 1, 2, 3… but it is
permissible to count: Alef, Bet, Gimmel…They should, rather, count in their
thoughts and not aloud).
Honor of the Torah
Q: The Rabbi of our community
made a mistake and permitted the Eruv which was damaged on Shabbat. Should I inform the people in my Shul not to
carry?
A: No. Ha-Gaon Rav Avraham Dov Auerbach, Av Beit Din
(Head of the Rabbinic Court) of Tiveria, once told me about this exact incident
that occurred in the past in Tiveria.
The Eruv was damaged, and Ha-Rav Yaakov Chai Zereihen, the Sefardic
Rabbi of Tiveria, ruled that the it was Kosher.
On Motzaei Shabbat, Ha-Rav Moshe Kliers, the Ashkenazi Rabbi of Tiveria,
invited Rav Zereihen for Havdalah and to learn Torah. They learned Massechet Eruvim, and suddenly
the Rav Zereihen said, "Oy Va-Voy!
If so, I ruled incorrectly today!"
Rav Kliers said, "It appears so." Rav Zereihen asked, "Did his honor
announce in his Shul not to carry on Shabbat?" "No," he responded, "since
carrying in this place is a rabbinic prohibition, but honoring a Torah scholar
is a Torah Mitzvah. I therefore did not
say anything" (This is unlike the ruling of Ha-Rav Yosef Shalom Elyashiv
who said that one is obligated to publicize that the Eruv is invalid, and there
is no great embarrassment for the Rabbi to have erred and changed his
ruling. This is based on the Gemara in
Gittin 43a where Rabah bar Rav Huna said: "This stumbling under your
hand" [Yeshayahu 3:6] - one understands words of Torah only after
stumbling in them! And he himself
admitted: I erred and now I understand and changed my ruling. Rashi ibid.
Kav Ve-Naki #312. Ha-Rav Kliers
and Ha-Rav Auerbach, however, do not hold like Ha-Rav Elyashiv).
