(RabbiKaganoff.com)

This week’s reading is either Acharei Mos/Kedoshim or Emor depending on whether you are in Chutz La’aretz or in Eretz Yisrael. Either way, Kohanim figure significantly in the parsha – thus…

 Between a Rock and a Hard Place

By Rabbi Yirmiyohu Kaganoff

Question #1: May a Mechalel Shabbos Duchen?

“The only kohen in our shul operates his business on Shabbos. Until recently, he had never duchened, and the rav was comfortable with that. Recently, the shul’schazzan encouraged the kohen to duchen, and he began doing so. Should we stop him?”

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(RabbiKaganoff.com)

Question #1: Asking for help

“If I accepted Shabbos early, may I ask my neighbor, who is beginning Shabbos at the regular time, to turn on a light?”

Question #2: Very early Shabbos

“How early can I begin Shabbos?”

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(RabbiKaganoff.com)

Question #1: Why don’t the Israelis let us catch up?

I received the following question via e-mail:

“Why do the communities of Eretz Yisrael wait until Behar and Bechukosai to separate the parshiyos in order that Chutz La’aretz and Eretz Yisrael read the sameparshiyos, when they could actually separate parshi’os much earlier, either by reading Tazria and Metzora on separate weeks or by separating Acharei Mos fromKedoshim?”

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(RabbiKaganoff.com)

Question:

The gabbai of a local minyan calls with the following question: “I do not remember what we did the last time that Pesach began on Shabbos, but I need to know whether at night we say Hallel first or the bracha Magen Avos?”

 Answer:

No doubt, many of our readers will assume that the gabbai is making a mistake — that we do not recite the bracha Magen Avos, also known as the bracha mei’ein sheva, when the first night of Pesach falls on Shabbos.

However, as we will soon see, our gabbai may be well informed about the minhag in his community. A quiz question for the detectives among our readership is to figure out which community this is.

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(RabbiKaganoff.com)

Question #1: Korban Todah or bensching Goimel?

“Which is the better way to thank Hashem for a personal salvation, by reciting birchas hagomeil, or by making a seudas hodaah?”

Question #2: Bringing home the bread!

“Why is the korban todah accompanied by so many loaves of bread and so much matzoh?”

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(Rabbi Yirmiyohu Kaganoff – RabbiKaganoff.com)

Because this article explains some basics of how Torah is taught by Chazal, I think it is appropriate to the week of Shavuos.

Question #1: Pie r squared

Yanki is supposed to be watching his weight and therefore needs to figure out how many calories are in the pie he beholds. To figure out how big the pie is, he measures the diameter of the pie, and divides it in half to get the length of its radius. He then multiplies the length of the radius by itself to get “r squared,” and multiplies the result by three so that he knows the area of the pie’s surface. Is there anything wrong with his calculation?

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(Rabbi Yirmiyohu Kaganoff – RabbiKaganoff.com)

Question #1: Homebound

“As a mother of several small children, it is not easy for me to go out on Shabbos to hear Parshas Zachor. Am I required to do so?”

Question #2: Outreaching in the Afternoon

“At the outreach program that I run, many of our students do not arrive for Shabbos until the afternoon. Should we have a second Parshas Zachor reading for them?”

Question #3: Reading without a Brochah

“Why is no brochah recited on Parshas Zachor at a women’s reading?”

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(Hakhel)

HaRav Mattisyahu Salomon, Shlita, brings a startling question on last week’s Parsha from the Ponovezher Rav, Z’tl: Yaakov Avinu, had just left the Beis Midrash where he had been studying for 14 hours non-stop, and arrives in a foreign land looking for Lavan. In his first recorded communication with the outside world, this Yeshiva man expresses his displeasure with how the working people he encounters are doing their job–telling them that (Bereishis: 29:7):  “Hein Od HaYom Gadol…–the day is still long; it is not yet time to bring the livestock in; let your flock drink and go on grazing.” How could he–a Yeshiva man, a foreigner, have the audacity to tell them how to do their job?

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(Hakhel)

HaRav Mattisyahu Salomon, Shlita, recently gave an essential Shiur to explain the extreme significance of the period we are in. Elul is not a time period that was discovered 200 years ago, 500 years ago or even 1,000 years ago. Rather, it was Moshe Rabbeinu himself who demonstrated the power of Elul to us, as through his Tefillos during this time he was able to bring the Luchos Sheniyos and the Torah back to this world. HaRav Salomon brings from HaRav Aharon Kotler, Z’tl, that people  mistakenly believe that when we exclaim on the night of Yom Kippur “VaYomer Hashem Salachti Kedvarecha”–that we are referring to the Tefillos that we are about to begin reciting on Yom Kippur. However, it is really the process of our Tefillos over the 40 days from Rosh Chodesh Elul that bring about our forgiveness on Yom Kippur.

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