by Rabbi Dov Linzer
Posted on March 19, 2020
What message can we learn from our parsha to give us some guidance during this crisis? Parshat Vayekhel-Pikudei opens with the second story of the Mishkan. After having been commanded by God in the building of the Mishkan in Terumah-TiZaveh, Moshe now, in turn, commands the people to build the Mishkan.…
Question: Can people under quarantine fulfil the mitzvah of megillah by listening on the telephone or by participating via Zoom or the like? What can these people do regarding listening to parashat Zakhor? Summary: For megillah – One may rely on those Aharonim who rule that a person fulfils his or her obligation.…
Rabbi David Zvi Schneivalg (1915-1968) was the Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivat Vizhnitz and dayan of Vizhnitz in the interwar period, and a community rabbi of the Mahzikei HaDat community in Manchester after World War II. He authored Shraga haMeir, a multi-volume collection of his responsa, from which this responsum is taken (Shraga haMeir 2:99).…
by Rabbi Dov Linzer
Posted on January 8, 2020
What does the Torah have to say about a person making concrete plans for the eventuality of her death? Is it appropriate to sign a health care proxy or to make out a will? There is no better example than our patriarch, Jacob.…
Translation by Rabbi Haggai Resnikoff; introduction by Rabbi Dov Linzer
Rabbi Moshe Feinstein zt”l (1895-1986) was the preeminent posek for North American Jewry for most of the 20th century, both for the Yeshivish and Modern Orthodox communities. Rav Moshe was born in Russia in 1895, where he served as rabbi making great personal sacrifices on behalf of his community until he emigrated to the U.S.…
by Rabbi Dov Linzer
Posted on November 26, 2019
Can I use my ma’aser kesafim, tithes from my income, to contribute to my synagogue’s building campaign, and can I use it to pay my shul’s membership dues? The idea of tithing is alluded to in this week’s parasha. We are told that Yitzchak, “Sowed in that land and received in that year a hundredfold, and God blessed him” (Gen.…
Question: Given the strong winds that we have been experiencing, is it permissible to take down the sukkah on Hol HaMoed to prevent it from being damaged or from causing injury? If I do take it down, am I exempt from eating in a sukkah, or do I have to find a sukkah that is still up?…
Translation by Rabbi Avi Schwartz and Rabbi Dov Linzer; introduction by Rabbi Dov Linzer
Rabbi Moshe Feinstein zt”l (1895-1986) was the preeminent posek for North American Jewry for most of the 20th century, both for the yeshivish and Modern Orthodox communities. Rav Moshe was born in Russia in 1895, where he served as rabbi making great personal sacrifices on behalf of his community until he emigrated to the U.S.…
Rav Binyamin Yehoshua Zilber zt”l was a major Haredi posek of the previous generation. He studied in Brisk and at a satellite yeshiva of Novardok in his youth, eventually making aliyah to become one of the first students at Yeshivat Beit Yosef-Novardok in Bene Brak.…
Rabbi Yitzhak Weiss hy”d was a highly-regard Hungarian rabbi before the Second World War. He served as the Rav of Odleburg and then of Verbo. In his time, he was well known for the breadth of his knowledge; his teacher, the Shevet Sofer, is said to have referred to him as “my very own bookcase.”…
by Rabbi Dov Linzer
Posted on September 19, 2019
The issue of who can be seen as a full member of the community arises at the beginning of this week’s parasha and is revisited at the outset of the next. In the opening of Ki Tavo, we read of two mitzvot that apply when a person harvests the produce of the land: the mitzvah of bikkurim, or first fruits, and the mitzvah of viduy ma’aser, the declaration made when a person distributes what remains of his tithes at the end of three years. …
by Rabbi Dov Linzer
Posted on August 23, 2019
The mitzvah of mezuzah appears at the end of this week’s parasha in what we know of as the second paragraph of Shema: “And you shall write them (these words) on the doorposts of your house and of your gates.” (Deut.…
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