Category: Sefer Shemot

Honoring an Abusive Parent?

by Rabbi Dov Linzer
Posted on February 1, 2018

Must a Person Honor and Mourn for an Abusive Parent? The short answer is “no.” One of the core principles in halakha when it comes to our obligation to others is hayekha kodmin, meaning our first ethical obligation is to ourselves. …

Saying Kaddish for a non-Jewish Parent

by Rabbi Dov Linzer
Posted on January 25, 2018

May a Jew by choice sit shivah and say kaddish for their non-Jewish parent? To answer this question we must address two issues: (1) What is halakhah’s view of the parent-child relationship in these cases? The gemara states, “A person who converts is like a newborn infant,” (Yevamot 22a).…

Praying with a Cross in the Room

by Rabbi Dov Linzer
Posted on January 18, 2018

A person is a patient at Holy Cross Hospital and there is a crucifix on the wall of each room. Can she make brakhot and daven there? A family wishes to have a bar mitzvah in the large, all-purpose hall of Catholic university, where there is a small cross affixed at the top of the east-facing wall, 20 feet off the ground.…

May a Woman Be a Mohelet?

by Rabbi Dov Linzer
Posted on January 4, 2018

May a woman be a mohelet? Although women are not circumcised, they are members of the covenant that the Jewish people, have with God: “You stand this day all of you before the Lord your God.. all the men of Israel, your little ones, your wives, and the stranger that is in your camp… that you enter into covenant with the Lord your God…” (Deut.…