Ask the Rabbi: Shalom Zachar without the Baby and Parents

May Panim Chadashot Leave Sheva Berachot Early?

Do Panim Chadashot have to stay until Birkat Hamazon?

Differences of a Second Marriage

At a second marriage for both chatan and kalla, what is different from at a regular wedding?

Mezuza for a Storage Room

I am moving into an apartment and want to know whether the storage room (in the building’s basement) requires a mezuza.

Sheva Berachot Every Day of Sheva Berachot?

Is it necessary, proper, or at least recommended to have a sheva berachot celebration every day of the week of Sheva Berachot?

Tevila of Something that Turns into a “Meal Utensil”

I received an ornamental honey dispenser and glass plate. I want to use the plate every Shabbat to hold challa rolls for lechem mishneh. Does it require tevilat keilim, assuming that it was made by a non-Jew(ish company)?

Is a Difficult to Remove Residue a Chatzitza?

A Renter Having a Zecher L’churban

The house I am renting does not have an unpainted segment of wall as a zecher lachurban (a remembrance that the Beit Hamikdash has been destroyed). Should I make one?

Attaching a Mezuza to a Door Leading to Nowhere

> We are adding a floor to our house. At first, we will access it from the house, but we may eventually make it a separate unit with access via stairs from the street. Therefore, we made a door on the side of the street – during construction it is accessed by a temporary ramp, but then it will be sealed until if and when we build stairs. Does that door require a mezuza now?

Tefillin Prepared by Children under Bar Mitzva

Several years ago, when I was 11, my (Orthodox) shul brought in a person who makes tefillin batim (boxes) and guided several friends and me to more or less make our own tefillin. Someone questioned me as to whether the tefillin are kosher because I was not yet bar mitzva. I would rather not ask my rabbi, who brought him in. Are my tefillin kosher?

Salad at Meat and Milk Meals

Sometimes I serve the same salad at a fleishig meal and again at a milchig meal. My daughter told me that her friend’s family does not do that. Is it okay?

Partial Participation in a Wedding

If one does not have enough time to take part in a whole wedding, is it better to come for the Chupa or for the meal?

Toveling which Utensil First

I made a beracha before toveling several utensils, primarily glass, which I started with. Then I noticed that one of the utensils was metal. Since toveling metal is a Torah obligation and for glass it is Rabbinic, could the beracha on the glass utensil count for metal? Should I have made another beracha on the metal utensil?

Do the Chatan and Kalla Need to Eat at Sheva Berachot?

Must the chatan and kalla eat (bread) at Sheva Berachot (upper case for the week and the meal; lower case for the berachot recited) in order to recite the berachot? (Sometimes one does not feel well and eats little or nothing.)

Products Containing Minute Quantities of Non-Kosher Food

I want to use a homeopathic allergy medicine that contains some apis mellifica, which is trace quantities of crushed honeybee. Is this permitted?

Kashering Frozen Liver

If a piece of liver was frozen for weeks, can it be cooked and roasted?

Mezuzot on Both Doorposts?

I am unsure to which doorpost to affix a mezuza. May I affix one on both sides, or is that prohibited as bal tosif (adding on to a mitzva)?

Filling in a Copy of the Ketuba Late

A mistake was made in filling out my ketuba and the identical copy for the certifying beit din. We had a spare ketuba but not an additional one to use as a copy. Now, several days after my wedding, can I ask the witnesses to sign a copy with the same information, including the date of the wedding? (The mesader kiddushin and witnesses are talmidei chachamim but not poskim, and they encouraged me to ask this shayla.)

Timtum Halev – Part I

Is there timtum halev [approximately, spiritual pollution of the heart] when one ingests non-kosher food in a halachically valid manner, e.g., based on bitul (nullification)?

Delayed Chanukat Habayit