Ever wanted to know the answer to some deep and challenging questions in halakhah (Jewish law)? Join R. Avi Killip interviewing R. Ethan Tucker with questions sent in by you (the public!) on all sorts of details of Jewish law.
Have a question about Jewish law you’d like answered on the show? Send an email to R. Ethan Tucker at halakhah@mechonhadar.org. You can also leave a message at 215-297-4254.
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3. On SoundCloud (scroll down).
4 Ant Farms, Dishwashers, Trains, and Blessings After Meals
In this episode:
- I’m a graduate student in insect biology and have ants to look after. Can I do so on shabbat? (00:26)
- There’s a huge variety of Kashrut practices for dishwashers: some people put meat and milk together, some people have separate dishwashers for meat and milk. How did this come about and how should I think about my own dishwasher practice? (13:18)
- Can I use free public transport on shabbat, assuming I’m in the eruv? (25:39)
- Our blessings after meals are tied to whether we have eaten bread or not. But nowadays many (if not most) don’t eat bread at every meal. Should we be doing the full blessings after meals even if we didn’t have bread? What about people who can’t eat bread? (33:54)
3 Burial Practices, Umbrellas, Foster Kids
In this episode:
- There is a custom of burying someone with earth from the land of Israel. How did this custom come about? How old is it? Why do we do it? And is it a law or a custom?
- Can you use an umbrella on Yom Tov / festivals? There is no issue of carrying (unlike on Shabbat), but is there a concern of building, an act forbidden both on Shabbat and Yom Tov?
- I’m fostering a non-Jewish child. There is no clear expectation that my foster-child will remain with me, because they might return to their natural parents, who are not Jewish. But I have a Jewish household. How much can / should I include them in my Jewish life as I would an adopted or biological child, and how much does their ambiguous long-term situation change these concerns?
2 Fitbits, Intimacy in the Modern World, and “The 18 Minutes”
In this episode:
- Is it permissable to wear a fitbit on shabbat? What are the sort of concerns one should be raising with such a device?
- This question deals with the huge gulf between assumptions about marriage and sexual relations from the central Jewish law codes and today. How should one consider the values of these texts as applied to the modern age of delayed marriage and hook-ups?
- On Friday afternoons, there is a seemingly strange 18 minutes after the official candle-lighting time during which it is permitted to do one’s work as if it’s the normal week. How did this arise? And how should we think about working on the run up to shabbat in general?
1 Night Owls, De Tocqueville, Dishes from Sears, and Theater!
In this episode:
- For someone who works night-shifts, how should they go about doing the morning prayers? Should they aim to get up in the middle of their sleep even if it is unhealthy? Or is there flexibility in doing the morning prayer at another time, or somehow catching up on what was missed?
- There is a halakhic concept known as karov l’malkhut, giving dispensation for some Jews to avoid some of the classic restrictions of making Jews distinct from non-Jews. How does this still apply in the modern day? Does this concept even apply in democratic and multi-cultural America?
- There is a mitzvah of tevilat keilim (the immersing of utensils in the mikveh / ritual bath) for bowls and such bought from non-Jews. But now, when most if not all of our utensils are mass-produced and bought from corporations, does this mitzvah even apply?
- Is it permissible to perform a show on shabbat assuming that there are no direct violations of shabbat for that person? How do factors such as who is coming?, are the audience paying?, are the actors being paid? How does the person’s career fit into thinking about this question?
