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Everything you always wanted to know about Judaism,
but were too afraid to ask!
New questions and answers will be added to this page
on a regular basis, so please remember to return here.
Have your Halacha questions answered. (Use the link
below to ask your own questions. Please state if you
would like a personal reply and ensure you include your
email address.)
Please note that previous questions answered
by Rabbi Livingstone are suffixed by
RL. New questions answered by Rabbi
Anthony are suffixed by RA.
Email
to your new questions to Rabbi Anthony
Questions on halacha, in
no particular order.
Is it acceptable
for me to come to Synagogue in my wheelchair
for my grandson's bar Mitzvah? Otherwise I will
miss it and be the only family member not there.
I very much sympathise with your predicament.
There is absolutely no reason why one cannot
use a wheelchair within the synagogue itself
- depending of course on access arrangements
and aisle widths, etc. Perhaps your question
is more directed about actually getting to shul
in a wheelchair. Where there is an Eruv, there
is certainly no problem at all with someone
else pushing you, or even with you turning the
wheels yourself - because then there is no issue
regarding carrying or pushing. The issue arises
where there is no Eruv. Whilst there will indeed
be rare circumstances when a fellow Jew may
convey another in a wheelchair, the halachic
conditions for this are far too detailed to
set out here. It is, however, generally permitted
to request a non-Jew, in these types of circumstances,
to assist. This should be done in a low-key
fashion which does not attract too much adverse
attention and unnecessary comment. I hope that
puts your mind at rest. RL
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Someone
told me that it is forbidden to touch pets on
Shabbat. Is this true?
Many people mistakenly believe that the prohibition
of muktzeh forbids touching certain objects
on Shabbat. This is not technically the case
- as it is only forbidden to move [letaltel]
such items as cannot be used on the Sabbath
- as opposed to merely touching them. So as
long as one does not actually move the pet in
any degree then one may in fact touch it. The
same holds true for other types of things. The
only rider is that in many cases it will be
near impossible to touch and yet not move something
- in which instance the two are synonymous and
forbidden. RL
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Does
Jewish law allow reinterment of a dead body?
Generally Halacha opposes interfering
with or digging up a body once it has been interred.
This is considered to be ‘nivul hamet’
– ‘offense to the dead’ i.e.
disrespect to the peaceful rest of the departed.
There are exceptions, however, to this rule.
If the initial burial was clearly temporary
- in that it was always intended to bury in
a family plot or in Israel, then disinterment
can be allowed. Generally, burial in Israel’s
sacred soil has always been considered a valid
reason for removal. Likewise, if a Jew is buried
in a Christian cemetery it is considered proper
to relocate that person’s body to a Jewish
site. RL
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Are
the use of time switches and eruvs not just
a modern cop out for the
Orthodox community?
The whole point behind Halacha is emphatically
not to make our lives restricted, law-bound,
and miserable. It is rather about serving G-d
through working within a certain blueprint of
rules. Thus, as long as something fits within
that framework, there is absolutely no reason
to view it cynically as a loophole. As my grandmother
used to say,” Enjoy!”. RL
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