Eliezer Posner

The sukkah covering must provide enough cover so that when the sun is shining overhead there is more shade than sun in the sukkah...

Question: I know that the Torah prohibits the consumption of blood. Does this apply to my own blood as well? Answer: When the Torah tells us that we are allowed to eat the meat of kosher animals, we are warned that "…you shall not eat the blood…." Althoug...

Ashkenazi Jews do not name their children after someone who is alive at the time.

Question: In addition to the daily prayers, I find that reading Psalms helps me feel close to G‑d, and I want to start saying them every day. Is there a custom as to which Psalms I should say when? Response: Psalms is certainly a powerful book. The Midras...

A couple can get married on the three days in between Yom Kippur and Sukkot. Holding a wedding on the day immediately before Sukkot is technically permitted, however Rabbi Abraham Gombiner (17th century Poland) writes that since the meal can easily encroa...

There are different customs as to how many times the shofar is blown on Rosh Hashanah. In most communities, the shofar is blown one hundred times . . .

Question: What blessings should I say before and after eating rice? Answer: There are different opinions as to which is the blessing to be recited before eating rice: Some halachic authorities say it is mezonot; others say it is ha'adamah; yet others cont...

Question: Why do some of the Hebrew letters have dots in them, and why do the same letters, in the same words, sometimes appear with dots and sometimes without? Answer: A prime example of this phenomenon is the name of the Egyptian king, Pharaoh, פרעה. In...

Why are there two Talmuds? And why is the "Babylonian Talmud" considered more authoritative than the "Jerusalem Talmud"?

Question: Why do the Cohanim cover themselves and their hands when they do the priestly blessing? Why do the people cover themselves in their talitot? Answer: The Cohanim are meant to concentrate on blessing the congregation, and the congregation should c...