Search results for: ""Oneg""

Shabbat: Candles: Lighting at Dinner Location
Light Shabbat candles wherever you will eat dinner.
Note If eating elsewhere, do not light Shabbat candles at your own home unless you will be home for some period of time after dark while the candles are burning (otherwise you have made a bracha l'vatala). You must see the candles burning for at least one minute after dark (tzeit ha'kochavim).
Shabbat: Kiddush: Requirements
To do Shabbat kiddush,
  • Say, or hear, the Shabbat kiddush blessings/segments, and
  • “Establish a meal” (kovei'a se'uda).
For details, see How To Do Shabbat Evening Kiddush  or How To Do Shabbat Daytime Kiddush.
NoteThere is never any requirement on an indvidual to drink kiddush wine (except at the Passover seder), but the kiddush wine must be drunk by one or more persons.
Passover: Burning Chametz: What To Do with Chametz
If you own any chametz, you must burn some of it in order to fulfill the commandment of burning chametz: this is a mitzva from the Torah
Note If you have too much chametz to conveniently burn, you may throw some of the chametz into the garbage (but not into your own garbage can, only a public one--where permitted).
You must throw the chametz into the garbage before you burn the remainder. You may, alternatively, throw the chametz into a public area or pond (if permitted by the owner or by law).
Al HaMichya: Or Birkat HaMazon
Say birkat ha'mazon instead of al ha'michya if you ate enough bread-like foods (mezonot) or bread-like food combinations (such as crackers with tuna salad) to be the volume of your normal biggest meal of the day. This is true even if:
  • You had not planned to have a meal (for example, you planned to eat only one slice of pizza but then ate two more), and
  • Did not wash your hands before the meal.
 
Folding Clothes on a Crease on Shabbat
Don't fold clothes (including a talit) on an existing crease on Shabbat.
Note You may fold clothes on a new crease that was not there before you did the folding, but only if there is already an existing crease in the garment.
Note If there is not a crease from before you fold the garment, you may not make one.
Amida Actions: Steps Before and After
Stepping To Begin the Amida
After saying ga'al Yisraeltake three steps forward (any size of steps is fine):
  • Step forward with your right foot,
  • Step forward with your left foot, then
  • Step forward with your right foot so that both feet are touching at the heels and at the balls (so that you are standing as if you had one leg, like the angels!).
Note Taking three steps backward immediately before taking three steps forward, as instructed in some siddurs, defeats the purpose of taking the three steps forward. The purpose of stepping forward is to symbolically approach Hashem. If you step backward and then take your three steps forward, you are back to where you began and have not approached Hashem at all! 
If you do not have enough room in front of yourself to take three steps forward when beginning your amida, step back somewhat (at least a few seconds) before you say ga'al Yisrael. There is no need to take three steps back; a single large step that will give you room to take three steps forward is all that is needed.
By making a practice of taking three steps back, people have made the stepping backward part of the entire procedure, and it should not be.

Similarly, once you have finished saying the amida and walked three steps backward, wait at least three seconds before walking forward so as not to defeat the purpose of having stepped backward. Take as many steps as you need to get back to your seat--one step should suffice. 
Introduction to Jewish Festivals: Laundry
You may not wash or hang up wet laundry on Jewish festivals (or Shabbat).  The halachot for drying laundry depend on whether you use a clothesline or a dryer:
Jewish Festivals: Laundry: Clothesline
You may only take down laundry on Jewish festivals if it was dry before sunset at the start of the festival, and only if you don't:
  • Transfer the laundry from one halachic domain to another (hotza'a), or
  • Give the impression that the laundry had been washed on the Jewish festival (mar'it ayin).
If laundry on a clothesline is still wet at sunset before the festival, the laundry is muktza and you may not take it down or use it during the festival. This is different from the case of a dryer.
Reason On the clothes line, there is no certainty that the laundry will dry during the festival (it might rain, it might be cold or cloudy...), so the person may not have in mind that it will dry during the festival.
Jewish Festivals: Laundry: Dryer
Laundry in a dryer (even if it was wet at sunset) that was turned on before sunset beginning the Jewish festival (or Shabbat) is not muktza, even if you do not intend to wear it.  You may remove the dry laundry from the dryer on the Jewish festival as long as no light goes on.
Jewish Festivals: Challa Not Separated before Festival
On Jewish festivals, you may not separate challa from loaves baked before the festival, as follows:
  • In Eretz Yisrael, you may not eat bread from which challa was not separated if required (for more details, see Separating the Challa Portion and Challa Separation) until after the Jewish festival ends and you have separated the challa.
  • Outside Eretz Yisrael, you may:
    • Leave one loaf until after the Jewish festival,
    • Eat as much as you want of the remaining loaves, and then
    • Separate the challa from the loaf after havdala.
Note If the bread was baked on a Jewish festival, you may separate challa on the Jewish festival.
Note This is true even for loaves that came from dough of more than 2.5 lbs of flour.
Lulav: Disposing
You may dispose of a lulav in any way that is not degrading. So, you may drop it into a field or put it on a lawn--unless animals might eat it or step on it or if it will be subject to poor treatment before it decays.  Don't dispose of a lulav or etrog directly into the garbage. Burn, bury, or wrap them in a bag or one layer of plastic and you may throw it into normal garbage.
HaTov V'HaMeitiv or SheHecheyanu
Say ha'tov v'ha'meitiv instead of she'hecheyanu when two or more people benefit from or enjoy something. 
Examples
  • If your wife or husband will enjoy and use the new item too.
  • When wine is already on the table and a second bottle of wine that is as good as, or better than, the first bottle is brought to the table (and more than one person will drink that second bottle of wine).
Note When two or more people are eating a new fruit that is in season, each person says the blessings al pri ha'eitz and then she'hechaynu (and not ha'tov v'hameitiv).
Cold Condiments Used for Dairy and Meat
B'di'avad, you may scoop out mayonnaise or mustard and spread it on meat and then scoop out more and then later use same condiment on dairy foods (and the same for dairy and later on meat) as long as any residual food is less than 1/60th of the total volume of food. But the preferred practice is to have two separate containers, one for dairy and one for meat foods.
 
Wine from Se'uda Shlishit Birkat HaMazon
If you recite birkat ha'mazon after se'uda shlishit over a cup of wine, you may only drink the wine if the meal ended before sunset.  
Note Wine from birkat ha'mazon of se'uda shlishit that ended after sunset may be used for havdala EXCEPT if the meal was a sheva brachot meal.
Reason The bridegroom, bride, and leader may drink the wine--and one of them must drink the wine!--as part of the seven blessings, even though they were recited after sunset.
Introduction to Jewish Festivals: Medicines
Jewish Festivals: Medicines: When To Take
Medicine generally may not be used on the d'oraita Jewish festival days.

Jewish Festivals: Medicine for Chronic Diseases
You may take medicine on Jewish festivals (whether d'oraita or d'rabanan) for:
  • Chronic diseases, such as Parkinson's disease, or
  • Any disease that affects your entire body.
Jewish Festivals: Medicine for Non-Chronic Diseases
You may take medicine on Jewish festivals for non-chronic illnesses, if skipping one day will prevent cure.  You may not take medicine for non-chronic illnesses if skipping a day will just delay your being cured (unless the disease affects your entire body--in which case, you may take the medicine).

Jewish Festivals: Medicines: When To Take: D'Oraita Festival Days
Here are the d'oraita Jewish festivals:
  • First day of Sukkot, Passover, and Shavuot
  • Seventh day of Passover
  • Shmini Atzeret (8th day of Sukkot)
  • Yom Kippur
  • Both days of Rosh Hashana (even though the second day is d'rabanan).
On these days, as well as on d'rabanan Jewish festivals, you:
  • MUST take medicine whenever there is any question of a life-threatening disease or condition.
  • MAY take medicine for a condition that affects the entire body (illness, weakness, etc.). Consult a rabbi if possible.
    ExceptionYou may not smear substances on skin UNLESS the illness is life-threatening, in which case even smearing is permitted.
  • MAY use some medicines if only part of your body is affected by a non-life-threatening disease--consult a rabbi.
Jewish Festivals: Medicines: When To Take: D'Rabanan Festival Days
You make take medicines for any reason on d'rabanan Jewish festivals--even medicines not allowed on the first day of Jewish festivals--except:
  • Medicines that you smear on skin.
  • If the Jewish festival falls on Shabbat (which can only be second day of Shavuot).
Note The d'rabanan Jewish festivals are the second day of Jewish festivals except Rosh Hashana (actually, the second day of Rosh Hashana IS d'rabanan but has the status of d'oraita), plus the last day of Passover and Simchat Torah outside of Eretz Yisrael.

Jewish Festivals: Squeezing, Dabbing, Smearing
As on Shabbat, you may squeeze a tube of cream on Jewish festivals, but you might not be able to use the cream on the Jewish festival for other reasons—consult a rabbi.
Note Smearing creams or ointments is permitted only in life-threatening situations. Otherwise, you may not smear cream on skin on a Jewish festival (or Shabbat) even using a shinu'i such as using the back of your hand or a toe.
Dabbing is permitted, but only when you are permitted to use medicine. 
Example
You may use cream on a Jewish festival (and Shabbat) by dabbing (you may ONLY dab--you may not SMEAR cream) for a bee sting if it will affect the entire body. You may not use cream for a mosquito bite, since it is only a local irritation.
Kashrut: Dairy/Meat: Baking at Same Time: Solid, UNCOVERED
L'chatchila, you should not bake uncovered dairy and meat foods in the same oven at the same time, even if both pans:
  • Are non-liquid, AND
  • Do not touch each other.
B'di'avad, both uncovered pans remain koshereven if they touch each other, if both pans:
  • Are non-liquid,
  • Are clean and dry (on the outside), AND
  • Do not contain spicy/charif food.
Example
Situation
  • Food in both pans is solid.
  • One pan is covered, one pan is uncovered.
  • Both pans are clean and dry on outside. 
  • No spicy/charif.
Status They are both kosher b'dia'vad.
Hot Springs as Mikva
Here are requirements for a hot spring as a mikva:
  1. The temperature may not be above 98° F.
  2. If the spring and immersing area are separate, any pipes used to bring water into the immersing area from the spring must be at least 3" in diameter. Consult a rabbi.
  3. The mikva area must contain at least 40 seah of the spring water.
  4. The mikva area must be hewn of rock or poured concrete, etc., but may not be prefabricated in one piece, like a hot tub.
  5. The water may not reach the mikva area via a pump.