Dear Rabbi I have a very close friend whose grandmother is on the verge of death. She asked me to attend shiva with her one night once the inevitable occurs. As an Irish (non-practicing) Catholic, traditions I am used to are very different when someone dies (think Guinness and Whiskey). I know that more than[…]

Dear Rabbi I often enjoy reading your answers and thought it time I ask one of my own. In the news today was a story about an initiative to automatically put everybody in the UK on an organ donor scheme, unless they opt out. What is the halachic law concerning organ donation? Perry   Dear[…]

Dear Rabbi If a member takes their synagogue to a Din Torah can the synagogue refuse to go and if so what recourse do the member and Beth Din have against that synagogue? Bryon   Dear Bryon, Just between you and me – is it the Rabbi’s sermon or the Chazan’s dirge? How much are[…]

Dear Rabbi It seems that everyone is given a Hebrew name when they are born. I was born during the war and was not given a Hebrew name and even on my Ketuba my English name is written in Hebrew. Do I need a Hebrew name and if so, how do I go about choosing one?[…]

Dear Rabbi I am fifteen years old and I have been smoking for two years. I would like to know the true answer. Is smoking against the halacha? Heidi   Dear Heidi First you wait till you’re addicted, then you ask? I changed your name but your real one came through on the email. I[…]

Dear Rabbi Why are people in Israel buried straight into the ground instead of in a coffin? Leonard  Dear Leonard “ dust you come and to dust you shall return.” The ideal is in fact to be buried directly in the earth in keeping with that verse. There are laws against that though in most[…]

Dear Rabbi Why is it that Yeshiva boys are not serving the army in Israel? I never read in the Bible or in any other books that it is against our religion. Students in the University have to serve every summer holiday three months, and after they finish the university they have to serve the[…]

Dear Rabbi My younger brother and I fell out several years ago. I was really bothered by the way I felt he acted badly toward our parents and I decided to stop talking to him. I heard through the grapevine that he got ill a few weeks ago. I was thinking of calling but before[…]

Dear Rabbi I’ve been told that after 50 years we stop observing a yahrzeit, but have not found a source. Have you heard of this? Jemima Dear Jemima, And to think people still commemorate the yahrtzeit of Moses 3,300 years on – someone should tell them! A yahrtzeit commemorates the life of a loved one[…]

Dear Rabbi, I recently attended a funeral at a United Synagogue cemetery. A very good friend of the 99-year-old deceased was not permitted to say a few words about his friend because he was a rabbi of the Reform Movement. Is this common practice and what’s your opinion? Alan Dear Alan, You’ll appreciate that heterodox[…]