Q&A: Money, Banned Books & Workplace Harassment

The Q & A with Rabbi Breitowitz Podcast

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00:00 - What is the difference between my suffering being a Kapara (atonement) or a result of my own mistakes?

05:00 - The Torah mentions many miraculous things occurring as a result of keeping mitzvos (Shemita and Sotah). Do we have historical or archaeological evidence that these things happened?

11:30 - We know that it is forbidden to ‘put a stumbling block before the blind’. Would this also apply to giving someone food of a lower standard of kashrut than you would personally eat?

16:20 - What is the significance and effect of mourner’s kaddish?

22:00 - Can women say kaddish?

24:20 - Can a convert say kaddish for a non-Jewish parent?

26:10 - There seems to be a contradiction in how the Torah views money. On the one hand, the Torah says that one who has possessions will have worry; on the other hand, money is celebrated when it is given as a donation to the yeshiva.

31:40 - If I could know for certain that I could be a successful business person

34:50 - There is a torah prohibition against Beged Isha. A man wearing a woman’s item of clothing. This has been extended to plucking hairs or dying hairs. However, we have a principle that what is deemed ‘woman’s behaviour’ changes with the era in history. Could this permit plucking hairs and the like?

38:00 - Is Beged Isha the reason why religious women do not wear pants?

39:00 - What percentage of men need to practice a behaviour in order to for it be permissible in regard to the prohibition of Beged Isha?

40:40 - What is the significance of Ana BoKoach and why do we say it during Sefiras HaOmer?

44:00 - How do we relate to stories of Gedolim that are beyond us?

51:00 - Banned Books and Boruch Epstein

58:00 - Why did Volozhin yeshiva close?

1:00:10 - Men and Women touching is usually forbidden but is mutar in professional settings. Is it fitting to be machmir in such professional settings?

1:02:45 - Sexual Harassment and the modern-day relevance of Halachic boundaries on male-female interactions

01:07:30 - What is the purpose for Aggedata in the Gemara? Is it all literally true?

01:18:40 - What is Geula? Is it physical or spiritual, personal or national?

01:22:00 - Is the son of Cohen and a convert a Cohen?

01:23:30 - Is the child of a woman who converted during pregnancy Jewish by descent or a convert?

01:25:30 - What is the Torah view on Progressive Income Tax?

01:28:45 - Why do they play music before candle-lighting during Sefira?

01:31:00 - Should we be more lenient in Halacha in the interest of achdus(unity)?

01:35:00 - Is it a problem to say hamapil in pajamas? What about talking after hamapil?

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PRODUCED BY: CEDAR MEDIA STUDIOS