In this week’s episode, the topics discussed by Rabbi Braun include:

Public birthday parties and ayin hora

• Is there a concern of ayin hora in making large public gatherings for a seventieth or eightieth birthday?
• Since the Korban Todah was brought with forty challos specifically so that a crowd would be invited, is publicizing Hashem’s kindness in fact the entire point of a seudas hoda’ah?
• Does such a seuda carry its own protection, since the kiddush shem shamayim offsets the merits that are otherwise deducted when a miracle is done for a person?
• What could we learn from the Rebbe’s conduct in this regard?

Tevilas keilim for electric appliances

• Must electric appliances be toiveled even when the label warns that immersion will ruin them, and what practical steps make it workable?
• If the appliance would be ruined or the water cannot reach inside, is one exempt because a mitzvah one cannot perform does not apply, or must one simply not use the utensil?
• Having a Jewish professional reassemble it renders it Jewish-made. What about an amateur doing so?
• How much weight do the various arguments for leniency carry (mechubar lekarka, plugging it in as “finishing” it, beis hastarim, not being a kli seudah, and merely being the non-Jew’s “store merchandise”), given that tevilas keilim is deoraysa?

Tevilah for a Keurig machine

• Is a Keurig different from other electric appliances, being a pump rather than a kli, and one that will certainly be ruined by immersion?
• If it’s not merely a matter of damage but genuinely impossible for the water to reach the area requiring immersion, could it be that the chiyuv of tevilah never applied at all?
• May one rely on giving it as a gift to a non-Jew and borrowing it back, even though it will stay in the Jew’s hands indefinitely?
• Since the Taz required toiveling a borrowed kli specifically because one is able to, does that imply the requirement falls away where immersion is impossible, as poskim held with very large vessels?

A shiur in shul on Shabbos afternoon

• Shabbos afternoon commemorates the passing of Yosef Hatzaddik, Moshe Rabbeinu, and Dovid Hamelech (the reason for Tzidkascha). If so, may one make a fixed shiur in shul between Mincha and Maariv?
• Does the minhag of beis hamedrash batel begin close to dark, or only close to shkiya (and not afterward, as the Ketzos Hashulchan seems to imply), and not if beginning earlier?
• Does the concern apply to Chassidus, Pirkei Avos, and agaddah, or only to formal nigleh classes?
• May one rely on the Mishnah Berurah (quoted by the Rebbe) that nowadays we do not stop such gatherings, since people would otherwise sit in shul and waste their time?

Havdalah made without a kos

• Someone who mistakenly made Havdalah without wine in the Nine Days, must he make Havdalah again once he has a kos?
• When the Mishnah Berurah rules that one without wine shouldn’t rely on making a wine-less Havdalah, does that only mean l’chatchila, implying that b’dieved he was yotzei?
• Did the Maharam miRotenburg, who allows Havdalah without a kos, mean that one is yotzei, or only that there is a second part of the mitzvah still to be fulfilled when a kos becomes available?
• If someone made Havdalah on what turned out to be vinegar, must he repeat it, or would that be a bracha l’vatalah?

Solving one person’s safek at the rabbim’s expense

• Why does Tosafos prefer that one person be left with a safek kares passively (b’sheiv v’al ta’aseh) rather than have the majority bring their korban improperly?
• How does this principle apply today, when a heter meant for hefsed merubeh, sha’as hadchak or tzorech mitzvah is turned into a standard arrangement for everyone?

In this week’s episode, the topics discussed by Rabbi Braun include:

Greeting others before davening

• What are the parameters of the halacha against greeting someone in the morning before davening, and how does going to a friend’s house differ from meeting him in shul or on the street?
• Since “good morning” is now a standard greeting, does it still count as a valid shinui from saying “Shalom”?
• Is calling someone on the phone comparable to going to his house, and does it matter whether the call is specifically to say hello or for another purpose?
• How do the Zohar’s stringency on one hand, and the mitzvah of hevei makdim l’shlom kol adam and kevod habriyos on the other, shape the practical approach?

“Words of inspiration” at a levaya on Chol Hamoed

• On days when hespedim are prohibited (e.g., Chol Hamoed, Rosh Chodesh), is saying divrei hisorerus a legitimate alternative, or merely renaming a hesped?
• If one may not even leave the coffin standing in the street lest people come to eulogize, would that apply also to speeches inside a shul or chapel?
• Is praising the niftar itself the problem on these days, or is anything said for kavod hameis permitted?
• What other factors can be relied on when using the opportunity to inspire those gathered to Torah and mitzvos?

Rashba’s view on bracha covering a more chashuv food

• According to the Rashba, who holds that a bracha on a less important food doesn’t cover a more chashuv one, is it enough to know you will eat the other food, or must you specifically intend to exempt it with your bracha (kavana liftor)?
• When a guest’s bracha covers whatever their host will serve later, does that apply even to more chashuv foods served by the host, since the guest never specifically intended to exempt them with his original bracha?
• What is the halacha l’maaseh, l’chatchila and b’dieved, when the bracha was made without specific intent to exempt the more important food?

Lemon squeezers on Shabbos

• If squeezing a lemon directly onto food is permitted on Shabbos, may one use a designated lemon squeezer, or is that uvdin d’chol (a weekday activity)?
• How does this compare to the Rivash’s prohibition against grating cheese with a formal grater, given that a squeezer is arguably made for permissible squeezing onto food?
• Do squeezers that trap the seeds involve a separate concern of borer?

Covering the tefillin shel yad

• Why don’t Lubavitchers cover their arm while wearing tefillin shel yad, and does “lecha l’os v’lo la’acheirim l’os” actually require tefillin to be covered?
• Does the Arizal’s practice of covering the shel yad apply only while putting on the tefillin or throughout davening, and does today’s protective box accomplish it?
• Is there a tznius concern with a bare upper arm, where the tefillin shel yad is placed?
• Is it disrespectful to daven before Hashem with one sleeve rolled up and one down, or is it dignified precisely because everyone knows it’s for the tefillin?

E-scooter safety for children

May parents allow young children to ride e-scooters and e-bikes, given the serious injuries these vehicles can cause?

• Are parents halachically liable for damage caused by a child riding an e-scooter, and which factors may determine their responsibility?
• Does dina d’malchusa dina obligate us to keep traffic and safety laws, such as the ban on riding e-scooters on the sidewalk?

Miscarriage: when does the neshama enter?

• After a missed miscarriage, was there a neshama that came into this world and will merit olam haba?
  At what stage can a child’s neshama enter olam haba: from when the seed is implanted, from the bris, or from when he first answers amen?
  How do the rulings of the Rama and the Alter Rebbe (regarding children answering amen and washing negel vasser) relate to the opinions in the Gemara?
  How does the Rebbe reconcile the various opinions, and connect it to the halacha that we are mechalel Shabbos to save a fetus?

Ignoring someone and onaas devarim

• Does deliberately ignoring someone in order to hurt or humiliate them violate the issur of onaas devarim, which literally refers to hurtful words?
• Is onaas devarim limited to speech, or does it include actions (such as eyeing merchandise you cannot afford) and even inaction?

Sternos and shehiya on Shabbos

• Does food placed before Shabbos on a sterno require a blech covering the flame?
• Is a sterno comparable to a Shabbos hot plate with no adjustable setting (as the questioner’s AI suggested), which most poskim permit without a covering, or is that comparison incorrect?
• Does the concern of shema yechateh b’gechalim apply where there are no actual coals, such as with liquid or gel fuel, or where one can only turn a knob higher or add fuel?

Early Shabbos Kiddush for a bar mitzvah boy

• If a boy becomes bar mitzvah on Shabbos and the community accepts Shabbos early, may he make Kiddush before nightfall, and could that count for himself even after he becomes a gadol that night?
• Can we infer from the halacha about a bar mitzvah boy davening Maariv before dark, which implies that the only concern is davening for the amud and being motzi the tzibbur, with no issue regarding his personal chiyuv?

Tallis on top of tefillin in a travel bag

• Is there an issue with travel tallis bags in which the tallis sits on top of the tefillin, rather than in front of them as in the classic bags?
• Since tefillin have a higher level of kedusha than a tallis, why is placing the tallis on top not considered disrespectful?
• Does it matter that the tallis serves as protection for the tefillin, and that the tefillin are stored inside their own box and bag?