Responsa Radio

Can I use ingredients like spices, pure dried fruit, oil, or nut butter, without Passover certification on Passover? Are there ingredients you can use without a certification? Have a question you'd like answered on Responsa Radio? Email us at responsa@hadar.org .

If I spend Passover with family members who don't kasher their kitchens for the holiday can I eat kosher for Passover food from their pots or dishes? Is there room for leniency because they're my family?  What if my roommates want to use non-kosher for Passover dishes and products? How can we share the kitchen?  Have a question you'd like answered on Responsa Radio? Email us at resp...

What is the halakhic weight of shalom bayit and to what extent is it permissible to do something forbidden for the sake of preserving one’s marriage? For example, I have sleep apnea and use a CPAP machine during the week, mostly because it prevents me from snoring and disturbing my spouse’s sleep. My spouse wants me to use it on Shabbat too, since we have young children and sleep is a precious com...

I have only ever been to seders where karpas is a simple piece of parsley dipped in saltwater, but there seems to be a growing trend of people doing much more elaborate karpas courses, often with multiple, full-blown appetizer dishes. Is this halakhically permissible? Have a question you'd like answered on Responsa Radio? Email us at responsa@hadar.org Music featured in this episode: Salty by...

I am a teenager who is becoming more observant. My parents are less then thrilled. For example, I would like to be observe Shabbat and not use my phone, but this sometimes creates difficulties as they will call or text me things during Shabbat. How can I balance my observance with honoring my parents? Have a question you'd like answered on Responsa Radio? Email us at responsa@hadar.org Music...

As a gabbai, I am often reluctant to correct the person reading Torah so as not to add to their anxiety. I am wondering if we are entering a moment where technology might be helpful, such as writing the vowels and trope onto the Torah itself, or, less radically, making a see-through overlay. Would any of those options be acceptable to make reading Torah more accessible to all? Have a question you&...

Can I read my horoscope? Does it matter whether I’m reading it “just for fun” or if I’m really trying to predict the future? Are horoscopes more forbidden for us than they were for medieval rabbis, who probably considered astrology a legitimate science? Have a question you'd like answered on Responsa Radio? Email us at responsa@hadar.org Music featured in this episode: All The Stars Have Alig...

In the mishnah we see the idea of a person who would translate the Torah into Aramaic after each verse is chanted from the Torah scroll. Would it be appropriate to have something like this now in order to enhance the understanding of the community? Have a question you'd like answered on Responsa Radio? Email us at responsa@hadar.org

What is the history and reasoning behind the mechitzah? Why do they vary so much in size and material? In a setting where this is a mechitzah, can a man walk over to the women’s side to carry a Torah? Have a question you'd like answered on Responsa Radio? Email us at responsa@hadar.org

As a person who is disabled, how am I supposed to relate to a system of mitzvot that often assumes its audience is able-bodied? For example, the morning blessings include the line thanking God for "opening the eyes of the blind"—but what if I am blind? Am I supposed to say this blessing? Have a question you'd like answered on Responsa Radio? Email us at responsa@hadar.org

I am a kohen who lives in Israel where I make the priestly blessing every day. After October 7th, I was recruited to my town’s First Response Team and am now required to carry my gun at all times, including the synagogue. Is it prohibited to make the blessing of Birkat Kohanim, which is essentially a blessing about peace, while carrying a weapon? Have a question you'd like answered on Respons...

There is a principle that says that milk from a deathly sick animal is not kosher. But in today's modern dairy industry it may be reasonable to assume that most if not all cows fall into this category. Can we justify consuming factory milk? If so, how? This episode was recorded live at Hadar's 2024 Halakhah Intensive. Have a question you'd like answered on Responsa Radio? Email us a...

I was at a meal at a non-Jewish colleague's home. We agreed to order food from a kosher restaurant but one of the dishes looks homemade. I don't want to be rude. Can I eat it? How can the framework of "sfeik sfeika," having two axes of doubt, help us make decisions when we don't have all of the information? This episode was recorded live at Hadar's 2024 Halakhah Inten...

My community has a retreat over Yom Tov where almost everyone spends a lot of time at the pool. I grew up in a community that never swam on Shabbat or Yom Tov and now I'm trying to navigate a community where everyone does it. What should I do? Have a question you'd like answered on Responsa Radio? Email us at responsa@hadar.org

While almost all Jewish communities celebrate a boy's Bar Mitzvah at 13, many communities are split for girls—some 12, some 13. Why should girls be required to do mitzvot before boys? What does this age split accomplish? And is it still relevant in egalitarian Jewish communities? Have a question you'd like answered on Responsa Radio? Email us at responsa@hadar.org

You're not supposed to pray somewhere unclean, like a bathroom. But if I'm in the bathroom and can hear the prayers nearby, am I allowed to say "amen"? Have a question you'd like answered on Responsa Radio? Email us at responsa@hadar.org

With any new industry, there are important questions to address from legal and religious perspectives. Responsa Radio creator David Zvi Kalman comes back to ask this question about generative AI for his new podcast, Belief in the Future . Given the way the new large language models trawl the internet for content, is it permitted to use them or does it count as theft? Have a question you'd lik...

There's a stereotype that I've seen on the internet recently that Jews don't care about non-Jewish life. How am I supposed to respond when somebody uses this argument? What do Jewish sources say about the imperative of saving the lives of non-Jews? Have a question you'd like answered on Responsa Radio? Email us at responsa@hadar.org

I've often heard the phrase "all of Israel are responsible for each other" (kol yisrael areivim zeh be-zeh). But what does this mean? What does the responsibility entail? How is it supposed to change my actions toward other Jews? Have a question you'd like answered on Responsa Radio? Email us at responsa@hadar.org

You asked and we answered! A new season of Responsa Radio begins next week. We're going to dig in to topics like artificial intelligence, the value of human life, and our responsibilities toward fellow Jews, just to name a few. Have a halakhic question you want answered on Responsa Radio? Send your question to  responsa@hadar.org.

Halakhic works are often a dizzying compendium of multiple perspectives on a given issue, often making it difficult to determine how to behave in a given situation. In this lecture, R. Ethan Tucker argues this is a feature rather than a bug. Critical values that are meant to guide our lives are rarely fully manifest in any given time, place, or situation. It is our job to discern the wisdom of eac...

In celebration of 100 episodes of Responsa Radio, we're re-releasing our favorites with an update from Rav Eitan and Rav Avi at the end of the episode. Our producer, Jeremy Tabick's favorite is episode #7: The laws of eruv—constructing a sometimes questionable boundary around a neighborhood to allow carrying objects on shabbat—often seem obscure, bizarre, and made-up. But what are the wa...

In celebration of 100 episodes of Responsa Radio, we're re-releasing our favorites with an update from Rav Eitan and Rav Avi at the end of the episode. Our sound engineer, David Khabinsky's favorite is episode #78: A few months ago, one of the largest kosher certification agencies announced that it would not certify "Impossible Pork," despite the fact that nothing in the ingred...

I'm planning on going to the total solar eclipse that will be visible in North America on April 8th. is there a blessing or some other liturgy that I should say as I see it? Have a question you'd like answered on Responsa Radio? Email us at responsa@hadar.org

I was trying to help someone on the street get some food. They asked for a sandwich, so I went into a nearby shop—and suddenly panicked because I realized it was Passover! What was I supposed to do in this case? What are the parameters of buying and touching hameitz for non-Jews during the holiday? Have a question you'd like answered on Responsa Radio? Email us at responsa@hadar.org