Responsa Radio

Since Jewish identity is matrilineal (it follows the mother's line), someone who is looking to get eggs for in-vitro fertilization—should they pay attention to the religion of the egg donor? Who is the mother here? What does being a mother mean? Recorded live at Limmud NY 2015. Have a question you'd like answered on Responsa Radio? Email us at responsa@hadar.org

I like to go out the night after Passover to grab a cool beer in celebration of eating hametz (leaven) again. Do I need to worry if the owner of that bar is a Jew that didn't remove his hametz for the holiday? Have a question you'd like answered on Responsa Radio? Email us at responsa@hadar.org

In this episode: Why can't Europeans eat beans? Can you start the Seder early? How fancy are Rabbi Tucker's knives? These and other questions answered. Have a question you'd like answered on Responsa Radio? Email us at responsa@hadar.org

What are the issues in Jewish law of using electricity on shabbat and festivals? What are the different approaches from the 20th-21st centuries? And what's the difference between electricity on Yom Yov / festivals or shabbat? Have a question you'd like answered on Responsa Radio? Email us at responsa@hadar.org

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 ways in which it makes sense? What are the operating principles behind these laws? Have a question you'd like answered on Responsa Radio? Email us at responsa@hadar.org

What are the questions and issues that we should be thinking about regarding ordering food in a non-Kosher restaurant? Have a question you'd like answered on Responsa Radio? Email us at responsa@hadar.org

Is it permissable to invest in a store store that serves non-Kosher food like Burger King? Have a question you'd like answered on Responsa Radio? Email us at responsa@hadar.org

I'm a graduate student in insect biology and have ants to look after. Can I do so on shabbat? (00:26) There's a huge variety of Kashrut practices for dishwashers: some people put meat and milk together, some people have separate dishwashers for meat and milk. How did this come about and how should I think about my own dishwasher practice? (13:18) Can I use free public transport on shabba...

There is a custom of burying someone with earth from the land of Israel. How did this custom come about? How old is it? Why do we do it? And is it a law or a custom? Can you use an umbrella on Yom Tov / festivals? There is no issue of carrying (unlike on Shabbat), but is there a concern of building, an act forbidden both on Shabbat and Yom Tov? I'm fostering a non-Jewish child. There is no cl...

Is it permissable to wear a fitbit on shabbat? What are the sort of concerns one should be raising with such a device? This question deals with the huge gulf between assumptions about marriage and sexual relations from the central Jewish law codes and today. How should one consider the values of these texts as applied to the modern age of delayed marriage and hook-ups? On Friday afternoons, there...

In this episode: For someone who works night-shifts, how should they go about doing the morning prayers? Should they aim to get up in the middle of their sleep even if it is unhealthy? Or is there flexibility in doing the morning prayer at another time, or somehow catching up on what was missed? There is a halakhic concept known as karov l’malkhut, giving dispensation for some Jews to avoid some o...