Prayer and Religious Articles
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Women’s Voting
Please tell me the halachic basis for granting/denying voting rights to women in an Orthodox synagogue. Hi, Thank you for the question. In terms of halachic (legal) reasoning for allowing women to vote in shul elections there is no reason…
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Pray for me
We will pray for you but you should know that no prayers are as effective as a person’s own. Think about it: if the Almighty is infinite, that means He is always close to you – you only need to…
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Where are the Matriarchs?
Why are the matriarchs not mentioned in the first blessing of the Silent Amidah prayer? What’s the reason the Rabbis who wrote the prayer did not refer to them (directly) in the first blessing along with the patriarchs? Great question!…
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Torah Portions
Deuteronomy (31:10-13) tells us to read the Torah once every seven years during the festival of booths. I also know that about a thousand years ago, a Rabbi decided that the people were forgetting what the Torah said so he…
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Bowing
Why do we bow, specifically during the “barchu” prayer? The Mishna Brura (in his Be’ur Halacha, 113 “”hakoraya.”) writes that the source is the verse in Divrei Hayamim (Chron.) 1, 29; 20 where it says “And (King) David said to…
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Marriage and Synagogues
Is it a requirement for a member of the synagogue to be married? I have heard people say that a Rabbi should have a wife before becoming Rabbi. One does not have to be married to belong to an orthodox…
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Men and Women in the Synagogue
Why are men and women separated in Orthodox synagogues? Answer: According to many authorities, the source for separate seating in synagogues can be found in the design of the Temple in Jerusalem (destroyed in the year 68). The Talmud relates…
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Lineage Through the Father or the Mother
Why when we pray for someone’s health we mention their mother’s name, and when we call someone up to the Torah we mention their father’s name? Generally a person is called by the name of his father, which in essence…
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The Placement of the Bimah
Is the custom of situating the bimah on the eastern wall of a synagogue a custom or merely a custom or is it a requirement? Interestingly, there are actually two components to a synagogue which serve as the center of…