Rabbi Dr Yitzchak Breitowitz, of Ohr Somayach Jerusalem, discussing the most common questions about Judaism.

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• SheIdim and mazikim (demons and damaging creatures); mention dibuk (troubled soul in limbo)
• Parshas Vayera – Avraham asked Hashem that people should get old with visible signs of age, but Sarah became old with clear, fresh skin
• Gezel sheina; opening and closing window in winter or summer
• Saying tachanun during hazaras hashatz
• Celebrating Hebrew and Gregorian birthdays
• “Heter kiruv” (mention of inviting secular for shabbos)
• Birth control for financial strain
• Piru u'rvu (be fruitful and multiply)-why was it given to Adam and Noach and not bnei Noach (non-Jews)
• Yishuv Eretz Yisrael
• Bircas kohanim (blessing the kohanim) being discontinued/not practiced in chutz laaretz but only in E”Y and by Sephardim
• Kohanei chazaka: believing a kohen/cohen that he is a cohen and halachos nowadays that apply to him (e.g. Torah reading, marriage, duchan)
• Frequency of going to the Kotel/Kosel-Western Wall
• Eliyahu haNavi answering teku and what happens when mashiach comes regarding machloksim, kashiyos, minhagim etc.

(11/13/2012)