General

Dear Rabbi Simon, We often hear the saying ‘fake it until you make it,’ but I was wondering how does this saying apply to the virtue of humility – if one attempts to conquer one’s pride by practicing the opposite virtue (ie humility), is it not at the risk of being mistaken for a conceited person? I trust you don’t…

Dear Rabbi Simon, I’m invited to the wedding of a good friend’s daughter in Israel in August. When I told my mum, she got very sad and worried that I’m considering travelling to a war zone!  What’s the right thing to do? To honour the couple / my best friend? To be a good Zionist / Jew and not to…

Dear Rabbi Simon Can someone who is not Jewish handle mezuzot as in removing them carefully from the doorposts? We are out of the country and just wondered if it is an issue. Many thanks, Shevi Hi Shevi Thank you for your question. Under the circumstances, if the mezuzot are in their cases, they may be carefully removed and stored by a decorator or similar.…

Dear Rabbi Simon As head of the Jewish affinity group at a major national charity, I will be asked at a forum, “What are the Core Beliefs of Judaism?” I plan to give the answer below.  What do you think? Thanks and regards, Alex [The answer which appears below reflects Rabbi Simon’s editing of Alex’s proposed response.] Dear Alex Nice…

Dear Rabbi What punishment can my parents face for neglecting me for decades? What punishment can my cousin face for treating me with extreme cruelty and indecency and thus ruining my life? I would love to see justice and the people responsible for ruining my life pay a price for what they have done to me. Thank you for replying.…

Dear Rabbi Simon, The third paragraph of the Shema commands us to place a thread of techeilet on each corner of tzitzit (Num. 15:38). So why don’t we find at least one string with a light blue dye on all tzitziot? These days, as far as I can tell, most tzitzit are all white. Why don’t we dye one strand…

Dear Rabbi Simon, I have heard that mezuzos should be checked twice every 7 years.  I’m certainly happy to do that if it is required.  But just wanted to check – because it seems to me that at least for those that are inside of the house, if they are correctly written then they should pretty much stay that way…

Dear Rabbi Simon, I recently got divorced after being married for 4 months. My question is this: Do I still need to cover my hair? If I were to move away from the community I currently live in, where the people do not know I was married, do I still need to cover my hair? May I have my hair…

Dear Rabbi Simon, I wanted to ask you if it is true that G-d forgives people who commit all kinds of sins and abominations, as long as they carry out acts of kindness, like helping the poor. Some people seem to believe this very strongly. But it seems to me that if G-d forgives them, the world would be full…

Dear Rabbi Simon, I hope all well. We arrived at our apartment in Jodhpur. There are various shrines and images of the Buddha… Can we stay here? (The whole country is full of Buddhas, actually.) Should we cover them up? Here is an example: Hindy in India Dear Hindy From the photo, it would seem that this is decorative rather…