Halachic Highlights

Question: Are women permitted to fry latkes while the candles are burning?

Short Answer: According to many poskim, cooking while the candles are burning is permitted, while some poskim are strict and suggest that women should refrain from cooking during the first half hour that the candles are burning.

Question: Do you violate lashon ha’ra if you speak negatively about yourself?

Short Answer: There is a dispute between the poskim whether one violates lashon ha’ra (or another prohibition) when speaking negatively about oneself.

Question: Why do we light the Chanukah candles?

Short Answer: According to Rav Yosef Dov Soloveitchik zt”l, candle lighting has two aspects, the basic lighting to commemorate Chanukas HaMizbei’ach, and a requirement of pirsumei nisa to commemorate the miracle of the oil.

Question: Do you violate lashon ha’ra if you speak negatively about someone who is deceased?

Short Answer: Many poskim hold that it is forbidden to speak negatively about the deceased, but the exact source and nature of this prohibition is debated by the poskim.

Question: Is it permissible to share lashon ha’ra with your wife?

Short Answer: This is a big dispute, with the Chofetz Chaim seemingly forbidding it unless necessary for the speaker’s mental health, and other poskim ruling leniently based on the concept of “ishto k’gufo” (that a husband and wife are like one person).

Question: Do you violate lashon ha’ra if you speak negatively about a non-Jew?

Short Answer: While the exact nature of any potential prohibition is disputed by the poskim, many agree that one should not speak negatively about a non-Jew.