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Was it Rabbi Becher or Riette who give a talk on the meaning of each Hebrew letter? I attended a lecture many years ago and this thought has stuck with me all these years and I'd like to pursue this thought with the Rabbi. Thank you,   //Leonard Karz 516-582-9610

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What are the rules for saying "vaya'avor" in Tachanun? It says that if you are davening with a minyan, you say it, but what are the limits/rules to that? (i.e., if you are behind the minyan; you came late; you went ahead, etc.) When do you say it, and when don't you?

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Dear Rabbi, I am a doctor. Is it appropriate for me to say any special prayers for the good health of my patients (of any denomination), besides of course treating them medically to the best of my ability? Thank you

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Hello, I have some questions I’ve had a hard time finding answers to and I hope you can help. Firstly, why do animals have to be killed when someone was intimate with it? Second, I’ve heard that the world was destroyed due to beastiality in the past but I haven’t ever heard any sources for that. Is that true? Is there a source for that? Why was the world destroyed? Couldn’t God just make it physically impossible for beastiality to occur? He can do anything. If that is true, what does that mean for our world, being that beastiality is something that happens frequently. Thanks you.

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Shalom, Rabbi. For as long as I can remember, I've wanted to convert to Judaism. I love the beliefs of the religion and what it symbolizes. However, my family is very anti-religion and would in fact shun me for being Jewish. How can I convert without consulting them, what can I do? How can I embrace Judaism? How can I get started? Thank you for your guidance.

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Shalom aleichem Rabbi Lauffer. Thank you for answering my last question. If someone is in the middle of the long blessing "Baruch Hashem l'olam" that is recited right before maariv shemoneh esrei, is he allowed to say "amen" to the chazan when the chazan says the bracha "Baruch atah Hashem, Shomer amo Yisrael l'ad," that is said before the "Baruch Hashem l'olam" long bracha? Thanks.

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For the morning shema (Nor during Barchu) right after the brachot prior to pesukei dezimra, do we cover our eyes fo that Shema like during Barchu or not. If not why not?

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I have davened the Amidah at haneitz for almost 10 years now. I usually try to say Go-al Yisroel at the exact second of sunrise so I can start the Amidah one second after sunrise as I learned. However, I was told that there is a few minutes leniency as to it still counting as it being haneitz. One shul, in North Miami Beach, for example starts their Amidah 30 seconds after haneitz. So, my question is, to get the zechus for davening haneitz, is there a time limit where if you exceed it, it no longer counts as davening at sunrise? I'm very OCD, so I've always tried to start the Amidah one second after the exact second of haneitz for my zipcode according to myzmanim.com. I look forward to your answer. If I may, I have a second question. When I was at the kotel for Shavuos 3 years ago (my father's yartzeit), myzmanim.com's time for haneitz seemed to be a few minutes AFTER the other minyanim at the kotel. I didn't realize it until afterwards, but I was wondering how that is? Someone mentioned that there could be different ways to calculate the exact second of sunrise, but having it 3-5 minutes before the time I had was puzzling. Thank you!