Question
Dear Rabbi, I have been reading about Jewish life recently, trying to understand what it means to be a Jew. One topic that intrigues me is the concept of saying a blessing. What does a blessing mean in Judaism? Thanks!

Question
My parents are divorced. When I recite Birkat Hamazon at one of their homes and I insert the paragraph for eating a one’s parent’s table, do I recite the words for both parents, or only the parent whose table it is?

Question
I have a new job where I have to catch a train very early in the morning. This leaves me with no time to do the full Shacharit before going to work. In the absence of time for the full Shacharit, what prayers must be recited by a certain time, and which ones can be delayed until later in the day?

Question
We recite Psalm 92 three times every Shabbat. Yes, I know the importance of each individual time we recite it. But is there a significance to the number three, the fact that we recite it thrice?

Question
I know you are not supposed to think G-d’s name or biblical verses while in the bathroom. But it’s all too easy to get a song stuck in your head and to not be able to get it out. What do you do about it when you are using the bathroom or taking a bath, and you get a song based on a tefilah, or possibly your synagogue’s tune for a tefilah stuck uncontrollably in your head?

Question
How do we know that the fruits that we identify as grapes, dates, figs, pomegranates, and olives in modern times are the same ones as described in the Torah for the purpose of the bracha acharona?

Question
To make it easier for me to sleep, when I wake up during the night and feel the need to use the bathroom, which happens several times a night, I don’t get out of bed, and I urinate in a bottle I keep by my bedside. But I don’t have access to any way to wash my hands and there is no practical way to have handwashing water by my bedside. Do I still recite Asher Yatzar if I don’t wash my hands?

Question
Shalom. Due to an emergency, I missed the opportunity to say Yizkor for my father in synagogue yesterday. Can I say it at home now? Or is there something else I can do? Others did say it for him, if that matters. Thank you.