I am planning a wedding for my daughter in either Sept or Oct of 2007. It has to be on a Sunday as we have many Shabbat observers. I know many holidays are in those months. Is there a time period when they can not get married due to the holidays? I know Rosh Hashana is Sept 13th, Yom Kippur is Sept 22nd and Sukkot is from Sept 27-Oct 3. I am not sure of the religious rules. Any help you can offer would be greatly appreciated

if the rabbi said I can use birth control, is a nuva ring contraceptive allowed?

Hi. Could you please give me some textual references for telling the truth ie: the jewish halacha on lying...I know that the commandment about "not bearing false witness" would obviously be the most significant, but I am sure there are many more references? thank you!

Dear Rabbi, I am a PhD student in public health at Johns Hopkins. This past week I have been attending a Bioethics intensive course at Georgetown University and in a lecture a professor said something that seemed to be both anti-semetic and perhaps a misrepresentation of Judaism. I would like to find a polite way to explain to the professor how he could more accurately and more sensitively provide the same lesson to students in the future. In explaining that the moral requirement of "do not kill" takes precedence over all other moral principles- in some cultures that rank moral requirements- he specifically mentioned the Talmudic tradition as demanding this over all other considerations. He said- "I once had a Jew (note he, the professor, is a doctor referring to a jewish medical student) who didn't understand his own tradition. He was worried about coming into the hospital on the sabbath in order to save a life and I explained to him..." First, is this statement accurate? My thought is that a Rabbi would instruct a medical student to break the sabbath in order to save a life if no other doctors were available. But if the student is part of a team or a practice and his presence is not essential to save this patient, he can honor the sabbath. Also, there may be some issue with his getting paid to do this in the context of work. Perhaps he must waive his payment for services rendered. As a Rabbi, what are your thoughts? I hope to forward the professor your anonymous reply. I can't capture the professor's tone over email, but needless to say it was very abrupt and negative. And I felt offended by his abrasive way of saying, "a jew who didn't understand his own tradition." I wanted to wait however to have an informed and less emotionally charged response. Thanks and I look forward to discussing this with you further. Shabbat Shalom Lori

What holiday is shmini atzeret?