Question
Dear Rabbi, The Chanukah miracle: A flask with one night’s oil burned for eight nights. But being that there was oil for one night, the miracle actually lasted only seven nights. So why is Chanukah eight nights and not seven? Thank you

Question
Dear Rabbi, My 4.5 year old had a Bris, his first trip to Israel was for a cousins wedding when he was 10 months old, when you walk into our house the first thing you see is a Star of David. He has also been attending Jewish preschool for 2.5 years and every summer spends a month in Hebrew camp. I do my best to ensure he is a good Jewish boy. However, this holiday season he keeps talking about Santa Claus. He asks if Santa likes the Jews and will he bring him presents. How will he get into our house if we have a fire going, and on and on. I keep telling him that we are Jewish and do not celebrate Christmas. But we celebrate Chanukah and the Russian new year. That mama and papa get him presents. I do not have the heart to say there is no Santa. Besides, he may repeat it at school and that isn’t fair to other children. I’m at a loss. I really don’t know what to do. Have you any advice? It may be important to note that I was not raised religious and grew up celebrating Christmas. My wife immigrated to the United States in her teens and grew up in a relatively strict Jewish household. Thank you for the time and help

Question
Is it permissible to say Kaddish in my home alone while participating in a virtual evening or morning minyan ?

Question
There is a convention for my favorite TV show that is taking place on Hoshana Raba in which I would have a chance to meet in person and greet the actors from the show. I am a big fan of them. It is a 2-hour drive from where I live. I can get home in plenty of time before the start of Yom Tov. That is not the issue. The problem is, to get there at the time the actors will be there, I would have to skip going to shul on Hoshana Raba morning, which I have never done in at least 24 years. There is enough time for me to daven by myself at home before going, but not to go to shul. I feel this is a once in a lifetime opportunity. But at the same time, I am feeling guilty about skipping shul over something like this. I am feeling really conflicted. I have nothing monetarily to benefit from doing this. The only thing I would gain is the joy of meeting them. This convention takes place in a different city every year, and this is the closest it has ever been to where I live.

Question
We live in an apartment that requires sukkahs be taken down no later than Sunday October 23. We will be leaving town on the morning of Sunday October 16 and not returning until after the 23rd. I have understood that it is forbidden to take down a sukkah during Sukkos. But if I don’t take it down before I leave, the apartment management says they will dispose of it. Leaving it up longer could also jeopardize tenants being allowed to build sukkahs in the future. Under these circumstances, could I take down the sukkah during Chol Hamoed?

Question
Last year I got drunk one evening and had a fight with my then best friend while over her house. This escalated into further arguments in the coming days and we had a falling out. It’s a long story. She was so appalled she applied for a legal restraining order against me that was granted. The restraining orders forbids me to go near her or to contact her by any means, whether it be in-person, phone, mail, email, text, social media, or even a third party. If I do, I risk jail time. There is only one legal way I can contact her, and that is to send my desired communication to the overseeing judge, who in turn gets to decide whether or not to send the communication to her. These requests apparently can take weeks or months to be fulfilled from within the judge’s busy schedule, if they happen at all. As Yom Kippur is coming, I want to apologize for any wrongdoing and seek forgiveness from her. My only way legally to do that as I mentioned is through the judge. I sent a request to the judge around the beginning of Elul, thinking that was enough time, but so far have not heard back. I have repeatedly called the judge’s secretary, who keeps telling me he will get back to me when his schedule permits. The judge and secretary I am dealing with are both Jewish, and I thought they would therefore be understanding that I have a Yom Kippur deadline, which I explicitly stated to the secretary, but apparently this has not helped. I am not trying to restore our friendship. I do not want to ask too much out of her. I am just trying to get her to forgive me. That is all.

Question
Why is Yom Kippur referred to as ‘Yom Tzom Kippur’ in Unetaneh Tokef? Why is it called this exclusively here but not anywhere else?

Question
Dear Rabbi, I am planning to fast on this Yom Kippur for the first time and would like to have a better understanding of the essence of the day. Rabbi, how would you explain the idea of Yom Kippur so that I can hopefully have a more meaningful experience? Thanks.