Miscellaneous

Dear Rabbi, About 20 years ago, I came to a car rental facility. They refused to rent me a car because my credit was insufficient at the time to qualify by their standards. I eventually rented from another company that had more lenient requirements. But not before I went on a fuming tirade several minutes long in which I called the woman behind the counter every derogatory name I could possibly think of. Obviously this woman was alarmed. After this incident, I felt remorseful and extremely ashamed of myself. This was just a reaction of desperation in which I lost control. I have rarely ever acted like this in my life. I moved on from this incident, thinking I would never see her again. Since then, my financial situation and my credit improved. Working in a much different career now, I got sent on another business trip to the same place. The company I now work for booked me a car rental from the same facility. I was nervous, but I reasoned with myself that after 20 years, none of the same people who saw this are likely to be there, and even if they were, they wouldn’t remember me or the incident. During the incident back then, the woman had told me she had worked there over 27 years. I was certain that after so much time, she would not be there anymore. If she was, that meant she would have to be working there for at least 47 years, which I considered unlikely. I came to the very same counter where I stood 20 years earlier. I remembered the location, but I was sure no one would remember me. And no one did. The gentleman who made my transaction was so young, he must have been a schoolboy back then. But to my horrors, I was shocked to find that an older looking version of the woman I yelled at working there, at a desk behind the counter, seemingly in a managerial position. I was pretty sure it was her. She didn’t notice me, but I was really nervous as I made the transaction. What am I supposed to do about a situation like this? She may or may not be the same person. If she is the same person, she may or may not remember this incident. Rather than apologizing, I tried to play it safe and avoid getting noticed. I will be at this location in three more days to return the car. Since I am not completely sure if it’s the same woman, or if she would remember if it’s really her, do you think it is better if I try to apologize to her for what I did 20 years ago? Or is it better just to leave it be?

I am a kohen. I was raised orthodox and went to yeshiva. Then I rebelled and was not observant for many years. During that time, I attended a lot of funerals. Now I am getting interested in orthodoxy once again. Since I was at some funerals knowingly in violation of my kohen restrictions, does that disqualify me from Birkat Kohanim? Does it affect the kohen status of me and any sons I may have in the future?

There seem to be many sources in the Torah that heavily imply that our imahot covered their faces as well as their hair (the Me'am Loez says it about Dina, Rashi quotes Chazal about Tamar, Avraham didn't know how beautiful Sara was, Rivka covered her face when she saw Yitzchak). Did our Imahot cover their faces? If so, why dont we? and if they didnt, why does there seem to be so much evidence that they did?

I would like to present a class to a group of women on Shabbos about whether one should ask forgiveness to having bullied when younger because asking forgiveness can bring up old and painfull memories to the bullied person you want to ask forgivenss from.