Question: Does Rosh Hashana share any similarities with the Jan. 1st New Year’s Day holiday? Is it a time for making “New Year’s Resolutions”? AskTheRabbi.org answered: While the form of the celebrations may be very different, I can think of two ways in which these days are similar. One similarity is that it is the time when we start the count of a New Year in the Jewish calendar. Time to get a new ...

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Question: My question concerns food, since I am a chef. And so far, no rabbi was able to explain this to me to my satisfaction. My question is: Why do we consider chicken "meat"? When it comes to the verse "Do not cook a calf in its mother's milk”, well, chickens don’t produce milk! Even some fish are more "meaty" than chicken — tuna for example — yet we can eat ...

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Question: I’ve heard reasons why we keep kosher, and therefore understand why kosher animals were created. But I have no idea how to explain to a 10 year old public school student, whom I tutor, why God created non-kosher animals as well. Please help! Thank you!! AskTheRabbi.org answered: I think that you should your student a prize! The Sages of the Talmud ask the same question! They answer that every animal has a ...

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