Tempering the Union

“A single moment of repentance and good deeds in this world is greater than all of the World to Come” (Avot 4:17).
During the final stages of a terminal illness, a patient may endure pain and suffering with no hope of improvement. What measures must be undertaken to prolong the life of the patient?
What are the halachic requirements for administering nutrition, hydration, oxygen and antibiotics? Does the age or presence of mind of the patient play any role in the decision?
Although questions of this nature must be dealt with by a Rav moreh hora’ah b’poel on a case-by-case basis, this paper provides an overview of the relevant issues.

האם מותר להניח פרחים מעל ארון או קבר המת? הבנה יסודית בהגדרת האיסור והטעמים שלא ללכת בחוקות הגויים, מביא אותנו לסכם את שיטות הפוסקים בדין הנחת הפרחים.

Many Jews won’t cut a boy’s hair until he is three years old. What is the history of this custom? What lessons does it hold for us? And does everyone have to keep to it?

“Either way, they are My children” [Talmud].
Blood is thicker than water, they say. The bonds of family are the anchor of an emotionally and spiritually healthy life. But what happens to these relationships after one passes on? Do we “meet again on the other side”? Do families stick together in the hereafter? What about teachers and their pupils? Is this contingent on whether the two are buried in close proximity?
Do the souls of the departed maintain a relationship with those left behind? Do they relate to and empathize with the trivialities of our corporeal existence? Does prayer at their grave-site invoke merit on their behalf?

Without question, our prize possessions are the children we raise, and it is they who remain our legacy after we depart from the world.
Traditionally, children pledge funds to tzedakah and perform other good deeds in the merit of their deceased parents and loved ones.
What are the legal and philosophical arguments in defense of the idea that the deceased may enjoy the merits accrued by the good deeds of others? What if the individual was less-than righteous? Can the tzedakah by community members benefit their soul as well? What makes Yom Kippur a most propitious day to pledge tzedakah for the deceased?

מנהג העולם לברך את החתן והכלה בברכת ׳מזל טוב׳ תיכף אחר שבירת הכוס תחת החופה. אלא שיש וקראו תגר על מנהג זה מחד, ויש שיישבו את המנהג מאידך. מזל טוב?