Answering YUr Shailos

🔥 Remilk and Halachic Status of Lab-Created “Milk”

– Remilk is an Israeli product that **copies the gene for cow milk protein (BLG)** and inserts it into yeast, which through fermentation produces **milk-identical proteins**.

– These proteins are then blended with **non-animal fats, sugars, vitamins, and minerals** to create dairy-like products with **no lactose, cholesterol, hormones, or antibiotics**.

– The company claims there is **no cow or animal source at all** in the process; it is positioned as “milk without cows.”

– They report **Israeli kosher pareve certification**, including from **Badatz Igud Rabbanim** and the **Chief Rabbinate of Israel**, and advertise that it is **halachically pareve**.

– Contrast with **lab-grown meat**:

– Lab meat often begins with cells taken from animals; this raises **“yotzei min ha’asur asur”** issues and questions of **shechita / issur cheilev / ever min hachai**, etc.

– Remilk claims to avoid these because it **does not start from animal tissue**.

– Assuming the factual claim is correct (no animal source), halachically it can be treated as **kosher pareve** with no issue of “yotzei min ha’asur.”

– However, there is a major **mar’it ayin concern** when used with meat:

– It **tastes, looks, and functions like real milk**, including curdling and cheese-making.

– Chazal imposed mar’it ayin restrictions on **human milk with meat**:

• Human milk is technically kosher (not “gidulei ha’aretz”) and not basar bechalav.

• Yet **cooking meat in human milk** is rabbinically forbidden because it looks like meat-and-milk.

• If only a small amount of human milk is mixed and is not visible, one may rely on bitul; e.g., rinsing a baby bottle of breast milk in a fleishig sink is permitted.

– Parallel cases:

• **Dam dagim (fish blood)** is kosher but must be served with **scales visible** to avoid mar’it ayin.

• **Almond milk with meat**: Gemara and Rambam say to place **almonds next to it** so observers recognize it is not dairy.

• Some discuss whether the same applies to human milk; Rambam is more lenient by **chicken with almond milk**, since chicken-and-milk is only derabbanan.

– For Remilk, which **fully mimics dairy**, mar’it ayin is potentially stronger than with almond milk, which is essentially “nut juice.”

– Practical implication:

– **Drinking Remilk alone** is halachically fine (assuming valid supervision).

– **Using it with meat / at a fleishig meal / in a fleishig restaurant** raises mar’it ayin concerns, at least **until the product becomes widely known** and recognized as pareve.

– Once a practice/product is widely recognized, mar’it ayin can fade (analogy: Rav Schachter’s comment that once it was common for visibly religious Jews to have **kosher food delivered to non-kosher venues**, observers no longer assume they are eating non-kosher food).

📖 Women and Obligation in Kriat HaTorah (Torah Reading)

– Question: If a woman comes late to shul and leining has already started:

– Should she **delay her own Shacharit** to listen to kriat haTorah?

– If she’s in the middle of **Pesukei DeZimra or between Pesukei DeZimra and Shema**, should she pause to listen?

– Background question: **Is kriat haTorah a chovat yachid or only chovat hatzibur?**

– Some hold it’s mainly a **communal obligation**: if a tzibur already read, an individual who missed is **not required** to seek out another minyan.

– Some report that Rav Soloveitchik would sometimes organize a **special minyan for kriat haTorah** (e.g., on a plane), implying he related to it as a serious **individual need**, at least for himself.

– Are women obligated?

– **Magen Avraham** (cited in **Mishnah Berurah O.C. 282:11**) states that **women are obligated to hear kriat haTorah**, despite being exempt from general Talmud Torah, because this is a **specific takanah** of public Torah reading.

– Other poskim (e.g., **Alter Rebbe, Sefer HaChinuch style approaches**) say women are **exempt** from kriat haTorah.

– Mishnah Berurah quotes the Magen Avraham but notes:

• **“Ein no’hagos l’hizaher b’zeh”** – women are not careful to fulfill this.

• Some women even have the **custom to leave** during kriat haTorah.

– Common practice: women are **not treated as strictly obligated** to hear leining.

– If a woman is present during kriat haTorah:

– **Piskei Teshuvot** notes she should not **talk, disturb, or disrespect** the Torah reading.

– Implication: if she is in shul and staying in the room, she ideally **should listen** and not treat the time as background for unrelated activity.

– Practical answers:

– She is **not obligated** to delay her entire davening to catch leining, given the prevalent psak and minhag that women are not bound to kriat haTorah like men.

– If she is already davening and will otherwise **miss key parts like Shema or Shemoneh Esrei**, she can **continue her tefillah** and not pause for leining.

– There is no strict requirement for women to sacrifice their personal tefillah structure to hear leining, though **if she is free and present**, it is better to **listen respectfully**.

🙏 Purpose of Tefillah vs. Outcomes (When Davening “Doesn’t Work”)

– Question: If **non-daveners sometimes get what they want** and daveners sometimes do not, what is the purpose of tefillah?

– The assumption that **“tefillah’s purpose is to get what I want”** is incorrect.

– Hashem already **knows what we want** without our asking.

– Asking is primarily **an act of recognition**: acknowledging that all needs are provided **only by Hashem**.

– Sources and ideas:

– Rabbeinu Yonah (end of Berachot) describes tefillah as a way to **declare dependence on Hashem**, not just a wish-list mechanism.

– Chazal: Hashem made the **Avot and Imahot barren** because “**mit’aveh le-tefillatan shel tzadikim**” – He wanted their tefillot, not merely the result.

– Rashi on the creation narrative: rain was withheld until **there was a human being to daven for it**, showing that **tefillah is a built-in condition** for certain blessings.

– Primary purpose of tefillah: **relationship and connection** with Hashem.

– It is structured time in which a person stands **in front of the Creator**, speaking and being present with Him.

– Just as in human relationships, approaching others primarily with a **“what can I get out of you”** mindset undermines the relationship, so too with Hashem.

– Happiness and tefillah:

– Human beings ultimately seek **happiness**, not any specific object.

– Research and common experience show that **giving** often brings more happiness than receiving.

– A deep relationship with Hashem, built through tefillah, is a **fundamental path to happiness**, more than getting particular outcomes.

– When tefillah seems unanswered:

– Tefillah is not a **contractual guarantee** for particular outcomes.

– Its value lies in **closeness, recognition, humility, and avodah**, even when events unfold differently than hoped.

🚽 Shabbat: Tearing Toilet Paper vs. Using a Towel

– Scenario: On Shabbat, in the bathroom, there is **no tissue or prepared toilet paper**. Two apparent options:

– Tear regular toilet paper now.

– Use a **cloth hand towel** that will need to be washed later.

– Halachic issues:

– **Tearing toilet paper on Shabbat**:

• Cutting paper to usable size is akin to the melacha of **“mechatec