We’re pleased to share a new episode of “Lemaan Yishmeu,” the weekly halacha podcast with Rabbi Yosef Yeshaya Braun, Mara D’asra, and member of the Crown Heights Beis Din, brought to you by AskTheRav.com in partnership with the Lemaan Yilmedu Halacha Institute.

Each week, Rabbi Braun explores fascinating halachic questions across a wide range of practical topics — real inquiries that have reached his desk, along with his clear and insightful responses.

You can listen to the podcast on all major platforms, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, 24Six Amazon Music and Pocket Casts

The podcast is also available at https://asktherav.com/podcast/#ep21, where you can see extensive marei mekomos for the answers.

In this week’s episode, the topics discussed by Rabbi Braun include:

Hakafos on Simchas Torah without a minyan

• May hakafos on Simchas Torah be done b’yechidus, for example by a shliach who has no minyan, or is a minyan required?
• Is there a prohibition to take out a Sefer Torah for fewer than ten, as the Maharil writes regarding Hoshaanos?
• How do Simchas Torah hakafos differ from Hoshaanos, which the Maharil says an individual should say without circling the bimah?
• Is each individual obligated to get his own hakafa, or is it enough to be present while others go around?

V’sein tal umatar for travelers

• When someone travels between Eretz Yisroel and chutz la’aretz before v’sein tal umatar begins at home, do they follow the practice of their home or of the place they are in?
• Does it make a difference whether they plan to return, are traveling with their family, or how long they are staying?
• If someone began asking for rain in Eretz Yisroel and then came to chutz la’aretz, do they stop, and does it matter if they are returning to their original home?
• Can the whole shaila be avoided by asking for rain in Shomea Tefilah, as some suggest?

Double head coverings for davening and brachos

• Is a second head covering for davening, bentching, brachos, or any mention of Hashem’s name an obligation or a minhag, and what is its source?
• Does a large or two-layered yarmulke count as a double covering?
• May one place his bare hand on top of his yarmulke as the second covering when making a bracha, and what about for davening and bentching?

The bracha on Hallel on Rosh Chodesh

• On Rosh Chodesh, should each person say the brachos before and after half-Hallel themselves, or be yotzei with the chazzan, as the Alter Rebbe writes in the Siddur?
• Does a yachid davening without a minyan make a bracha on half-Hallel, despite the note in some printings of the Siddur that they do not?
• What was the practice of the Tzemach Tzedek and the Rebbe Rashab?
• What did the Rebbe mean by the Chassidic custom to quietly “chap arein” the bracha?

Drying hands on one’s clothing

• Is there a concern of forgetting one’s learning when drying one’s hands on the clothes one is wearing?
• Does hamenagev yadav b’chaluko refer only to one’s cloak, or to all garments?
• Does it apply to clothes one is not wearing, including someone else’s, assuming the owner doesn’t mind?
• May one dry their hands on their own bed sheets after washing in the morning?

Mezonos wraps

• With wraps labeled mezonos, does the stringency of mezonos bread apply to them as well?
• How does kevius seuda affect a wrap eaten as a meal with a filling such as tuna or egg salad?
• Are factors like being thin, made from a belila rakah, or lacking turisa d’nahama applicable to categorize wraps as mezonos?

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