• Does a place of business require a mezuzah, and, if so, does one make a blessing when affixing it?
• Is there a minimum time that Shabbat and Yom Tov candles must remain lit?
• Should one pray from a siddur or by heart?

These questions, and the more than 100 others in this book have been culled from thousands of queries that have been sent by Jews from different backgrounds and levels of observance throughout the world to the Eretz Hemdah Institute in Jerusalem, Israel. They touch upon every area of Jewish law and reveal the basic desire of all Jews to understand their belief system.
The answers themselves reveal the unique way that the Eretz Hemdah Institute melds sound halachic responses with a sensitivity to the individual and an awareness – not easily found today – that it is not necessary to burden the Jewish people with unnecessarily stringent laws.
In a detailed introduction, the editors present the development of halachic literature over the centuries. They give the reader a behind-the-scenes look at the process a rabbi goes through and the different approaches used to form a teshuva (response to a question).

“The Eretz Hemdah Kollel (Institute), headed by Rabbis Yosef Carmel and Moshe Ehrenreich, shlita, answers the questions of individuals and institutions throughout the four corners of the world. Some of the answers appear weekly in the column “Ask the Rabbi,” which is edited by my dear and prominent friend and student, Rabbi Daniel Mann, shlita. The answers were written with quotations of sources and logical explanations, and it is proper that the Kollel should publish a full book that gathers the answers for the benefit of the community.”
Rabbi Mordechai Willig
Rabbi of Young Israel of Riverdale,
Rosh Yeshiva at the Mazer School of Talmudic Studies
“In addition to a concise but thorough overview of the Halachic process, this volume contains clear, well-researched and elegantly presented answers to many sheailot that were posed to the Kollel Eretz Hemdah. The teshuvot found in this volume span the orbit of Halachic literature. They provide a wonderful and accessible resource for the advanced student of Halacha as well as the beginner. I have no doubt that this book will be a tremendous resource for everyone who is interested in Halacha.”
Richard Joel
President, Yeshiva University