Q&A

I want to build a storage area in my yard, but there's an avocado tree currently standing in the area where I want to build it. Am I allowed to uproot the avocado tree?

You taught me that flowers and non-edible plants (and trees) can grow under a vine, but vegetables and edible herbs cannot.

What about a plant that I understood to be only ornamental, but I have discovered on the internet can also be used like spinach and other edible leaves?

 The plant in question is sweet potato vine. Its roots or tubers are not edible but the leaves can be used as food. Is it a problem even if we don’t eat them?

Our grapevine is in its second year of orlah. If we cannot let that plant grow under the vine, has it had a negative effect on the vine and future grapes already?

I planted an African blue basil plant in my garden (in Israel). I recently learned that this plant is propagated through cross pollination of two other basil species. Is it permitted to keep this plant in my garden? I assume so but want to check. I would love to understand the analysis. Thank you!

I am a media student, and throughout my studies I frequently encounter complex halachic questions concerning the boundaries between freedom of expression, information disclosure, and lashon hara (harmful speech). From my time in yeshiva, I recall that the Chafetz Chaim sets stringent and detailed conditions for when speaking lashon hara for a constructive purpose is permitted. At times, it seems as though halacha tends to protect the offender—shielding him behind a wall of silence—while the victim, who has been harmed, remains unprotected and without recourse. How can we understand the Torah’s approach, which appears to exercise extreme caution toward wrongdoers rather than coming to the aid of those they have hurt?

Hi, I was hoping you could help me. Any of the box stores and vendors that sell fruit trees in the United States do not list their rootstock. My understanding is that at times they can use various different rootstocks that are often not the original min. How concerned do I have to be about this when purchasing these trees?

1.       I saw a technique called rootballing, where you peel off the bark of a tree around a branch and cover it with soil and it sends out roots. Then you disconnect if from the tree and plant it. This also allows it to produce fruit more quickly. Is this allowed halachically?

2.       My plan is to plant the branch with roots in a pot and make it a bonsai, and place it on my porch. I also am planning to take seeds of various fruits and germinate them, like avocados – also to prepare bonsais. Perhaps eventually, if I move and have a bigger garden, I might transplant it into the ground and it will grow bigger. Is it ok halachically to grow a tree as a bonsai?

I am growing peppers, tomatoes and cucumbers . Each vegetable is in a separate container on my porch that has a concrete floor. all of the pots are perforated. am I obligated to ensure a certain amount of distance between the containers due to laws of kilayim? For example, the pepper pot and tomato pot are sitting directly on the concrete floor and when I water them, and the water flows out of the bottom of the pots - the waters are mixing - maybe one is feeding from the other? Thank you

I had a pot with sweet potatoes and wanted to plant potatoes there instead. So, I thought that I cleaned all the sweet potato remnants, but lo and behold! This was the result. Are they kilei zera'im? What should I do now? Will I be permitted to eat the potatoes and sweet potatoes?