Q&A: By the Lights of the Fire and Not Seeing…
By the Lights of the Fire and Not Seeing…
Question
My daughter is extremely religious, and studied at Ofana, where all kinds of serious rabbis teach, and she knows that Bibi is king and everything is great.
Bottom line: she sticks decorations on her fingernails.
How is that not a problem for washing the hands?
How is immersion not a problem?
At the blessing over the lights of the fire she doesn’t see the fingernails, so how is she going to save herself from troubles?
I’d be happy for an answer I can show her.
Answer
Being extremely religious is excellent. Are you bothered by her commitment to Jewish law, or by the fact that this commitment includes unnecessary and incorrect things?
Your question has nothing to do with the opening. You’re looking for a way to convince her to avoid nail decorations and want to exploit Jewish law for that purpose. It seems you’re not quite a religious fanatic yourself.
So I’m sorry to disappoint you. Jewish law is not a tool that can be used to achieve educational goals (whether good or not). Women do things like this, and although to me too it seems strange and even a bit repulsive, I don’t see any halakhic objection to it. You’ll have to find another way.
Here’s a short overview: https://www.kipa.co.il/%D7%A9%D7%90%D7%9C-%D7%90%D7%AA-%D7%94%D7%A8%D7%91/%D7%91%D7%A0%D7%99%D7%99%D7%AA-%D7%A6%D7%99%D7%A4%D7%95%D7%A8%D7%A0%D7%99%D7%99%D7%9D-%D7%97%D7%A6%D7%99%D7%A6%D7%94/
And as for seeing the fingernails during Havdalah, here you’ve really gotten carried away with your agenda.