Dose of Halacha

Question: We were on holiday and had no shofar for shacharis . We only managed to obtain one later in the day. Should we have blown it at maariv ? Answer:  The Rema (OC 581:1) writes that the minhag Ashkenaz is to blow the shofar each morning after shacharis throughout the month of Elul. He notes that some have the practise to blow in maariv , too. The Mateh Ephraim (Elef Lemateh 581:8) quotes the Elya Rabba who records that this was the practice in Prague. However, the Aruch Hashulchan (OC 581:12) writes that one must not blow the shofar at night-time even to practice as that is not an opportune moment for mercy. Therefore, R’ Moshe Feinstein (Igros Moshe OC 4:21:5) explains that the Rema is evidently referring to those who davened maariv while it was still daytime. He notes that the Chayei Adam (2:138:1) specifies that some people would blow a second time during mincha which is still an acceptable time. R’ Moshe Feinstein explains why the shofar is specifically blown af...

Question: We are going on a road trip in a camper-van for a few days. Do we say tefillas haderech every day? Answer: The Shulchan Aruch (OC 110:5) writes that one only recites tefillas haderech once a day even if one stops off during their journey. The Mishna Berura (110:26) adds that only if one stops off to stay somewhere overnight, do they recite a new beracha when they continue travelling. However, if one stops off for a few hours without properly staying somewhere, they omit Hashem’s name in the beracha when reciting tefillas haderech. The Chida (Birkei Yosef OC 110:9) writes that sailors should only say tefillas haderech with the concluding beracha on the first day. As there is a safek as to whether one should say tefillas haderech on the following days, one should not complete the beracha (See Kaf Hachaim OC 110:47 ( . R’ Shlomo Zalman Auerbach (Minchas Shlomo 2:60:4) and R’ Yehoshua Neuwirth (Ishei Yisrael 50:n13) explain that if one stops off properly to slee...