Riddles of the Week

(For answers see above)

1. Is a women allowed to be a mashgiach kashrus?
2. What was the heter for the Rambam to live in Mitzrayim, surely there is an issur de'O'raisa to return to Mitzrayim?
3. In this week's parsha (18:4) we have the mitzvah of reishis hageiz. There was a famous story with Rav Elyashiv that a Yid living in a moshav sold him some sheep so that he could fulfill the mitzvah of reishis hageiz, however, he refused to sell the sheep back afterwards. Why do you think he refused? And what do you think happened to the sheep in the end?
4. In this week's parsha we learn about the prohibition of ba'al tashchis (20:19). Although the pasuk speaks specifically about destroying fruit trees, the Rambam (Hilchos Melachim 6:10) rules that the prohibition applies to wasting anything without a legitimate purpose. The poskim note that ba'al tashchis does not apply when the waste occurs through shev v’al ta’aseh — passively, without performing an active act of destruction (see the Chazon Ish on the Rambam, Hilchos Melachim 6:8, and Igros Moshe, Yoreh Deah Vol. 2, siman 174, anaf 3). When, then, would there be a case in which one violates ba'al tashchis even through shev v'al ta'aseh?
5. If one cooks food and finds a single bug inside, the halachah is that there is no obligation to check the rest of the food (see Shulchan Aruch, Yoreh Deah 84:9). Is it considered ba'al tashchis if one refrains from eating such food?
6. Is it permissible for a pregnant woman to clarify the gender of her future baby if there is no halachic need? The Medrash teaches: “And no person knows what is in a woman's pregnancy”, how are we to understand this Medrash in light of the fact that nowadays doctors seem to be able to the determine the gender of a future baby?