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    • The Traveler’s Halachic Guide to Hotels

    The Traveler’s Halachic Guide to Hotels

    By: Rabbi Zvi Goldberg

    Spring 2010 | Reviewed January 2025

    Yosef chose the hotel he was staying in for its many amenities, not the least of which was the free Continental Breakfast it offered its guests. Surely, when kosher symbols on products are becoming more and more prevalent, he wouldn’t starve! The breakfast menu included cereals, pancakes, waffles, muffins, pre-cut fruits and vegetables, hardboiled eggs, as well as hot coffee and juices. Can Yosef eat anything offered on the Continental Breakfast menu, or should he prepare his own breakfast using the microwave and coffeemaker in his hotel room?

    Chana’s brother’s bar mitzvah, held in a hotel during Shabbos, turned out to be a real nightmare! The closet light went on automatically when she opened the closet door; the housekeeper had turned off the light in her room, preventing her from reviewing her parsha notes; she drank a bottle of water from her room’s ‘refreshment bar’ which […]

    Navigating the Ins and Outs of Renting an Airbnb

    Navigating the Ins and Outs of Renting an Airbnb

    By: Rabbi Zvi Goldberg

    Winter 2024 | Updated May 2025

    Who would have imagined, just a few years ago, that you could go on vacation and rent a stranger’s private home? But that is exactly what people now do every day, with the rise of Airbnb and similar short-term rental platforms that list millions of units in over 100,000 cities.[1]

    A Torah-observant individual who enters into such an arrangement will encounter numerous halachic challenges when signing up as an Airbnb “guest.” This includes properties listed as “kosher” – even ones in Israel – since an owner usually cannot vouch for every renter who has used the kitchen, nor for each renter’s kashrus standards, which can vary widely. Likewise, one who owns and is the “host” of an Airbnb property will have to address his own set of halachic concerns. Let’s analyze some of the more common ones.

    Kashrus Concerns During the Year (Excluding Pesach)

    The primary […]

    Going Away for Pesach? Guidelines for Hotel and Airbnb Guests

    Going Away for Pesach? Guidelines for Hotel and Airbnb Guests

    By: Rabbi Zvi Goldberg

    January 2025

    Many people leave home to celebrate Pesach with extended family. If that entails staying in a hotel or an Airbnb, there are specific halachos to keep in mind. See below for a brief summary of these halachos.

    Kashering Guidelines

    A hotel kitchenette or Airbnb requires the same method of kashering for Passover as a home kitchen. One should secure permission from the hotel or Airbnb owner before kashering.

    Ideally, all kashering should be completed before the end time for eating chometz on Erev Pesach.1

    Sometimes, one might not arrive until later on the day of Erev Pesach, or on Chol HaMoed. If that is the case, then:

    ► If one arrives on Erev Pesach after the end time for eating chometz where the property is located: the oven and stovetop grates may still be kashered. A sink may be kashered if one can ascertain that the sink is aino ben yomo (i.e., has […]

    Time Flies: A Guide To Time-Related Halachos When Flying

    Time Flies: A Guide To Time-Related Halachos When Flying

    By: Rabbi Dovid Heber

    Fall 2017 | Updated November 2024

    The STAR-K office and its Institute of Halacha receive hundreds of inquiries from STAR-K mashgichim, businessmen and tourists traveling to all corners of the globe. The most common questions relate to kashrus information. However, more common than ever are shaalos related to davening and other halachic issues impacted by changing time zones while in transit. There are excellent websites1 that project the times for sunrise, sunset, and other halachic zmanim for aircraft passengers. A basic understanding of the halachos that relate to these times and the metzios2 enhances the use of these powerful tools, which is analogous to how we can increase the usefulness of a GPS by possessing a basic knowledge of the route one must drive.

    I. What Happens In-Flight?
    As is well known, the sun rises in the east and sets in the west. In the summer, the days are longer (earlier […]