Question
Dear Rabbi, I’m considering becoming observant in Jewish lifestyle and practices, but something is on my mind. If I go ahead and follow Jewish Orthodoxy, will I be looked down upon as a “second class citizen” by others who were born observant? Thanks.

Question
Do the bad people can cause good things in good peoples lives without intentioning it? If a bad person (bad in every aspect and a non-jew) can cause growing and healing in our lives, even they cause us to be good jews and motivates us (without intention) should we forget about them and turn to our depression? Or this is just our lust and illiusion?

Question
What is the Rambam referring to when he elaborates on Nevuah, and talks about that G-d imparts knowledge (mada) into the hearts of men? Is he referring to Ruach HaKodesh? Or, is he just giving some sort of definition for Nevuah that pertains to this halacha? If he is just defining Nevuah, why does he feel the need to do so here? If he is talking about Ruach HaKodesh, what might be the parameters of that? For example, if someone accepts Rashi of the Godel Hador of his time and accepts that he was a holy person, and gives appropriate weight to his commentaries and piskie halacha, but does not believe that he wrote his commentaries on Chumash with Ruach haKodesh or if someone similarly does not believe that the targum of Onkelos or Yonathan ben Uziel were written with Ruach Ha Kodesh, is that on par with not believing in Nevuah? Similarly, (in addition to accepting their piskei halacha as halacha) would one need to assume that even the leaders of our generation are guided by ruach a Hakodesh?

Question
This past Shabbos, we had an out of town guest stay with us who is a major celebrity and household name to most Americans, most of who do not even know he is Jewish. I will not mention his name here because it is lashon hora. Before he came, we excitedly told our kids a celebrity was coming over for a Shabbos meal. But once he was here, we saw a different side of him than the public knows: a man who is so eccentric that his behavior is socially unacceptable. Within minutes after he entered our home, we started to feel uneasy with him because of his mannerisms. After we lit candles, we felt so uncomfortable with him, we wished we could kick him out. But we weren’t sure what to do. Because we were observing Shabbos like we normally do, this didn’t help. He said he was coming with his wife. Turns out, his wife is a non-orthodox convert to Judaism who might as well be called an antisemite. She sympathizes with Palestinians and thinks the worst about Israel. And she constantly said demeaning things about Orthodox Judaism and Jewish laws and customs we all follow and had the impression that all Jews are rich. She herself was quite the narcissist who expected our place to be a luxury hotel with fine dining. She constantly put us down for not living up to her expectations of being treated like a queen. She was much worse than him. We are not rich. We are a struggling middle class family we over $30,000 credit card debt. Despite all that, we did our best to please these people and give them the best. They thanked us by making our Shabbos a nightmare. They did not follow the laws of Shabbos. They turned the light in the room we gave them on and off, took hot showers, and talked on their phones a lot. This was not unexpected. They are not observant Jews after all. In the future, what is a good approach to deal with Shabbos guests who are like this? Should we ask them to leave during Shabbos and drive their car away from our house?

Question
Unfortunately, too often, it happens that our Jewish communities have various disagreements about various issues leading to splits in synagogues and communities. Sometimes the local rabbis split up - different ones taking different sides. Some of these rabbis will have either self-proclaimed or recognized statuses within the community as "leaders" or as "rabbinical counsels." At least sometimes, neither side is completely right on any one issue, and both sides may do things that likely they should not (note when couples fight almost always neither side is "right" and both MUST make concessions for the relationship to move forward in a positive direction - at least that is the current thinking in modern day couples therapy, which would seem relevant, but perhaps it's not relevant). These machlokes' sometimes affect the livelihoods of various people or access to other necessities of various parties. Often various congregates are asked to take sides on various issues. Perhaps sometimes it is appropriate for some congregates to take a position, and perhaps, depending on the degree of a particular "transgression" that is appropriate, perhaps not). Perhaps you could give some general guidance. I think this could be useful for many communities at different times. For example, how to disagree with respect. When should one go to beit din vs. a court or the press to resolve issues (and of course the importance of seeking compromise rather than an actual din Torah)? As some possible examples of some specifics that may or may not be worth discussing, sometimes it may be appropriate (possibly for a rav or possibly someone else) to shame someone into doing the right thing (if there is no other way), but of course, if one errs on this issue, they may be guilty of lashon ha ra or even a chilul hashem. Although the specifics of these situations will of course change what the appropriate action to take is in any given situation, some at least minimal, general advice divorced from the specifics of any situation might be useful. Thank you in advance for addressing these difficult issues.