Question
Is it permitted to put in a bid for an auction if you know that it will end on Shabbos and that shipping and payment for it will not occur on that day? Thanks in advance.

Question
Dear Rabbi, Why does Shabbat begin on Friday evening instead of at midnight? Thank you

Question
What do we do about a Shabbos guest we have a lot who comes over wearing T-shirts and shorts? In our community, people customarily invite each other for Shabbos meals on a rotation to assure that no one is alone for a Shabbos. Most people without being told know the appropriate way to dress. For men, this is a collared shirt and long pants, either suit pants or business casual. But there is one young man who moved to our community in the past year who wears T-shirts and shorts when the weather is hot. Most people don’t confront him because they don’t have the nerve to do so. He routinely goes over the homes of others and also to shul this way, but no one does anything because they are not assertive enough to challenge him. I actually did last week and he told me in response it was over 100° and he wasn’t going to let himself die from the heat. It is true. It gets over 100° here a lot of the time. But this does not stop other men in our community from dressing appropriately for Shabbos. If they can, he can too. In my opinion, his yetzer hara is telling him to dress this way. The yetzer hara makes him feel uncomfortable, and he is failing the test to follow our community’s standards in response. If he got used to dressing appropriately, his body would acclimate and he wouldn’t die. We don’t want to stop inviting him over this issue because our community does not believe in excluding others.

Question
Dear Rabbi, What is the Jewish view of laziness? Does God abhor laziness? To be honest, I am a very lazy person myself. I know I should do more Jewish things but I guess I’m just too lazy. I know many other religions consider laziness a serious sin and, in their view, I would be a terrible sinner. Thank you, Rabbi, as always, for your guidance.

Question
I just tested positive for COVID. It’s a very mild case. My symptoms are like a very slight cold. I otherwise feel well and I plan to work from home the rest of this week and isolate. This coming Shabbos will be less than 5 days since my symptoms started. I am scheduled to be the Torah reader at my synagogue. The rabbi says there’s no one else around to do it. He is okay with me coming as long as I wear a KN95 mask and he will tell everyone else to wear masks too. The national government guidelines say I should isolate for 5 days, therefore my required isolation ends Sunday. This is not law, but guidance. Who should I listen to, the rabbi or the national government guidelines?

Question
Shalom I have a son named Adrian and someone told me that Hadrian was a Roman emperor who was suppressed the Jewish people in the past. Adrian does not a literal bad meaning, and it means sea and Adriatic. In addition, my son also have a Jewish name, Jacob. My question is, should we change his name? Name changing has caused troubles and may have effects on his spirits. Regards

Question
The prayer of Birkat HaChodesh includes an announcement of when Rosh Chodesh will be. But, originally, the determination of which day Rosh Chodesh would fall out on would depend on the court's declaration. Even though Chazal knew when Rosh Chodesh should fall out, there was no guarantee that there would be witnesses to allow for the declaration to be made on that specific day. It therefore seems that the announcement of when Rosh Chodesh will fall out in the upcoming week is inappropriate.

Question
What is our duty to stand up and speak or act when we see oppression and injustice being done to non-Jews? It seems that many Jews of previous generations concerned themselves with global injustice, bigotry, etc given what has happened to us, but many of us today seem to feel that it is dangerous and unwise to concern ourselves in the affairs of others. I wonder if there is guidance on this? Thank you