Ethics

Today I saw a sticker on a lamppost that said “Free Palestine.” I was tempted to remove it. To do so would be legal. The law where I live is that anyone is allowed to remove anything someone else puts on a public lamppost, whether it be advertising or something political. Then I was thinking of all the “kidnapped” signs for the hostages that all the anti-Israel people ripped down out of hate. I also thought of the saying from Hillel that the Torah can be summarized by in one line by saying not to do to another what you would not want someone to do to you. As awful as it sounds to me, the “Free Palestine” slogan is someone exercising their freedom of speech. And I would not want someone ripping off my sign that I pinned up, especially one in support of Israel. What is the proper thing to do?

Is it ethically permissible to dispose of embryos that have genetic diseases?

I borrowed a book from an acquaintance several months ago. She was not a super close friend, just someone who worked at a store I popped into a lot who I used to chat with. I have no contact info for her because my only contact was seeing her in this store I used to visit. She did not specify when she wanted it back, just that she wanted me to return it someday. Without warning, the store closed. Now I have no way to contact or even find her. All I know is her first name, which is a very common female name in the English language. It is unknown to me who owned the store or how to make connections. I asked around, but this is in a big impersonal city where seemingly most people don’t know or care about each other. I don’t know what to do now from a standpoint of ethics or Jewish law.

If someone becomes sick with covid within a few days before the wedding of a close family member (such as one’s sibling or child), and they are likely contagious and risk spreading it to others at the time of the wedding, would it be permitted to attend the wedding, if the risk of someone there catching it is high, but the risk of someone dying if they catch it is statistically very low?

I’ve always understood one is not supposed to waste food according to Jewish law (with destroying chametz before Passover being an obvious exception). What is one supposed to do with old food that is still safely edible, but of a diminished quality that almost no human (or animal) is interested in consuming?

I am looking for a way to earn some extra money. One of the options I found is mystery shopping. Basically, you enter a store, engage with a salesperson, and pretend you are interested in the merchandise, but in the end, you don’t buy it (or in some cases you do). You subsequently write a report about your interaction that is used by the employer to evaluate that salesperson. It sounds like an easy way to make money, but it seems to conflict with some issues I have learned about Halacha. What do you think?

I just came home from a produce store and realized they undercharged me by a substantial amount due to a cashier’s error. Normally in this situation, I would go back and pay the difference. But none of the people who work there, including the owners, speak my language. Communicating with them to explain the situation is impossible. Knowing exactly how much I owe is also difficult because the produce is mostly sold by weight. How should I handle this?

Dear Rabbi, I’ve been having a problem that’s been troubling me for the past year. An acquaintance of mine refused to get the COVID vaccine because of political disinformation he received. His family and friends begged him to get it, but he refused. Last year, he caught COVID and died. Had he gotten the vaccine, he probably would have survived or not even gotten it. He was only 44 years old and left behind a wife and children. He almost certainly got it from me. Several days before he got sick, he and I were at the same gathering. On that day, I was having a slightly runny nose. I did not want to miss the event, and I was in denial it was COVID, and I convinced myself and others it was allergies. My symptoms later worsened and I took a home test and it was positive. At least two people caught it from me, and he was one of them. From a Jewish moral standpoint, who is at fault for his death? Is it him, for failing to obtain a vaccine that would have prevented his death? Or is it me, who transmitted the disease to him. Does this make him a fool or me a murderer?