Is This Permitted?

I'm 99% sure I was told by an Orthodox rabbi that abortion is the one transgression which is stricter on goyim than on Jews, that it was murder for goyim but even an unpermitted abortion was not murder for Jews. But I can't figure out what would be different for them. If it's murder for them, how could it not be murder for us? OR, if it's not murder for us, what could possibly make it murder for them? Are goyish embryos different, more developed, more something than Jewish ones? And who is liable for punishment for an unpermitted abortion, the doctor, the mother, both? For the record, this is an academic question. I don't know anyone who is pregnant and there is no chance I will make someone pregnant. But it would help to understand this if I want to know where I stand in the USA national abortion discussion.

What is the halacha when it comes to using a restroom in an establishment that has a posted sign that says it is for customers only? Suppose you have to go so badly, you can’t hold it in any longer, but the establishment expects on honor that only paying customers use the restroom, and you have no plans on purchasing any merchandise from that establishment or desire to do so? And there are no other restrooms nearby.

My wife and I recently discovered the YouTube channel of an Orthodox Jewish woman who sings the most beautiful songs. My wife and I are huge fans. At the start of each video, before she sings, she has a message that says “for women only.” She presumably expects on honor that only women will listen to her music because obviously she has no control. I personally believe there is no Torah violation in listening to a woman’s voice electronically. Is it really that bad to listen to her music if the only thing I am doing wrong is violating her own personal request with which I disagree and not the halacha I learned growing up that I follow?

Shalom aleichem Rabbi Lauffer. Thank you for answering my last question. If one urinates a few drops on the toilet seat on Shabbos, is he permitted to wipe off the urine with a detached toilet paper, or would this be forbidden because urine is muktzeh. Thanks a lot.

Hello. Thank you for your good work here, providing insight for so many. I am currently in an outpatient program for my mental health-- in recovery Baruch Hashem. In the program we occasionally have groups on mindfulness. While most modern mindfulness I believe is free from the false-deities or idols of its roots, I still have chosen to step out from these groups and sat outside during the mindfulness out of concern that these practices still find their sources in things like Zen, Vipassanā and other eastern meditative practices. As a baal teshuvah who was involved with some of these practices before returning to Judaism through the help of Hashem via the wisdom of Hasidism, I have left these paths behind and generally tried to steer clear of them. That being said, some of the staff working with me on my treatment have expressed concern that I have been stepping out of many groups and therefore not maximizing my important treatment. Furthermore, one of my supports has suggested me a respected website for online therapy and mental health support. The website also has options for mindfulness practices-- am I allowed to make use of the majority of the website while steering clear of these elements? And for my outpatient treatment, am I allowed to be present in groups on mindfulness, but perhaps doing my own Jewish Meditations during these sessions? I know this is a delicate subject and a complex one given that mindfulness practices may vary based on a particular path or therapeutic system. That being said, I appreciate any help and look forward to your response.

Hello, Thank you for your good work in offering wisdom to so many. I bought a new phone somewhat recently. The logo of the phone is a bird with a circle behind it. The circle is an outline of a circle so as to indicate it is behind the bird and the bird is flying over it. On starting up the phone, an animation plays of the bird flying up over the circle which is at first illuminated inside before being darkened as the bird freezes in front of it in the image that forms the logo for the phone. The bird "flies away" at shutdown. This is of concern because the name of the phone is also in direct reference to the sun, in a similar fashion (a compound word) as words like 'sunlight' or 'sun-tan'. The fact that the bird flies over it and the company name is also referencing the sun... all would then seem to imply that the outlined or illuminated circle is depicting the sun. It may even be stated somewhere that this is the case-- I have not looked in enough detail to know. Is the phone permitted to be used and looked at, including the logo, given the laws around depicting the sun etc.? Thank you.

We have an adolescent daughter who is academically very successful, which we are very pleased about, but religiously she is in with the wrong crowd and in danger of going off the derech. She acts very independent, which we mostly want to encourage, but she has been turning on proper observance in small steps. She has purchased with her own money that she has made from various jobs some untznius clothes that she is actively wearing. We want to stop her, but simply telling her how to dress only emboldens her to rebel more. If we were to take the untznius clothes away from her and dispose of them, is that our right as parents according to Halacha? Or does it constitute theft of another’s belongings?