Shabbat

Dear Rabbi Simon, My wife is temporarily living in Florida. Do I have to light Shabbos candles in New York if my wife lights in Florida? Ira Dear Ira Thank you for your practical question. The simple answer is yes, you should light in NY even though your wife is also lighting Shabbos candles where she is (in Florida). However,…

Dear Rabbi Simon, A small Shabbat question Shabbat: If a picture was taken by a Jew on Shabbat, is it verboten to enjoy it and share it with other Jews on a week day? Toby Dear Toby, Strictly speaking in most cases this would be allowed, as the photographer may be presumed to have acted out of ignorance of or…

Dear Rabbi Simon I read in the excellent book we use at Seudah Shelishit at Kesher, Learn Shabbos in 3 Minutes a Day that one may use a saltshaker on Shabbos, but not one into which grains of rice have been placed, as the tiny holes act as a sieve, releasing the salt granules but holding back the rice (Borer,…

Dear Rabbi Simon I wonder if you could answer this question: I have just bought the below slow cooker. It has a setting to keep food warm. Would it be ok to leave the setting on “warm” and keep the cooker plugged in on Shabbat? Or do I need to use a timer to make sure it’s not permanently switched on? https://www.robertdyas.co.uk/tower-1-5l-stainless-steel-slow-cooker-silver…

Dear Rabbi Simon If you don’t mind I have a question for you.  On Friday night, my children were in the kitchen chatting and for some reason our Amazon Echo (Alexa) started playing music even though they hadn’t said “her” name!  Rap music was playing loudly until midnight in spite of us smothering Alexa with towels!  Under these circumstances would we have…

Dear Rabbi Simon Can I wear a mask outside on Shabbos? Mendy Dear Mendy Thank you for your practical and contemporary question. If you are wearing a mask in accordance with widely-accepted public health recommendations, ie to inhibit the inhalation and spread of Coronavirus, there are grounds to allow doing so on Shabbos, even in the absence of an eruv.…

Dear Rabbi Simon On a recent visit to the Sephardi (S&P) synagogue in Maida Vale (your old neighbourhood from the original JLE days) I noticed that the Shabbat times in the venerable [and soon to be updated] S&P siddur are rounded to the nearest half-hour (not sure whether up or down, or just down, so whether 3.58pm goes to 3.30pm…

Dear Rabbi Simon I have been asked to be interviewed for an online magazine.  Initially, they wanted to interview me today (Friday) with the intention to publish the online article on Shabbat. I asked them if the interview could be done on Sunday, and now they have agreed to delay the article. However, it is probable (though not sure) that…