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If someone looked after foster children on weekends (from Friday afternoon until Sunday afternoon) and received remuneration does this count as work and not permissible on the Sabbath?

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Do you look after them only on the Sabbath, or also on other days including the Sabbath? This makes a big difference. –  Ariel Mar 19 '13 at 9:18
If it's including the Sabbath, then see judaism.stackexchange.com/questions/19050/… for a similar situation. If you mean only on the Sabbath then looking after them is not a problem, but getting paid is. –  Ariel Mar 19 '13 at 9:20
It is from Friday afternoon until Sunday afternoon. Thanks –  harry Mar 19 '13 at 9:37
Ideally you should ask your Rabbi for practical matters like this, but the answer in the link above applies to you as well. So I guess this could be marked as a duplicate of that. –  Ariel Mar 19 '13 at 10:17
Welcome to Mi Yodea, harry! Thanks for your question. I look forward to hearing more from you. Just keep in mind that this is not a place to look for actual halakhic advice (you should see your rabbi for that). Treat this place as a room full of strangers who can point to some sources (but not all relevant sources). –  Charles Koppelman Mar 19 '13 at 15:26

1 Answer 1

As Ariel stated, in theory one can perform services (not physically-creative actions like plowing, planting, cooking, writing, burning and the like) such as childcare, waiting/bussing tables, teaching/sermonizing/performing prayer services if there is a lump payment for a period of time that includes some non-Shabbat.

Thus you could pay a babysitter for "the period 6-8PM", where 6-7PM is shabbat and 7-8PM isn't; or a rabbi for "answering questions during the week and delivering a sermon on shabbat."

In theory I don't see why foster care should be different, but as always ask your rabbi.

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Thank you, that makes sense :) –  harry Mar 19 '13 at 12:01

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