Is it permitted for someone in the U.S. on Friday afternoon to read a website like the Jerusalem Post. It will already be Shabbat in Israel and presumably the website is being updated by Jews. The halachah is that you cannot benefit on Shabbat from a forbidden action done by a Jew, but in the case I am asking about, I am benefiting BEFORE Shabbat from a forbidden action, as Shabbat has not yet started for me. Is that still forbidden?

Shalom. Thank you for your question. May a Jew benefit before Shabbat comes in, from the forbidden shabbat desecration of another Jew in a different time zone? The law forbidding benefiting from Shabbat desecration (Shulchan Aruch Orech Haim 318,1) applies only on Shabbat itself. As soon as Shabat has departed, other people may benefit from the forbidden act immediately. (The laws for the sinner themselves are stricter. As too are the laws pertaining to benefiting from the labor of a non-Jew – neither of these questions relate to your question, so we will put them aside). So, based on this your question boils down to this – just like I may benefit from a sin done on Shabat directly after Shabat, may I benefit from that sin immediately before Shabat (for me) through the quirks of the different time zones? Or, perhaps we follow the time zone of the sinner, and it will be forbidden to benefit from the sin until after their Shabbat is over? In the classic work Shmirat Shabat KeHilchatah, Chapter 31, footnote 72* Rav Shlomo Zalman Orbach zt”l is quoted as forbidding talking on the telephone before Shabat starts (or after it has finished) to a Jew who is calling from a location that is Shabbat. Based on this, the author rules that a person overseas may not listen to radio broadcasts from Israel that are broadcast on Shabbat, even though it is not Shabat for the listener. So, in answer to your question, the laws of benefiting from desecration go according to the sinner. However, there are many technical reasons why I believe that you may view the news website even though it may have been updated through violations of Shabbat in Israel. Firstly, one is allowed to benefit from Rabbinic violations on Shabbat itself – only Torah violations are forbidden to benefit from. In all likelihood, whatever was done to update the site was only Rabbinically forbidden. Secondly, in cases where there is a doubt as to whether a was performed, we permit the benefit. In this case, there are many doubts – perhaps it was updated by a non-Jew; perhaps it was updated by a worker in a time zone (like yourself) where it is not Shabat (I know that the religious news sites, such as Arutz 7, use such a system in order to give coverage for foreign locations). Lastly, it is not so clear that merely looking at a website is considered as “benefitting” from Shabat violations (as there is a discussion as to whether just seeing, listening too, or smelling an item is considered benefit). With all this in mind, on a practical level, there is certainly room to be lenient. But, happy are they that love the Shabbat, and who distance themselves from any violation of it’s holiness - and only look at the religious news sites. Blessings.