@CharlesKoppelman To the extent it asks about Judaism, it's not off-topic. Note: "What did a typical day look like for a woman living then and there? Did she pray (how?), participate in education (e.g. as a teacher), study (what?), interact with men in the community (how?), interact with non-Jews (how?), have any leadership role?" Probably some of those should be removed and the question recast. IMO. cc @MonicaCellio
I think the main difference between these and the FAQ no-go questions are that the FAQ no-go questions have a broader interest than folks interested in Jewish things (modern Israeli/American politics; general WWII buffs)
I think my rule of thumb is that if it's an aspect of Jewish history that doesn't have a large non-Jewish following, it might belong here.
@CharlesKoppelman You're saying that is off-topic under current practice, is off-topic under current list (in the FAQ Help Center) of topics, is off-topic under the newly proposed off-topic closure reason, should be considered off-topic, or what? I'm sorry, but I'm not sure what you're getting at.
... In particular, I don't think anyone is proposing that we do or should exclude all history questions. Does your impression differ?
@msh210 I'm saying that the policies I see being practiced do not follow the guidelines expressed in this off-topic closure reason and that the examples given in the history section of the canonical in/out list are a little too single-subject to be clear
sorry
i meant to say this
no, that actually is what i meant to say'
:)
I also want to say that I really appreciate the policies in practice and don't want "history of Jewish life" to be exclusively about halakha
@MonicaCellio that being said, I do think the edits you made to that question make it more answerable, and if those are the questions you meant to ask, you just made it much clearer, so ...yes, better :)
@msh210 I'm trying to say that given the information we would provide someone whose answer we close with the "No Jewish history" off-topic reason, it would seem to me that judaism.stackexchange.com/questions/10008/… is off-topic for this site. However, I see several questions in that category that have decent upvotes
@CharlesKoppelman [Just catching up on backread.] The policies in practice match that off-topic closure reason AFAICT. Did you not see the "except as related to Jewish life and learning" part of the latter?
@DoubleAA Good point.
Also, how about replacing all instances in these of "Jewish life and learning" with "Judaism"? After years of seeing the former phrase around, I have trouble seeing what it adds that the one word lacks. — Isaac Moses6 hours ago
@MonicaCellio It is indeed a US/UK difference. The US rules are very simple: the period (or comma) always goes within the quotation marks. The UK rules for the positioning of full stops and commas around quotation marks are more logical, but also significantly more complicated. I like them.
@MonicaCellio I understand that this community (and the general Jewish community) understands "learning" in a very specific way, but that is not clear to anyone else. "Jewish learning" can easily be interpreted as "learning about things Jewish", which is very broad
@msh210 I don't think I understand exactly what is meant by "JL&L".
@msh210 and it certainly isn't clear to "those wanting to learn more"
@Daniel I don't know. I don't think any non-SE-employee knows.
@CharlesKoppelman AFAICT.
"If you have a question about... " Jewish law or practice (what to do or why) " Jewish philosophy " a Jewish text (explaining a passage) " history of Jewish law or of Jewish life " language used in Jewish life and learning " general knowledge (science, etc.) as it relates directly to Jewish life and learning "... (examples) then you've come to the right place."
@Daniel Things definitely happen to different sites at different times. For all I know, the various closure-related changes may not happen at the same time, either. (On any one site, I mean.) But I don't know that.
@CharlesKoppelman You mean like bagels and skullcaps?
What about colors that different Jewish groups have proscribed? If it's done in the name of Judaism, does that make it different than if it's done in the name of something else?
@CharlesKoppelman I don't know why names would be in scope. Let's leave that alone for the moment if you don't mind. I know we have a bunch of name-relatd questions.
Wikipedia lists a number of different Chabad groups including:
Chabad-Lubavitch
Chabad-Bobroisk
Chabad-Kapust
Chabad-Liadi
Chabad-Nezhin
Chabad-Strashelye
I was told that these different groups were all formed when the sons of the Tzemach Tzedek created their own Chasidic groups. But today, I...
@msh210 what did they eat in $location at $time by itself, no -- that's too far removed from Judaism. What would you think about a question about Shabbat meals, or a reputed Yom Tov tradition, or redactions of recipes from Jewish sources (c.f. A Drizzle of Honey)?
What are some really old recipes that Jews are known to have used (actual recipes that say how to make the dish, not just names or descriptions of what was eaten like צלי קדר)? I'm seeking specifically recipes for food, not for medicine.
And if you've tried one of the recipes, or know someone wh...
@msh210 @CharlesKoppelman This has nothing to do with halacha or texts. But it's definitely (IMO) on-topic in that it's about a group of Jews which is defined by a Judaism-related inclusion-in-the-group rule.
@msh210 Since that was something Jews were excluded from as a class (or something else Jews as a class were included in... like pogroms!), is that on topic?
@msh210 close reasons are limited to (IIRC) 500 characters, but if they link to something that covers it in more detail, like our on/off-topic meta posts (or help center or whatever), we can be succinct in the close reason. "Judaism" should work there.
@CharlesKoppelman There is no subcategory of on-topic topics at meta.judaism.stackexchange.com/q/1473 that clearly includes this question, yet I'd consider it on-topic.
@CharlesKoppelman (2 of the 5 listed history questions are about Israel.) What else are you thinking should be listed there as off-topic?
I think one day @IsaacMoses came down and said the "How do I wash my tzitzit" sort of thing was exactly the question he had in mind when he founded m.y 1.0
Wikipedia lists a number of different Chabad groups including:
Chabad-Lubavitch
Chabad-Bobroisk
Chabad-Kapust
Chabad-Liadi
Chabad-Nezhin
Chabad-Strashelye
I was told that these different groups were all formed when the sons of the Tzemach Tzedek created their own Chasidic groups. But today, I...
