V'dibarta Bam

1:24 AM

@msh210 Maybe we need to add language like "how to do it" and/or "how to deal with it." (<-- American convention drilled into me in HS)

Isaac Moses

2:12 AM

@CharlesKoppelman Lo beroshi hi. But yeah, it was, and I still think those sorts of questions should be in-scope.

Monica Cellio

2:28 AM

@IsaacMoses so do I. I think we should not only tolerate but encourage "how do I actually do this" questions that aren't seeking p'sak, just process.

HodofHod

2:43 AM

Sometimes I think that if I coded a bot to answer every halacha question with "It's a machlokes," I could rake in the reps.

random

Monica Cellio

@HodofHod maybe, but I think for many voters you'd need to explain the two sides and maybe indicate who they are. That's harder to script. :-)

HodofHod

@Monica I think I could link to some obscure hebrewbooks page with cramped and broken text and only 1 or 2 people would check.

Monica Cellio

@HodofHod :-) Except now you've mentioned it so more will check... ooh, sneaky way of encouraging scrutiny on the site!

HodofHod

Take this answer:

7

Q: Can non-Jews utilize the princple of bittul berov?

The concept of bittul berov means that in certain cases, if some non-kosher food gets mixed up in as much kosher food of the same type such that nobody knows which piece is the non-kosher part, the non-kosher bit becomes nullified, making everything acceptable to be eaten. Does this rule apply t...

Not a bad answer. Contains a link to further discussion, but has almost no in-answer information aside from "its a machlokes"

Also contains a separate source without a link.

Monica Cellio

@HodofHod not bad, but since I don't recognize the source (probably my own failing here!) and the answer doesn't explain the issues, I am unable to vote up.

HodofHod

3:00 AM

@Monica, They're both well known sources, and now that I've started to read through it, it is definitely a good jumping-off point to learn more about the subject. I can't really complain about this answer, its not wrong! It just feels... Like its missing some "meat". But what else should go in there already?

Monica Cellio

@HodofHod yeah, I'm not downvoting either; I'm currently sitting it out. The answer would help me more if it said a little bit about what the key arguments are, or even who some of the acharonim on each side are. Since you're looking at the sources -- do you think that's a fair request to make? Or is that like asking him to write a book?

HodofHod

Cont. Ideally, the reason for the parties' contentions, and perhaps some practical applications. I see some of the latter in the link, but I didn't notice the former on my skim-through.

@Monica I definitely see some more names in there he could mention, and key arguments seem possible, but I'm really not sure how simple it would be to add them in.

Monica Cellio

@HodofHod ok thanks.

HodofHod

@Monica It might require him to go chase down then other sources, I really didn't examine it well enough to see. either way, I think if this were my question, I'd at least upvote him for pointing me in the right direvtion.

but is it appropriate here? Dunno.

Monica Cellio

3:28 AM

There are way too many nerdy hobbies for me to keep up with already. I'm sure I won't really be able to delve into this one. Alas. — Seth J 21 mins ago

@Seth, yeah, I know the problem. :-) ^^^

Seth J

3:39 AM

@MonicaCellio :)

Isaac Moses

3:57 AM

@msh210 @doubleaa @MonicaCellio, I haven't fasted for even one day yet, so I feel I ought to do you the courtesy of asking: OK if I edit this answer in accordance with these two comments?

Monica Cellio

@IsaacMoses go for it. Also, I don't think he specified which nights and days, so you probably have. :-)

Isaac Moses

@MonicaCellio Thanks. :) Done.

Meta-Man

4:44 AM

0

Q: (How) should we re-purpose the mi_yodeya Twitter account to make it more interesting?

There are currently two Twitter feeds that automatically serve up links to Mi Yodeya and Mi Yodeya - Meta questions. One of them, @mi_yodeya, belongs to me*. I am (and apparently at least some other yodeyans are) interested in switching this account from automatically sending out links to all que...

discussion site-promotion twitter

Daniel

5:25 AM

@MonicaCellio How did you happen to become involved in medieval and renaissance cooking?

Daniel

1:59 PM

-4

Q: Can a Reform Jew break shabbat?

Is it possible for a Reform Jew to violate shabbos by doing melacha ('labor')? Not specifically shabbos, but any mitzva really: is it possible for a Reform Jew to violate a mitzva? After all, from what I understand, Reform Jews don't believe in a requirement to keep mitzvos; thus, I don't underst...

shabbat halacha-theory reform-judaism

I think that question should be closed as not a real question

I originally voted as off-topic, but now I'm pretty sure it's not a real question

Monica Cellio

2:34 PM

@Daniel the original version of the question was very bad (I might have said "not constructive"). A question about whether, under Reform theology, it's possible to sin is IMO a valid question about Jewish life, and one that I've heard discussed locally (in inter-denominational discussions). I think @msh210's revision brought it into constructive territory.

@Daniel but I answered it (as did you), so if the communtiy thinks it should be closed then that's fine.

Daniel

@MonicaCellio I don't understand the question at all

I tried to answer by saying that it was really unanswerable

How is this a question about Judaism?

Monica Cellio

@Daniel it all started with the guys fighting on the lawn at college. :-) Seriously, guys in armor fighting with wooden swords and shields, and 17-year-old me said "cool! I want to do that!", and that was my intro to a med/renn group that, it turned out, did more than just combat. [cont]

I went to my first "event" (day-long gathering with tourney, performances, feast, etc), and I didn't care about kashrut then so I ate the feast and encountered some new-to-me food, which was made by "regular people" (not caterers), and eventually I decided that was interersting too. One thing about the SCA is that you can pursue casual interests in all sorts of things; I'm not a hard-core food researcher, but I dabble.

@Daniel the question is asking: if you don't accept the system of halacha, then is it possible for you to "sin" -- that is, violate halacha -- under that belief system? Or is the whole concept irrelevant? But he doesn't understand how halacha works in Reform, which I tried to address in my answer.

I've heard the same question asked (politely, appropriately) by O rabbis, too.

Daniel

@MonicaCellio To me, that sounds more like a philosophical question than a Jewish question

Monica Cellio

@Daniel it's a question about Reform Judaism. That's Judaism.

Charles Koppelman

Speaking of that question, can someone please merge reform-judaism into heterodox? There are only two q's tagged with reform-judaism

Daniel

2:42 PM

@MonicaCellio I don't know. To me it doesn't seem like it's about Reform Judaism. To me, it seems like it's about semantics

Charles Koppelman

@Daniel I think that's because it's a poorly-worded question

Monica Cellio

@Daniel no more so than questions about any other Jewish group. (I changed halacha-theory to hashkafah per a suggestion in a comment, BTW.)

Charles Koppelman

It can be made about Reform theology.... but it isn't

Daniel

@MonicaCellio That's so interesting. So what kinds of food fall into these categories?

Monica Cellio

@CharlesKoppelman good point. Our use of the "heterodox" tag is not clear to me; I would really like to see a tag wiki. But we don't need to make things worse with a new tag.

@CharlesKoppelman how would you change it?

Daniel

2:46 PM

@MonicaCellio I think that a question like, "Do Reform Jews believe that violating halacha is bad?" could be a good question

Monica Cellio

@Daniel roasted meats with sauces were new to me. Some seasonings I wasn't used to, like cinnamon in meat dishes and ginger in a cheese pie or coriander in anything. Meat cooked with fruit.

Daniel

But that's not how I understand this one

(To the extent that I understand it at all)

Charles Koppelman

@MonicaCellio I think heterodox means "non-Orthodox Judaism"

Monica Cellio

@Daniel ah. And I thought that was what this was asking (post-edit).

@CharlesKoppelman yeah I know what the word means, but the tag includes questions about Chabad and Christianity, which doesn't seem to fit.

Charles Koppelman

@MonicaCellio I would change the question to be a question and not a pile of uninformed assertions.

Daniel

2:48 PM

@MonicaCellio I don't remember the one about Christianity, but IIRC, the one about Chabad was with respect to what some might consider unorthodox belief

Or at least atypical of Orthodox belief

Monica Cellio

@CharlesKoppelman would you like to make an edit?

Charles Koppelman

No. It sounds like it's a thinly veiled attack and not a genuine question and I'd like to know what the OP is asking first

Daniel

@MonicaCellio I understand it to be asking whether saying that someone is violating halacha makes sense if he doesn't believe in halacha in the first place

Which I think is kind of a useless question

Monica Cellio

@Daniel this is the christian one, and this is the Chabad question. (There might be more of each; these are the first that come up.)

Charles Koppelman

I don't know what he's trying to ask. Is he asking from an Orthodox perspective? A Reform perspective? Is he asking about the general Reform Judaism approach to halakha?

Daniel

2:50 PM

@CharlesKoppelman I don't think so. If I remember correctly, I think that OP has identified himself as Reform in the past

Monica Cellio

@Daniel he has given the impression that he's Reform, but has also said he's not.

Daniel

@MonicaCellio Right. Both are about people who make claims to be practicing Judaism, but which wouldn't be accepted as Orthodox in general

(Not Chabad in general, but the Elokists themselves)

Monica Cellio

@Daniel @CharlesKoppelman ok, given the combination of a poorly-asked question and unclear asker motives, I've no objection if this gets closed.

Daniel

@MonicaCellio Maybe he said that he attends a Reform synagogue. Or maybe I just falsely remember that

Monica Cellio

@Daniel oh, the question is about Elokists. Ok.

@Daniel I remember thinking he's Reform too. I have a vague memory that he said no he's not in the election discussion somewhere. Where, I'm not sure. (Not motivated enough to go look.)

I guess part of my problem with our current implementation of heterodox is that we are lumping Jewish groups in with obviously-non-Jewish ones like Christians and Karaites.

Daniel

2:57 PM

Not all Reform/Conservative are heretical! Yigdal is said at my Reform Temple as a closing hymn after davening. — Adam Mosheh Jul 23 '12 at 13:26

@msh210 - I guess that my Orthodox rabbi is Reform then. Or should I say, Refrum? — Adam Mosheh Jul 23 '12 at 16:12

So I guess he's one of those all-inclusive type of Jews :)

Monica Cellio

@Daniel I guess. Thanks for the reminders.

msh210

3:23 PM

@CharlesKoppelman And I thought it meant non-orthodox Judaism/beliefs. With a small 'o'.

In which case judaism.stackexchange.com/questions/27766/… would be a Q about heterodoxy even if wre only about the belief system of Elokism and there were no movement/group of Elokists.

Daniel

@msh210 That is my understanding as well

msh210

@Daniel That can perhaps mean "my local Reform temple" as opposed to "the Reform temple I attend / am a member of".

@Daniel Likewise that can perhaps mean "my LOR" and not "my personal OR".

Daniel

@msh210 True. Or he could even be making it all up. This is the internet, after all

Monica Cellio

@Daniel woof. Oh, excuse me -- yes. :-)

msh210

3:48 PM

@Daniel Indeed, that seems the more likely explanation.

Stack Exchange

5:05 PM

Blog - Stack Exchange: The War of the Closes

Jay Hanlon on June 25, 2013

It pains me when I hear people say that our sites are unfriendly, or that we chase new users away. But it’s a hard problem, because our highest priority has always been the quality of content on our sites. And it still is. We can’t lower our standards. We won’t.

But we have been working hard to make our sites more welcoming, reminding users that feedback can be clear and nice, and helping new users learn the ropes before they get frustrated. And, as of today, we’ve completely overhauled closing. …

Charles Koppelman

8:27 PM

@Daniel I'd like to know if any regulars were finely tuned turing bots

Daniel

@CharlesKoppelman They're not :)

I imagine that if such a bot existed, it would be used to claim the $100,000 Loebner Prize gold medal rather than write questions and answers about Judaism

Seth J

8:58 PM

@Daniel Speak for yourself.

@Daniel Not all bots are greedy.

Daniel

@SethJ Whoever wrote the bot is being greedy if he's hoarding the technology for himself instead of writing a paper :)

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