20

We recommend CYLOR. How do I:

  1. ask the OR a shaaloh that one has already posted on judaism.stackexchange.com. Should I acknowledge its use when asking?
  2. introduce the concept of judaism.stackexchange.com to an OR who understands that we use the internet but is not entirely positive about it?
Improve this question
3
  • 10
    For the sake of the site, let him know about it :) for the sake of your question, let him know you've asked laymen about the topic already.
    – avi
    Commented Sep 19, 2011 at 8:40
  • 25
    Good question. CYLOR.
    – Seth J
    Commented Sep 19, 2011 at 17:51
  • 1
    I email him the URL.
    – Micha Berger
    Commented Feb 2, 2016 at 16:54

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
27

First look up the sources people quote, so that you know what they're saying inside.

Then, when you ask you Rav, tell him I had this question and did some research. This is what I found, what is the practical Halacha?

You can tell him where you got the idea about which sources to look up, but at that point it shouldn't matter. You're not telling him that some random guy on the internet gave you his opinion, you're telling him that these sources you looked up gave you some idea about what's going on.

That's one of the reasons (in my opinion) sources are so important on this website. Without them you're just taking the word of some random guy on the internet.

Improve this answer
2
  • Some of these random guys have made themselves a good reputation here
    – hazoriz
    Commented Jan 10, 2016 at 5:19
  • @hazoriz sure. and some of them later turned out to be christian missionaries masquerading as religious jews.
    – Menachem
    Commented Feb 14 at 19:19
15

Why should you have to mention it? Just say "I have a Shaaloh". If he answers differently than a (sourced) answer here, say "someone pointed out this Igros Moshe/Shmiras Shabbos Khilchaso etc." You could ask (out of curiosity) why he paskins (rules) differently.

Just like one doesn't have to say "We were discussing this Halacha in the bar yesterday..." you don't have to say "We were discussing this halacha online."

Improve this answer
4
  • 12
    +1. But I think once a rav answers, it may be rude to respond "but someone pointed out..." (and nicer to raise your sources when initially asking), unless you're being very clear that you're asking only out of curiosity and not to challenge, and you word it carefully.
    – msh210 ♦
    Commented Sep 18, 2011 at 16:39
  • 8
    Does it really make sense to conceal from your Rabbi that you're spending time on Torah websites? If he's your Rabbi, that's probably something he should know about you (especially when it's germane to the conversation at hand) whether he approves or not.
    – Isaac Moses ♦
    Commented Sep 18, 2011 at 18:08
  • 1
    Why the downvote?
    – ertert3terte
    Commented Mar 27, 2012 at 19:52
  • 2
    @ShmuelBrill, I understand the motivation for hiding such information from one's Rabbi in such a situation, but I still think it's injudicious.
    – Isaac Moses ♦
    Commented Mar 27, 2012 at 20:10

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .