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I was looking at this site and was a little bit surprised at this statement:

It is therefore forbidden for Jews to teach non-Jews Halachah

If this is true, should it be a concern here on Judaism.SE?

(See the related question on the main site)

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    Sounds like a question firstly for the main site... (and then, possibly for meta...)
    – AviD
    Commented May 11, 2011 at 18:25
  • @AviD, yes, I was unsure of which site to put this on. If necessary, migrate it.
    – Peter Olson
    Commented May 11, 2011 at 18:26
  • The "Is this true" part of this question, in particular deserves to be on the main site. I recommend that you submit that, too, and link to it here. The discussion there can (in theory) inform the discussion here.
    – Isaac Moses Mod
    Commented May 11, 2011 at 18:27
  • @Isaac, do you have the [mod] link, to migrate to any site (i.e. Judaism.SE)?
    – AviD
    Commented May 11, 2011 at 18:29
  • (It's worthy of discussion to clear the air and understand the concepts, but the bottom line is that there's no way this site is going to be anything but open to all who are interested.)
    – Isaac Moses Mod
    Commented May 11, 2011 at 18:30
  • @Isaac Alright. Should I leave the question here as it is now?
    – Peter Olson
    Commented May 11, 2011 at 18:30
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    @AviD, I do, but I'd rather in this case have this exist as two separate questions, since the second part is pure meta, influenced by the first.
    – Isaac Moses Mod
    Commented May 11, 2011 at 18:30
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    @Peter, I recommend that you leave this one as-is except for adding a link to the other.
    – Isaac Moses Mod
    Commented May 11, 2011 at 18:31
  • @Isaac, I agree.
    – AviD
    Commented May 11, 2011 at 18:32
  • Why would it be forbidden? What does the Shulchan Aruch say about that?
    – Adam Mosheh
    Commented May 15, 2012 at 19:39

1 Answer 1

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It seems from the answers to the Main question that at the very least, we have sources to rely on when we present Jewish law to the public. In addition, it's quite clear that this is a common practice in virtually every part of the Jewish world that allows Internet use at all. I think we're fine.

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  • we have on whom to rely. TRiG is confused.
    – TRiG
    Commented Jun 15, 2012 at 0:19
  • @TRiG, there are authorities on Jewish law who support the position that teaching Jewish law in public is not forbidden. We can rely on their rulings to be confident that, at least according to them (but really, probably according to pretty much everyone in this case), we're OK in doing so.
    – Isaac Moses Mod
    Commented Jun 15, 2012 at 0:57
  • It was your grammar that confused me. There seems to be at least one word missing. We have judgements on which to rely, We have people on whom to rely, or something ....
    – TRiG
    Commented Jun 15, 2012 at 22:33
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    @TRiG Looks like it's an instance of Judeo-English. Sorry about that.
    – Isaac Moses Mod
    Commented Jun 15, 2012 at 23:18
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    @TRiG, indeed, it occurs to me that this construct is a straight-up translation of a phrase that is common in Hebrew.
    – Isaac Moses Mod
    Commented Jun 15, 2012 at 23:33
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    Ah. Language has always fascinated me. Didn't occur to me that that was a direct translation. Hiberno-English has been similarly influenced by Irish.
    – TRiG
    Commented Jun 16, 2012 at 2:19
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    Isaac Moses, when you say there are sources to rely on, and some (many?) communities have decided they are fine with teaching Torah to gentiles, but then there is also the original prohibition and whatever weight it holds... how do you judge between the opinions without being swayed simply by what is most convenient? How do you know what God wants in this matter, and what sorts of judgments from the past are binding? Sources going in opposite directions are an interesting event in Judaism, and I don't know what you're meant to do with them when looking for the authority you're under.
    – Annelise
    Commented Dec 26, 2012 at 2:16
  • @Annelise, these are very good questions that force me to try to articulate defenses for modes of behavior and thought that I generally take for granted. This comment box hasn't enough space to do these questions justice, but: I endorse this answer of Monica's. I don't think we aspire to analytic certainty of "what God wants" in each matter, but to using the right process to estimate that. In addition to the guidance of a personal Rabbi, what the community of Torah-observant people does (as cited here) can constitute a mimetic tradition.
    – Isaac Moses Mod
    Commented Dec 27, 2012 at 7:42

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