Perhaps the community/moderators should enact a more strict policy regarding halachic questions

Question

I have noticed a number of questions phrased as follows: "Is X permissible?" or "What should I do in the following situations?", etc. and feel that this community was not created to deal with, nor should it deal with such questions. These types of questions are in need of actual psak halacha or a conversation with a competent Rav. Perhaps, if the question was phrased as, "What are the halachic issues with X?" or "What are halachic considerations regarding the following situation?" the questions would be more appropriate, but perhaps not.

It is crucial that we draw a line in the sand when it comes to halacha and prevent mis-guided individuals (perhaps not even the question asker, but future readers) from issuing a psak for themselves based on information on this site and/or using this site as psak halacha.

Answer 1

The Talmud (Sotah 22A) tells us that someone who makes Halachic Ruling based on the Mishnayot he learned destroys the world.

Rashi there explains that this is because he is making Halachic Ruling without having learned the reasons of the Halachot brought in the Mishna.

Yet we don't see anyone banning the learning of Mishna. I've never even seen a Book of Mishnayot that has a warning in the preface: "Warning!! Ruling only from what you learn here will make you a destroyer of worlds!"

I think the warning we have on the site are sufficient (although it would be nice to have a notification like the one I suggested here).

I think the notifications we have now are enough to understand that even when asking a halachic question, the answers here are not Piskei Halacha.

Answer 2

This is a very important challenge for this site, which we've been discussing and attempting to address for a long time, as seen in this very early meta-question on this site's progenitor, mi.yodeya. If you have any suggestions for remedies that we ought to employ that we aren't already, please suggest them.

Unfortunately, the red disclaimer we had at the top of every page, for everyone on mi.yodeya is now relegated to the side, and only for new users (plus the FAQ and the rollover text for halacha on the main site). However, answerers seem to be doing a pretty good job of maintaining the practice of advising people to speak to their own Rabbi for personal advice.

I still stand by what I wrote then, which goes directly to your point about future readers paskening for themselves:

The remaining question is: What if people ignore the warnings and use mi.yodeya information as if it was professional rabbinic advice? I don't have an ironclad answer, but I think that on balance, we're doing OK. People give classes on Jewish law and practice all the time, and there's always the danger that attendees (or archive-listeners) will act on what they hear in the class or in an associated Q&A session without asking their Rabbi first. The danger here is similar and, I think, similarly tolerable, with the advantage that we're explicitly warning against such practice at every turn.

Hopefully, more people will be encouraged to ask their Rabbi questions that otherwise wouldn't have than the other way around, thanks to our questions and answers spreading awareness of the issues and our disclaimers reminding people to go talk to their Rabbi.

UPDATE:

Based on Adam's suggestions in the comments on this answer, I've added the following to the FAQ:

• Questions that appear to be requests for personal practical advice will be either edited to more general wording or closed.

• For more on why it's important to take personal questions of Jewish practice to your Rabbi, see here.

If a question is a blatant request for personal guidance that should be coming from a Rabbi, I will often close it using the "Too Localized" close reason. This is because one of the reasons why it's important to take such questions to your Rabbi is that your particular situation, lifestyle, habits, and communal context can be important factors in determining the correct guidance and actions for you, and that information should not be required to care about or answer a question in this public, permanent forum.

Answer 3

I fundamentally disagree. There is no point in learning Torah if not to be mekayeim it (all 613 commandments including vehalakhta bidrakhav - see below). And of course we are learning in order to fulfill. So what if someone does not have access to his local orthodox rabbi and needs p'sak ASAP? People on this website seem to have a good grasp of the halakhic system and how it works, so why can't anyone answer questions if they are able to do so?

In birkat hatorah recited daily, we say that Hashem is Melameid torah l'amo yisrael. He gave halacha lemaaseh to the B'nei Yisrael at Mount Sinai. There is a mitzvah of vehalahkta bidrakhav, to imitate His ways, which includes this. We (kulanu beit yisrael) are all obligated included in this, because we learn al menat lelamed (and lishmor v'laasot) in order to be poseik halacha for B'nei Yisrael. So if not here and now, then where and when are we going to fulfill our torah obligation of teaching torah to others, on the practical level?