Should biographies of rabbis be in scope?

Question

Following a discussion in chat, I want to propose that biographies of rabbis should be in scope for Mi Yodeya. This proposal is triggered by recent closures of questions asking for biographies of R Hirsch and Ibn Ezra/Rashbam.

Technically I see from the FAQ that

The history of individual Jews, Jewish populations, or the Jewish State, unless also about Judaism, is off-topic

I believe that biographies of rabbis are also relevant to Judaism. These books very often/nearly always (at least in the ca. 20 I have read) include significant portions describing the rabbis written works, positions on important Jewish issues, responsa, etc. Rabbis, certainly in the case of the Rishonim, have helped shape Judaism as it is practiced today, and understanding their lives and work in more detail certainly helps understand Judaism.

In addition, as @b a wrote "For better or for worse, the lives of famous Jews is part of the practice of Judaism for many people".

I welcome comments on this proposal.

Answer 1

If you want to ask for information about a rabbi's positions on important Jewish issues, responsa, details about their written works, etc. you already can.

If you want to ask about their favorite flavor of ice cream, you can't, and I see no reason to change that.

Answer 2

Judaism is as much concerned with how Rabbis lived their lives in accordance with Judaism as it is with their specific teachings and output. Things like מעשה רב and the famous story with Rabbi Akiva's student hiding under his teacher's bed, for example.

And there are already a wealth of questions that ask biographical details about Rabbis (e.g.), what is the motivation to change the de-facto standard?

Biographies of such Rabbis are part of the study of Judaism. Perhaps not the most important part, but it can be a source to gain insight into the context in which responsa are written and the general community standards they were coming from, among other things.

And especially since we allow purely academic questions that exclude religious Judaism as a source, well then in the academic study of Judaism the Rabbi's biography is often dispositive of the reason for their position, and therefore biographies should be on-topic.

This isn't the same as the biography of [insert non-practicing Jew here, e.g. the Christian raised Karl Marx] who's opinions or practice of Judaism have no bearing on or connection to Judaism.

Regarding the alleged Rabbi Jesus, this is the same issue that we have with allowing heterodox questions, especially about Karaites. You could always extend any on-topic discussion to just claim that Christianity is just another variant of Judaism. As far as this site is concerned, there is a different Stack Exchange site for that.

Answer 3

Which of the gospels most accurately depicts the life of Jesus?

I was reading the gospels recently, which depict the life of Rabbi^[1] Jesus of Nazareth, and I noticed some inconsistencies:

• [List goes here.]

Which of the gospels is most accurate? How do we know?

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^{[1] Mark 9:5, John 20:16}

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… Okay, this is an extreme example. But (a) it (at least arguably) meets the criteria proposed above and (b), even if we tighten those criteria to exclude Jesus, they still let in other examples that have nothing to do with Judaism. That's the road to things like:

• Why did the Nazis choose yellow as the star color?
• When did Engels first meet Marx? [Marx was Jewish.]
• When do you use sear versus s'aros for "hair" in modern Hebrew?