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ZD; So why doesn’t the hotline rabbi tell the caller he cannot answer and he must consult his local rabbi.
So why doesn’t the hotline rabbi tell the caller he cannot answer and he must consult his local rabbi.
I have never gotten a satisfactory answer for that question
I will say the following that I heard from other rabbis, not the Halchic Hotline ones
They are loath to turn away any questions not matter how mundane because if you turn away someone for a mundane question, they wont ask the important ones
“ZD; So why doesn’t the hotline rabbi tell the caller he cannot answer and he must consult his local rabbi.”
Maybe he assumes that the person doesn’t have a local Rav to ask, or he would have asked him in the first place and not turned to a hotline.
Remember, he has no idea who this person is and whom he would be asking if he hadn’t called the hotline (Reform “rabbi” perhaps), or if he has no one else to ask.Because this is a website for frum yidden, there is an implicit presumption that everyone here has their own LRP….not true. You would be amazed at how many frum yidden have never really selected and relied upon an LRP and either are “self-paskining” using online research or simply have not ever thought about consulting an LRP for issues in their daily life. ZD wisely notes that if you are staffing a Halacha helpline you don’t want to be judgmental and turn away shaiylos simply because you don’t know the person on the other end of the line.
GH- very true. (Wow, we actually agree on something!).
But what is an LRP? Do you mean LOR?
@DaasYochid, relying on the Bachs heter for Chodosh isn’t a new thing. Aderabe, the chumra of being makpid on Yoshon is relatively new. Before the war almost everyone was eating Chodosh, including your own ancestors.
“If your Rav was looking to help you find a kula, I would think he would send you to a specific posek, not a hotline.”
I’m not sure what the difference is (again assuming the hotline is run by relaible poskim, which if it isnt then forget all IVe said)
Furthermore, mky Rav might not be looking to find me a kula. he may hold that chalv yisroel is assur and there is no room for kula. I generally follow him, but on this I dont. As far as Im aware there is no rule that one must follow a certain Rav on EVERY issue. (One of my Roshei Yeshiva explictly said thsi isnt the case) Obviously you cant go “kula shopping” particulary when they are contradictary “Kulei besi shamai vekulei beis hillel Rasha” But that doesnt mean you cant ask one Rav your shabbos sheilas another KAshrus etc. We see by Chazal Halacha KeRav Nachman bemamonons , like someone else by Issurim (forgive me, ITs late and I cant recall who)“So then we agree that my hotline, where you get whatever answer you want by pressing a button, is ludicrous, because that’s the same as skipping the second rav.”
I agree it would be a starnage hotline. though Assuming they answered legitamtly and doidnt provdie a heter (or issur) for every conceivable action Im not sure why it is different than asking a second Rav.Though Im not arguing your hotline is a strange idea, my arguemtn is specficly that my reason#6 “He knows his Rav is machmir on this issue and he is hoping for a kula” is a potentially legitamte reason to call a hotline.
Again,. I am not trying to convinve you. I can see people disagreeing I just hope to explain my positionAre there any others that haven’t been mentioned, or newer services?
Here in London our Federation Beis Din has “ShailaText” (texting only) for shailos:
Text: +44 7403 939613
It is available internationally.
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