Since I’m new here….

“f in fact the speaker determines ”
Which you have to admit is not readily possible with an anonymous audience to meet this criteria.

I am actually familiar with what is written inside but I am reading what is in the english version. If he meant that, he unquestionably didn’t state that, which would be a grave error.

Either way, with the condition not met the halacha remains.

There is more han one English version, BTW. In the “A Lesson a Day” email, it says:

“Praise in the Presence of Adversaries

Praising a person in a situation where someone present is likely to temper such praise with criticism is another form of avak loshon hora. It is forbidden to praise in the presence of anyone who is known to dislike him, as it is common for such people to respond by mentioning the person’s shortcomings.

Therefore, it is wrong to praise someone in the presence of a large group of people, since there is a reasonable chance that at least one person in the group dislikes him.

Likewise, it is forbidden to praise a businessman in the presence of his competitors even if they claim to harbor no ill will towards him.

Excessive praise should always be avoided for it can often cause people to respond negatively even when they have no particular dislike for the person being discussed.”

It for some reason skips translating the words of the הגה”ה:
ואם הוא משער שהשומעים לא יגנוהו, כגון שאין מכירים איתו, מותר לשבחו אפילו הרבים.

The difference I noticed were the words “negative response” (“respond negatively” to be precise) as opposed to “negative reaction”.

Of course, most of the time it would be assur. That’s the main halachah as stated in the מקור החיים. The point I’m making is that there could be an exception. As you said, you would need to know (לשער is the word used) that there won’t be a counter argument.

Now to apply it here, what LU said is not ridiculous, that a moderated forum might be an exception (in other words a case in which one could determine – be משער – that there won’t be a counter argument).

So for example, let’s say someone asked for help about something in the CR, and a poster (let’s call him Stringy) replied with advice and chizuk. I do not think there would be a problem with another poster chiming in that Stringy is a very smart and kind person.

I maintain my objection to lists of posters based on your original point that being left out hurts.

“I maintain my objection to lists of posters based on your original point that being left out hurts.”

DY, that wasn’t SYAG’s point – that was yours and Ubiquitin’s point.

DY: “LU, I think the two threads are very similar, and that listing a bunch of posters in a positive way (want to meet, praise, etc.) is likely to cause hurt feelings.”

DY, I hear your point on that. I happen to think that there is a difference between the two threads, although I can see why someone might disagree.

But that wasn’t my main point, and that’s not why I was asking for an apology. I hear your “tzad” although I am not sure if I agree. My point was that I explained why I did not do what you and Ubiquitin accused me of doing, and why under the circumstances, I felt that it was necessary to act as a did (davka in order to prevent people from being hurt).

DY – thank you for bringing and explaining the relevant sources!

” it is very easy to misunderstand the exact meaning. In fact, it is almost impossible not to, since there is no such thing as a precise translation.”

“That makes no sense. If that was even remotely true there would be no English translations. They would all be nichshol everyone who reads them. Did the gedolim miss that point when endorsing these volumes? Or was the point to say people who study from the English versions are inferior because they are not REALLY understanding Torah.”

Translations are b’dieved and a horaas sha’ah. If you read the haskamos to halacha sefarim, they are generally written with a lot of reservations. Many halacha sefarim start off by warning the readers not to posken from them, and to look up the sources in the original.

There is nothing wrong with reading a translation or a concise halacha sefer if you understand what its purpose is and is not. I am not familiar with the Sefer you quoted, but it sounds to me as though it is just meant to make people aware of the general halachos.

The people who write these sefarim understand that not everyone will be able to learn the halachos in depth for whatever reason (and there can be many reasons for that), so they want to make sure that people are at least aware of the general principles, so that most of the time they won’t be “nechshol” and so that they will know when to ask.

Again, if you think that there is a problem here, I think it’s a good idea for you to ask a sheilah about it. There are many reasons why I think that is not the case – I mentioned some. However, many of them are things that it is not possible for me to discuss in this forum.

But please keep in mind, as you yourself have mentioned in the past – there are all kinds of Rabbanim in the world, so make sure that you ask the right one. When it comes to Hilchos Loshon Hara, you really need to make sure that you ask someone who is a baki in this particular area and has lots of experience asking sheilahs of this sort.

It is not merely a matter of being a Talmid Chacham and knowing the halachos thoroughly – it also takes a lot of perception and understanding of people. And again, I think that the CCHF can direct you in this matter. (and no, I don’t work for them).

Excellent point