1

Some communities have the custom to avoid learning Torah (some have the custom to avoid learning publicly) on Christmas Eve, known as Nittel Nacht. Would they allow one to browse this website? What about if the answers/questions were about Nittel?

רבות מחשבות
  • 20,998
  • 1
  • 41
  • 145
  • 2
    Ironic that both you and I are on here. :/ But then again I don't keep Nittel Nacht – ezra Dec 25 '18 at 01:47
  • @ezra Are you from a chassidic community? – רבות מחשבות Dec 25 '18 at 01:48
  • 7
    Just keep the Chinese food far away from the books... – Gary Dec 25 '18 at 01:50
  • 1
    Duplicate https://judaism.stackexchange.com/q/13102/759 – Double AA Dec 25 '18 at 01:54
  • 1
    Similar to if one can browse this site in the bathroom? – robev Dec 25 '18 at 01:57
  • The factor that makes something "Torah" for the purposes of this custom might not be the same as what makes something "Torah" in other contexts. – Alex Dec 25 '18 at 01:58
  • 2
    @Alex if there's reason to think they are different the question should say so, otherwise it's a duplicate (assuming nittle nacht is sufficiently about Judaism to be on topic, which is a stretch) – Double AA Dec 25 '18 at 02:04
  • @רבותמחשבות I am very close to Chabad but I still don't do Nittel Nacht I think it is a minhag shtus – ezra Dec 25 '18 at 02:07
  • @DoubleAA Or duplicate of this one? https://judaism.stackexchange.com/q/22948/15256 – Kazi bácsi Dec 25 '18 at 13:55
  • 1
    @Gary, Chinese food on the evening of the 24th? That's b'dveid at best. The halacha m'Sinai is Chinese lunch on the 25th, though those who do dinner after sunset on the 24th have fulfilled their obligation – יהושע ק Dec 25 '18 at 21:03
  • 2
    @JoshK-the Wife usually works on the 25th, so we load up the night before on General Yoav's Chicken and everything else..... – Gary Dec 25 '18 at 21:23

1 Answers1

1

If you hold that you can't learn on nittel then learning on this site is still considered learning . If you hold that learning in private is fine ,then browsing this site in private is fine. Regarding looking up questions about nittel on nittel would seem to be fine. Just like we find by Tisha bav that one can learn about laws of tisha bav so too on nittel one should be able to learn about nittel,however learning biyun on the subject may be problematic . To give a halachic source would be difficult since this is a minhag,and many do not hold of it,but I think one can compare to tisha bav,since it shouldn't be any worse than tisha bav which is written in the SA.

There is an idea(Korban Nesanel) that the minhag of not learning is beacuse of mourning and is like the destruction of the Bais Hamikdash. So the prohibiton of not learning could be similar to tisha bav.

Nitei Gavriel:

enter image description here

sam
  • 41,686
  • 4
  • 80
  • 141