Rabbi Elliot N. Dorff Modest Communication Question
1 CJLS OH 74.2019α Rabbi Elliot N. Dorff Modest Communication Approved, June 19, 2019 (20‐0‐0). Voting in favor: Rabbis Pamela Barmash, Noah Bickart, Elliot Dorff, Baruch Frydman‐Kohl, Susan Grossman, Judith Hauptman, Joshua Heller, Jeremy Kalmanofsky, Jan Kaufman, Gail Labovitz, Amy Levin, Daniel Nevins, Micah Peltz, Avram Reisner, Robert Scheinberg, David Schuck, Deborah Silver, Ariel Stofenmacher, Iscah Waldman, Ellen Wolintz Fields. Question: How can a Jew promote oneself professionally and socially without violating Jewish norms of modesty (tzi’ni’ut) in communication? Put another way, in light of the fact that in social media people actively seek affirmation (likes, shares, etc.) for their posts and the fact that some jobs even require the generation of such quantifiable affirmations, how can and should a Jew living in this social and professional environment participate in it while still observing traditional Jewish norms regarding modest speech? Answer: Introduction Now that our colleagues, Rabbis David Booth, Brukh Frydman‐Kohl, and Ashira Konisgburg have completed their rabbinic ruling on modesty in dress,1 I intend in this responsum to continue their work in a related area, modesty in communication. In a companion responsum, I will also discuss harmful communication. In this responsum in particular it is important to note at the outset that many of the norms that are discussed could be understood, on the positive end of the spectrum, as either laws obligating a particular form of behavior or, in contrast, as aspirational modes of behavior (middat hassidut), and, on the negative end of the spectrum, some will straddle the line between legally prohibited and permitted but discouraged.
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