Ask The Rabbi...
May 21, 1994 Issue #22

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This issue is dedicated in memory of J. Joshua Goldberg Zt'l

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This edition contains:
1. Erasing Torah from computer software or screens.
2. How is a person `stoned to death'?

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Yoel Strimling of St. Louis wrote:

>Dear Rabbi,
>
>Is one allowed halachically to delete e-mail that includes Divrei Torah 
>[Words of Torah]?  Can one rely on the fact that since is has no physical 
>being, it is not the same as a piece of paper that has [Words of] Torah 
>written on it?

Also, Shammai Linsky of Brooklyn wrote:

>Dear Rabbi,
>
>What is the halacha concerning Torah which is stored on devices such as 
>disk drives, etc.?  Is it permissible to erase at will?

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Dear Yoel and Shammai,

The Talmud lists seven names of G-d that may not, under any circumstances 
be erased -- even if a scribe makes an error when writing a Sefer Torah.  
The Shulchan Aruch states that even *one letter* from these names may not 
be erased.  Other Kitvei Kodesh [Holy Writings] have less stringent rules, 
but are generally forbidden to erase.

An apparently similar question was posed to Rabbi Moshe Feinstein, zt'l, 
regarding erasing blessings and Torah from audio cassettes.  He wrote that 
since the words are not stored in the form of `letters', he can find no 
clear prohibition against `erasing' them.  One might reason, however, that 
`letters' are in fact present on a computer monitor.

On the other hand, the letters are not directly written by human hand, and 
in fact are not written at all in the conventional sense.  They are not a 
continuous form; rather they are comprised of flashing pixels of light as 
the screen is "refreshed" many times per second.

We presented these questions about erasing and deleting Divrei Torah from 
computer screens and software to Rabbi Chaim Pinchas Scheinberg, shlita.  
He ruled it is permitted to erase them and delete them in the normal 
manner.  

Sources:
Talmud - Tractate Shavuot, page 35a.
Shulchan Aruch - Yoreh Deah 276:9.
Pitchei Teshuva - Yoreh Deah 283, note Bet.

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Andy from Milwaukee asked:

>Dear Rabbi,
>
>I was always under the impression that `stoning' was done by a group of 
>people who actually threw rocks at the victim until he was killed; and 
>then someone told me that the victim is not actually stoned but is thrown 
>off of a building (BTW, where did they find buildings in the desert?)   
>Which is correct?

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Dear Andy,

I don't know about a building in the desert, but I have heard of a hotel 
called `The Sands'  :-) .

The Mishna in Tractate Sanhedrin teaches: 
"The stoning building is two stories.  One of the witnesses pushes him [the 
victim off of the building] onto his back...."

The Mishna goes on to teach that if the victim doesn't die from the fall, 
then the other witness throws a stone onto him, and if this doesn't do the 
trick, then all of Israel stone him.

A poignant insight into the punishment of stoning is offered Rabbi Samson 
Raphael Hirsch.  He explains why it is quite fitting that the person 
receive punishment by the "hands of" the Earth (pushed to the ground and 
hit with stone):

"The particular part of the Earth that carries out the sentence on its 
immoral inhabitant is the Land, the possession of which is attached to its 
inhabitants keeping the laws of morality...and which as repeatedly stated, 
rejects and expels immoral people...he is isolated, rejected, "thrust back" 
from the surface of the Earth which otherwise would bear him as she 
maternally bears all her creatures."  

Sources: 
Tractate Sanhedrin, page 45a.
Rabbi S.R. Hirsch -  Vayikra 20:2. 
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