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This study explores how Israeli Jewish rabbis negotiate their authority through the practice of online Responsa, a Jewish tradition of rabbinical questions and answers (Q&A). A total of n = 567 Q&A were collected from five different rabbis answering on Kipa.co.il. By analyzing questions asked by anonymous users and answered by specific rabbis, this research shows how online Responsa allows rabbis to negotiate their rabbinical authority. We highlight two trends regarding rabbinical authority: (a) a growing need for online presence, meaning that the quantity of answers becomes an important part of constructing rabbinical authority online and (b) online activity in rabbinical Q&A changes the length and textual depth of the answers. The online Jewish Responsa is more concise and tends not to supply textual support. These trends, we argue, result in a reframing of the rabbi's roles, and the Halachic discourse itself. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the negotiation of sexual practices through online discourse within a global religious community. Online questions and answers (Q&A) are analyzed while considering the technological affordances of the websites where these discourses take place as well as the discursive strategies. A total of n = 60 Q&A and n = 81 comments from three Jewish religious websites in the U.S. and Israel were collected and analyzed. These Q&A discuss issues of masturbation and touch between the sexes. It is argued that changes in the practices of the discourse--the fact that it is now online--shift elements in the concepts discussed in the discourse. Though the technological affordances allow taboo questions to be asked and enable a participatory discourse, this discourse is then used by rabbis and users to promote a strict approach toward sexuality and for peer regulation. Thus, this online discourse enforces traditional, and even fundamental, religious sexual practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]