My brother's keeper?

A good friend emailed me late last night with the following question:

"when we in israel are enjoying isru chag [ed: the day after a holiday] jews outside must keep to the same standard for their second day of chag.  it is for this reason that I try to avoid emailing anyone who may be jewish, or calling anyone, in order to avoid either the "lifnei iveir lo titain michshol" or the "m'saiyeya lid'var aveira" transgression [ed: basically causing someone else to 'stumble' or transgress'].

so I was wondering if you ever asked your rav about blogging on isru chag, and if it was your responsibility to take into account the two factors that could shine the interrogation spotlight on you, those being 1)  many of your readers are jews outside of israel and 2) many commentors are as well.

yes, of course they are online anyway, and it is their "choice" to surf over, read and reply - you are not forcing or pushing.  however, the but-for argument can certainly be made, enough at least to warrant the investigation.

have you ever asked?"

[My note: Just a little background for the uninitiated...  Jews in Israel keep one day of holidays while Jews outside of Israel keep two.  You can find out more about this practice here.  The second day here in Israel, called isru chag, is free from all of the work prohibitions... but as stated here, many have the custom to add a little extra levity to the day.]

So, aside from my friend's very e e cummings-like scorn for capitalization, he makes an excellent point... and asks some equally excellent questions.

What my friend was essentially saying was, 'While Jewish law certainly permits the use of computers in Israel on isru chag, by posting on the blog, aren't you encouraging Jews in the diaspora to transgress by giving them an invitation to read your site and perhaps even comment?'

My knee-jerk reaction was to email him, saying that I don't respond to Jews outside of Israel when it is still Yom Tov for them.  But after I hit the send key I realized I was completely full of **it.  I have become so accustomed to having only one day of holiday here that I honestly didn't even think about the restrictions still in force outside of Israel.  I absolutely responded to several Jewish readers yesterday!

So... thinking out loud here... let me share the following things that crossed my mind just now:

Arutz 7, an Israeli news site that shuts down for shabbat and holidays, resumes publication on isru chag.  I have to assume that they have a large readership outside of Israel and have taken that into consideration.  They also allow talk-back comments, although I haven't checked to see if they disable this function while it is still holiday or shabbat in the diaspora..

It isn't as though I called someone in the Diaspora up on the phone and yelled 'SINNER! when they answered the phone.  I have to believe that the siren song of fresh content at treppenwitz is not the only reason someone is turning on their computer in New York or LA.

By acknowledging someone's comment I may, indeed, be sort of initiating a dialog of sorts... but again, there is no immediacy as with a telephone call.  They may not go back and see my response until hours or even days later!

What if someone comments on an older post that was up days or weeks before the holiday.  Is that OK or do I need to take down my site altogether on Shabbat and holidays (don't laugh... there is a service that will do exactly this for you if you want!)?

As my friend pointed out, there is certainly a prohibition in Judaism against placing a stumbling block in front of someone or causing them to 'sin' (for lack of a better word).  But to what point is a Jew responsible for his/her fellow Jew?  To what extent are we our brother's (and sister's) keepers?

OK, I'm done thinking out loud. 

Your turn.