60 Jason Rosenberg

infinite audience, will affect the behavior of the Rabbi and the Cantor. The 1986 responsum addresses this, as well, and points out the inappropriateness of staging the service for the cameras. The clergy must not“play to the cameras.” The cameras must be passive observers of the scene; any modifications that we make to the service for their benefit would be problematic.

In the end, it seems hard to make the argument that webcams are qualitatively different(or, possibly, even quantitatively) from video cameras. But, its worth keeping the question open, as we see the effect of more webcams in our services.

Recruiting and Hasagat Gevul

One potential issue which arises for livestreaming is that of institutional boundaries and recruiting, or“poaching” from each other. In all likelihood, none of the current congregations which are livestreaming their services, or which are considering doing so, are doing so in the hopes of attracting members from other congregations, but intentional or not, it is a possibility. Making services easily available to those who are not at your congregation, opens the possibility that members of congregation, especially one nearby, could observe your services and eventually decide that they want to change congregations.

Reform rabbis often invoke the principle of hasagat gevul(violation of a boundary) to talk about the impropriety of recruiting members from another congregation. The Responsa Committee looked at this question of solicitation,'”” and came to the conclusion that there is nothing within Jewish law which explicitly prohibits the