"When you're in jail, a good friend will be trying to bail you out. A best friend will be in the cell next to you saying, 'Damn, that was fun'." Groucho Marx
Carl has got a post about some of the challenges of posting videos at YouTube.
Muslims on YouTube have formed several groups where users and videos that criticize Islam (which they define as “Hate Speech”) are listed and mass-flagged as abuse. YouTube seems to remove videos and sometimes even ban users automatically. Muslims claim that they only flag videos that have violated YouTube’s TOS, but this has been been proven false.
For the full story please click here.
CNN’s Glenn Beck has managed to place himself in quite a position. Here is an excerpt from one of his shows:
“Now, I have said on this program, “I would not vote for Joe Lieberman as president of the United States.” I think Joe Lieberman knows how to fight this war. I think Joe Lieberman really gets it. However, even if I didn’t disagree with him on so many social issues, I wouldn’t vote for Joe Lieberman at this time because of the complications it would add in this country or on the planet right now because of the way the Middle East would use it. That’s not saying the same thing as I wouldn’t vote for a Jew for president. And yet, people can get away with that.”
I don’t know think that Beck has thought this through. He says that the only reason that he wouldn’t vote for Joe Lieberman is because of how the Middle East would use it. How do you say that and claim that it has nothing to do with his religion.
If he would have limited it to saying that he disagreed with his policies there wouldn’t be an issue. Even if I try to give him the benefit of the doubt and say that I don’t think that he is making a bigoted statement, well he is.
The reason he says that he cannot vote for him is because of his faith. So this begs the question of what to do about it.
On another blog I stumbled across this comment:
The Jewish Theological Seminary is a center of Conservative Judaism. Conservative Judaism, like Reform Judaism, is not considered a valid form of Judaism by Orthodox Jews,
When I was younger I found such comments to be offensive. It was disturbing to think that Jews could say this about other Jews. I was very surprised by it. Gradually comments like this stopped bothering me. I don’t have to cater to other peoples narishkeit. People can say whatever they want but it doesn’t mean that it is true.
It has helped that over time I have been involved in so many different Jewish organizations that were tied into various denominations. Add in Orthodox relatives and many friends that are BT and you have a recipe for a certain amount of insight.
In particular it was obvious that Orthodox Judaism is not monolithic in its approach. Sure, there are certain things that everyone agrees about, but the reality is that there is a huge subset. In truth there always has been. How many times have we heard about the fights between the mitnagdim and the Chassidim.
Are you part of Beit Hillel or Beit Shammai. Are you a Breslover or a Lubavitcher. Ashkenazic and Sefardi Minhagim sometimes conflict. The jackasses in the NK consider themselves to be the true defenders of the faith but most of my Orthodox friends and family look with scorn upon them.
What comes to mind is a comment from Bayonim. It is an older blog that hasn’t been updated in some time.
Oddly, as the night progressed, though, I found myself thinking not of tweenagers, but of single Jewish woman, woman in their thirties, woman who are stilled called “girls†by clueless matrons, woman who haven’t yet found their man, or their place yet on the wide, wide, spectrum that is the Orthodox Jewish community. At some point we all choose our own spot on that spectrum, and implicitly we announce that all the other spots – the Hasidic spot, the modern spot, or whatever – we announce that those other spots aren’t for us, or for our children.
I was married before I thought about these things. I didn’t understand the deep deivisions in Orthodoxy, and it never occured to me that I might one day live, and also thrive, in a neighborhood so alien to my upbringing. Now, at thirty-two, my bed is made so to speak. I have the house, I have the kids, I have the community, and for better or for worse, I have my spot on the spectrum.
Just one more blogger who makes the point that there is no one way. I don’t care which denomination you look at, we all have evolutions of thought and policy. Sure some of the core elements stay the same, but change does come.
To be clear, this is not being written as some sort of academic essay. You aren’t going to find me citing this Gemara and that. I won’t speak about what the Rambam had to say or Rashi’s position on xyz. It is not necessary.
The people that hate Jews don’t distinguish between those of us walking around with peyot and those who do not. They don’t care whether you are shomer negiah or shomer shabbos . A Torah true Jew is the same as the guy that fell off the derech. In their eyes one Yid is the same as another.
The real point of this post is that we can try and find a way to minimize the acrimony and get along better. More achdut and less divisiveness.
I have always enjoyed this story about The Besht.
It is told of the Besht that one Yom Kippur a poor Jewish boy, an illiterate shepherd, entered the synagogue where he was praying. The boy was deeply moved by the service, but frustrated that he could not read the prayers. He started to whistle, the one thing he knew he could do beautifully; he wanted to offer his whistling as a gift to God. The congregation was horrified at the desecration of their service. Some people yelled at the boy, and others wanted to throw him out. The Ba’al Shem Tov immediately stopped them. “Until now,” he said, “I could feel our prayers being blocked as they tried to reach the heavenly court. This young shepherd’s whistling was so pure, however, that it broke through the blockage and brought all of our prayers straight up to God.”
I grew frustrated with the post below. It didn’t quite flow the way I wanted it to so I decided to ice it for a while.
Individualism is a trait that is prized by many people. It is something that we teach our children. Here in the U.S. it is quite common to hear people use phrases like think outside of the box or color outside of the lines. If someone calls you a sheep it is not a compliment. This is a very simple explanation for why we see so many examples of people trying to demonstrate their independence by how they dress, adorn their bodies etc.
Yet humans are communal creatures. Most of us want to be a part of a group. Most of us want to be accepted in a community of peers and others who think like we do. Trying to demonstrate/maintain that independent think outside of the box streak while still being a part of the gang is similar to walking barefoot on hot coals. If you lose your focus you will fill the heat.
I suppose that you could say that this begs the question of what is most important, independence or being a member of the community.
I have a couple ideas for posts percolating around my skull. They are only partially formed so I am not going to give them the chance to see the light of day just yet. But I’ll provide sort of a short preview.
Amishav’s post here provides some of the impetus for one of them. It ties into a post I wrote a couple of years ago called Orthodox Versus Jewry- Or My Blood is More Jewish.
What I want to do is spend a little more time thinking about this and then I’ll put together a new post about it. The purpose of taking more time is twofold.
1) I want to think about this a little bit more and see if I can provide more clarity for myself. I want to decide if I still feel the same way or if my views have changed.
2) I don’t have enough time to do a proper job of writing this post.
More later.
I was looking through the Archives and came across this and thought that I’d share it with you all. New stuff to come.
I am an independent in many ways including both politics and religion. Every now and then someone decides to take a swipe at me because they think that I pick and choose.
For example, I don’t keep Kosher, but I would never drink a glass of milk with meat. There are other examples, but I don’t want to make this post about me but about the mysteries of Judaism.
That is the term that I used when speaking with a friend about his kollel and their outreach program to unaffiliated Jews/Jews who are unhappy with their shul. But it really is most applicable to Jews who do not have a real strong Jewish education and their approach to Judaism.
What I mean by this is that Judaism is highly sophisticated and filled with layers and layers of ritual and for a lack of a better term obligations/responsibilities that we usually refer to as the 613 mitzvot.
Add to that the minhagim (customs) that have been acquired over the centuries and many people do not know whether the things that they do are based upon minhag or halacha and even if they do they often do not know why they are being asked to do them.
Consequently there are many mitzvot that are not followed because people do not feel/see the connection and or reason for them to do it. You cannot tell someone who does not know if they believe in G-d that this being/person/creature has commanded them to do anything and expect that they are just going to do it. And you especially cannot expect a thinking adult to engage without provding them with substance and reason for why they should do whatever it is you are asking them to do.
So what you end up with is a group of people who look at the mitzvot/commandments and see them as being optional. Earlier this week Mirty wrote about her feelings when she accidentally ate something that was treif. I thought that it was interesting because my heart tells me that I should be keeping Kosher but my brain says why.
My head wants to know what is the reason. What does it do? I already know that lightning will not come out of the sky and strike me down if I do not. I know that if I drive on Shabbos I am not going to be stoned. I know that if I commit an aveirah I am probably, more than likely going to be ok.
And what this means is that I have to search harder for a reason to stop my behavior and change. I need more than just because. I need something that speaks to me and thus far I haven’t found it and I am someone who searches for answers.
Take me out of the equation and go back to the person who has little to no background. Now stick them in shul and watch how many of them squirm because they do not understand what is going on, why we bow at some times and not at others. They stumble through mechayei meytim without any idea about the hours of thought and discussion that those words created, they do not understand what they do but go because of guilt.
I watch and listen because even though I can say that I received a solid Jewish education it has some holes in it and there are places that are more like gaps. I watch because this time of year is a huge struggle for me. It makes me crazy, I go meshugah because I feel like my heart and head are in two different places. My heart says to just go with the feeling, follow the passion and daven because it will take me to where I need to be and my head scoffs at this.
My head laughs at superstition and takes a simple position of trying to be a good person. Be a good person, teach your children, give back to your community and do what you can to be a mensch and everything will work out.
I’ll go to shul and I’ll wrestle with being there. I’ll think about the streets of Yerushalayim and the hike I took in Yosemite. I’ll go to the bathroom and be distracted by beautiful women, by watching the young children look up in awe at their parents and by the sound of people davening. I’ll sit down and consider the mysteries of Judaism and ask myself how much I really know and realize that my depth of knowledge is good, but never enough. I’ll shake my head and feel like I’ll never be satisfied and then I’ll sigh.
And in between and throughout all of it I’ll come here and write a post that started out with a serious nature and just became a stream of consciousness and wonder if I really said anything or made sense to anyone.
The New Year is coming and I feel unsettled.