Religion

Why Do You Pray

October 19, 2007 by Jack Steiner 5 Comments

My best friend and I spend all sorts of time debating and discussing all sorts of stuff. The title of this post sort of sums it all up. We had been discussing whether I actually believe in the moshiach (messiah) and whether I daven (pray) for him to come.

I am a little short on time so I can’t dig into this the way I want to, but I suppose that I can really sum up our conversation to be “Why do you pray?”

It deserves a real response. I’ll try to come back and give it later.

(Feel free to share your own thoughts/comments.)

A Monkey With a Keyboard

October 16, 2007 by Jack Steiner 4 Comments

Every now and then old Jack wades into the deeper waters of the blogosphere to debate topics of interest with other members of the blogosphere. Some of these conversations are exceptionally interesting and well worth my time and others….Well let’s just say that some of the others are about as intellectually stimulating as debating a monkey with a keyboard.

Recently I have found myself in another one of these simian food fights. The monkey made some outlandish and ill advised remarks and I responded. Said monkey didn’t like me throwing peanuts and begged for my bananas by trying to insult me. Now it is possible that I may have been less than endearing in my initial response to the monkey.

Then again maybe the monkey deserved to have his cage rattled. I don’t take kindly to threats and that is what the monkey did. Bonzo decided that lashing out was the best response to this. If Bonzo was a toddler it would have been called a classic case of baby tantrum. But Bonzo is not, Bonzo is second rate hack who fancies himself a mighty intellectual.

Good old Bonzo warms the cockles of my heart, even if his ranting is based upon the twisted fantasies of his own mind.

Ann Coulter’s Most Recent Mumblings

October 15, 2007 by Jack Steiner 12 Comments

I haven’t written about her for a whole variety of reasons, not the least of which has been time. But I thought that I would point out a link that I think is worth a look. Bookworm has a post that caught my eye because it was sensible.

The grouchy old bear pointed me to this article on WND. It contains all sorts of gems such as:

America is still quite friendly towards Jews, but the incessant attacks on Christianity by the likes of Deutsch, Forman and Abe Foxman have grown increasingly tiresome. Given this irritating behavior, and the historical fact that Jews have worn out their welcome in literally dozens of countries over the centuries, it is the height of foolishness for a small number of misguided individuals to demand that 80 percent of the American population remain silent about the tenets of its religious faith. Christians are dying for their faith in the Sudan, in North Korea, in China, Vietnam and Myanmar; they are not about to shut their mouths simply because a few Jews in the media disapprove of their beliefs.

and

Despite its flaws, America has been one of the best friends the Jews have ever had. It would not only be a tragedy, it would be a stupid and wasteful one if Americans were provoked into developing the instinctive anti-semitism that currently pervades Europe, the Middle East and so much of the rest of the world.

I do believe that we were just told to shut up and sit in the back of the bus, not to mention that the ignoramus repeats common antisemitic canards to try and make his point.

Well Voxy, Jews have been dying for our faith for quite a spell longer than you, but that is not the point. And frankly there is a disconnect between citing anti-Xtian issues in foreign countries in the context of this story. There is no correlation between the two. That is just a red herring.

Cutting to the chase, I don’t really care all that much about Coulter’s comments. I think that they were ignorant, unfounded and that they foster discord. She likes that kind of thing, so let her feel the results of her comments.

But the remarks you made were asinine and unreasonable. There is no war on Xtianity in the U.S. It may make you feel badly that people ask that the US Constitution be upheld. It may make you feel badly that some people prefer not to have religion stuffed in their face, but that is just too damned bad.

Robbing The Bride and Groom

September 16, 2007 by Jack Steiner 11 Comments

I have been meaning to write about this for a couple of days now. This story troubles me.

Rabbi Barry Tuchman has no congregation, no ties to a recognized Jewish movement and an ordination that was far outside the norm for American Jewish clergy.

But the interfaith couples who contact him don’t want to see his diploma. They want to know whether he’s willing to marry them. And Rabbi Barry, as he calls himself, is ready to oblige.

He officiates anywhere: in churches, alongside Christian clergy, on the Jewish Sabbath and at Roman Catholic weddings. A student of Shamanism, he can perform American Indian rituals, too.

“What I do,” Tuchman said, “is throw the liturgy out the window.”

Interfaith couples whose rabbis won’t marry them are going to the fringes of American Judaism to find someone who will. And there are plenty of rabbis for hire.

Rabbis with unconventional, even dubious, credentials will create ceremonies that can look Jewish, even if they’re not. Fees can run into the thousands of dollars, but business is booming. The rabbis have more work than they can handle.

“It’s religion in America for a new generation,” said Rabbi Richard Hirsh, executive director of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association, which represents rabbis in his movement. “It’s pretty much an individual consumer culture of professional services. They are used to getting the services that they want.”

The intermarriage rate for U.S. Jews has been above 40 percent since at least the 1990s, according to researchers for the 2001 National Jewish Population Survey. As the rate has climbed, so too has pressure on pulpit rabbis to perform the ceremonies. Advocates for interfaith families say officiating at the weddings can increase the odds that couples will raise their children Jewish.

Most rabbis aren’t convinced.

The Conservative and Orthodox movements bar rabbis from performing the ceremonies.

For the full story please click here. Do you really want a hired gun to perform your marriage. And more importantly, who gets smicha to become rich.

Religion and Country- A Few Thoughts

September 7, 2007 by Jack Steiner 9 Comments

I am about due for another post about religion and its place in society. By society I am referring to the United States. You can consider this to be a precursor to that particular post because I am due to take my afternoon siesta now, but before I do here are some thoughts.

Some people like to claim that religion is the foundation for all that is good in the world. I disagree. You don’t have to be religious to be a moral person.

When discussing the separation of church and state some people try to prove their point by claiming that the Constitution doesn’t speak about this. They’ll say that no where in the Constitution does it say anything of the sort.

My response to them is simple. There are a lot of things that aren’t in the Constitution. For example you won’t find anything about speeding tickets or tickets received for running red lights. Lack of inclusion is not indicative of the validity of something.

Anyway, that is the general idea. If you have any thoughts you want to share now feel free to do so.

Second Guessing Ourselves- Elul Times Two

September 3, 2007 by Jack Steiner 2 Comments

My chevrusa RWAC has a post called Elul: Doubting myself that caught my eye. Here is an excerpt that reeled me in:

In short: I do things that make my halakhic mind cringe. I do them for the sake of Torah and in a manner that conforms with my understanding of the halachah, but come Elul, they still bother me.

Elul is, after all, the period for second-guessing. For asking myself whether this action was correct, whether I should have said that differently. For debating the decisions that have brought me to this point in life.

So during Elul I look at these cases and ask myself: When I do these things, am I really motivated by ahavas yisrael and outreach, or am I doing it because I want people to like me?

It held my attention for many reasons. I find Elul to be unsettling. I am not Orthodox, but I don’t think that you have to be Orthodox to find Elul to be unsettling. For that matter you don’t have to be Orthodox to have an educated opinion about halacha or any Jewish matter. This is a position that is not popular with many people, but it is one that I am comfortable with.

The core of the issue for me is education. Are you familiar with the guidelines and reasons behind the various halacha and minhagim. Are you observant because you were raised that way or because you choose to be. I don’t believe in G-d based upon logic, although that plays a role. I believe based in part because of faith. Faith doesn’t require that 2+2 equal four. Although it would be nice that did.

I don’t believe that mixed dancing should be frowned upon. I don’t accept the minhagim that require my friends to wear a wool suit on a day in which the temperature exceeds 106. There are aspects of this that make sense to me. I appreciate the guidelines of being tznius, but to me they are just guidelines. I just don’t believe that Chazal was trying to guide us to becoming shomer negia in the current fashion.

Granted there are going to be people who show me a gemara that says otherwise. Granted there is a reason why tradition shouldn’t be completely ignored or abused. Yet it shouldn’t always be taken as law just because that is the way it has always been done.

There are moments in which I have serious doubts about how I have done things. Moments in which I wonder if I have made the right choices. I second guess myself, but I also move on. I don’t spend a ton of time wondering about every decision I have made.

Ani maamin with all of my heart and soul that Hashem is not locked into one way. I do not now and cannot remember a time in which I believed that there is only one way to be Jewish. Just to be clear for my resident J4J- there are lines which you cannot cross and be considered Jewish. Some things are impossible, like being partially pregnant. Outside of those black and white lines, there is a lot of gray.

Even though I find Elul to be unsettling I appreciate it for what it offers. Specific time to reflect upon my life, who I am, who I want to be, the year that was and the year to come.