11–20 of 25 posts
It's all kind of tacky, like kosher elevators and kosher light switches. You're supposed to suffer a little.
Same thing around the ex-island of Amsterdam: https://www.google.com/maps/d/embed?mid=1K9JpabMj1Wgdjy6O41T... Learned about that years ago when I ran into one of the maintainers on a walk. It's... not something I understand , but do respect , given that it's ancient history that is older than, well, most living people , and entirely well-intentioned and harmless to non-believers.
[flagged]
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Oh, bother ... Fact: the Amsterdam eruv has been around longer than the state of Israel, and is in no way, shape or form related to its policies.
I thought we were extending the discussion about religion in general, not a single custom.
I love that as part of their religion they think that they can trick their god. It just seems healthy to me, as an atheist.
The biblical idea is that you're supposed to stay home. The first level of cheat was that multiple buildings surrounded by a wall could be defined as "home". The next cheat level was that the concept of "wall" was defined down. I'm surprised that some clever religious type hasn't figured out a cheat to define the whole planet as "home". It's all kind of tacky, like kosher elevators and kosher light switches. You're s…
For people without exposure to Hasidic Judaism, it's way more "deranged cult" and way less "Jewish people". I don't know any Jews who have anything good to say about them. Nor does anyone else for that matter. You may argue I'm being antisemitic, but I'd counter that they don't get to hold a religion hostage so they can be totally off the wall insane.
The biblical idea is that you're supposed to stay home. The first level of cheat was that multiple buildings surrounded by a wall could be defined as "home". The next cheat level was that the concept of "wall" was defined down. I'm surprised that some clever religious type hasn't figured out a cheat to define the whole planet as "home". It's all kind of tacky, like kosher elevators and kosher light switches. You're s…
It’s much more complicated and interesting than this. Books have been written about it (eg. Circumventing the Law: Rabbinic Perspectives on Legal Loopholes and Integrity by Elana Stein Hain). One of the ideas is that halachic loopholes are meant to be discovered. It’s also been compared metaphorically to the difference between tax evasion (impermissible) and tax avoidance (legal means to reduce our obligation created…
Once you take the leap of believing there is some big invisible guy in outerspace, pretty much any belief is possible after that...