Thoughts about Judaism.

I was having lunch with a friend today, and I discussed how I did not fast on Tisha B'Av. I told her I did not fast for several reasons:

1. I only even found out about the holiday during my first year of law school, when I was told during my first meeting with the Jewish Law Students Association to write to the Board of Bar Examiners, because the July bar was scheduled during Tisha B'av. I had no idea what that entailed at the time. I found out more details concerning this holiday only after reading Jews, God, and History by Max Dimont, but in short...it is not something I grew up with and is a part of me.
2. I am not sure if the destruction of the temple is a bad thing. I know that the destruction of the first and second temples meant massive death, as well as the Jewish Diaspora and statelessness, HOWEVER, it also brought a rich Jewish legal tradition and the end to the 'cult of the temple.' The Sadducees had a Judaism ruled by ritual more than personal faith. They did whatever the high priest told them to do, and did not have any rich body of interpretive law. It was a religion with animal sacrifice as well as laws such as death for apostacy and homosexuality. This was not a Judaism that I would be proud of, or even relate to. And this is the Judaism that would return, at least theologically if a temple were to return. Is this something to aspire to? Again, I am not saying I am happy about the massive Jewish death that went along with the destruction of the temples (I want to reiterate that this remains a horrible tragedy); I just am wondering if the destruction of the temples was a good thing for the intellectual development of Judaism.
3. This brings me to point three. I told my friend that Judaism holds the temple can only be rebuilt if the messiah comes. Christianity holds that the end of days is nigh when the temple is rebuilt. I posited the following to her...what if the temple is rebuilt, and there is no messiah? Does this not completely undercut the very foundations of Judaism and Christianity? How can you be a believing Jew or Christian when one of the central tenets of your faith was just literally disproven in front of your eyes? My friend looked at me in wonderment; she is a Jain, and her 'religion' is actually more of a philosophy and way of life than it is a 'religion.' It cannot be outright disproven in the way that the 'big three' monotheistic faiths literally can be. But that got me thinking on a much deeper level...my friend never really understood the theology behind the messiah and end of days, and I described it to her as best I could. I described to her that Christians believe the end of days will happen when the Jews rebuild the holy temple, and I believe 144,000 saved Jewish people as well as all born again Christians will rise to the Kingdom of Heaven. Jews believe that the messiah coming means there will be a time of increased spirituality on earth or peace, love, and prosperity. Everyone will know the true meaning of Hashem's love. Eventually, Hashem will bring the dead back to earth, and heaven and earth will become indistinct.
   
   While I said that...I thought to myself..."Not only do I not believe this, but I sound like a crazy person saying it!"
4. What does it mean to be a Jew if you really have felt a spiritual presence and do think there is a divine energy in the universe, but do not believe in the messiah, one of Maimonedes's 13 Principles of Faith? Not only do I not believe, I see it as an outright fairy tale; in short, it is a positive lack of belief in this, rather than a simple apathy.
   
   If I really believe that a core tenet of Judaism can be disproven on earth...how does that impact the rest of Judaism?

Hindu leads opening prayer at Nevada State Senate; Christian protestors heckle him

This is an example of acting against your very interests. A Hindu led prayers at the Nevada State Senate, and the response by (three) Christians was protest. Their words were:

“Lord Jesus, have mercy on us,” one shouted before he was escorted out. “We shall have no other God before you.”

All three were arrested. I am not sure if it is something arrest-worthy, the protest of Hinduism, unless they trespassed. This is a first amendment issue. But that is besides the point. The reason I am posting this is firstly to note with pride the American Jewish Committee's response: they said that a Hindu leading prayer promotes diversity, and they are 'deeply troubled' by the protests. I am proud of the way this leading Jewish organization immediately spoke out against intolerance.

The TRUTH is that Hinduism is not necessarily polytheistic, and even if it WERE (and there is a large body of evidence to suggest otherwise), Hindus are OUR FRIENDS, and major allies in the war against Islamofascism. It is ludicrous to alienate your allies at a time like this. At a time when Christians should be *mending fences,* this small group of nutjobs has decided it is better to burn bridges. What should be going on is more dialogue like this, and less heckling and castigating of the religions of allies. Now is not the time for that; moreover, there never is a good time for that.

I am aware of the constant reference in the bible (and Koran) to smashing idols, as well as reference of a war between early Jews (and Muslims, in the Koran) and idol worshippers, however, that specifically refers to the idol worshippers of that time. Those idol worshippers believed in human sacrifice and were, for the lack of a better word, barbarians. The war the Jews fought was specifically against the Canaanites, and was not a war of expansion. (beyond Israel) There is no directive in the bible for battles against idol worshippers worldwide. This contrasts from the Koran, which specifically calls for a Jihad against idol worshippers. (whether this is meant to have a present day implication is up for debate) With that said, the Jewish weekly prayers contain references about smashing idols (but basically requests Hashem to do so, and does not speak of Jews acting violently). So is there a theological justification for bigotry against Hindus?

My answer is no. Hindus are NOT idol worshippers in the original meaning of the term. They are some of the most humane people on the planet; there are even Hindus who are theologically vegetarian, out of concern for hurting any living being. This is in utter contrast from the practices of idol worshippers during the biblical age. Moreover, as far as I know, Hindus are NOT idol worshippers in the sense they are derided for, in that they do not believe there is literally a God inside an idol. Rather, they look at images of Vishnu and Krishna as fixed images to hold their minds upon as they pray to the God as represented by the idol. The following says it best:

It is not that Hindus worship their idols in vain. The idol is just a symbol, a form, with which the mind can be connected and concentrated upon. The ultimate reality is beyond the senses, beyond the known field of illusion or maya. All human activity including the positive and negative aspect of it is part of this great illusion from which man has no escape till he gains true knowledge.

More on this subject can be found here.

If Hindus are seen as idol worshippers according to their interaction with these statues, then one can just as easily point to Christians as idol worshippers, what with their crosses with Jesus in the church. In short, the bigotry against Hindus stemming from their supposed 'idol worship' has to stop.

And thus, I would like to reiterate this blog's support for Indians and of India. This nation and these people are to be aided, not denigrated.

Hospital Bans Hot Cross Buns in Effort to Avoid Offending non-Christians

No, really. Feel free to read about this yourself.

Due to a fear of "upsetting non-Christians," hospital patients could not eat a traditional food on Easter. Now, I happen to find hot cross buns to be delicious, and I even like the little hot cross buns song! And yup, I am Jewish. This all is utter nonsense.

Where are we going as a civilization that we ban hot cross buns from English hospitals, simply out of fear of offending?

How can this horrible trend of giving into madness be reversed?

Passover and Easter with cancer

Hello all, I thought I would share a story about Passover and Easter with my family. But before I do, I should give a bit of a back story. My dad and mom are divorced, and my dad remarried to a Catholic woman whose prior husband coincidentally was Jewish. (he died) Her own beliefs are a mix of Catholicism, Judaism, and agnosticism. My dad is an agnostic Jew. Anyway. So Monday of last week was the first night of Passover - first seder. I decided to go to my dad's house for first seder, because I wanted to be there for my dad, since my stepmom has cancer that appears to be incurable. My grandma (dad's mom), her boyfriend (oh yes, she has a boyfriend!), and aunt picked me up at my apartment for the drive out to Long Island. I should say I was hacking up a storm the whole way, because I had a very bad cold. I even purchased surgical masks, so I would not get my stepmom sick. Along the way, we passed an Italian ices store, and picked up the ices for desert. I was of course criticized for even mentioning ices, as I shouldn't want desert, evidently, because I am a house. (of course I was also was asked if I wanted ices, after they should I shouldn't even LOOK at desert!) I also purchased the seder plate for the seder. My grandma cooked her bland chicken matzoh ball soup. We got to the house (my dad's house), and I ended up sitting there with my grandma, her boyfriend, and my aunt. We were waiting for my dad and stepmom to get back from chemo treatment. I was sitting there, getting hungry, and then got a phone call that my dad and stepmom won't get home until 7:30 pm or later. Meanwhile, my grandma was going on and on and on about my weight. Okay I get it - I have to lose weight. But again - not housely. And it made the entire time just unbearable. Then my grandma's boyfriend got to the point where he had to drive back home - as he is old and a not-so-great driver. So my grandma heated up the matzoh ball soup, while I was downstairs, stewing, chatting with Adil. I had lost all my appetite. My grandma came downstairs and said "You have to eat, too!" She admonished me to eat. So...I ended up eating matzoh ball (bland) soup, with the whole chicken and whole (unchopped u)p vegetables in the soup, with grandma, her boyfriend, and aunt. I also smeared some charoset on matzoh, drank two glasses of wine, said a prayer...and then left. NO seder. Hacking up a storm the whole time. Miserable when I got home. I also missed work for this. THEN... I came over today, for Easter dinner. Oh yes, my dad is having an Easter dinner, though never had a seder. I guess this shows you how secular my family has become. But anyway, I hold no grudges about this. I have decided to just grin and bear this all. But I have remained kosher for Passover all week long. I guess what had me mildly upset was when I asked my stepmom if she wanted some matzoh brei I was going to cook, and she yelled at me about it. Saying it was rude to even think about cooking. Then she apologized, only to say that on Easter I should "observe how a REAL family has a REAL dinner." But instead of getting completely outraged by this...I decided that I should be grateful. Grateful that my stepmom is somehow, miraculously, getting better. Against all medical projections. Perhaps it's the prayer, I don't know. I think it's just the determination to live. "He who has a why to live can withstand almost any HOW." - Nietsche In any case...I should not even complaining. I guess where I am going with all this is that I have realized how lucky I am. I am so exceedingly lucky to be born Jewish and be born in America. I could have been born in Somalia, as Ayaan Hirsi Ali was. I could have been many things. But I am not. So during this holiday season...think about the daily miracle of life. We are alive. We have our minds, our health, our spirit. So many things to be thankful for. We go through the daily bull caca of life...but in the end it's all worth it. I think it's all worth it.