posted
Good luck on getting your Christmas present next year. Just remember, if a lot of people land up wanting the same thing, you may have to camp out on the sidewalk outside the Cave of the Patriarchs overnight so that you can be first in line when it goes on sale the day after Thanksgiving.
Be sure to link to this thread for the annual Hatrack Gift Exchange, so that we'll know what to get you, too. Don't forget to include your favorite colors, and any allergies!
Posts: 10397 | Registered: Jun 2005
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posted
At first, I held my tongue, mainly because I prefer to avoid contentiousness. However, I've heard from some here that they get all us Orthodox Jews mixed up, and I don't want my silence to imply agreement with what has been said here about Reconstructionist Jews. So, here I go, with unaccustomed contentiousness.
I think that it is a mistake to criticise and marginalize Jews who worship in un-Orthodox movements. By setting ourselves as arbiters of who is properly Jewish and who is not, we risk alienating our fellow Jews and making them feel as if they are less than full Jews.
This is utter nonsense. According to Jewish Law, you are either Jewish or not. How you worship has no bearing on your Jewishness.
There are 613 commandments pertaining to the Jewish people. There is no Jew here who follows all of them. And there is no Jew here who follows none of them. That pretty much puts us all somewhere in the middle.
I personally don't believe in the different "denominations" of Judaism, although I use the shorthand "Orthodox" to describe my practice of the religion. I prefer the term "observant Jew", meaning that I try to follow the commandments that I can.
Jews who don't follow the laws of Kashrut (kosher food)? Still Jews. Jews who don't follow the restrictions of the Sabbath? Still Jews. Jews who don't pray? Still Jews. And Jews who pray differently than I do? Certainly, still Jews.
Any Hatrack (or non-rack) Jew out there who thinks that I judge him negatively because he doesn't put his "Jew" on as in-your-face as I do, has got it all wrong.
And I just wanted to make that clear.
Posts: 10397 | Registered: Jun 2005
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"They are also Abrahamic" was to contrast your continued insistence in saying the selection was based on violence that we see on TV all the time.
You named the distinguishing feature that was actually related to the site of the prayer, then went on to pick some imagined connection between the three of them that was unrelated to the site. And you still haven't given a reason for doing so, even after the Abrahamic connection was pointed out to you.
Posts: 26071 | Registered: Oct 2003
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I have no idea what you're saying. Might be because I worked 12 hours today and I'm no longer firing on all cylinders, but I don't understand what your point is.
Posts: 21898 | Registered: Nov 2004
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That you ignored the obvious connection between the site of the prayer and those invited and leaped to a totally different conclusion with absolutely nothing to base it on.
Posts: 26071 | Registered: Oct 2003
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posted
Tante, if that was you being contentious, then I certainly hope you do it more often, because I (a non-Jew) though that was plain awesome.
Posts: 1594 | Registered: Apr 2006
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posted
Tante, I really appreciate that post. I was wondering how what seems to be the different kinds of Jews viewed each other. It seems like there are a variety of views, which makes sense with what I know of human beings in general.
Posts: 26077 | Registered: Mar 2000
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