The Evolving Jew

A few weeks before Pesach, I moved to a new desk at work. The previous occupant had left a lot of junk in the desk. I didn't realize one of the drawers had food in it under the files and didn't get around to cleaning it till this week. I found a whole bunch of ketchup and mayo packets inside, the kind that you get from fast food places. Not that I have a great need to consume these condiments, but it made me wonder - are they kosher or are they chametz she'avar alav achar hapesach (CSAAAHP)? They are Heinz, and have an O-U on them. But they were in my desk over Pesach and weren't sold with my other chametz. On the other hand, I wasn't aware of their existence till this week. Plus, the desk doesn't belong to me, it belongs to my employer. So were the packets halachically considered to be in my possession over Pesach? So what's the halacha? A second question: if they are CSAAAHP, do I need to throw them out (rather than leave them in the office kitchen

At the ATM this morning, there was a moth under the glass. Very surreal... Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

At least according to the protesters outside my office. Apparently my employer, a huge financial services firm, is using a company for its moving and storage needs that is unfair to workers. For argument's sake, let's say this is true. Obviously I'm not quitting my job over it. But it raises food for thought: what threshold would a company have to cross to cause you to quit? A division that produces porn? Toxic dumping? Sweat shops in Guatemala? It's not an easy decision, especially when jobs are as scarce as they are now. What do you think? Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

This is my first post from my cellphone. Hope this works! I moved to eastern Pennsylvania a few months ago and have been commuting to NY on a semi-regular basis. It's a brutal commute. If I didn't have to cross the Hudson, I could do it in half the time. But as it is, ot usually takes me at least 3 hours. It normally involves some combination of driving, NJ Transit trains, and PATH. Today, I tried something new: the Staten Island Ferry. It didn't make the commute any shorter, but it was immensly more relaxing. The open water and air was far better than a cup of coffee ever could be! I'm looking forward to the evening commute, coming up soon! I took a video from the ferry. As I said above, this is my first mobile post. Hope the video posts... This message was sent using the Picture and Video Messaging service from Verizon Wireless! To learn how you can snap pictures and capture videos with your wireless phone visit www.verizonwireless.com/picture . Note: To play

Disclaimer first: As I maintained he would in a number of posts during the campaign, I still think Obama’s turning out to be a darn good president in general. And I still think he’ll be a great friend to Israel. But as I indicated in this post , he’s not above criticism. However, the below criticism is in the same vein as those right-wingers who thought GW Bush was Israel’s best friend but criticized him during his second term for publicly supporting a two-state solution. Obama’s still my man. Now on to the criticism. Obama left today for a trip to the Middle East. He’s trying to repair ties with the Arab world, and the greater Muslim world, which Bush shredded during his two terms. He’s going to speak from Cairo, a symbolic move to indicate that the Arab & Muslim states do not need to have an antagonistic relationship with the US and the US is willing to listen to what they have to say. Fine, I support that. Even seen from a Israel-centric standpoint, Bush’s “us” and “them” c

What is morality? And what are ethics? Or values? In my discussions with Charedim, (and some Centrist Orthodox and even Modern Orthodox) both online & offline, we often come to an impasse when I realize that one of the basic assumptions they’ve made is that I, as a kipa wearing Jew, take all my cues for morality, ethics, and values from the Torah, and that there can be no other standard. Even if one accepts that premise, there are far reaching disagreements on what the Torah has to say when it comes to value judgments. But leaving that aside, in any case I reject the basic premise. I see no reason that the Torah should be the only arbiter of my moral being. I may be a Jew, but that’s not the only thing I am. I’m also a human being. When the Charedi I’m talking to realizes that I’m not on the same wavelength when it comes to this issue, he will often engage in circular arguments: “How can you not see the Torah as the final word on every issue? The Torah says you’re supposed to