The Evolving Jew

This is the first era that has the luxury of atheism. Life was too short, with widespread cruelty, and early death too pervasive in earlier times. Life would have been unbearable without a belief in the divine and in some overarching purpose. (No, I'm not an atheist. But I have a secret admiration for principled [a.k.a. thinking and non contemptuous] atheists.)

I’m a huge fan of Lost. This is my reaction to the series finale, which I watched on Monday night. I couldn’t watch it on Sunday, so I maintained a news blackout on myself the whole day Monday so the ending wouldn’t be spoiled. First of all, I have to say that the ending was deeply emotionally satisfying for me. I didn’t feel disappointed or cheated out of anything. After further reflection, I wish some more things would have been answered, but I never expected all the mysteries to be explained. Here’s what I wrote to some friends right after watching the finale. Forgive the shorthand: --------------------------------- first impressions the couldn't explain everything, too many details, etc, so went for deeply emotional ending instead. It worked. Very emotionally satisfying if very poignant, miles can hear the dead's last thoughts hurley chats up the dead but it turns out that Desmond's really the one who can connect with the dead, since the whole sideways u...

In the past 2 weeks, I've encountered 2 kosher restaurants, one a sushi place, and one a pizza parlor, that closed early on Friday. In both cases, the website (and in the case of the pizza parlor, a sign on the door as well,) clearly stated that they closed on Friday 2 hours before Shabbat. So why were they already closed a good 4 or 5 hours before candelighting? Not a big deal in the scheme of things, but annoying nonetheless. How hard is it to write on the website: "please call before coming on Fridays to verify hours"?? Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

There’s a lot to celebrate since the birth of the modern environmental movement some 45 years ago. 40 years ago, raw sewage and industrial waste was being pumped directly into rivers. Acid rain was falling. Smog blanketed most big cites. Forests were being cut down at an accelerating rate. Toxins were everywhere. It was much easier for people to get involved. They saw the problems at their doorsteps. 40 years later, the rivers of the US are mostly clear, with abundant fish and wildlife in and around them. Acid rain? That’s a term many who were born past the 70’s know only from history class. Cities have much cleaner air. In LA there's still smog, but you can actually see the valley. Forests are still being cut down too fast, but at least in the US, clear cutting has slowed dramatically, and sustainable logging is growing, with new trees being planted whenever one is cut down. The most often cited environmental problem today is that of climate change. But that’s something m...

Over on DovBear, there's a discussion going on about whether having Yom HaShoah in Nissan is appropriate and possible reasons Charedim do not commemorate it. Rafi G relates the reason his Rav opposes commemorating it. According to his Rav, it's inappropriate that Yom HaShoah was established on the date of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising, because that's only remembering those who died fighting back instead of those who submitted to the will of Hashem and became Kedoshim. Here's what I wrote in response: ---------------------------------------------------- Think of the reality of when Yom HaShoah was established. Less than a decade before, over 1/3 of our people had been murdered and almost the entirety of European Jewish life had been destroyed. The fact that Jews were able to get up and stand proud, the fact that they established a Jewish state in their ancient homeland, and the fact that they didn't want to just remember their friends, relatives, and communities a...

Cross-posted on DovBear When I was younger, especially after I became a vegetarian at the age of 21, I railed against the utter nonsense of the Ashkenazi prohibition of eating kitniyot on Pesach. It seemed like unnecessary torture, especially today when the danger of grains ending up mixed if far less likely. Why couldn’t I have my tofu? Would wheat really end up in my rice, when cereals today are grown as monoculture crops (not near other grains) and sold in packages? It seemed to me to be ridiculous and a burden. The only reason I stuck with it was habit and family. Over the last decade or so, my approach to Judaism has undergone somewhat of a sea change, and that has impacted how I view the issue of kitniyot. I now view Judaism not as a fixed revelation in time that established the form of Judaism we must follow forever, but as an evolving process, where halachot changed and developed over the past three millenia. The reasons for this have to do with study of history, archae...

Cross-posted on DovBear This is a rather esoteric question that doesn’t have a “real” answer, (and the basis of the question itself is a bit unrealistic) but is still something interesting to think about. The other day, I was cleaning off my desk at home in advance of Pesach. (Yes, I’ve eaten at my desk.) While going through papers, I came across a scribbled note in my handwriting that read “Zalman ben Sara Chana” obviously written to remind myself to say tehillim for the person for a refuah shelema. I have no idea when I wrote the note, but judging by the pile of mail it was in, it was sometime in past few months. I also have no idea who the person is. Someone must have asked me to say tehillim for this Zalman, or perhaps I saw it in an email. Either way, I obviously intended to say tehillim for him. But did I ever do so? It was lost on my desk, so there’s a fair chance I never did get to daven for his recovery. For all I know, he may have passed away in the meantime, or,...