Себе на заметку

On Tue, 3 May 2005 12:45:41 +0000 (UTC), Joel Shurkin <shurkin@mac.com> wrote:
: Here we sink into the morass..... No, I would violate what some think is
: halacha and I think is rabbinic mishegas. The whole Jewish Reformation--
: the formation of Reform and later Conservative Judaism, the hassidic
: rebellion==all were triggered by this very same mishegas. And yes, it is
: insulting.

This isn't true. The movements, both O and non-O were spawned by the
Enlightenment which in turn caused the collapse of the ghetto and the rise
of the haskalah. Jewish life changed drastically. While it may be true
that "without our traditions, life would be as shaky as a ... as shaky
as a ... a fiddler on the roof!" what do you do when those traditions
assume a lifestyle that no longer existed?

O responses varied from finding underlying value systems to further
motivate observance (chassidus, mussar), stress of the idea of halakhah
as a formal system (the yeshiva world, MO), or making a motto out of
"the new is prohibited by the Torah" ("heimisher" communities).

An aside:
"The new is prohibited by the Torah" was originally a quote about not
using the new year's grain before omer was offered from it. The Chasam
Sofer used the well-known idiom and made is a general motto. Ironically,
even it is an innovation -- consciously trying to live like one's
ancestors is an entirely different worldview than their cultural,
unplanned, performance of the same actions.

-mi

--
Micha Berger Today is the 9th day, which is
micha@aishdas.org 1 week and 2 days in/toward the omer.
http://www.aishdas.org Gevurah sheb'Gevurah: When is strict justice
Fax: (270) 514-1507 most appropriate?