I'm Finding New Perspectives

Reading the skeptic blogs I've seen some approaches to Judaism I hadn't been exposed to before. Growing up in Lubavitch the Torah was presented to me in black and white. I was taught the Torah and everything in it is absolutely true. I was told everything the Sages tell us is absolutely true. My Rebbeim said Rambam understood science and didn't make any mistakes, etc. etc. etc. On the blogs I don't find too many Orthodox people arguing for these truths. (Though there are notable exceptions). Actually, I'm happy to see that there are many MOs arguing that there are flaws in the Torah/mesorah/the Rabbis but that despite knowing this they still believe the Torah/mesorah retains a fundamental truth. It's a nice change of pace.

Unfortunately, they haven't changed my mind. I have been searching for answers for quite some time. I am always open to hearing arguments. Perhaps if I had heard some of these points of view a couple of years back I may have been satisfied enough and would not believe what I believe today. On the other hand I think it is more likely it just would have pushed off my inevitable atheism. I appreciate the people who argue that actual halacha is reasonable and that many of the practices and minhagim presented as halacha are not required. But even if they are right in theory Orthodox society seems to have a different take. But this isn't where my issues with religion lie.

I believe that if there was an omnipotent supernatural being (God), who also gave us commandments to follow, and those commandments were faithfully preserved then I damn well better follow His laws! On the other hand, if god doesn't exist, or he didn't give us commandments, or the commandments he gave were not faithfully preserved then I can't justify following them to myself. This is where I'm at. First, I don't see any proof to the existence of god. Second, the Torah was clearly written by man so it seems unlikely that it is the dictated orders of a god. Finally, if god existed, and he gave us the Torah, it and the rest of "Torah from Moshe at Sinai" has clearly been distorted. If the commandments and rules we have today are not the orders of a god then I have an issue with following them. If you tell me interpretations of the mesorah are governed by rules and that if the interpreters follow this system then their interpretations carry the weight of god's laws (Torah lo b'shamim he) then I will respond that I believe that Rabbis are capable of making mistakes and that mistakes have been made.

I believe that if the Torah came from god it would, by definition, be absolutely true. Unfortunately, it appears to be a flawed, human, document. I'm pretty sure my desire for a perfect Torah originates in my black and white upbringing. I suppose my view of religion is somewhat fundamentalist. But even so, it may be that fundamentalism is the logical conclusion for a true believer. Charedi don't spend all day jumping through intellectual proofs to believe in god. They simply believe. Contrast this with a noble guy like Rabbi Slifkin who's brilliant efforts to reconcile Torah and science require accepting a certain amount of fallibility of our Sages in some areas but asserting infallibility in others. Absolute truth isn't so complicated. Real life and humanity is.

Ahmadinejad: Iran is Gay Free

This is a clip of Iranian President/religious fundamentalist/holocaust denier Mahmoud Ahmadinejad speaking at Columbia University yesterday. He got a big, unintentional, laugh with his line "In Iran, we don't have homosexuals like in your country."

Do all fundamentalist ignore/deny the existence of the members of their society that they don't want to exist?

Yom Kippur 2007: Part II

(Read Part I here.)

Yom Kippur day I went to shul late. I found my same seat from the night before and continued reading The Making of the Fittest. I didn't do any praying. I also didn't bow. In Hitchens' book god is not Great he tell the story of being forced to go to church as a student in school. At prayers his fellow non-believing friend points out to him that they can be forced to attend but they can't be forced to pray. Hitchens and his friend sit in their places but they also refuse to bow to a god they don't believe in. The story resonated with me and I have taken on the practice, or lack thereof. I'm finished groveling before a make-believe deity.

We finished musaf fairly late. I wasn't planning to go back on time but around 6:00 I started getting ready to go back to shul. The baby was crying and my wife asked me to "Please don't go." Her request was half joking/half serious. The little babe is a bit fussy. I told her I don't mind staying. "You really don't mind?" she asked. "I don't have a problem staying at home" I said.

The irony is that because I stayed home I actually had to pick up a machzor to keep her from getting too suspicious. For mincha I read the mincha Torah reading and then Yonah.

The Torah portion didn't resonate at all. More than half of the posukim are either telling me not to have incestuous sex (thanks for the tip) or only apply to polygamists. Included in this reading is the "classic" don't lie with another man line. I feel like that line is just one more proof that the Torah didn't come from god. The line shows clear ignorance of what it means to be gay. The implication of the passage is that homosexuality is a choice, which it isn't. (Just ask any of your gay friends, or relatives). Amid all this sex talk the portion also brings up giving your kid to pass through for Molech (some form of idol worship). Commentaries explain that this is some kind of passing-through-fire-test but the fact that it is mentioned amid all these examples of "immoral" sex makes me wonder if it was really some sort of child molestation. [shivers]

Yonah is a strange story. Forget about the fish. Here you have this guy who has every reason to believe in and fear god but he spends so much of his time trying to run away from him. Clearly, Yonah's concept of god was different from the omnipotent god Jews pray to today. That, or he was crazy. After Yonah skips town and spends a few nights in a fish Yonah and god start talking again but god gets all touchy every time Yonah speaks. Nice of god to take such an interest but why would god care to nit pick this guy every time he opens his whinny little mouth? Then there is the idea that all of wicked Nineveh repented because some guy showed up and said god would punish them all if they didn't. Now it seems plausible to me that Yonah convinced the king of his story and then the king ordered the people to do all of the repentive actions described. However, I find it impossible that this chain of events would result in the actually repentance (something god would know) by these wicked people. People just don't work that way.
Eh, what can you do, it's a kashah oyf a masseh (a question on a story).

"I am dust in my life and will surely be so in my death"

or Yom Kippur 2007: Part I

Of all the self-deprecating lines I read this Yom Kippur the one that had the most resonance with me was "I am dust in my life and will surely be so in my death". I like the line. As I understand it it is supposed to make you humble before god. I do find it humbling. Not because I fear god, but because its simple truth. We all start life as a pair of cells with a couple of really long chains of amino acids (DNA, or essentially dust) and we all return to dust after we die. Gives one pause.

Genetics and survival of the fittest has been on my mind for a while. (Maybe brought on by the baby?) As a result I was recently talking with my friend O about evolution. (O is on his way to becoming a world-famous biologist). He recommended reading the book The Making of the Fittest by Sean Carroll . I picked it up from the library before Yom Kippur.

Carrol is a biologist, and a geneticist. In his book he makes the case for evolution based on DNA evidence. The book breaks down the literal nuts and bolts (DNA) of evolution. In straight forward language Carroll explains the math behind genetic mutation, how natural selection works at the molecular level and other ideas. He shows how concepts like "fossil" DNA, genes we no longer use but remain in our genetic code, can be used to prove our relation to other simians. The evidence is fascinating and irrefutable. It's like "A Brief History of Time" but for genetics.

At shul Friday night I scanned the seating chart for empty seats and found a couple in a back row. I just sat back there and read Carroll the whole time. It was one of the best Yom Kippurs I can remember.

More on YK tomorrow.

Do all Lubavitch sheluchim stay frum?

If you haven't taken the "Religious Background Poll for Skeptics" please do so now!

A couple days ago Chasid Kofer sent me an email in which he asked: Do Lubavitch sheluchim (missionaries) and their families always maintain their yidishkeit?

I thought it was an interesting question. I had not previously thought about the fact that a shaliach, or any other kiruv worker, might lose faith.
Here is the response I sent him:

I can say for certain that the families of Lubavitch sheluchim do not always maintain yidishkeit. I speak from personal experience. At the moment I can think of at least one friend who left the derech and who's parents run a Chabad House. As far as the shcluchim themselves I do not know. I have never heard of such a case but I would find it hard to believe that it has never happened. More likely would be a situation where the Chabad House couldn't get anyone involved/couldn't pay the bills (this happens from time to time) and it shut down, and the reality behind this situation was that the sheluchim themselves lost faith.

Does anyone know of a story where a shaliach, or other kiruv worker, went off the derech?

Have an easy fast.

Religious Background Poll for Skeptics

Last Tuesday GoingGoingGone wrote a post titled "Who is More Likely to Go Off?" in which she asked:

I'm curious about whether it's more likely for Modern Orthodox, Charedi, of Chassidish individuals to go off the derech (or become orthoprax), particularly for intellectual reasons[?]

A great question.

Orthoprax suggested we take a poll. I think that's a great idea and I have included one here. The poll closes at midnight this Saturday. Tell all your skeptic friends!

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UPDATE: Results posted HERE!

Ahoy! A Jolly ITLAP Day to You All!

Avast! International Talk Like A Pirate Day is already upon us! Ayyyy, it warms m'heart every year. For us Pastafarians 'tis a doubly special day. The one day a year the "absolute divine beings" known as pirates are given their due. Arrrr, a special day indeed.

May you be touched by His Noodly Appendage.

End of (Judgement) Days

Or, How I Spent My Judgement Days: Part IV
(See I, II and III)

On the first night of Rosh HaShanah I was mechalel Yom Tov.

When I think back to my practices over the years I can see that my practices have followed a fairly straight line from charedi to kofer. I've long stopped worrying about what order I put on my shoes or the order I cut my finger nails. Cholov Yisroel had come and gone over the years. It's specifically been gone since I left Lubavitch about a decade ago. Wearing Rabbeinu Tam tefillin dropped off some time after that. I started trimming the beard, then finally I shaved it off. Once I married I was exposed to whole new set of laws that I've proceeded to bend. I (actually, we) came to find most of the gedarim* surrounding niddah presented more shalom bais (marital happiness) problems then it was supposed to solve. So instead, we pass the salt and sit on the same couch. Most or all of these things are not obligations (according to most reasonable points of view) which is why they never were a major issue for me. But, my recent recognition that there is no god has made keeping any of the actual obligations significantly harder.

We spent Rosh HaShanah away from home. In the middle of the first night I noticed the alarm clock left for us next to our bed had been set to go off. We hadn't set it. I made the decision that to leave it on would make the morning miserable, if it was even set to go off in the morning. I turned it off. I was never told cholov akum is treif. But electric switches on Shabbos and Yom Tov has always been a definite no-no.

While flicking an electronic switch is not a melachah (electricity shouldn't even be muktza but that's another story) it was a significant deviation in my behavior.

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* gedarim
Jewish Law is full of gedarim, fences for the Torah. The idea is simple; 'fence off 'the commandments with boundaries. For example, on Shabbat, traditional Jews won't use electricity. The Rabbis introcduced a fence, called Muktzah, essentially banning even touching electrical objects on Shabbat, just in case. A large part of Halacha is fences around the Torah. These serve to prevent a person doing something they shouldn't (like actual fences).
source http://everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=1481841

How I Spent My Judgement Days: Part III

After all the drama of attempting to go to Reconstructionist services the first night of Rosh HaShanah I decided the best way to actually get in for morning prayers was to simply show up on time. I was there at 9:15 for a 9:30 service. (Earliest I've been to prayers in years!) I figured, correctly, that I could show up late for davening at the shul where I had seats and no one would even notice. At the Reconstructionist service no one asked me for my ticket (though later I saw on the website that tickets were required).

On my way into the sanctuary I grabbed a prayer book. Partly, so I could follow along but mostly out of curiosity to see what's in the prayers of a sect that doesn't believe in a traditional god. I found a seat in the back and took the place in. The cathedral was huge on the inside. Maybe I've just been to one too many storefront shuls but I was simply not used to this much space in a place of worship. It has a high steeple ceiling and stained glass windows. The curtains were drawn on the wall behind the dais covering a religious (Jesus?) painting. (See a picture of the cathedral to the right.) At the foot of the stairs they had set up a stage complete with a bemiah and a Torah ark.

By the time 9:30 rolled around there were 50 people there. The place was set up to hold 500 to 750 people. I found myself wondering why they didn't move Rosh HaShanah to Shabbos. Prayers started off very lively. The Rabbi sang some duets with the chazzan. Sometimes the Rabbi would lead the singing, sometimes she would let the chazzan run with it. Good voices on both of them. The crowd wasn't participating very much however. I tried to get people clapping at one point but there weren't enough people interested. The davening seemed pretty standard. Ma Tovu and other familiar morning prayers. I flipped through the prayer book and was surprised to see god's name all over the place. There were a few changes that de-emphasized god but he was still there. Truth be told, the whole affair seemed almost traditional. Sure, there was a woman Rabbi (gasp!) and we were in a cathedral (non-ironic gasp) but the content wasn't anything new. In fact the whole thing seemed a little too religious for my taste. At 9:45 I stepped out and went to my shul.

I really wanted to hear a sermon from the Reconstructionist Rabbi and see what she would preach. At the start of Musaf I snuck out of my shul and went back to the Reconstructionist davening. I was pretty shocked when I got there. The place was packed. I had to stand in the back. After the slow start I was not expecting the place to be so full. I was unpleasantly surprised when I realized they were behind us and still working on the Torah reading.

After hagbah an older woman read the haftorah. Acknowledging that the haftorah was about Channa and her infertility she dedicated it to her sister who had recently died and had struggled with infertility during her life. It was very touching. Following the haftorah was the shofar blowing. Interestingly, they had a kid blow shofar. He was better than the guy at my shul. He even pushed out 14 seconds on tekiah gedolah. (Oh, like you don't time it?)

All in all the whole experience was disappointing. I didn't find the service religiously inspiring and was surprised at how much it resembled the prayers I was ditching.

Oh well.

How I Spent My Judgement Days: Part II

For part I of How I Spent My Judgment Days see my previous post.

For a three day Yom Tov Rosh Hashanah was alright. It helped that I had so much reading material. I started reading Dawkins but I got bored pretty quick. His book is a lot like Hitchens in that they both break down the argument for why religion is eeeeeevil. I will get back to it but I wanted to try something new.

I stuck Thus Spoke Zarathustra in my tallis bag and read it in the back row of shul during davening. It was a nice change of pace. The book is interesting. I got the impression that Nietzsche was trying to write a bible of sorts for the non-believer. His language is over the top, almost every chapter is a kind of life-lesson, and he ends each chapter with the refrain "Thus Spoke Zarathustra". Maybe it loses something in the translation but he seems to go out of his way to give it the feel of a religious text. I read a lot of it. I didn't really buy into his idea that our role in life is to make way for the Superman. I like his call to be a proactive participant in life and to have an impact on the world. But, if I understand him, he wants us to do so for the next step in human evolution (the Superman) which sounds a lot like serving god to me. Not my idea of a fulfilling life. He had some interesting ideas. If you pick this up be warned, it is no easy read.

I am so glad I picked up A Brief History of Time. Hawking is fantastic. I was not able to put this book down! The concepts are just fascinating. I find that I have to read some sentences (or paragraphs) a couple dozen times to understand them but it is worth the payoff. Thankfully I have been exposed to many of the ideas before so it's not totally unfamiliar. However, I have been having a little trouble wrapping my brain around the idea of a quanta. (I keep thinking I've got it but then I'll read something that makes me feel I don't fully grasp the concept.) If anyone has a good site that explains it please forward the link to me. LubabNoMore@gmail.com

On the first day of Rosh Hashanah I did finally get to the Reconstructionist services. I will post on that tomorrow.

Judgement Day: Late Night edition

Wednesday, September 12^th, 2007

I spent Rosh Hashanah with family in Manhattan. We were staying and praying in that great mecca of modern orthodoxy, the Upper West Side. As I drove up Amsterdam to our high holiday accommodations I notice for the first time the Reconstructionist West End Synagogue. I can’t count the number of times I’ve been up Amsterdam Avenue and didn’t pay attention to the little synagogue in the converted New York Public Library building. I figure that in my current heretical state, my awareness for alternate forms of Judaism must be heightened. I make a mental note to maybe check it out over Yom Tov.

As sundown looms I keep thinking about the Reconstructionist synagogue. I figure it is close to shul, and I could probably sneak out of davening at some point and see what the Reconstructionists are like. Within minutes of candle lighting I check the West End Synagogue’s website. I find their services schedule and commit it to memory. I decide I’m going to check it out.

Due to the combination of the baby and my usual disinterest in davening I’m running late for shul. As I walk the streets of Manhattan I decide that I might as well go straight to the Reconstructionist synagogue. “Why not?” I reason. “No one is really going to miss me at Mincha and Ma’ariv.” I briskly walk over to West End Synagogue. As I approach the building I notice three police officers guarding the door. Just a fact-of-Jewish-life in the post-9/11 world. One of the officers pops his bubble gum.

With an air of knowing where I am going, and what I am doing I walk to the front door. The two officers leaning against the door frame move out of my way. I pull the handle. The door doesn’t budge. I try again. One of the policemen says “There’s no one here.” “Oh. Have services ended?” I ask. “No one’s been here all night.” He replies. Then he points to a sign taped to the inside of the door.

Rosh Hashanah services will be held at the Fourth Universalist Society; 160 Central Park West, at 76th Street

“Thanks.” I say. “Doh.” I think. I’m stubborn and don’t give up easily. I start walking to Central Park West and 76^th. As I make my way through the early autumn chill I think to myself “If god does exist, this would be a pretty good sign. Not only is the Reconstructionist synagogue closed, but it’s being guarded as well!” I quicken my pace.

I finally get to 76^th and then walk down to Central Park West. At the corner is the huge church of the Fourth Universalist Society. This thing is a classic. It has a huge tower, stained glass, the works! In the past, I would never have even considered thinking about what goes on inside this cathedral, let alone try to get inside myself. I turn the corner and walk right up the steps to the door. This time I am stopped before I even reach the handle.

“If you’re looking for the Rosh Hashanah dinner, they’re around the side.” I turn around to face a 50-something year old man wearing a blazer with an American flag pin in the lapel. “Security” I think to myself. “Hi” I say aloud, suddenly conscious that I must look pretty Orthodox in my black-suit/white-shirt/tie get up “I was looking for services?” “Oh, they’ve finished services a while ago” says the door security man. “Thanks.” I mutter. Strike two.

Dejected, I walk down Central Park West. “There is no way this is a coincidence” I think to myself. “Not only is the main synagogue closed (and guarded no less!), but the church is also locked before I can get there? This can’t be random chance. If there is a god this would be just too perfect. It’s like I'm in one of those chasidishe stories.” I pass a horse-drawn carriage bringing tourists to Central Park.

I cross 72^nd heading South. “If god wanted to stop me from going to Reconstructionist services on Rosh Hashanah this would be how he would do it. Ach! It’s so flawless. But he doesn’t exist… right? He can't exist!”

As I am doubting my doubts I notice a man walking toward me. He is freakishly tall. He is wearing an expensive gray suit with an equally classy purple shirt and no tie. Slung over his shoulder is a backpack. Then, I notice his hair. In one crystallizing moment the purpose of my journey is clear. Every twist and turn my little quest took enabled me to be at this exact location at this exact moment in time. The events of this night were no accident. The man before me is Conan O’Brien.

The talk show host is slouching a little, as if to avoid making any unnecessary eye contact. I don’t want to bother him, but at the same time, he’s Conan-fucking-O’Brien. As we come within about 10 feet of each other he briefly looks up at me, then looks back down at the sidewalk. I must not look like an ax murderer. Just before I pass this living legend I simultaneously raise my hand in a half wave and say “Love the show.” I don’t break stride. Behind me I hear the surprised reply in the all-too-familiar nasal voice. “Oh, hey, thanks!” I can’t help but get the chills. The universe does indeed have a plan…

True Story.

"We shall now speak of the power of this day's holiness"

I hit the library again (I'm addicted). I had to return Hitchens. I wasn't able to finish it in the one measly week they lend it out for. :( There are just not enough hours in the day. I'll have to go back and take it out again. On the plus side I picked up some more heresy. (Woot!) Here is my latest haul:

The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins (I figure I should see what all the fuss is about.)
and,
A Brief History of Time by Professor Stephen Hawking (I've been reading the complete works of Baal Habos and it keeps popping up. Plus, Hawking was on ST:TNG.)

Add these two to my earlier catch of Thus Spoke Zarathustra, by Friedrich Nietzsche, and I have more to read than I can possible finish over a three. day. yom. tov. Speaking of which, Shoot Me Now.

Shalom Auslander, my favorite ex-frummie (whom I will blog about in the future), has a promotional video on his website for his new book Foreskin's Lament: A Memoir. This short video (about 4:00) sums up my feelings on Rosh HaShanah.
Watch it!

Pray I don't die by beast. Happy New Year everyone!

I'm Mad as Hell about Kiryas Joel

As you may have already read, Toby Greenberg of Kiryas Joel had her cars vandalized and was ordered to leave her home town because members of the Satmar community do not like the way she dresses.

I'm not surprised to find pro-religious-right-wing-nut-job responses in comment sections on the j-blogs. Further, most of the skeptic blogs seem to have backed her up even if their response to these crimes has been fairly tame. However, after reading XGH's post Hot Channie in Kiryas Joel I need to weigh in on this one.

As a daily reader of XGH's blog I usually enjoy what he has to say. As I understand it, the point of XGH's post was to draw a parallel between Mrs. Greenberg's experience and "pseudo-kofrim living in Left Wing Modern Orthodox communities." An interesting question, but I take issue with XGH's following paragraph:

"Sure, she has a right to dress how she wants and live where she wants, but I’m not going to waste an iota of mental or emotional power defending a Satmar wife’s right to dress like a hot channie in KJ. Some rights are just not worth defending." [emphasis added]

I couldn't disagree more.

This is exactly the kind of right worth defending. Toby Greenberg's choice of dress is a form of self expression, expression protected by the first amendment.

Toby Greenberg's civil rights are under attack in Kiryas Joel. Her case is an example of the founding fathers concern of "tyranny of the minority by the majority." Her right to dress the way she wants is exactly the kind of individual liberty this nation is famous for protecting.

There is no basis for the argument that her clothing incites violence. Her case is similar to the Muhammad cartoons printed in Denmark nearly two years ago. Muslims used the so-called affront to their religion as an excuse to riot. These fundamentalists (Muslim and Satmar) are suggesting that the cartoons, or in Toby's case her outfit, are so offensive that the only possible response is violence. Bullshit. Both Satmar and Muslim may be offended, but you don't have the right to not be offended! Civil society must prevent these people from acting violently against their perceived offenses.

Expression is not protected when the act of speaking directly creates a danger or incites violence. If the Grand Wizard of the KKK calls on his fellow townsfolk to "Kill the Jews" his actual words incite violence. Putting on a denim skirt does not count as incitement.

Whether, the fundies in Kiryas Joel like it or not, they live in the United States of America. Toby is a citizen of our nation and regardless of how much the Satmar want to run their part of town like their own little theocracy, they don't have that right.

Toby's desire to pick out her own clothes without getting approval from the religious authorities, or the community at large, is not a matter of life and death, but it is important. The intimidation she and her family are experiencing over her desire for free expression is nothing short of a suppression of her civil rights by a society that disagrees with her. Giving Kiryas Joel a pass is a slippery slope. To the right I've included a picture of a person who was standing up for his civil rights despite what his local community wanted.

As blogger who writes about rejecting the religious establishment everyday I often take for granted the freedoms that I enjoy. We need to get pissed off at this kind of oppression. If Toby has a legal fund I'll write the first check.

If Kiryas Joel had its way our whole Jewish-internet-skeptic-community would be banned.

Why I'm Orthoprax

I will stop keeping halacha at some point in the future. That idea still seems unusual to me. Even though I know that statement is true I can't imagine what life will be like. At this point the question is not "if" but "when". There is no way I can put this genie back in the bottle. That said, there are a few related reasons as to why I stay "Orthoprax" for the moment.

Mainly, I want to control when, and how I step out of this closet. I will talk to my wife about my kafira as soon as appropriate. But, I don't want the conversation to begin when she catches me watching the game during her Shabbos nap. Once I turn on a bathroom light, mistakenly left off before Shabbos, it will only be a matter of time until I'm busted breaking Shabbos. So for now, I crap in the dark. I know once I cross the line there is no going back. Once I eat non-kosher out of the house (or in it) keeping kosher will become increasingly difficult. If I don't keep halacha eventually I will have to lie about it. I don't like to lie. Especially to people I care about. If you say being Orthoprax is a lie then I would mostly agree with you. Hence, the reason I enjoy blogging. It helps me be honest about who I am, at least anonymously, to you people out there. (You crazy skeptics you!)

Despite its immediate convenience, Orthopraxy is not a lifestyle I can keep up forever.

Another frustrating Shabbos

Shabbos was bothersome again. It seems to be worse every week. I spent a lot of it reading Hitchens. Very interesting book. It breaks down the absurdity of religion from a number of different angles. It's a pretty easy read. I've been noticing more and more how keeping Shabbos is making my life increasingly difficult. For example, when trying to calm the baby down on Shabbos. He was crying so I put him in his bouncy chair. He loves it but he needed me to keep bouncing it. It has a vibrate option and if I just turned it on I could have caught a nap on the couch with his chair next to me. Instead I spent an hour on the floor rocking his chair. Not the biggest deal in the world but it was annoying considering I was doing it to satisfy a set of rules I philosophically don't think have any Divine basis.

Davening was a chore as usual. Just to keep things interesting, and see what I've been saying, I've gone back to my Yeshiva past time of reading the translation. I came across the following line in Shema "do not follow after your heart and after your eyes which will lead you astray." I was wondering if this line is specifically talking about "immoral relations", as ArtScroll implies, or does it also refer to faith?

I'm dreading Rosh HaShana. I'm going to be spending it with family which means missing too much of shul will result in being asked a bunch of annoying questions. On the other hand sitting in shul will mean pretending to care about Judgement Day.

Reform Co-Worker

I was talking with my good friend and co-worker YR today about religion. He was brought up Reform and we've been having an ongoing discussion about religion for over a year now. The topic of another co-worker who identifies as Orthodox but "eats out" non-meat came up. This bothers YR to no end. YR feels if he is going to call himself Orthodox the guy should be Orthodox with everything and he shouldn't pick and choose. I always argue there are different opinions and the OJ may feel he is within the bounds of halacha and that YR should stop letting the Orthodox let him feel inferior about his practices.

Today the issue was that our OJ friend doesn't appear to wear titzit as often as he used to. Somehow this turned into us drawing a crude diagram of the spectrum of Judaism Left-to-Right and marking ourselves on it. It was an interesting exercise. (Click the image to see a larger version of my rough reproduction).

When I put myself in the non-believers box YR got a little spooked. He challenged my statement that I "don't believe" and suggested that I should talk to his normal Reform Rabbi (normal meaning, not full of himself). He seemed to have a real issue with the idea of non-believing, which was interesting. So, I turned the tables on him and asked his stance on what I see as the two most important questions about being Jewish: 1) Do you believe in god? and 2) Do you believe that the Torah was given to Moshe at Sinai? He said yes to belief in god but said he doesn't know what the whole Torah at Sinai thing was all about. He was kind of taking a stance of I don't know/don't care about that. So I pressed a little. "Then why be Jewish?" He said that to him Reform is about family, community and culture and coming together on a regular basis. Which was a new point of view for me. I hadn't heard that take on Reform before. But, it seems to me that there is more going on. I think I'll give his Rabbi call and see what his take is.

CT User: Frumkite

Reb yid, if you have any questions feel free to email me at: LubabNoMore-at-gmail-dot-com

TB: True Believerism

One of the ideas ingrained in me by "the Rabbis" as a kid was the theory that if you followed all the mitzvos and mussar you were told you would automatically become a good person. Torah is a perfect system! What I came to find as I got older was that this was not only untrue but it was also impossible. To actually follow all the mitzvos and live the way they suggested was just not possible in the real world. Maybe it was just childish naivety but at the time I believed this was yet another proof that Judaism was the One True Religion.

This idea that Judaism has the magic formula plays into the concept that Jews are somehow different (READ: better) than the goys. I think this may be one of the reasons why it is often hard for Jewish communities to acknowledge a problem when it presents itself. Take for example a Jewish community that ignores a child molester. To acknowledge the monster is to somehow recognize that the system is flawed. As if by virtue of their (antiquated) religious system they are able to prevent the unpredictable. The result is that people get hurt because of 1) an unwillingness to admit any level of failure or 2) adherence to a system that is inherently flawed (i.e. unwilling to go to the cops who can actually remove the predator from society).

On the flip side I think the opposite is one of the reasons why skeptics are willing to highlight these issues. Obviously, skeptics shine light on these issues in the desire to protect kids. But they can be honest about the situation when others can't because they don't have the baggage of a true believer.

LNM

So easy a caveman can do it.

A recurring theme in the skeptic J-blogs is academic arguments for, or against god. Bloggers debate the merits of Nietzsche and Slifkin and raise topics like Gödel's theorem. But you don't need a PhD to discuss the question of god's existence.

There is no entry fee for believing in god. Early man and native peoples have believed in god for thousands of years without any understanding of the complexity of DNA. According to the Jewish tradition Abram applied logic to understand there must be only one god. He didn't go to college. Today, thousands of haredi believe in god and shun higher learning. I don't hear anyone suggesting they can't truly have faith without understanding the esoteric debates taking place here.

Why should belief in god be any different than belief in electricity? You can believe in electricity without understanding electromagnetic physics. A five year old doesn't have to understand the properties of an electron to know he shouldn't stick his finger in an electrical socket. You don't need to be Nikola Tesla to recharge your cell phone. The study of electricity is a deep and complex discipline but its application is easy for the layman to understand and apply. The same is true for the debate about god. There may be fascinating questions raised by the complexity of the genome, and intellectually challenging debate about whether one can know anything, but you don't need a background in applied physics to have or lose faith.

You don't have to be Hawking to accept god, or Dawkins to reject him.

LNM

Three thousand years of beautiful tradition, from Moses to Sandy Koufax...

One of my issues with Judaism is the concept of mesora. Each segment of yiddishkite has its own tradition that allegedly is the end of an unbroken chain of knowledge that began at Sinai. As anyone who has ever played a game of "broken telephone" can tell you, this concept is ridiculous. The very fact that we have so many traditions today (or even at the time of the gemara) is a testament to the fact that some, or all, of the tradition had been mixed up or made up entirely. When I posed this question to people the answer I usually get is "god makes sure the mesora isn't broken". Again, the multitude of traditions would indicate that this belief is clearly incorrect. The more logical explanation is that the many varying, and sometimes contradictory, mesoras are the result of human influence over the past 3,000 plus years. If that is the case: Why follow religious law of a non-divine source?