I copied and pasted Some of the Things Every Jew Should Know below. My responses are in blue.
1 - It is kosher to disbelieve in magic
define magic
2 - It is kosher to take midrashim figurativly
some...not all
3 - It is kosher to believe in the old universe.
maybe
4 - Mixed seating at weddings is mutar.
says who?
5- It's not ok to steal from the government or from a Gentile.
define OK
6 - One realiable authority on a food product is more then enough.
define reliable
7 - Black Hats are not required, even in Brooklyn
they may be for davening. they definitely are for group identification / solidarity
8 - Reciting Parshas Hamon isn't an ATM.
it isn't even a credit line
9 - Gebruchts is not a chumrah.
so you are saying it's baseline Halakha?
10 - Living in EY is a mitzva.
B'zman hazeh??? Makhlokes
AFTER THE JUMP
define magic
2 - It is kosher to take midrashim figurativly
some...not all
3 - It is kosher to believe in the old universe.
maybe
4 - Mixed seating at weddings is mutar.
says who?
5- It's not ok to steal from the government or from a Gentile.
define OK
6 - One realiable authority on a food product is more then enough.
define reliable
7 - Black Hats are not required, even in Brooklyn
they may be for davening. they definitely are for group identification / solidarity
8 - Reciting Parshas Hamon isn't an ATM.
it isn't even a credit line
9 - Gebruchts is not a chumrah.
so you are saying it's baseline Halakha?
10 - Living in EY is a mitzva.
B'zman hazeh??? Makhlokes
AFTER THE JUMP
and depression is not an aveira... and your point is?
12 - Techiyas Hamaysim is not in the Torah
normative halakha now defines you as an Apikores
13- Judaism will not end if we give back the Old City.
true. It has ended before "we" give it back. It ended when we gave back Gush Qatif.
14 - Moshiach appears no where until Sefer Daniel.
Not in the P but definitely in the aRDe"S. i believe in an Old Moshiakh
15 - Sefer Daniel was written long after the Jews returned from Bavel.
zuhl zein. Don't knoe enough to catch the Qefira in this.
16 - Arabs are not a monolith. They are not all brothers.
But they are united in their hatred of our non-monolithic People
17 - Saving lives superceedes Yishuv Eretz Yisrael.
agreed
18 - Midrashim aren't history
some are others aren't
19 - Goyim are not a monolith. Nor are they 'background players'.
modeh to the reisha not to the seifa. They used to be stars but haven't been since Abraham
20 - The Zohar was not written by RSBY.
was too
21 - Rashi is not an anthology of Midrashim
???
22 - "JB" is a very disrespectful way to refer to a sage.
agreed
23 - Amalek is a state of mind and not a race.
it is both
24 - You don't automatically have to disagree with everything said by someone non-jewish, non-religious, left-wing, reform, secular, christian etc.
True, but it is the wise cautious approach to begin with. Extreme skepticism is called for. חשדהו if found worthy כבדהו
25 - The biggest reason non-frum people don't want to be frum is: the poor behavior of frum people.
The biggest reason non-frum people don't want to be frum is Qedusha-Havdala Obliviousness. I will concede that your reason makes the top ten, maybe even the top five.
26 - It is hypocritical to rubbish science and use the services of a physician at the same time.
Must I respect cabbies and mechanics as a class before hailing a cab?
27 - It is stealing from the poor to avail yourself of public funds when you have the means to get yourself a job.
sometimes. Other times it's shevet Levi, ancient and moderns, way of availing themselves of G-d's means of supporting them modestly.
28 - It is damn rude to live under the protection of the IDF and then heap abuse upon same institution whilst not contributing to it.
agree 100%
29 - That which is hateful to you do not do to others. That is the whole Torah.
agree 100%
All's well that ends well.
בא המבדיל והעמידן על אחת "Those who cannot tolerate Havdala cannot appreciate Qedusha"
9 comments:
Are there particular midrashim that one must take literally? Or must one take some midrashim literally, but it doesn't matter which (is there a required amount)? Or is it OK to say "there exist midrashim that are literally true, but we can't say which ones"?
1 - It is kosher to disbelieve in magic
define magic
- those actions that produce results in seeming violation of the laws of nature.
2 - It is kosher to take midrashim figurativly
some...not all
- depends who you ask. Before the Chazon Ish came along it was quite mainstream to treat midrashim as stories, not literal events.
3 - It is kosher to believe in the old universe.
maybe
- not maybe. Definitely a viable choice.
4 - Mixed seating at weddings is mutar.
says who?
- Look in Bnei Banim vol's 1 and 4.
5- It's not ok to steal from the government or from a Gentile.
define OK
- all those folks who say that since the gemara mentions that any property a goy has is stolen anyways then it's okay to steal from them.
6 - One realiable authority on a food product is more then enough.
define reliable
- he has a definite standard for ensuring the food he supervises meets the standards he claims it does.
7 - Black Hats are not required, even in Brooklyn
they may be for davening.
-nope. Not at all and to say that means you're calling most everybody who was around before black hats became de rigeur in the 1960's a sinner. Do you really want to do that?
- they definitely are for group identification / solidarity
That's totally different. They are part of a uniform voluntarily chosen by a group that then went and rewrote history to make it seem that they'd always been required.
9 - Gebruchts is not a chumrah.
so you are saying it's baseline Halakha?
No, it's a minhag.
10 - Living in EY is a mitzva.
B'zman hazeh??? Makhlokes
- yes, between a hateful man who was saved by the very people he despised and people who actually know their sources.
Warren-
Like anything else in Torah we work with our Mesorah. If khakhmei HaTorah deal with Midrashim as literal then they are . If they deal with them as metaphorical or allegorical then they are. If they were silent about them then I think it's fair and non-apikorsush to say that we can't know.
Mighty Garnel:
>1 - those actions that produce results in seeming violation of the laws of nature.
then to deny magic = denying miracles. A definite no-no. A Jew MUST believe that open miracles happened in the past and will again in the future.
>3- not maybe. Definitely a viable choice.
According to some. Which is why I wrote "maybe"
>4 - Look in Bnei Banim vol's 1 and 4. If they have it on HebrewBooks.org . Who was the author?
>5-all those folks who say that since the gemara mentions that any property a goy has is stolen anyways then it's okay to steal from them.
Have no idea what you emant here.
>6 - he has a definite standard for ensuring the food he supervises meets the standards he claims it does.
Sorry but according to this definition the Hechsher Tzedek would pass muster. It doesn't.
>7-nope. Not at all and to say that means you're calling most everybody who was around before black hats became de rigeur in the 1960's a sinner. Do you really want to do that?
Moi? How about the Mishna Berura?
>9 - No, it's a minhag. Semantics. It's a minhag rotted in a khumra . DB seeks to deligitimize the Khumra
>10- yes, between a hateful man who was saved by the very people he despised and people who actually know their sources.
A. He was not hateful.
B. He knew his sources better than either of us ever will. He was, arguably , the best and most persuasive polemicist of the 20th century. Note how many thousands of Non-Satmar Jews have been swayed to his POV via his arguments in his seforim. Every point that he argues is sourced, footnoted and backed up by precedents. You can hate him for his thoroughness and encyclopedic scholarship but you cannot deny its existence.
B. Per the sources Baalei Tosfos argue about it. No Baal Tosfos escaped the flames of the Holocaust on Kastners train.
How about an example of the chachamim dealing with a midrash as literal? And another that they deal with as metaphorical/allegorical?
> Who was the author?
Rav Yehuda Herzel Henkin. His approach is initially to insist on complete separate seating but he later revises his opinion and says that single boys and girls should sit mixed because a frum wedding, with the parents nearby and basically supervising, is a great place for boys and girls to meet and introduce themselves.
> Sorry but according to this definition the Hechsher Tzedek would pass muster. It doesn't.
No, hechsher tzedek isn't about the food. Hechsher Tzedek relies on food already being kosher.
> How about the Mishna Berura?
How about the gemara where head covering is optional in the first place?
> Have no idea what you meant here.
There are people out there who take the "thou shalt not steal" to apply only to fellow Jews and that non-Jews are fair game.
Garnel -That's not "people", that's Gedolei Haposkim in the sugyos of Gezel Akum and Tous Akum.
Anony- Not that it matters but I for one had never heard of this Rav Henkin before. Was he related to Rav Yosef Elya Henkin? Does he have any haskomos on his sefer? IOW is he a posek of rank whose opinions need to be taken seriously or was he some lonley third tier Litvak languishing away in a Hoboken New Jersey Dying synagogue in the 30-50s?
Warren- The Meforshim on Aggadeta often identify the non-Halakhic narratives of Khaza"l as symbolic or allegorical.
The ages of Yocheved when she gave birth to Moshe and Rivka when she wed Yitzchok are menat literally and hence very controversial. the Ibn Ezra basically denies what Khaza"l said about the former as he took their words at face value.
Bray, where is that Ibn Ezra? Just tell me what passuk. I'll find the midrashim from there.
5). Rav alyashiv נ.י. Says cheating on tax is גזל גמור...those that steal from the govt. will also steal from jews...
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