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| bio | website | shesileizeisim.blogspot.com |
|---|---|---|
| location | Lakewood, NJ | |
| age | 43 | |
| visits | member for | 1 year, 3 months |
| seen | Apr 30 at 17:03 | |
| stats | profile views | 97 |
Jewish father and educator. I have a blog on Jewish topics called, Olive Seedlings - שתילי זיתים.
I also have two tumblr blogs, Lazer's Photographs (for my photographs, mostly nature oriented) and Lazer's Tumblr (assorted links and such, mostly Judaism or Israel related).
In addition to Jewish studies (which is my primary focus), I'm also an avid reader, especially of history (mostly ancient) and science fiction.
I am always happy to meet and correspond with new people who share common interests.
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Apr 23 |
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Why do plastic bags and not fuselages protect against impurity? Two articles that may be of use: dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1448492/735713.pdf and yated.com/… |
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Apr 17 |
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Is the observance of Jewish law/tradition “all or nothing”? @DoubleAA You are correct. |
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Apr 17 |
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Is the observance of Jewish law/tradition “all or nothing”? The obligation to attend synagogue applies every day of the week, including workdays, and the prohibition against working on Shabbos has no connection to attending synagogue. |
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Apr 17 |
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Is the observance of Jewish law/tradition “all or nothing”? Minor quibble with your sentence, "Judaism says that you should go to Synagogue on Shabbat instead of going to work." Halachically, te issue isn't Synagogue on Shabbos vs. work (which would imply that working on Shabbos is acceptable as long as it you don't miss Synagogue), but that working on Shabbos is itself a violation of the laws of Shabbos (which are far more serious than the obligation to attend synagogue). |
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Apr 17 |
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Is the observance of Jewish law/tradition “all or nothing”? One final point: According to Jewish law, one is required to sacrifice every thing (except life) for any Biblical obligation. This would certainly apply to one's employment. Thus, from the perspective of halacha, there is no real question that one is obligated to refuse to work on Shabbos even if this means you will lose your job. (And this has happened to innumerable Jews over the years.) That being said, you are certainly correct that the fact that one fails to be fully in compliance with halacha in one or more areas does not diminish the value of observance in other areas. |
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Apr 17 |
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Is the observance of Jewish law/tradition “all or nothing”? A broader point: According to Jewish law, there is an obligation to save a life. This obligation is so strong that we are required to "violate" the laws of Shabbos to save a life, and to fail to do so is itself a severe sin. (With the exception of murder, idolatry, and sexual immorality, this is true for all the laws of the Torah.) Thus, this issue is one of internal priorities in Jewish law and has no real relevance to the question of how to weigh one's obligation to obey Jewish law vs. other priorities. |
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Apr 17 |
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Is the observance of Jewish law/tradition “all or nothing”? A minor quibble: While the story about Hillel did take place on Shabbos, and they did indeed violate some of the Shabbos laws to save his life, the story seems to clearly indicate that they set him before an existing fire and did not need to build a new fire for him. (Of course, if there had been no fire, they would indeed have been obligated to make one.) |
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Apr 17 |
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Is it forbidden to wear a snap-brim Borsolino fedora on Shabbos? @DoubleAA Interesting. I don't have time at the moment to go throw the various opinions listed there, but my impression is that the issue is specifically with regard to ornamentation (which is the subject of that siman, not clothing). |
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Apr 17 |
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Is it forbidden to wear a snap-brim Borsolino fedora on Shabbos? @DoubleAA Because we are speaking of a shvus - a rabbinic restriction to avoid coming to a Biblical prohibition. The issur of carrying in an area that is not RHR d'Oraisa is also a shevus. As a general rule we don't apply a shvus to a shevus, so this issue would only be relevant in a RHR d'Oraisa. |
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Apr 17 |
answered | Is it forbidden to wear a snap-brim Borsolino fedora on Shabbos? |
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Mar 17 |
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Why is there no description of Olam Haba in the Torah? @R.Sebag Those are motivational ideas, not actual purposes. Moreover, if olam haba was supposed to be our actual goal, then it would be the highest level of motivation, and the Ramchal says it isn't. |
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Mar 14 |
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Is God active or passive? I think there are a lot of unstated assumptions in this question that need to be made clear and substantiated before it ca be effectively addressed. |
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Mar 14 |
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Can God destroy Himself? spelling correction, added tag |
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Mar 14 |
awarded | Nice Answer |
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Mar 14 |
answered | Can God destroy Himself? |
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Mar 13 |
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Why is there no description of Olam Haba in the Torah? @R.Sebag Yes, that is the first sentence of the first chapter of Mesillas Yesharim (though the translation of מגמתו as "aspiration" is misleading). However, I believe you are incorrect in understanding this sentence as referring to olam haba. As stated in this sentence, and the title of the chapter, the entire chapter is discussing the nature of man's obligation in this world. This obligation is the observation of the mitzvos and coming close to God, as he concludes later in the perek. He discusses olam haba only to explain why this is our obligation. |
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Mar 13 |
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Why is there no description of Olam Haba in the Torah? @R.Sebag I think you are confusing God's reason for our creation with our purpose of existence. The two are deeply connected, of course, but not identical. The Ramchal begins his discussion by explaining why God created us (to bestow goodness upon us in Olam Haba), and concludes that therefore we know that our purpose in this world is to obey the mitzvos and serve God, and ultimately, to achieve closeness (deveikus) with God: נמצינו למדים כי עיקר מציאות האדם בעולם הזה הוא רק לקים מצות ולעבד ולעמוד בנסיון וכו' שביאתו לעולם אינה אלא לתכלית הזה, דהינו להשיג את הקרבה הזאת וכו |
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Mar 13 |
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Origin of the term Yoshke? @CharlesKoppelman I've encountered that usage as well. |
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Mar 13 |
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Origin of the term Yoshke? @ShmuelBrin Yes, though that might actually be for Yoseph. |
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Mar 12 |
answered | Origin of the term Yoshke? |
