AviD

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bio	website	linkedin.com/in/avidouglen
	location	Israel
	age	38
visits	member for	2 years
	seen	May 10 at 11:32
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Security expert and experienced Windows programmer

	813 reputation	bio	website	linkedin.com/in/avidouglen	visits	member for	2 years
1513 badges		location	Israel		seen	May 10 at 11:32

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Apr 5	comment	What is the preferable form of Biur Chametz? @DoubleAA that's odd, I seem to remember learning that davka for ashkenazim burning is not the preferred way, but don't remember the source or reasoning. Though perhaps it was more of an environmental/societal issue....
Apr 5	asked	What is the preferable form of Biur Chametz?
Mar 18	comment	Why do people get Chassidishe Shchita? @IsaacMoses or even other more personal reasons, with little to do with actual kashrut... Politics, etc. "I don't want to give him my business!"
Mar 12	comment	Is modesty a positive or negative commandment? @Shalom "slippery slope" is a problem that cuts both ways - see e.g. the story of Adam and Chava, and the issue of touching the tree vs eating from the tree. I think it's a lot less of an issue, when it is clear that this is a fence, and not the mitzva itself. It seems that the lack of that distinction is what is causing a lot of problems in our society today.
Mar 11	comment	Tznius and B'not Noach Ah, but tzniut is not about what is forbidden to the Jewish man, it is about the woman herself.
Mar 10	comment	Mordechai - Religious Leader or Political figure? @yoel on the contrary, I am not rejecting traditional opinions, you are. I did not create a new theory on my own (though this too would have been legitimate), the alternate explanation goes back a long way (though I dont think all the way to Gemara times), and not "secular academia" as you say, but proper Orthodox sources. My question (I thought I managed to make this clear, but apparantly not) was of two parts: sources for this alternate opinion (which I cannot currently find), and the basis for the midrashim and Gemara. Usually these are based on something clear, and not yesh me'ayin
Mar 9	comment	Achashverosh — was he or wasn't he? As purim-ey as this is, is there any basis whatsoever for this suggestion? Any pre-existing scholarly opinion, or evidence whatsoever? Or is it just a snide attempt at belittling the valid, scholarly opinions regarding Mordechai?
Mar 9	comment	Mordechai - Religious Leader or Political figure? @msh210 I was kind of hoping for some sources and references on the alternate opinion, that Mordechai was a political / nationalistic personage, not a religious one (and, in fact, the whole Purim story is a secular, not a religious, one). This is a real, valid, rabbinical, sourced opinion - I don't know why everybody is so militantly against it - I remember most of the details from when I learned this back in yeshiva, but I do not remember any of those sources, or who agreed with these opinions. In fact, that was one of the main reasons I asked this question in the first place...
Mar 9	comment	Mordechai - Religious Leader or Political figure? In the meantime, I accepted @Alex's answer, even though I don't necessarily agree with it - it was a good, reasoned answer, and pretty much provided what I asked for (even though I was not convinced by it).
Mar 9	comment	Mordechai - Religious Leader or Political figure? @Alex I am accepting your answer, even though I don't necessarily agree with it - it is a good, reasoned answer, and pretty much provided what I asked for (even though I am not convinced by it).
Mar 9	awarded	Scholar
Mar 9	comment	Mordechai - Religious Leader or Political figure? @DoubleAA not hidden reasons, but the obvious ones, from learning omek hapshat, and referencing other backgrounds and context. Most of my reasoning has been mentioned throughout the threads, I will try to collate it all into an answer. Sorry I left this until just after its day of relevancy... I got too busy, then forgot about it - until my seuda guest mentioned this himself :).
Mar 9	accepted	Mordechai - Religious Leader or Political figure?
Mar 9	comment	Mordechai - Religious Leader or Political figure? Btw, I don't know what Hazony discusses, but there are independant sources (even non-Jewish ones) that (apparently) corroborate him being a powerful minister.
Mar 9	comment	Mordechai - Religious Leader or Political figure? Your 3rd paragraph, and @Alex's comment, I think shed some light on the adamant refusal by most of the current religious community to discuss the other existing opinions - namely, leaders who are not "from ours", i.e. not of our religious stream, should be shunned, belittled, or retconned back into our stream. This is how many historical rabbis are often depicted wearing a black coat and shtreimel, even if they lived hundreds of years before these became popular amongst the Polish nobility... ala your "Moshe in a shtreimel" comment.
Mar 9	comment	Mordechai - Religious Leader or Political figure? +1, that looks like a very interesting book, along the lines of what I was hoping to find. I will definitely look into that. I like what you wrote, about Mordechai being more of a political, or rather even a nationalistic, figure. This does not necessarily mean he was a religious one.
Mar 9	comment	Mordechai - Religious Leader or Political figure? While there are some good points here, none of this refers to him being specifically religious, or a tzaddik in any way. There is room to discuss whether he was purely a religious figure, or more likely a political / nationalistic one.
Mar 9	revised	Mordechai - Religious Leader or Political figure? deleted 38 characters in body
Feb 13	revised	Mordechai - Religious Leader or Political figure? added 284 characters in body
Feb 13	comment	Mordechai - Religious Leader or Political figure? @jake I didnt mean to be completely "independant" of midrashic statements, rather I'm interested in the basis of those statements. Very often, midrashim are based on something, and extrapolate/interpolate/etc to the midrash, rather than just basing it on itself. Especially when it stands to reason in other directions.