There was a poem someone might have meant to write that could have gone like this: “It'll be 21 years from when I wrote this song/Maybe 22 -we won't be 'round long/As time hurries on/That which was green turned to brown.” 21 is an interesting number as it is 3 times 7, both of which are very important numbers in Jewish thought. Without going into the background on the numbers now, some thoughts to ponder. You ...
You've probably seen him more often in TV, Movies and other visual media than you have on the street where he belongs. He's the guy with the sign that says: "The end is near!", "Kiss tomorrow goodbye!", "Earth is doomed!" and other optimistic cheerful things. Today, I dare to be the crazy guy. Hear me and hear me well. The end is a near. Forget what you thought you knew. Statistics regarding the ...
That's right, it'd still be bull. In an attempt to take a break from the philosophical and creative ideas that have been the basis for most of my posts to Jewneric, I will be delving into the issue of Kashrut. Between myself and the other posters on Jewneric there has been adequate discussion on issues relating to Kashrut. From Jellybeans to Postville, anyone interested in an array of Kashrut issues can browse the articles that come ...
I, once again, feel I may be going into territory not as family friendly as this site is intended. If your sensibilities are easily offended (or if you think I really have gone "too far"), feel free to express yourself in comments. Some teachers have one liners that live on outside the classroom. One of my favorites by Rabbi B. of TABC was representing the outside world's view of Jewish customs. "You tie on leather straps ...
For the past few weeks I've been reporting for the Long Island Jewish World. The big issue that I am covering is the newest eruv debate. You've heard the debates in all their various forms from other locations, and in most recent memory- the one originating from Tenafly, NJ. The new municipality to be entangled in eruv wires is the village of Westhampton Beach. The story has been picked up by the local Independent, Dan's Paper and Southampton Press and the less than local New York Times and even Haaretz. The New York Jewish papers have all had something to say about it as well. If you want to learn about the debate and the who said who to what, your computer will help you. If anyone wants to read my reporting on it and that someone has never heard of the Long Island Jewish World or its sister papers the Manhattan Jewish Sentinel and the Westchester Jewish Tribune, let me know by way of email to djtalkline@gmail.com and I'll email it to you. (This Jewish trinity of papers has yet to learn of the inter-web.) What I'm going to try in the next hundreds of words is pre-create the head smashing into walls that will result when the Jews of Westhampton Beach try to explain why an eruv is not a beast to be feared. ...
We are on the approach to the Pentecost, also known as Shavuot. On the holiday of Shavuot there is a well known custom not to eat any meat. There is a lesser known custom of the day prior to Shavuot not to eat any meat or any milk. Both customs are of the same origin: we personally go through the process of receiving the Torah, first we are made aware that there are restrictions on what we can eat and thus we become vegans until we are told what is permissible. Next we are told which animals are Kosher (allowing milk) and only lastly we are told how to properly slaughter them. It seems rather presumptuous to believe that we only need permission to eat mammals, fowl, fish and insects. Aren't all God's creatures precious? What gives us the right to kill any living thing for any purpose, including vegetation? Deuteronomy 20:19 declares a similitude between man and tree.1 Certainly, the Torah had no confusion about plants being alive. This is clear based on the simple words used for reproduction such as "seed" and "fruit." It is worth the moment to point out that the fruit that one eats, the apple, the orange, the watermelon is the embryo of the plant; you are eating the impregnated womb: the fruit is the embryonic fluid and the seed is the zygote. ...
When tackling this issue, all sorts of fun puns come to mind. One needs to be cautious in approach, steady on arrival and only once a comfortable calm has been established can one thrust forward with the heat of the issue. Even then it is not a simple task to ensure everyone's happiness with the outcome. When I was 19 I had a conversation with a female (who was then my age now) that ...
In the past few articles, I've postulated that people who follow pro-sports do so to try to be part of a team. I've also postulated that people holding on to old Jewish culture (such as Yiddish, the Catskills or gefilte fish) as an essence of Judaism are living in the past. If anything I said in those two article offended your sensitivities, I suggest you rethink your priorities. If what ...
The Catskill Mountains and Other Jewish Past-Perfect Had-Beens Some of the reasons that the average person follows pro-sports (according to what we discussed) included an internal need to be part of a club and societal pressures. This week we will get a little closer and offend people more fiercely by reminding people that in the good old days racism was accepted, smoking was encouraged and the word "depression" was still politically correct. Not everything in our past is good. Even if something was good that doesn't mean it should be kept part of the present. The Model-T Ford was a breakthrough in automotive technology, but it belongs in a museum, not on the highway. Similarly there are nostalgic aspects of Jewish culture which should be put in a museum. ...
Ask any Jewish Chicago Cubs fan if he finds a connection between his faithfulness to the Cubs and his Judaism. If the answer is not "yes," then you've asked someone deficient in caring about the Cubs or his religion. The Cubs are celebrating 100 years since their last World Championship. This makes them the most ridiculed franchise in baseball. ...
