Wednesday, July 04, 2007

A Brilliant Commentary on Halachic Interpretation

From Michael Chabon's newest book, on the subject of eruvs:

...it's a typical Jewish ritual dodge, a scam run on God, that controlling motherfucker. It has something to do with pretending that telephone poles are doorposts, and that the wires are lintels. You can tie off an area using poles and strings and call it an eruv, then pretend on the Sabbath that this eruv you've drawn...is your house. That way you can get around the Sabbath ban on carrying in a public place, and walk to shul with a couple of Alka-Seltzers in your pocket, and it isn't a sin. Given enough string and enough poles, and with a little creative use of existing walls, fences, cliffs, and rivers, you could tie a circle around pretty much any place and call it an eruv.


Yeah, pretty much. I'm not saying I'm a Karaite or anything, but those guys kind of have a point.

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