tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23499413.post4562131590507357687..comments2023-10-24T00:40:27.831-07:00Comments on Friar Yid: Who needs a point? I'm mad!Friar Yid (not Shlita)http://www.blogger.com/profile/10311439778319103094noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23499413.post-90764318481725784382012-11-05T12:57:59.537-08:002012-11-05T12:57:59.537-08:00Looks like the editors at the Crimson were falling...Looks like the editors at the Crimson were falling down on the job. Makes me think that Harvard is overrated.<br /><br />"Our faith is about the only thing Reform and Conservative Jews share with the Orthodox, and what the Orthodox stand for is anathema to us. "<br /><br />He "shares a faith" with the Orthodox, but what the Orthodox stand for is anathema to him? He doesn't need an editor, he needs a shrink.<br /><br />"For secular Jews, Jewishness has long been centered on culture, bagels, Yiddishisms, loud arguments, and impassioned liberalism taking precedence over the synagogue."<br /><br />Hey, you forgot about the universal mitzvah to go out for a movie and Chinese food on December 25. Also, religious Jews of all stripes like bagels, yiddishims, and loud arguments, and outside of Orthodoxy, most are liberals (and there are plenty of Orthodox liberals, too.)<br /><br />"The Orthodox are obviously more devout."<br /><br />Says who? They just follow more ritual miztvot.<br /><br />"However, the most crucial difference between the three streams of Judaism is that the Orthodox, particularly the ultra-Orthodox, tend to see themselves as American Jews while their Reform and Conservative counterparts view themselves as Jewish Americans."<br /><br />What, does he have survey data that indicate this? I have serious fears for the future of journalism if this guy is a representative example of the rising crop of media folk.<br /><br />"Consequently, the Orthodox busy themselves more with medieval concepts like mesirah—a prohibition on ratting out Jews to secular authorities—than with tikkun olam—the Jewish idea of social justice."<br /><br />While he might have a point here, tikkun olam is also a medieval (OK, from the 1500s or so) concept from Lurianic Kabbalah, and it is not primarily about social justice, at least not to the folks who dreamed it up.<br /><br />"There’s nothing modern about having an all-Hebrew prayer book; the Vatican, one of progress’ most prominent bogeymen, long ago abandoned the Tridentine Mass."<br /><br />Reform Jews in Israel have an all Hebrew siddur, and they're as modern as you can get. And, by the way, the Catholic Church might not recommend the Triedtine Mass, but they have a substitute Latin text. Some people just like praying in the sounds of a foreign language. Does that make the medieval? (By the way, it's even money that this Harvard student is monolingual. Maybe it's time to reinstate the foreign language requirements at American colleges.)<br /><br />At the risk of doing remote shrink work for which I'm not qualified, it sounds to me like this guy has some anxieties about not knowing enough about the Jewy stuff like Hebrew and other ritual lore. And instead of just chilling and hanging around long enough to pick it up, (And it's not rocket science to learn this stuff) he just attacks it, and uses his attacks as a justification not to engage.<br /><br />There's lots of stuff in the Jewish tradition work attacking, but to attack it properly, you have to understand it. Otherwise your missiles go off target, and there's lots of collateral damage (like to your reputation as a budding journalist.)<br /><br />-CAAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com