Fire Tornado caught on film in Brazil. You can find a video of it spinning around and round on the web.

1) I’ve written extensively about TV and Internet before. Did you know that the 3rd book ever printed was a book of (pardon my mentioning of the word, but it is what it is) – pornography. The first was the Bible. Point: the majority of books out there are full of pritzut and bitul Torah. Should we ban all books, just in case? After all, a Sabbatean Messianic text made its way to the publishing house in the 18th Century. The German community thought it was fine. It wasn’t.
It’s the same argument. You’re not going to protect your future children by banning all books, or TV, or internet. What you will certainly do is make their ability to work and function in society extremely difficult if not impossible, damning them to a mundane pathetic life where their talents are not expressed. Is that what G-d wants?
Ultimately, modernity puts tremendous pressure on parents and educators. The faster it changes, the harder it is to not only keep up, but incorporate the changes into your messages to your children in and out of the classroom. But we have given up and chosen dumbness instead. Sorry, I have no respect for quitters. I have respect for those that try, even if they fail. Do you have any idea how much time and effort Saadia Gaon and Rambam put into carefully, delicately fighting the ideology of Karaites? Would we have as much respect for them if they didn’t bother?
In one word: responsibility. In two: effort. In three: pain.

I think there’s a decent case that sport on TV is bitul Torah (definitely much of it is indeed pritzut), however R’ Eli Mansour recommends playing a game of basketball when you feel down or depressed, aware of the negative ways depression can and has manifested itself – King Saul trying to kill David, and instead murdering hundreds of Kohanim; what Orpah did, according to Midrash when she realised that she should have chosen as Ruth had). Spending time buying an ice cream. Like anything, it can be healthy or it can be damaging. Time and place, mate. There is pleasure in sport and in a game lacking cheerleaders like soccer, it’s for sure kosher. We have always been engaged in the world and secular endeavours. It wasn’t 150 years ago. See Tzippy’s response. Today is the anomaly. It came about in response to reform and an inability to cope with haskalah thought (they were out of practice AND had perverted Psak according to Hakham Jose Faur in his essay Anti-Maimonidean Demons). While I understand it, we’re the dumber for it, as a people.
Ronny makes a good point – like anything, modernity has a good side and a bad side. Most of TV is bad, in my opinion. Not for the pritzut, not for the bitul Torah – indeed you can turn TV watching into a lesson – but you need to take the time to sit with a child and identify hashkafic problems with what they see on TV. Train your children to see what’s wrong with the world with their own eyes, only then will they have the drive to change it. PG – Parental Guidance recommended – to my mind it’s a MUST.
See my post on X-Files on my blog – do a search and you’ll see how dangerous TV can be without open eyes – all without instances of pritzut, but with a tremendous potential for Torah. Can we learn from those without Torah? Yes, on the one hand, we can learn what not to do, or think, or say. On the other, wisdom (hochmah) yes, Torah (what TO do, or say or think) – no. This from the Talmud itself.

Modernisation is good when it has a Torah purpose – many sages say that working IS Torah. That’s why the haredi world buckled and realised they needed to work something out with mobile phones. But here they accept a hole in the dam? It’s inconsistent application. But by the way: Masechet Kiddushin which I have partially studied says a man that does not teach his son a trade teaches him to be a thief. R’ Meir says he was teaching his son only Torah – because that was the trade he was BEST at. The Rabbis of the Talmud didn’t bother to attack or censure him on this – it was obvious to them without statistics that not everyone has the makings of a gadol, not even very spiritual people. Moshe’s own two sons did not lead after him – Joshua did. Rambam was exceptionally critical of those that desired to be a burden on society. The Haredi world has been taught to be thieves in their burdening society. It will end, please G-d soon, bim’herah. Not to see them suffer, but L-hafuch – to see them thrive.
As I said, you needn’t take the Chassidic approach. We need to understand the world in order to improve it. You don’t perform open heart surgery if you don’t know anatomy! (or… a lot of other things). If you want to take the Chassidic approach as Ariel suggests – these media – TV, Internet etc NEED to be sanctified. They are no different from wine with which one can become drunk, or with the appropriate self-discipline, can be made holy. Should we ban wine?

2) He was talking about a war of self defense. See Tzippy’s response. The ark of the covenant used to travel into battle along with the Kohanim – who were the teachers. LeHavdil – R’ Yosef, R’ Shach, R’ Elyashiv – they should be going out to battle with our blessed protectors to give chizuk from behind the lines, as they are the supposed teachers today. You need both Torah and action to defend us. Without Torah, what are we defending? With only Torah, why then did Hezekiah need to build defenses?

3) Conversions – what are you doing bringing in conservative conversions to the discussion? That’s a separate discussion entirely. I view conservative and reform ‘conversions’ irrelevant and I’m only talking about real ones. That people are led astray by the two offshoot groups is why those groups are dangerous. Nothing to do with what’s wrong with real conversions.
Regarding the actual discussion point – I believe it’s Masechet Shabbat where it says, as Tzippy mentioned, even though the convert was lying when he or she said they wanted to keep all of Torah – what’s done is done. They are now Jewish. There are enough hoops for them to jump through, for one, and second- these fools (yes, fools) who retroactively annul conversions after 20 years performed by rabbis not charedi enough (R’ Haim Druckman et al) automatically means their children, where divorces are concerned, are mamzerim. Mazal Tov, Kol HaKavod, well done. Now – you put yourself in a mamzer’s shoes and walk a mile and tell me which is the correct way to approach converts. Rabbis creating mamzers and then letting themselves be called gedolim? How dare they.

As for your mashal: You have your story inverted! G-d intended that there should not HAVE to be a Jewish nation. Adam was the Sayeret. Adam and Eve changed that, and made us necessary. We should turn them away out of compassion in not wanting them to be burdened with an additional 606 mitzvot (as much as halacha requires and no further), but after the third time and with investigating their seriousness we should rejoice and dance at the opportunity to be mekarev Gentiles who wish (crazily to us) to cast their lot with us – the most hated nation on Earth. R’ Sherman, whose Haredi ‘reasoning’ you appear to be following, talks about the spiritual purity of the Jewish people. Let G-d worry about that – let us worry about losing those Jews who would have otherwise married out, conversion or no, and disappear forever from our Shabbat tables. This was the opinion of many a great Sephardi Posek – see J Mosseri’s talk, I provided the link in my blog post before Hirsch’s article. It is a must-hear. As Dr. David Luchins quoted in I think his talk on the history of the Jews in Europe, it used to be that we were concerned with our own spiritual needs, and the physical needs of others. We live in an inverse, perverted Torah world where often while paying lip service to the ideal, we concern ourselves with our physical needs and everybody else’s spiritual needs.

3) Tzippy is right, it may not be the only reason, but it was the main reason. There is rampant racism in Israel today from all sorts of segments. Don’t get me started. But let’s be fair – it’s only 65 years old. Tell your charming wife of rich Morroccan heritage that the Sephardi girls of Emmanuel were even forced to pronounce their Hebrew at home with Slonimer Chassidish pronunciation as part of making them supposedly frum enough to mix with their daughters. Why not ask them to come to school painted white, too? Or undergo Michael Jackson type procedures for them to be considered ‘pure’ and untainted. How dare they with their demands defile our Judaism and make us a laughing stock for the nations instead of a beacon of light and wisdom?

Just like I have to learn before I have the right to an opinion, you have to realise where all this comes from. Go to David Solomons’ Revelation and Revolution series www.inonehour.net , www.simpletoremember.com Ken Spiro History series as well as www.aishaudio.com – Dr. David Luchins’ Talks – especially on the 3 weeks, The History of the Jews in Europe and 7 lessons of Diplomacy from Joseph, and R’ Berel Wein’s History lectures (www.weinonline.com ?) Also the links to the shiurim I included in my blog post are essential for you to understand what we are facing.

Lastly, yes, the media is out to sell papers or TV ad spots, and we HAVE to realise this while we read them. But statements are statements and facts are facts. And a picture of a jew stoning another Jew is just that. Context not required. Tzipp, even if they are a minority, it should be fairly simple to stamp them and their ideology out from within the haredi world. But they’re not doing it. Le’Havdil Arafat y’s'v and terrorising, either the leader(s) can’t or they won’t condemn it and destroy it (exception: R’ Horowitz from NJ, USA – but even that not frequently enough). Most likely they fear for their lives, like R’ Yaacov Yosef announced. Death threats? Is that what we’ve come to? How can we take Islam to task for not removing extremist elements from within when we haven’t got the courage to do the same ourselves? Again LeHavdil, Haredi actions don’t end (yet, and G-d forbid) in deaths of Jews, but it hurts terribly all the same, destroys Judaism as each generation is born and when we should be fighting together the enemies without, because of Haredi world’s intolerance and the secular world’s hatred and mockery of them (also throwing out good with bad – but the Haredim make it easy to do when they should be mekarev, a further Haredi chillul Hashem), we are fighting amongst ourselves. Hoy Lanu, as we will sit and cry about in 3 weeks’ time.

This year, perhaps for the first time in my personal spiritual journey, I know what to cry about.

Mike.

The comments are equally interesting. To the cynics and armchair, knee-jerk critics who like to frequently hide behind the phrase “it’s just not that simple/it’s just not blackand white” in order that they need never expend the mental energy required to actually think about the issue being raised or slant being provided, I reckon they should pay attention to her other comment that the pill has allowed women to delay having children so that they can establish a career. That’s not the comment of some right-wing Republican abstinence-pushing church-monger, but rather that of a balanced, thought-out position.

It’s an interesting notion. Also interesting is the way it’s raised I believe in Ken Spiro’s World Perfect lecture (available for free download at http://www.classicsinai.com/ ), in his assessment of family values. If not there, it can be found in his crash course in jewish history series on www.simpletoremember.com or his other lectures on www.aishaudio.com .
In any case, he gives the problem an interesting context – yes – he ties weak family values to rise in violent crime and consequently the decline of society/anarchy. Agree or disagree, say ‘it’s not that simple’ – it usually isn’t, but it’s an idea worth hearing.

—

Wow.

Thank you all for your brilliant insights. I have indeed never felt closer to my grandmother – such comments allow me to truly understand what it was like to feel part of a vilified, despised, scapegoated group of people in the 1930s.

<sigh> let the Israelis build whatever they want, if they want to give any of it up for any real or even cold peace, we have shown we can – once in Gaza, and once, you geniuses all conveniently forget, in the Sinai. It’s simply a non-issue.

 You all speak of courage? Of brilliant “even-handed” journalism? If one person says 2+2 = 4, and another says 2+2=5, it is not balanced journalism to say that “well, everyone knows 2+2=4½”.
It is a cruel thing for one to take others further away from the truth, wherever we may argue that ultimately lies.

The Arab world have been blaming Israel and the Jews with increased intensity since Nazi propaganda made its way to places like Iraq in the early decades of the 20th Century, with the Mufti of Jerusalem Haj Amin Al Husseini’s personal diaries attesting to his meetings with Hitler and his henchmen, and of his knowledge of the sickening ‘progress’ in the death camps.

What Obama, Londonistan and Eurabia have done is, instead of having the courage to assert historic realities in broadcasts to the Arab world (that still firmly believes the Holocaust is a myth), they have adopted the Arab version of history and their scapegoat, used by them to divert their citizens’ attention away from their leaders’ staggering cronyism. It’s easier, isn’t it?

Those who are angry with you Israel, will be shamed.

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Very interesting. There was a gut-wrenching, emotionally-charged attack by Andrew Sacks in his blog on Jerusalem Post online called, sharply, ”Lies My Rabbi Told”. I found the comments section actually more informative. The case: a Spanish family is converted Conservative-style (the father is halachically Jewish according to tradition, we’ll call it orthodox for now - I’ll define that later). When the son reaches barmitzvah age, he is diagnosed with a brain tumour and deteriorates rapidly to a point where he is really unable to function without being attached to machines (he later dies). This is a tragic, tragic story, no question.

While he is bedridden, the parents ask the orthodox chief rabbi in Spain whether he can be buried in the Jewish cemetary. It appears (according only to the aforementioned blog post and comments) there is some dithering either on Dahan’s part or on that of the Israeli Sephardi chief rabbi Shlomo Amar’s. Dahan deferred to Amar’s judgement.

The decision came out that he was not considered Jewish, and the conservative movement were up in arms, using it as yet another opportunity to show the supposed callousness of the unbending, backward, old-school orthodox world.

Dissecting the Case Unemotionally

An ‘Orthodox’ Jew’s reaction? He was converted conservative, so that doesn’t count. Interesting. But if you read in the comments, one person discusses a rather salient point: the boy was converted before majority. Therefore, while it was incumbent upon the family to lead him properly in the 613 mitzvot, the boy was actually not legally bound to keep halacha. A convert/adopted child, as far as I’m aware, have the same status: they choose at the point at which they reach majority, whether to continue living a Jewish life or not.

Now. Look at the conversion itself: apparently involving brit milah, mikvah immersion and standing before three Jews who welcome him into the Jewish family (which is technically all that is required in halachah – you don’t need three rabbis to officiate – only three male Jews, just as technically you don’t need a rabbi to officiate to get married orthodox [though you might argue minhag yisrael established the practice as such in both cases]).

Assuming the three on the panel were male and actually halachically Jewish, the conversion might stand. Then you have the question as to whether the child ever intended to live a halachically Jewish life. Prima facie the answer is no, because Conservatives don’t hold by halacha in the same way as the Orthodox/traditional/’authentic’. However, as mentioned before – this wasn’t a question for the child because he was a minor.

Lastly, the question remains what mental state he was in at the time he turned 13, whether this poor boy’s mental faculties remained. And if so, whether he affirmed a decision to live a halachically Jewish life, according to orthodox halacha - despite how he may have been raised – then he might indeed belong in the Jewish part of the cemetary.

This might be a more interesting case than most realise. What I’ve intentionally left out in discussing the case is emotion. But any thinking Jew knows that feelings and sensitivities do certainly play a role in determining halacha. Where, then, might the peoples’ feelings fit?

For all those Mind readers enamoured with Flight of the Conchords, tracing two New Zealand miskeinim (loosely translated as sorry individuals) I think you could learn a thing or two a) about NZ’ers and b) why they are who they are and where they are. Caution, there’s some light swearing. With love, I direct your attention to: Beached As.

 And, a very infectious laughing baby.

Das Laffing Bebe