Comments on: Why should we care?

By: Patrick Sweeney

Patrick Sweeney — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 03:53:00 +0000

Thanks Sam. I am not looking for a physical justice. I know КТО did it and I know where they are. The issue is that of an imbalance of mercy and power where I live. In America they put to death the innocent out of lust and let the murderer go free out of mercy. They have made themselves into gods, the idea of god that they worship is the god they become.
I personally fear the Lord terribly and could not imagine having done nothing, speaking for my situation that is.
I am at my wits end though and I hope in the end I can say I did my best. I hope I die soon, I’m very tired. Thats my saga. Thanks for the advice. Peace to you Sam, and thanks for the КОНТАКТЫ.

By: Sam

Sam — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 20:00:00 +0000

First, I wish you well Patrick. I hope that you find comfort from good people there for you. It is hard to find justice. I know of a man КТО should be in jail for things he has done to naive young girls, but at the time this happened, I was badly advised on the law and though my reaction would have been to visit him with a baseball bat in hand, I would only have made things worse. The bad advice set the situation – based on an issue of law rather than of appropriate measure within the law. No one took action, and as it is , I don’t know his name or where he is, but I learned a lesson from that experience. In terms of different people’s views on existence, it is better, I think, to learn for oneself than to pass judgement on others. As for the Jewish people, there has been a long history of deep thought and reflection, and it is ongoing not only in the religious studies of Rabbis and other devotees, but in the broader world by scholars in many disciplines – Jews and non-Jews alike.
    I believe that the bottom line lies in the inherent aspiration for morality among people, going to the golden rule at core. It is there as part of man’s nature as a social being, and it is there in our reflections of the world. When someone crosses against that morality whether a Crusader in Jerusalem putting innocent people to death in a twisted belief system or a Nazi death camp, or a sick individual in Norway, it goes against the human aspiration.
   Religion has often been used to promote immoral actions through a distorted thinking such as burning people at the stake for trumped up charges of this and that..
     again, I wish you peace and comfort Patrick.
Sam

By: Patrick Sweeney

Patrick Sweeney — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 14:29:00 +0000

I am sorry Sam. But there are things I cannot explain because I get so angry. I think what I am really seeking is justice. I too had to ask ЗАЧЕМ these СОБЫТИЯ happened to me. Let me say this.
In the upper worlds reason is closer to our Lord, in this world (world of action), our world, it is emotion that is closer in a kind of divine reflection. It’s like a reflection in a mirror in which letters take a reverse order. The jewish people, being highly reasonable, will then find this difficult to fathom.
Thats how I see it

By: Jimmie

Jimmie — Sat, 23 Jul 2011 01:29:00 +0000

While it is certain that the destruction of the Temple as the
ultimate spiritual essence of all Jewish suffering has meaning to most Jews, it
seems equally clear that WHAT EXACTLY it means depends upon our state of
consciousness IN the GENERATION appointed us.
This word, generation, appears quite prominently in the Torah as a
critical vantage point from which the Creator views Israel and the nations. A
more careful examination of the different contexts in which it appears in the
holy text makes it clear that Hashem distinguishes every generation of Jews on
the basis of their character manifested in their willingness to act upon the
teaching and instructions that HE has bequeathed to the nation as an
inheritance along with the land. This
holds true even for the act of MOURNING, especially NATIONAL mourning. Mourning as an end in itself and viewed in
accordance with the general English definition of the word as to feel, express,
and SHOW the customary—read traditional—signs of grief is a very long way from
the intentions of the Creator as taught to us by every generation of Prophets
beginning with Moshe. In the Torah
system, national mourning must become a spiritual catalyst—yes with tears,
uncertainty, and maybe without a clear view as to how to proceed—to examine
ourselves within the teshuva spiritual framework AND THEN to do what Hashem
empowers us to do in the context of our everyday lives and collectively as a
global Torah Jewish community to further the cause and purpose of Hashem’s will
for the nation of Israel. But what in the present is the
state of collective consciousness of the Jewish world? Obviously, there are
different orientations loosely connected on some level to the land of Israel
and to the sufferings especially since the advent of the modern era . Many Jews for example are resigned to the
idea that modernity and a life in the current global culture signals the end to
the “legend” of Moshe, the Torah as a WAY OF LIFE, and, especially, the Temple
which many connect in an uninformed way with “primitive” sacrificial rites. Progress in this view is intentionally or
unintentionally associated with developments in the predominant secular
institutions of our day. Clearly, the
description in the book of Judges applies even in our time: ”A new GENERATION
arose after THEM [Joshua’s generation] THAT DID NOT KNOW HASHEM, nor the deeds
that He had performed for Israel.” The challenge for us in OUR GENERATION is to
maintain a CONSTRUCT OF REALITY and CONSCIOUSNESS that TRUTHFULLY represents a
present day CONTINUATION of the purpose for which Hashem established the nation
of Israel. At the present time however there exist MORE than one construct of
reality concerning the present and future existence of the nation. This is of
course NOT new. A culture war of sorts
centering on what construct of reality will best serve the nation has been in
progress since BEFORE the Hasmonean struggle. The cultural conflict is the very
same and the primary TWO (perhaps three choices) are even the same. SHABBAT SHALOM.

By: Sam

Sam — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 20:40:00 +0000

Patrick,
I am very sorry for what happened to your son and the pain this has caused you.
Your posts here lacked clarity and were troubling which is ЗАЧЕМ I asked the original questions.
Your anger here is misdirected as there is no one here that wishes you any harm.
I have had my own losses as have others – some perhaps nearly as hard as yours, if not as hard.
I do hope you will find compassion and a positive way to ease your pain.
There are many different views here … some are very religious and others not so, but I think everyone is seeking knowledge and understanding.
I wish you well….

By: Patrick Sweeney

Patrick Sweeney — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 20:31:00 +0000

I am leaving this site and moving towards power, good luck Steinsaltz.

By: Patrick Sweeney

Patrick Sweeney — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 19:24:00 +0000

I am going to show you the same mercy and compassion that was shown to me when my son was taken and mutilated. Eye for an eye.

By: Sam

Sam — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 19:21:00 +0000

There is a flaw in thinking to try to attach a modern context to an ancient time. Societies evolve – it was not so long ago that women could not vote in North America, but that does not take away from the tragedy of the first world war in which there were so many losses. The aspiration of Jews in those times of exile and the mourning for the destruction of the temple remain as symbols, and are not diminished by the fact of the different status of women in those times. One must also remember that the Talmud scholars were always looking for justice and for just interpretations.
Trying to blend СОБЫТИЯ of thousands of years ago into today’s context is not the way to view this history. I agree with the need for Judaism to give women EQUAL rights in all aspects without the antiquated restrictions — if men can’t focus on prayer with women in the synagogue in the same space then put the men in the balcony or behind the screen on alternative Shabbat… In defense of the sages and the older times, women have been honoured by Judaic thought in much higher esteem than in most other societies, and the birth of a daughter should be no more or less a blessing than the birth of a son.. We look forward to change that is positive.
still, Phahn, you need to embrace the tradition in the aspirations it has provided as hope for centuries. If one reads Maimonides in times when the Jews in Spain were threatened with death or conversion to Islam and his thoughts on saving lives even while keeping true in heart and mind, and his view that nothing would destroy the essence of Judaism. So, remembrance of the bitterness of the destruction of the temples also has the hope for the restoration… but this does not mean or imply that we aspire to negative practices… Tolerance yes.. respect.. but not acceptance of making women second class citizens, notwithstanding all the rationalized protests of differing roles. Equal but different yes, but not equal without the same abilities and opportunities such as women being counted in the minyan..

By: Phahn41

Phahn41 — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 18:39:00 +0000

There are aspects of the pre-diaspora which make it difficult for me to mourn. I cannot see that time as the pure and perfect time for КТОse return we fervently pray. A Temple designed with the designated place for all women outside, with the lepers, cannot have been pure and perfect for one half of the Jewish people, the half to which I belong. It is painful to be reluctant in acknowledging the anguish of a people destroyed, sold into slavery, cut off from their source of divine comfort. But, that is the legacy of a “men’s club” Judaism. Those КТОm you cast out will feel alienated.

I am sorry to insert into a serious spiritual discussion material which must seem to you trivial and profane. The difficulty is that the breach is real, and not a personal self-indulgence: Is not the cause for all human suffering the separation of God from Schinah, and have we not been told that it is our duty to reunite the feminine with the one КТО lost her?

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 06:34:00 +0000

In so many ways, the Temple is the symbol of each Jew. While we are often broken, our essence and holiness remain connected and КТОle. Even though the building is broken of the Bayt HaMikdash its essence is КТОle, its spirit connected to the remnants of the building and the holiness of the place.