dirty gold
I find very interesting the admonishion to avoid even the appearance of treyfness in judaism (isaac, help me out and leave a comment with the source of this!) such as, not going into such an establishment as say, hoggy's, or hooter's, or any place that would, if one were seen there, lead people to believe that one was willing to partake of pork ribs, or titty-ogling, or what have you. This is a powerful and often-overlooked duty, especially among assimilated reform jews (like me, for example). It intrigues me not because it helps one avoid temptation ("The kohen whose job it was to empty the charity box in the Temple, did so dressed in a simple shift, without pockets or sleeves and barefoot so there should not be any temptation to steal or the appearance of misbehavior regarding what was in essence, holy money" (BavaBatra 8b)) or because one leads others by example, or because it is wrong to appear to condone something that is wrong, if only by tolerating its proximity, but because it is all of these things. like so many things in judaism, the rules help enforce other rules (staying away from pork-serving restaurants makes it easier to avoid eating pork) on their most pragmatic and mundane levels, but they also contain a greater wisdom as reminders of higher causes, such as social justice. if one must keep one's distance from pork and not be thought to partake it, to buy it or to eat it or to enjoy it, one must then a thousand times more have an obligation to distance oneself from, for example, war and warmongers, neither supporting war nor rejoicing in any so-called "victories" nor profit off it or enjoy any of its death-tainted side effects.
reform jews may say, well we eat pork anyway, we get tattoos, we break those little statutes left and right because their meaning isn't literal. i agree with this. i have enjoyed pork (although i am now a vegetarian) and i have a tattoo (albeit a jewish one) and i go into unkosher restaurants and attend parties where there are some activities going on that i don't particularly approve of and i don't believe in ignoring the evils of the world and shutting them out because they don't go away. in this way, i could almost be a christian, so much do i admire jesus in his willingness to get into the depts of sin to drag the sinners out.
however! if you feel you can ignore the letter of the law with the excuse that it's detatched from the spirit, don't cop out on the spirit then! don't use the excuse that wars will be fought and you might as well profit; don't use the excuse that people will buy sweat-shop produced clothing and that there will always be sweat-shops so you might as well buy their clothes or work in their store. or, even worse! don't steal from the till or shoplift with the justification that you're ripping off the bad guy. you're profiting from not only theft, which is obviously morally dubious as well as illegal, but what is really worse, you are profiting from human misery. judaism teaches that even when we can't stop injustice, we are absolutely forbidden to support it, cheer it on, and under no circumstances may we profit from it.
for those who skipped to the last line for the recap: judaism teaches that even when we can't stop injustice, we are absolutely forbidden to support it, cheer it on, and under no circumstances may we profit from it.
reform jews may say, well we eat pork anyway, we get tattoos, we break those little statutes left and right because their meaning isn't literal. i agree with this. i have enjoyed pork (although i am now a vegetarian) and i have a tattoo (albeit a jewish one) and i go into unkosher restaurants and attend parties where there are some activities going on that i don't particularly approve of and i don't believe in ignoring the evils of the world and shutting them out because they don't go away. in this way, i could almost be a christian, so much do i admire jesus in his willingness to get into the depts of sin to drag the sinners out.
however! if you feel you can ignore the letter of the law with the excuse that it's detatched from the spirit, don't cop out on the spirit then! don't use the excuse that wars will be fought and you might as well profit; don't use the excuse that people will buy sweat-shop produced clothing and that there will always be sweat-shops so you might as well buy their clothes or work in their store. or, even worse! don't steal from the till or shoplift with the justification that you're ripping off the bad guy. you're profiting from not only theft, which is obviously morally dubious as well as illegal, but what is really worse, you are profiting from human misery. judaism teaches that even when we can't stop injustice, we are absolutely forbidden to support it, cheer it on, and under no circumstances may we profit from it.
for those who skipped to the last line for the recap: judaism teaches that even when we can't stop injustice, we are absolutely forbidden to support it, cheer it on, and under no circumstances may we profit from it.
posted by pesematology at 6:23 PM
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