One thing about the Cain and Abel story I had never considered in 40 years of contemplating the Torah until a little kid did his Torah portion for his bar mitzvah and I’m stealing this from him- is that as best as I (he) can tell Abel was the first person to ever die at all of anything, so therefore how could Cain understand the gravity of his actions?
Another question on the Shephard vs Farmer dynamic: we read in the early days of the Jews being tempted towards the worship of the pagan nature god Baal, I wonder if this doesn't have it's origin in that tension? Just a fun speculation.
This is such rich, interesting information, but when Rabbi Perelmuter was talking about obeying the local speed limit of 65, even though it doesn’t say how fast you can go in Jewish law, all I could think was “Jew Speedway: Strap on your kippah and go VROOM VROOM”
How are the “ultra-orthodox” referred to in Israeli law? I understand that the neutral term is just “orthodox”, but, unless I have this wrong, there are some orthodox that are exempt from the draft and others that are not. How are those groups distinguished? Or is it a self-declared thing, like “fill out this form declaring that your religious beliefs preclude military service.”
One thing about the Cain and Abel story I had never considered in 40 years of contemplating the Torah until a little kid did his Torah portion for his bar mitzvah and I’m stealing this from him- is that as best as I (he) can tell Abel was the first person to ever die at all of anything, so therefore how could Cain understand the gravity of his actions?
Another question on the Shephard vs Farmer dynamic: we read in the early days of the Jews being tempted towards the worship of the pagan nature god Baal, I wonder if this doesn't have it's origin in that tension? Just a fun speculation.
More! More!
This is such rich, interesting information, but when Rabbi Perelmuter was talking about obeying the local speed limit of 65, even though it doesn’t say how fast you can go in Jewish law, all I could think was “Jew Speedway: Strap on your kippah and go VROOM VROOM”
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Got t through this episode and now I learn about the Substack! Wonderful conversation again. Really enjoying and learning a lot! Thank you all!
How are the “ultra-orthodox” referred to in Israeli law? I understand that the neutral term is just “orthodox”, but, unless I have this wrong, there are some orthodox that are exempt from the draft and others that are not. How are those groups distinguished? Or is it a self-declared thing, like “fill out this form declaring that your religious beliefs preclude military service.”