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08:23 pm: Don't Worry. Be Happy.
 There are so many elements of Judaism that are designed to make us happier people. All of davening is supposed to teach us gratitude and bitachon.  Every bracha is supposed to teach appreciation for what we have. So many holidays are dedicated to remembering the good things that God has done for us and continues to do for us. There is even a specific exortation to be happy- Mitzvah Gedolah L'hiot BeSimcha Tamid. Chassidim, in general, place a greater emphasis on the importance of happiness in religion than other groups.

And yet, I don't think the rates of depression or  anxiety (or even subclinical dissatisfaction) in frum and chassidic communities are lower than those rates in the rest of the population. Why is that?

One option is that the frum Jewish lifestyle is considerably more difficult and more stressful than that of the rest of society. Tuition, lack of heteirim for birth control,  limited secular education, poverty, high cost of kosher food- these all stress us out. So davening and brachos helps but not enough and without those supports, frum people would be even more depressed. Do you think that's true? That frum people have a harder life than everyone else and that explains this discrepancy?

Another option is that davening and brachos and all of this just don't work. Do they not work because frum people don't do these things correctly- they don't have enough kavanah, they mumble their brachos, they don't learn chassidus before davening, they don't think about the meaning behind yomim tovim? Or is it because davening just doesn't work, period?  It's not yoga enough?

Is it because anxiety and depression are clinical disorders and prayer isn't going to help, much like praying isn't going to cure your cold? Is it because people tend to have set personalities and religious observance isn't going to change that personality trait much one way or the other?

Or am I totally wrong and frum people ARE actually more cheerful and less anxious than everyone else?

Those of you who daven and say brachos and learn chassidus before davening- do you find that this really affects how happy and content you are with your life?

Those of you who have experience with anxiety and/ or depression, how do davening and yomim tovim and brachos affect your condition? Do you feel more anxious and depressed at the thought of getting up for minyan at 6 am? Do you feel that davening calms and relaxes you? Or are you stressed out because it just makes you late for work? Is it a mix, with the negatives and positives balancing themselves out?
 
Those of you who do not daven, do not say brachos, do not care about chassidus or yomim tovim- do you feel more anxious and depressed about your life? When bad things happen ( ex. lose your job) do you start to think "Gam Zu Le-," and then remember, "oh, yeah, I don't really believe all that," and then get upset, secretly wishing you still had some sort of wellspring of helpful sayings to draw from?   

Tags: hashkafa, science, shabbos, shul

07:45 pm: How Does This Work, Again?
According to Time magazine, biologists are identifying new species at a rate of about 50 a day, with 17,000 new plants and animals described in 2006.

So how does this work with Noach? Did all of these species fit into the ark? Really? Even the ones no one knows about yet? What about the details- like did these giant rats and frogs and bats all travel to Noach and his Ark from New Guinea?

Or did some species evolve over time? Isn't that whole evolution thing problematic also?

Or is Time magazine just making things up again?

Most people who are religious believe in the flood story literally, as far as I understand, because it is not a medrash, it is straight text. So help me out, religious people. How do you synthesize the Noach story with what you read in the papers?

Tags: parshah, science

11:38 am: Judaism on Solar Eclipses

Mmm... So this week, we are having a total solar eclipse. Here's how Hindu practitioners are reacting. Pregnant women are staying indoors and the general populace is predicting some major calamity, like the assassination of a politician or a huge natural disaster.

The gemara states that solar eclipses occur if a Torah scholar is buried without being properly eulogized, if a betrothed maiden is raped and no one hears her cries, if two brothers are killed at the same time and because of homosexuality. ( Succah 29a).
 
Aish's take on this is here and basically states that the fact that solar eclipses are predictable doesn't mean that they are not punishments, because "certain time periods are set aside for Divine justice to be meted out."

So here are my questions.

1. First on the Gemara itself: 
 
a. Those of you who do not feel obligated to take every word of the gemara literally, is this one of the things you ignore? Is this just ancient science and replaceable with modern understanding? It does mention Hashem and Divine Punishment, so how do you know  to discard this theory but not other instances of Divine retribution? In other words, if this passage is false, why should we believe anything else the gemara has to say on punishment?

b. Those of you who do feel obligated to take every word of the gemara literally- do you see yourselves as different from the Hindu believers? This is not superstition for you? What do you think will happen during this solar eclipse? How do you explain other solar eclipses that have come and gone without horrible world tragedies?

c. What's with the categories? Why two brothers killed at the same time? Why not two sisters? Why the rape of the betrothed girl and not any other female or any other crime? Why a eulogy of a Torah scholar and not  his wife or  the eulogy of a generous donor who allowed the Torah scholar to continue learning? His father in law, maybe?  

d. What's the story with the indiscriminate punishment? Are we really expected to believe that our Just and Fair God is going to cause a natural disaster in Asia to punish the gays in San Fransisco? How is that supposed to be effective?

2. Second, on the Aish explanation:

a. If there are specific, immutable times set aside for punishment, doesn't that defeat the supposed purpose of the punishment? Like if I set aside every Sunday afternoon to beat my child for whatever infractions s/he has committed that week, regardless of whether any infractions were committed, doesn't that decrease my child's motivation to refrain from wrong behavior?

If we're anyway going to have solar eclipses and be subject to horrible divine punishment whenever scientists explain that these eclipses will occur, why bother being good- let's skip all the eulogies and go to a gay bar instead where we'll rape betrothed maidens and kill brothers at the same time. Party on!  

b. If there are specific  times set aside for punishment, doesn't that mean that this punishment should occur? Is there any statistical evidence that natural disasters or political assassinations are correllated with eclipses? No? I didn't think so. The Aish site claims variations in animal and human disease because of vast protons discharged into our atmosphere. Source? Validity? 

Tags: science

01:18 pm: Mysticism in Halacha
 
Chapter 33 of the Kitzur Shulchan Aruch is entitled: Things Forbidden Because They Are Hazardous. 

Body sweat is poisonous, according to the kitzur. It is also dangerous to smell food and then swallow the saliva in your mouth; instead you must spit it out. It is forbidden to place food or drink underneath a bed because of evil spirits. And so on. It also emphasizes that the sins involved in dangerous things are more strict than regular aveiros. There are so many halachos like this. There's another one about how if you delay peeing, you will become sterile and anytime you don't go right away, you are violating a grave prohibition.

Now, I know that there are frum Jews who are not adherents of mysticism and do not believe in evil spirits and don't worry if a drink is left under a bed. Some of these people consider themselves modern orthodox and others are yeshivish or whatever. My main question to them is as follows: 

How do you differentiate between the different simanim of the shulchan aruch? How do you say, well there aren't any evil spirits anymore under our beds, but there still are evil spirits on our hands so we must wash negel vasser in the morning? Moreover, how do you know that although some things in the kitzur no longer apply, others still do? So clearly in 2008,  the gentiles no longer milk piggies and mix in their milk with regular cow milk. And yet people argue about cholov yisroel and many maintain that it is a strict halacha and Rav Moshe gave a heter for those people who have a difficult time acquiring cholov yisroel and we cannot rely on this heter in New York and other places where CY is readily available.  I just don't understand why you can't say that this whole issur doesn't apply anymore, just like the whole issur of swallowing saliva doesn't apply. 

How do you decide whether something still applies?  Presumably, if the rabbis could be wrong about the dangerous of body sweat or saliva or delayed urination, they could also be wrong about Cholov Stam. Or you could even argue that they were not wrong, but nishtanu hateva, times have changed and neither issue is applicable anymore. Same with women's roles in the community and other hot button topics. How do you differentiate?  Do you say that all these medical issurim are just advice? It doesn't really look like it from the language of the shulchan aruch, it is pretty clear that these things, swallowing saliva, delaying peeing, placing food under a bed, these are all forbidden, not just not recommended.  

 Also, is there anyone here who actually is makpid upon spitting out saliva after smelling food?  Are there people who don't take long road trips because they will inevitably have to wait for a restroom break? I don't know any of these people. I haven't even read any debates on this topic. Why not? How do people, rabbis, whomever choose which halachos of the shulchan aruch to ignore completely and which ones to fight about tooth and nail?

Tags: hashkafa, rabbis, science

09:47 pm: My Simple Plan to Save the World
 
This blog has a faithful reader who is worried about me. Specifically, the reader is worried about the copious amounts of loshon horah I spew forth on a weekly basis. The reader occasionally sends me books or pamphlets on loshon horah. I have found these to be most enlightening.  A recent set of divrei torah, for example, pointed out that when Jews speak Loshon Horah, this gives power to the Soton. The Soton then channels this energy into... drum- role, yes, you guessed it, Science!  

From here:

Where did all this come from? As Rabbi Kessin has pointed out, if the Jews sin, then the Soton receives the flow of Divine energy, twists it into a physical caricature of its spiritual form, and gives it to the nations. In this case, the light of Moshiach, a divine wisdom which gives insight into the spiritual worlds, was converted into a body of knowledge that shows the mechanics of the physical world. And what is that? Science....

Since all the advances in science came ultimately from the Soton, who had taken the ohr Moshiach that had been meant for us, had twisted it into a force for understanding the physical world, and had given it to the nations, we must take another attitude every time that we visit one of those big-box electronics stores to buy yet another appliance. As we gaze in wonder at the latest super-small, yet super-speedy computers (far faster than last year’s model) and marvel at the latest that technology has wrought, a sad thought must cross our minds: “All this is but a perverted shadow of what was really meant – for us!” 

Says Rabbi Kessin: Look at the damage done by loshon hora. Not only does a Jew’s speaking or believing loshon hora enable the Soton to prosecute him and then punish him, but this sin also gives the Soton the ability to take the kedushah which was meant for us, pervert it, and give it to the nations, who then can use it against us. Furthermore, when the Soton is able to take from the ohr Moshiach, the advent of Moshiach is delayed, and he is able to continue his destruction in ways never imagined before...

So my simple plan to save the world is that we should all take great care to speak lots of loshon horah every day. That way, science will advance rapidly, much quicker than now. Cures for horrible diseases will be found, technology will find new ways to grow plentiful crops for starving people in third world nations, natural disasters will be predicted and averted, the environment will be cleaner, foreign policies will change and people will be much happier. Gas prices will go down. The housing market will finally bounce back. All because of the loshon hora that you and I speak, imagine that! 

So let's divide up the day. I will be happy to take the 9am-12pm slot and talk loshon horah for at least those three hours every day. Anyone else? Come on, I know it's hard, but it is for the greater good.

Tags: hashkafa, science

10:46 am: Everything you wanted to know about genetics, but were afraid to ask your kallah teacher..

Just found this on another women's board...

My teacher told me that the most important time to have a holy thought, or a face of a rebbe in mind is when conception occurs, meaning that when the actual act occurs you should think of a holy person. The story she told us to prove this point is of a black couple who had a white child. The husband was sure that his wife cheated on him but she swore she didnt. They realized that they had a picture of a white person near the bed and she was looking at that picture when conception happened. The main point is that you should at least think of a holy person during the actual act itself. 

Apparently this is a common line of thread among kallah teachers. When I was getting married, I heard this about a white couple with a black baby. Also according to my kallah teacher, the Virgin Mary apparently saw a piggy on her exit from the mikvah and that's how Jesus happened. 

After some thought, this looks like a very tidy and convienent excuse for marital, um, indiscretions. 
Oh, dear, the baby looks like our mailman again. We really can't continue leaving stamps and envelopes on the bedroom night table.  




Tags: science, sex, stupidity

01:38 pm: On Dinosaurs...

On Dinosaurs: 

Surely your son understands that the museum guides aren't Jewish, and he can be simply told that the whole dinosoar thing is goyishe . It shouldn't be hard for him to understand that while we are so lucky we have the Torah, where it tells us how Hashem created the world, Breishis Borah Elokim, etc., and the Torah is truth, Toras Emes, so we know the truth, but that goyim don't have/ believe in the Torah, and sometimes they make things up taht are not true, like dinosoars and other "shtusim" e.g. fairy-tales.( you don't have to go into the whole evolutionary theory and refute it here, for your innocent little three year old's keppeh'le, just say that it's not what it says in the Torah, and goyim made up these stories.)

Tags: imamother, science