Musing on Halachic Separatism

A few days ago my wife and I ate (kosher) lunch with the family of a close Muslim friend. Throughout the meal I couldn't stop thinking to myself that the express purpose of so many halachot is to prevent such meetings. Religion is a funny beast.

A Heretical Dvar Torah On the Canaanite Origins of Beit-El

A Dvar Torah courtesy of James Kugel, abridged:

It is clear from archaeological evidence that Beit-El was a city of Canaanite religious significance. In fact, the word 'el is a reference to the proper name of the head of the Canaanite pantheon. How does this connect with the story of Jacob's ladder at Beit-El? Simple: the purpose of the story is to sever the connection between Beit-El and Canaanite practice, thereby justifying the construction of a temple at that site during the time of Yerovam. (Edit: The connection between this episode and Yerovam isn't strong, but the episode of Yaakov at Beit-El explains how a city which apparently had a long career as a sacred site and ended up being chosen for one of two royal temples at the time of Yerovam, first came to be considered holy.)

The story does so in four ways:

1. Yaakov just chances upon the site. In the story, Beit-El is insignificant. The only reason Yaakov stops there is because the sun was setting. He just chanced upon it. It wasn't a bustling Canaanite religious center!

2. The site had no religious significance until Yaakov got there. Only after his weird dream did he realize that God was there (v'lo yadati!). Yaakov's dream converted the site from ordinary to sacred.

3. Matzevot are associated with Canaanite worship. Just about everywhere else in Tanach, matzevot are looked down upon. One of the first things we had to do when we got to Israel was destroy the matzevot that were there. But Yaakov built one! Why? Well, if some pillar was still at Beit-El at the time of the story's composition, it's clearly because Yaakov built it! Canaanites had nothing to do with it.

4. Why is the city called Beit-El? No, stupid! It's not named after the head of the Canaanite pantheon! It was called Luz until Yaakov got there are called it Beit Elohim!

Torah vs. Gilgamesh: What's The Big Deal? (*Answer Included)

I've never been able to figure out what the big deal was with the Epic of Gilgamesh and other non-Biblical flood stories. Until today, as far as I was concerned they simply corroborated the Biblical account. Well, today James Kugel treated me to a hearty dose of kefirah and explained the issue:

The similarities between the Torah account and Gilgamesh are striking, but the similarities go beyond the events described. Rather, it appears as though the two stories share a literary connection as well. They didn't only agree on what generally happened, but also on how the events should be retold, including things that could not be figured out by historical observation. The example Kugel uses is the phrase "God smelled the pleasing odor." This corresponds to the last three lines in Gilgamesh, which include the phrase, "The Gods smelled the sweet savor." Why should the Torah have mentioned that? Why not just that god "was pleased" with the sacrifice or nothing at all? How could any on-site observer of the flood or its aftermath know that God/the Gods smelled anything at all? This was the authors assertion, the very same expression, and it appears in both texts. This suggests that the texts either depended on each other or on an earlier source. But here's the problem: the earliest Gilgamesh fragments date from early in the 2nd millennium BCE, long before the Torah was given at Sinai with its flood story.

And there you have it, the reason that Gilgamesh is a problem.

R' Dovid Orlofsky: Skeptic Bloggers Are Make-Believe

Recently I've spent some time listening to kiruv lectures and finding some great gems that I'll share at a later time, but for now, the knowledge that we are all make-believe should tide you over.

Here is the quote, transcribed straight from a kiruv seminar at Ohr Sameach led by R' Dovid Orlofsky:

"People become frum, in my experience, because of people. They meet people, they are impressed by people. It’s people. It’s not the questions. People ask questions, but nine our of ten times they don’t care about the questions. I wish I could tell you that you are going to meet the apikores. You know. And he’s going to start shooting at you Rambams and you know, this and that. Those people don’t actually exist. They are make believe people on blogs. Don’t worry, You’ll never meet them. You know what I mean? Who are sitting here making up sources and bringing all these things. You don’t have to really worry about it too much. Most of the time most people are going to be impressed by you."

Forgetting about my existence (let me assure you, I do exist), his other point, which he and others stress throughout their lectures, is that people aren't attracted to Orthodoxy for intellectual reasons. Goes pretty well with Faranak Margolese's Off The Derech suggestion that almost all drop-outs from Orthodoxy leave because of bad experiences. You and I are evidence that this isn't the case, and the world is just beginning to realize that people have legitimate struggles with religion on intellectual grounds. But it doesn't matter, because I don't exist. Neither do you. Unsubscribe to XGH, OffTheDerech, DovBear, LubabNoMore, etc., save yourself some time - THEY ARE ALL MAKE BELIEVE.

R' Dovid Orlofsky: Evil Rosho Bloggers ______

You will never guess what R' Dovid Orlofsky said about us skeptic bloggers! Stay tuned for hilarity. (Don't hold your breath, but come back Sunday night when I'm back in town.)

Weird Post Over at Cross Currents

Eytan Kobre posted this today:

"I’ve been thinking of posting a piece or two on Jewish media bias and I still hope to do so. In the interim (which, in my case can last months . . .), however, I can’t resist posting the below item from today’s JTA News Bulletin, without comment.

No comment because even a thousand-word post couldn’t possibly make as clear as this item does just how profoundly out-of-touch JTA and other secular Jewish media outlets (who also get much of their material from JTA) are about the realities of Orthodox Jewish life. Unless, perhaps, using its telepathic powers or other forms of divination, it knows things about us that we don’t.

I only wish there was some way to convey to these media folks how embarrassing their publicly displayed ignorance of things Orthodox and, oftentimes of Jewish tradition, history and texts, is (assuming, that is, that they care.)

Rabbinic emissary to pray for rain

A thousand Orthodox rabbis are sending an emissary to Atlanta to pray for rain.

Rabbi [name omitted – EK] will perform an ancient prayer ritual Wednesday seeking divine help to end the drought in the South, the Christian Newswire reported. [The rabbi] reportedly performed the ritual in 1986, after which there was four days of rain.

“Orthodox Jews wish to show solidarity with those suffering from the drought and other natural disasters,” said [the rabbi]. “We want to kick off a nationwide movement of prayer. Furthermore, we wish to announce a program which we believe could curtail much of the disaster our country has been experiencing.”


What doesn't Eytan Kobre like here? Where's the ignorance of Orthodoxy? So what if the article makes the "ancient prayer ritual" sound completely wacko? Doesn't seem like the article says anything out of touch with mainstream Orthodox Judaism.

Guess Who!

In the spirit of Mississippi Fred MacDowell, give this one your best shot: