Avi's Spiritual and Religious Journey - Part 2

[Avi1001]

Make sure you let her know your scorn for ritual practice and your dismissiveness of halachot you deem unrelated to morality and ethics as superstition. And how you derided thinkers like the Rosh and the Meiri and R' Eliezer Berkovits (with whom she studied) as archaic and worth reading to disprove their antiquated ideas. She'll love hearing that.

Hehe..Levite......can I send her your quote...in the way of a personal introduction ?.....I bet she will welcome me...

 

[Levite]

Hehe..Levite......can I send her your quote...in the way of a personal introduction ?.....I bet she will welcome me...

Feel free. I said nothing you have not said yourself, so by all means, you send her that, and when she asks you about it and you give her your opinions, you see what kind of welcome you get.

 

[Avi1001]

Feel free. I said nothing you have not said yourself, so by all means, you send her that, and when she asks you about it and you give her your opinions, you see what kind of welcome you get.

Ok...letter sent to Reb Rachael....will send you her response...

 

[Avi1001]

What? Do you realize you are violating one of the Commandments of the Internet by asking people to know something before offering an opinion?

Hehe...I know that no one will actually read the article....

 

[Avi1001]

Topic: France Recognizes Palastine

I just heard this on the radio...

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2014/12/03/world/europe/france-vote-recognize-palestine.html?referrer=

 

[metis]

Topic: France Recognizes Palastine

I just heard this on the radio...

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2014/12/03/world/europe/france-vote-recognize-palestine.html?referrer=

I'm not surprised.

 

[sun rise]

Topic: France Recognizes Palastine

I just heard this on the radio...

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2014/12/03/world/europe/france-vote-recognize-palestine.html?referrer=

I'm not at all surprised. I assume that in another few years Israel's last remaining supporter will be the US and almost all of the rest of the world will have recognized Palestine as a nation.

 

[Avi1001]

I'm not at all surprised. I assume that in another few years Israel's last remaining supporter will be the US and almost all of the rest of the world will have recognized Palestine as a nation.

Not an unlikely situation. It will make Israel a tougher neighborhood.

 

[sun rise]

Not an unlikely situation. It will make Israel a tougher neighborhood.

I can't see how it can get tougher without daily deaths on both sides with no pause between bouts - like Syria/Iraq is today.

 

[Avi1001]

Feel free. I said nothing you have not said yourself, so by all means, you send her that, and when she asks you about it and you give her your opinions, you see what kind of welcome you get.

I sent a very chatty letter to Reb Rachael and here is her response:

Dear Avi,

Thank you very much for your lovely note. I am very pleased to learn about your love and dedication to reform Judaism. I can see you are very well knowledgable about reform thought and I have great respect for your views, as a scientist and engineer. The reform movement needs more members like you !

By the way, I am in full agreement that ethical and moral behavior is the most important aspect of reform Judaism.

Also, I am sympathetic to your situation in the forum. I know how difficult it is to be a dedicated reform Jew, amongst a bunch of Conservative and Orthodox Jews. Don't feel badly that you have many of them on ignore, believe me, you are not missing much.

And last, keep fighting the good fight, Avi. As our good friend and hero, Mordeci Kaplan believed, we must understand what it means to be the "Chosen". It means we have a higher level of responsibilities, so keep your nose clean, and everything will be honkey dorey !

And, by the way, I hope we can continue to communicate this way. It is a total blast to share my ideas with you and let you bring them to your friends at the forum.

Best,
Reb Rachael

 

[Levite]

I sent a very chatty letter to Reb Rachael and here is her response:

Yeah, that's crap.

I learned with her for years. I could recognize her writing style anywhere. That's not even a good fake.

Especially where "she" spelled her own name wrong. Or Mordecai Kaplan's name wrong. Or "hunky dory," an expression she would never use. She's almost OCD when it comes to spelling and grammar, and always writes with a very formal style.

She seldom answers e-mail from strangers quickly-- this is way, way too fast for her, especially around exam season (now), when she'll be busy with grading. Also, she is extremely retiring and private, and would never say that an e-mail from a random stranger was "a blast," and invite further communication.

Honestly, what possible motivation could you have for something like this? This was idiotic, even for you.

 

[Avi1001]

Yeah......the letter is in this envelop... a child of four can plainly see, this envelope has been hermetically sealed. It's been kept in a #2 mayonnaise jar on Funk and Wagnall's back porch since noon today.

 

[Avi1001]

Yeah, that's crap.....

....I learned with her for years. I could recognize her writing style anywhere. That's not even a good fake......

Honestly, what possible motivation could you have for something like this? This was idiotic, even for you.

I would like to provide some answers to these important questions:

Answer: "The La Brea Tar Pits"......

Question: ......"What do you have left after eating the La Brea Tar Peaches?"

and

Answer: Over 105 in Los Angeles" (presumably referring to the temperature).....

Question: ......Under the Obama plan, how old would you have to be to collect Social Security?"

 

[Flankerl]

If it weren't so sad one would laugh.

 

[sun rise]

To me, among the worst if not the worst kind of thread is one in which turns into a question of whether or not someone is lying. I don't know Reb Rachel nor do I know the people here well enough to disclose my guess as to who is being honest, but I do know that this kind of thing bothers me greatly. And it makes me want to avoid the liar since I will never be sure if the person is telling the truth or not. Life is too short to waste time on such speculation.

 

[Levite]

I would like to provide some answers to these important questions:

Answer: "The La Brea Tar Pits"......

Question: ......"What do you have left after eating the La Brea Tar Peaches?"

and

Answer: Over 105 in Los Angeles" (presumably referring to the temperature).....

Question: ......Under the Obama plan, how old would you have to be to collect Social Security?"

So, in other words, you fabricated a stupid note that you claimed was from a prominent theologian because you find misplaced excessively juvenile humor to be funny.

Not, I confess, that I ever took you particularly seriously before, but can you offer any compelling reason why you ought to be taken seriously ever again?

 

[Levite]

...I don't know Reb Rachel...

FWIW, she goes by Rabbi Adler or Dr. Adler. She cordially loathes the usage of Rabbi+First Name, and dislikes female rabbis using "Reb" instead of Rabbi, as she feels it is the product of female rabbis trying to placate men who are uncomfortable with women claiming the title of rabbi.

 

[sun rise]

Dishonesty here won't have this kind of result, but it underlined something important for me

Vet confronts alleged military faker at the mall

Vet confronts alleged military faker at the mall

 

[sun rise]

FWIW, she goes by Rabbi Adler or Dr. Adler. She cordially loathes the usage of Rabbi+First Name, and dislikes female rabbis using "Reb" instead of Rabbi, as she feels it is the product of female rabbis trying to placate men who are uncomfortable with women claiming the title of rabbi.

That's good to know. I think it's polite to refer to someone as they wish unless there's a very good reason to do otherwise.

 

[Avi1001]

To me, among the worst if not the worst kind of thread is one in which turns into a question of whether or not someone is lying. I don't know Reb Rachel nor do I know the people here well enough to disclose my guess as to who is being honest, but I do know that this kind of thing bothers me greatly. And it makes me want to avoid the liar since I will never be sure if the person is telling the truth or not. Life is too short to waste time on such speculation.

And here, I thought you were a "Professional Kibitzer"......