JUDAISM-----is it for everybody?
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Insanouts Posted - 28 August 2002 20:16
For Rabbi Mod:
This may be disregarded because it may not seem like a question, but a statement, but it is important to me that u comment on it as I am wondering about it's Torah validity.
(its kind of a dialogue, if unclear I'll bli neder elaborate)
If I compare Judaism to a fruit that I found that is sooo unbelievably delicious, I want to share it with everyone I can because I want them all to also enjoy it so much.
If someone tastes it and chooses not to take more, I wouldn’t hate them or not want to be their friend, I would just maybe feel bad that they’re not getting this awesome experience.
So you could say that Jewish (completely orthodox, even "black hat") ppl think their fruit (complete and total orthodoxy,)is the best for everyone (in a cookie cutter kinda way), in which case a person can say, yeah but I don’t like that fruit, I enjoy my fruit better!
Which is okay for fruit because then you would say, sure- you eat your fruit, I'll eat mine, and well all live happily ever after, and well both think that the other guy duznt know what he's missing.
But you could say that Judaism isn’t like that, that the Rabbis think that every single person should be frum.
In which case one can say - "yeah but lets say I don’t LIKE that fruit- it may be enjoyable for you but its NOT FOR ME, I don’t think it tastes good, you go eat what u want and Ill eat what I want"
But the guys says back- but it could be you’re not enjoying it as much because its acidic, and you just brushed your teeth. Even though its delicious you don’t taste it in your sitch right now.
(Proof being that if I as a frum Yid ask you if I can order a salad in a non kosher restaurant you'd say absolutely not and if I had committed to kashrus just yesterday and ask u the same question the answer being totally diff. )
So yes the fruit has to be cut differently in different times, places and for diff people.
Which would be manifested in this example:
"Dear Moderator I am being abused and Im not in school and I have cancer and my parents are in jail and my sister is retarded, help me be happy"
You would probably not write back "Dear anonymous, you should keep shabbos and mitzvos etc and learn torah all day then you will be happy"
cuz Judaism is a wholeness thing.
And sometimes you do need to mash up the fruit, and you probably would deal a lot differently with a BY girl talking to a guy behind the counter for 10 minutes then with a tinok shenishba doing the same.
Thus possibly meaning that the ultimate most detailed most serious kind of Judaism is not necessarily for all ppl at all times...
Thus perhaps suggesting that the Torah is not ultimate perfection?
Again, if this is unclear please let me know.
Thank you, Rabbi.
MODERATOR Posted - 28 August 2002 20:22
Torah was given by G-d, with instructions for the entire world, which was created by G-d.
Just like everyone was created by G-d, everyone is connected to the Torah, which is a reflection of G-d, the Creator.
The difference between your apple and Judaism is that regarding Judaism, even if someone does not like its taste, it still benefits him since it will give him life in this world and the next, regardless of whether he is on a level to realize that.
It is analogous to a world of poisoned apples and one healthy one. The poisoned ones may taste better, but they’re still not best for you.
If someone would realize the benefits the Torah has for him, and the detriment of not following it, they surely would choose Torah.
The reason they do not realize this is either they do not know, or because there is a Yetzer Horah that was created specifically to distract people from thinking about this. Your apple, in your story, does not.
So in other words, those who do not like this "apple" only do so because they are blinded by the Yetzer Horah. You would be doing them a favor by not allowing them to kill themselves by rejecting it.
If someone were going to jump off a roof, would you say that for him, life is just an apple that he feels is better rejected?
Or would you say that he is not thinking straight for whatever reason. (And please don’t respond with cases where a person has such a messed up life that it makes sense for him to want to die. Im not talking about that now.)
Yes, the Torah is definitely for everyone. G-d said so, and He knows best.
Insanouts Posted - 29 August 2002 18:52
Okay. Thank you.
So then why would you not tell a person who's not frum and in trouble with the law etc etc whatever, that they should go move to meah shearim and learn the whole day?
Where does the whole widely-cliché-in-BY thing of "taking small steps" fit in- if to do it all fully is the best way, which I have no doubt that it is, then y is it more healthy sometimes not to do it all at once?
If s/o comes to a rabbi and says they wanna become a BT and they know absolutely NOTHING I don’t think they would in one day start wearing bulletproof tights and not eating chalav stam...etc...even though I think those things ARE better but the way I’ve heard is slow, one step at a time.
So what’s the story?
MODERATOR Posted - 29 August 2002 19:00
It definitely would be much better for them if they would indeed just change their lifestyle overnight. The problem is, humans are humans, and being used to a totally different lifestyle, it will be very very hard for them to do just change suddenly. It takes an almost impossible amount of self-discipline and willpower. They are more likely not to give up if they take it slowly and get used to it little by little.
Its like stopping smoking for instance - going "cold turkey" is very hard - so you cut down little by little till you are ready never to smoke again. it doesn’t mean that smoking isn’t bad for anybody - it just means that people being humans are more likely to stick with lifestyle change if it comes in stages.
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