tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12539676.post113322172289945241..comments2010-11-20T10:56:29.441-08:00Comments on Lee's Life: Jews in Alabama Podcastleehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16244031582743444270noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12539676.post-1133450857504345222005-12-01T07:27:00.000-08:002005-12-01T07:27:00.000-08:00Carol --- As you know, other followers like Peter ...Carol --- As you know, other followers like Peter thought to follow Jesus, who they thought of as the Jewish messiah, you would first have to become Jewish. Paul decided that being Jewish, not the bris, was the impediment. It wasn't so much that it was a hard sell, I think --- look at the things people pierce today... <BR/><BR/>I am certainly not consistent! But I think there is a difference here, and that is the kind of mitzvah. <BR/><BR/>When I was talking about kashrut, the idea was that it's a good step in the right direction to go to a non-kosher restaurant and get the vegetarian options. And the intent makes a huge difference. If you are mindful that it's a step in the right direction, vs thinking that the rest of your life eating the bean burritos at Taco Bell is kosher enough for you. You'll be eating the rest of your life, so if the best you can do is eat non-meat at subway, it's an ok place now --- as you grow as a Jew, you can get more observant. It's like the idea that what makes you Orthodox isn't your piety. It isn't what percentage of the 613 you do properly. It's whether you agree that God gave them to us and we are bound by them and the oral law and the halacha today. If we say that we're not able or ready yet to follow them all, that's not being Reform or Conservative--- it's being a not very observant but still Orthodox person, because the aim is to do more mitzvot.<BR/><BR/>However, it's hard for me to see any ladder of growth with a mitzvah you do once, when your kid is 8 days old... you get one chance to do it, and not only that, but it's such a huge Jewish thing. I just read that Emperor Augustus commanded Jews stop circumcisions because it was mutilation of the body... I';m sure it was not the only time. I;ve said this before, but to me, the mizvot that are more odd feel more authentic to me, because it makes more sense that a God that's a real God would end up asking us to do things that, to us, seem a bit off. Otherwise the Universe is too easily understood, and then it's a pretty boring place.leehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16244031582743444270noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12539676.post-1133429019361182412005-12-01T01:23:00.000-08:002005-12-01T01:23:00.000-08:00Christians deleted the brit part because they want...Christians deleted the brit part because they wanted followers and lets face it-asking people to cut off their foreskin is a hard sell.<BR/>I get lost when you say that a Jew saying he believes in Jesus is less of a problem than a Jew who does not want a brit and at the same time you say reform Jews are not practicing Judaism. Orthodoxy is the only true form but when I said to Raya that Subway isn't Kosher even if you only get non meat sandwiches you thought that any level was okay. However the Orthodox don't view it that way.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com