Different Kinds Of Jews (II)

Continued from Different Kinds Of Jews (I)

Well, you'd be surprised to know that in a weird way my parents and I were "orthodox" (that's right, bacon eating orthodox Jews). While my parents raised me to "not believe in God" they also raised me to be a Jewish nationalist. Their sect is very common in Israel, a little less so in the west. This sect looks down on Reform Judaism, Conservative Judaism and any other "watered down" Judaism as less Jewish, or almost "not Jewish" but assimilationist! Yet they themselves profess not to be religious, even to be secular and even many "atheist." So the Judaism that my parents didn't practice and yet were of ws the orthodox brand. This sect is so strong in Israel (and my parents never even visited Israel) that in alliance with the actual Talmud toting hirsute wearers of black, this sect has helped marginalize Reform Judaism and Conservative Judaism in Israhell. So a rabbi of either of those "watered down" branches cannot, for example, perform a marriage in Israel. This is a political problem because most Jews in the West who attend any Jewish religious services at all go to the "watered down" branches, and so if they go to the stolen land of milk and honey their religion, though Jewish, is actually "second class" under the law.

Okay so "mom religious orthodox Jews" are a kind of Jew, as are Reform and Conservative and Reconstructionist Jews also kinds of Jews.

I mentioned the Talmud here. Now when I was going to cheder (Jewish after-school) the school was also called "Talmud-Torah." People who study about the Talmud online have found that the book(s) is pretty much hostile to Christianity and to non-Jews, though thee are sites that also deny this. I can say that in Talmud-Torah back then, over fifty years ago, I was not taught any of these hostile to Christianity doctrines directly out of the Talmud. I would not have believed that they exist. Now to me Talmudic Judaism involves a lot of game playing with God. Let me explain. As an example, let's look at the sabbath elevator. Orthodox Judaism has adapted to modern artifacts such as the elevator by ruling that one may enter an elevator on the Sabbath but one may not press a button to direct the elevator to a given floor. So in New York in lots of public buildings you have a Sabbath elevator that is programmed between Friday and Saturday sundowns to stop at every floor of the building without anyone having to press a button. so the Talmud believer may enter the elevator, go to his desired floor and not violate the Sabbath injunction against working. (If he walks several flights of stairs he is not working, if he rides an elevator he is working.) If God indeed prohibits "working" on the sabbath this is one way to "get around" that rule.


Next we look at the proscription on "carrying" on the sabbath. Orthodox rabbis say that one may not carry house keys or a book, for example, outside the walls of one's home on the sabbath. This presents a problem, but they also present a way to "get around" the rule. They get local secular authorities to create an "eruv" make believe walss of a make believe home, so that orthodox Jews may "carry", and even read a book in a public place, because God now believes that the public place is really a part of the Orthodox Jew's home and therefore grants a pass on the "no carry" rule. This involves having the uthorities to connect by string or netting public lamposts so that the zone inside the string or netting is a "modified permissive zone for the Talmud toters.
http://www.yaledailynews.com/articles/view/17868?badlink=1

I'll get bak top all this later.