Tikkun Olam

 A few tidbits and pieces of information from surfing the Web.  Perhaps they'll peek your interest... Just read about a young Hareidi woman who insisted on serving in the IDF .  She apparently impressed others with the courage of her convictions, and was a role model for others, some of whom became interested in being more observant.  And to top that off--read the article--someone said about this girl that she should have died instead.  What is Judaism coming to??!   Sharia law, that's what.  We must nip it in the bud. Have researched the issue of " Kol Isha " (the voice of a woman), and here is something interesting relating to this so-called 'halacha.'  The opinions have moved very far to the right from even when I was growing up.  I totally disagree with the machmir (stringent) view, as you can well imagine.  The 'rabbanim' have sexualized everything about women-- everything , to the point where we must wonder why G-d created us ...

There is a serious problem unfolding within religious Judaism, which seem very apparent to non-observant Jews, but which many observant Jews are afraid to address. It boils down to the rapid movement towards a Sharia-like fundamentalism prevalent in the Ultra-Orthodox and even in some more modern Orthodox Jewish communities. Non - observant Jews cry out against what is happening, because they see these fringe and not-so-fringe groups of Ultra-Orthodox as representing all Jews, or maybe it's more correct to say all observant Jews.  And they use these terrible behaviors--and I do believe they are terrible--to reinforce their secular way of life, and to reinforce their rejection of the Jewish religion as "fanatic." Here are two articles addressing these issues, both published in the Forward, the authors of which express views 180 degrees opposed to each other.  There are elements of truth in both, but I personally believe that the problematic issues are not being addre...

 I was reading comments on another blog, and one commenter related a joke, which was pretty funny, but got me to thinking about Judaism, and and change.  Some change can be good, and some change, unnecessary, and even bad. This was the joke: An old man goes to visit his nonobservant grandson. He asks, "What's that on your necklace?" The young man proudly says, "It's my mezuzah! See, I'm proud to be Jewish!" The old man goes to the door and starts looking around the doorway. "What are you looking for, Pops?" "I'm looking for your tzitzis!" I am throwing this post out there for discussion, as I could be wrong (moi? never!), and anyway I would love to dialogue with my readers, many who might be more knowledgeable than I. For centuries, Judaism - and I am speaking of Ashkenazic Judaism, because that is my background, and I know less about the Sephardic stream - was more or less unchanged.  A "Jew" was n...