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Ask JTF For February 1, 2009

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Gimatria:
Dear Chaim,
what are your thoughts on Haskel Lookstein participating in the national prayer service on the morning of Brobama's inauguration? As part of the service, Lookstein - who calls himself an orthodox Rabbi - prayed in the a church (the national cathedral), and "prayed" alongside so-called muslim "clerics" (read: terrorists). Does Lookstein deserve a hearty "yemach sh'mo" for this action? What other transgressions has he committed?
Also, what do you think of Shlomo Riskin? I had heard that he moved to live in Efrat - does this make him heroic?
Finally, what are your thoughts on Shmuli Boteach and his support for the Arch-pervert, Michael Jackson? Has Boteach ever done anything redeeming or noble?
Long live JTF,
Gimatria

Masha:
Hi Chaim,

Sorry for the long question. I have a dearest friend from childhood who lives in Israel now. We maintain a regular phone contact and tend to have very long conversations of spiritual and philosophical nature. My friend has been very much into esoteric literature, which I don't know much about, but I am beginning to question the kind of literature she has been reading. For example, she has been studying Kabbalah and being very insistently that the concepts of the Good and Evil don't exist in Judaism, according to the Kabbalah. This sounds very "gnostic" to me, if you know what I mean. Chaim, I find it hard to believe that our great tradition and religion advocates that there is no evil in the world. I suspect that the Kabbalah has some very complex concept about balance or trial and correction or something like that that can only be properly understood in a proper context by a real Jewish scholar. But since I don't know what it is, I can't challenge her moral relativism. Can you please tell me what argument I can make against this idea? How should I answer her? I think it is not incidental that we fundamentally disagree on politics. There is no right and wrong for her. She feels sorry for the Arabs and belongs to some group that prays for peace together, sending "good vibes/energy/thoughts" to the Universe. I guess my larger question is about the legitimacy of all these esoteric/New Age books, ideas, and movements that are so incredibly popular today. Of course, I would also like to believe in paranormal abilities, secret knowledge, wish fulfillment, as in the movie "The Secret," but something tells me I should be very careful and not succumb to the temptation to embrace these philosophies. I also get a feeling that there is something apocalyptic about this esoteric hysteria. That we live in the end of times.

davinci:
Shalom Chaim

What do you think of British filmdirector Alfred Hitchcock?

Kind regards

davinci

Abben:
Hello Chaim On the ask JTF of 11-23-08 I asked about Michael Klenier. I missed that program and when I go to the archive it says 11-16-08 so I will ask again. I remember on the older JTF website and the shows on qptv you used to mention him but then stopped did you and him have a falling out thanks. G-D bless

harel156:
Dear Chaim.
We are coming towards the next president’s day, a federal holiday. I, for one exclude Lincoln as a president that did good for the U.S.A. I do not understand why he is so revered? (Did you notice that Obama went to worship Lincoln before being sworn in!) Lincoln forced his dictatorial will on the south and started a war that cost more the 600,000 lives. The south wanted to separate from the north, and define their way of life, why did he not let them be? I can write more about this. What are your thoughts?

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