UK Chief Rabbi addresses US Senate: beneath vermin*!

[Kahane-Was-Right BT]

 

Have to concur with muman there.  "Our steve?"  Lol

[wonga66]

According to this http://soulmazal.blogspot.com/2011/10/how-many-ipods-does-it-take-to-power.html Steve Jobs helped in both a positive and a negative way to hasten the Messianic Age by bringing the i-pad in to the Beis Hamedrash!

[muman613]

According to this http://soulmazal.blogspot.com/2011/10/how-many-ipods-does-it-take-to-power.html Steve Jobs helped in both a positive and a negative way to hasten the Messianic Age by bringing the i-pad in to the Beis Hamedrash!

Another JTFer has cast suspicious on Rabbi Katz.... Now who are we supposed to believe?

http://jtf.org/forum/index.php/topic,58412.msg525544.html#msg525544

[Tag-MehirTzedek]

Another JTFer has cast suspicious on Rabbi Katz.... Now who are we supposed to believe?

http://jtf.org/forum/index.php/topic,58412.msg525544.html#msg525544

  You ask - "Who are we supposed to believe" as if this is a hard thing to figure out. We don't take things out of faith. We are supposed to use logic, sense (would says common sense, but see that it is not soo common these days) and the Torah in discovering the truth.
  - And wonga why do you keep posting these types of things, is it trying to get a response by others?

[muman613]

 You ask - "Who are we supposed to believe" as if this is a hard thing to figure out. We don't take things out of faith. We are supposed to use logic, sense (would says common sense, but see that it is not soo common these days) and the Torah in discovering the truth.
  - And wonga why do you keep posting these types of things, is it trying to get a response by others?

Obviously, but we are supposed to create for ourselves a Rabbi, or make someone our Rabbi as per the wisdom of Pirkie Avot.

http://www.torah.org/learning/pirkei-avos/chapter1-6a.html

Chapter 1, Mishna 6(a)

Rabbis Versus Friends

By Rabbi Dovid Rosenfeld


"Yehoshua ben (son of) Perachia and Nittai of Arbel received the transmission from them [the rabbis of Mishna 4]. Yehoshua ben Perachia said, make for yourself a rabbi, acquire for yourself a friend, and judge every person favorably."

This mishna brings us to the next generation of scholars and the advice they offered to their and future generations. We are still in one of the earliest generations of the Mishna.

Yehoshua first advises us that we "make" for ourselves a rabbi. We discussed recently (Mishna 4) the role of the Torah scholar within Judaism. As we saw, a rabbi is hardly a religious functionary, conducting services at a synagogue, wedding or funeral, nor is he simply one who is asked to decide matters of Jewish law. A true rabbi is firstly one who serves as a role model for his community, who does not only teach G-d's Torah, but who lives and exemplifies those same values as well.

Second, the true Torah scholar is one who is imbued with the entire gamut of Torah knowledge -- and thus, he is the only one truly able to take that wisdom and apply it to real life situations. Life is far more complicated than ritual and religious ceremony. We are constantly faced with challenges -- struggling with our own natures and in our relationships with others. Many of the decisions we must make during our days and in the course of our lives are in reality religious by nature. Take for example our professional lives. How does the lawyer defend a client he knows to be guilty as sin? How does the psychologist deal with a patient who may be a danger to his family or to society? Say a patient (or close friend) confesses to having committed a serious crime or having a drug addiction? Is one obligated to turn him in, or does true friendship imply confidentiality? When may the doctor provide experimental or alternative treatment to his patient? Say an acquaintance calls during off hours for medical treatment or advice. Does the Torah obligate one with the appropriate know-how to help? How much of my employer's time (or paper) may I waste assuming it's understood (I hope none of you are reading this on work time...) -- or because everyone else does it? How do I deal with employees (possibly myself) who are in the habit of talking behind the boss' back? How much of my earnings must I give to charity -- and to which types of charities? How do I balance my career with family obligations, with Torah study, and with community involvement? And how should I *act*? How friendly and outgoing should I be to others? How much effort should I put in to mending a strained relationship, and when is it time to walk away? What is the proper manner of disciplining my children? How do I draw the line between parenting and butting in? How much respect should I demand of my children? Should I interfere with their every bad practice and association, or should I let them learn life experiences on their own? And how should I get along with my own parents -- possibly whose religious values differ greatly from my own? And am I obligated in their healthcare?

The questions are endless and ongoing -- and they are really what religion is all about. Far beyond what color yarmulke a person wears, these are the issues which truly define if we are Torah-observant and G-d-fearing Jews. And for such issues Israel needs rabbis. Virtually none of the questions above can be answered with a single verse or law in the Talmud. Our Sages had much to say about all such issues. There are priorities and considerations which must be carefully weighed and balanced. And the answers may very well not be the same for any two people.

http://www.torah.org/learning/pirkei-avos/chapter1-16.html

"Rabban Gamliel said, make for yourself a rabbi, remove yourself from doubt, and do not give extra tithes due to estimation."

.
.
.
The focus of this mishna is slightly different. Maimonides distinguishes between the earlier message and this one. Above the focus was on having a teacher for the study of Torah, on having a rabbi to take the tradition and pass it along to the next generation -- and to you in particular. Here, however, the focus is on a rabbi to decide matters of Jewish law. Rather than using your own guesswork to determine what G-d wants of you, be sure to have someone reliable to deal with all of your questions. It should preferably be someone to whom you relate well, someone who understands your background and the particulars of your life and circumstances.

Equally important, one should adopt a single rabbi rather than choosing from an assortment. People are in the bad habit today of "shopping around" for opinions, searching until they find a leniency -- or a stringency. (Takes all kinds, you know.) The ideal, however, is to select a single and proper mentor for yourself -- and to submit yourself to his decisions. Who it is may depend upon your geographical location, schooling, synagogue membership, religious affiliation, or family ties (note I didn't mention favorite website ;-) . Regardless, each of us must find his or her own rabbi, and faithfully stick with him. And in so doing he will "remove himself from doubt:" his religious practices will be uniform and consistent.
.
.
.

[muman613]

Obviously neither of these two are to be made Rabbis by any of us. I currently still consider Rabbi Kahane to be my main spiritual guide. I also count Rabbi Lazer Brody and Rabbi Chaim Richman among my trusted Rabbis. And I have three Rabbis I personally know who I consider to be good sources of Jewish wisdom...

[Tag-MehirTzedek]

Obviously neither of these two are to be made Rabbis by any of us. I currently still consider Rabbi Kahane to be my main spiritual guide. I also count Rabbi Lazer Brody and Rabbi Chaim Richman among my trusted Rabbis. And I have three Rabbis I personally know who I consider to be good sources of Jewish wisdom...

 It says make for yourself a Rabbi- how do you make it (choose)? Through faith or logic? (This is rhetorical).

[muman613]

It says make for yourself a Rabbi- how do you make it (choose)? Through faith or logic? (This is rhetorical).

I agree with you to a degree... But when a Jew who has gone off the derek returns and is told that he must not mix dairy and meat it requires a certain degree of faith in order to follow the commandments. This is the whole concept of Chock, or a commandment which has no basis in logic or reason. If a Jew were to only do those things which made sense to him then many mitzvahs would fall away. The Chokim are there in order for us to demonstrate our faith.

[Tag-MehirTzedek]

I agree with you to a degree... But when a Jew who has gone off the derek returns and is told that he must not mix dairy and meat it requires a certain degree of faith in order to follow the commandments. This is the whole concept of Chock, or a commandment which has no basis in logic or reason. If a Jew were to only do those things which made sense to him then many mitzvahs would fall away. The Chokim are there in order for us to demonstrate our faith.

 I said within the system of the Torah. This is what I said exactly- "We are supposed to use logic, sense (would says common sense, but see that it is not soo common these days) and the Torah in discovering the truth.
  This is obviously after accepting the whole system of the Torah, and not just bites and pieces.

[maelgwyn]

Sacks is a lacky for the Goys ! & lives in a fools paradise!

[Kahane-Was-Right BT]

 
  - And wonga why do you keep posting these types of things, is it trying to get a response by others?

That's basically the game he plays here.

[Zelhar]

Wonga is half Jew and half troll.

[wonga66]

The British Chief Rabbi Sacks may actually like to hear Xtians singing Xmas carols in praise of Yoshki, but he doesn't actually have to tell us he does!!

http://www.jewishtelegraph.com/



Lord Sacks told politicians and Jewish communal leaders at the Scottish Parliament: “Jewish and other faith communities love the fact that Christians celebrate Christmas.

“When I go to Trafalgar Square and hear carols being sung I feel uplifted.”

Asked about the secularisation of religion in Britain, he responded:

“We must recognise that for centuries, religious groups have had very little to do.

“All the things that they used to do have been taken over by some agency or other. I believe that religion now has a great deal to do to bring it back into the public space.

“The economic crash came about because of the cost of housing. People forgot the true values of the home.

“Religion has to come and remind us of the things that have value, but not at a price — the sense that each of us has worth and we are all precious in the eyes of God.”

“Yousaf Humza MSP asked if the Jewish community shared the fears of the Muslim community about the perception that the minority cultures were imposing their cultures on the majority.

Lord Sacks said: “It is the secularists who make claims on behalf of other religions that are very untrue.

“We are about to celebrate Interfaith Week and the big challenge is to bring the news to the public that the different faith groups get along together and enjoy being part of the British culture.

“We have to keep trying to get the media to make positive news. It’s always the enemies that portray religion in false colours.”

Later, addressing the Scottish Parliament, he said we lived in tough times but turbulence went deeper than the current financial crisis, the threat of economic recession and the political turmoil in Europe.

“The tectonic plates of history itself are shifting,” he went on.

“They are doing so because of the cumulative, accelerating changes brought about by new information technology, from the web to smart phones to instantaneous global communication, which will transform our world as profoundly as did the invention of printing in the 15th century.

“Our world is changing and we cannot tell where that will lead. We can, though, surely say what we need to negotiate that change.

“The key word is hope. Hope is often confused with another idea, namely optimism.

“They sound similar but actually they are quite different.

“Optimism is the belief that things will get better; hope is the belief that, together, we can make the world better.

“Optimism is a passive virtue, hope an active one. It needs no courage at all to be an optimist, but it takes a great deal of courage to hope.”

Hope, he said, was born when we saw ourselves as co-authors of our future, worked together for the common good and “for the sake of our grandchildren not yet born”.

He added: “It is one of the noblest tasks of politics in an age of change to sustain a vision of hope, knowing that what none of us can do on our own, all of us can do together.

“Hope alone has the power to defeat the politics of fear.”

Speaking at a communal meeting that evening about anti-Zionist and antisemitic incidents in Edinburgh, St Andrews and other universities in the UK, Lord Sacks said: “I view what is happening to be the reverse of academic freedom and it is totally unacceptable.

“When you allow the intimidation of speakers and a platform for advocates of hatred, that is the death of academic freedom.

“There are major issues on campus and I think we should practice zero tolerance.”

Lord Sacks believed his greatest achievement as Chief Rabbi had been in education, with 65 to 75 per cent of Jewish children attending Jewish schools today, compared to 25 to 35 per cent in 1991.

He added: “I wanted to be able to talk to society as a whole.

“I tried to develop a presence and I believe this has created an environment for Jews as a whole to be unafraid to stand up and say what they believe in.”

Following his visit to Glasgow, Lord Sacks attended a breakfast meeting at St Andrews University before going to Aberdeen, where he received an honorary LLD degree from the University of Aberdeen.

He was also a guest of the Aberdeen Hebrew Congregation.

[Lewinsky Stinks, Dr. Brennan Rocks]

I'm sure this guy is a piece of dreck but how is Pope Ratzinger an Ishmaelite?