Today I learned about Eruvs, courtesy of C. Steven Tucker.
(I have a theory, maybe he’ll show up and confirm it. Tucker found this video by searching “wire tapping” on youtube.)
What’s an Eruv? Well, it’s a wire. It stretches above cities, and most people don’t know it’s there. Why is it there?
Well, it’s a loophole that waters down a discipline in Judaism that says you can’t carry objects outside of the house on the Sabbath.
You see, Rabbis got a clever idea.
“What if we enclose a large portion of the city with a string which represents a wall, which represents a wall of our house?”
What if you just do away with tenets you don’t like instead of concocting loopholes?
Here, watch. I never knew about this.
Short aside.
When I was a kid I lived in an apartment building. 12 floors.
One day I was in the back and a woman on the 4th or 5th floor started yelling at me. She kept shouting the number of her apartment. She said she needed help.
I was leery, but I went.
I was creeped out, the whole time thinking I was going to be abducted.
Turns out she wanted me to “turn on her oven.” (No, that’s not a euphemism. I was 9.)
She was orthodox and couldn’t light the oven, on this holy day, according to her faith.
I remember thinking, “that was totally just cheating.”
That was my introduction to orthodox judaism.
Here’s a better idea: Get a sensible religion.
It’s not like there aren’t a zillion to choose from, if you feel you need one.
🙂
BFH. There is an ERUV running along the 8th Hole at The Rock. It’s a very thin wire, about 8 foot high, and runs from tree to tree just over the white OOB stakes. A Rabbi lives on the property.
I never thought they would have one in NYC. But WTF!
Seems quite handy when you can stop the reach of the Almighty with a piece of string.
Clever that.
Or delusional.
Yeah, that’ll prolly fool God …
Isn’t that like the notion that “Allah” does his bookwork on Tuesdays, so izlamics can engage in sodomy, and the like, and “Allah” won’t know about it?
Sounds pretty thin.
izlamo delenda est …
These poor people are still living under laws-regulations and customs after 2,000 years. They killed the messenger but never heard His message-I AM they way the truth and the life. The cross has freed you from the law.
Subtitle: How to easily and cheaply get around your own Laws whenever it’s convenient to do so.
Vietvet March 12, 2017 at 3:59 pm
Here’s a better idea: Get a sensible religion.
It’s not like there aren’t a zillion to choose from, if you feel you need one.
_________________________
There was a time in my life (mid 20’s) when I felt I needed a religion. As it turns out, the religion was just as legalistic as the Jewish religion. It was quite a journey for me, I haven’t felt the need for a religion since. This ERUV crap hit a nerve.
JPT,
Yes, the video is an exact modern depiction of the pharisees of old. “They say, but do not do,” as He said.
Lighten up. All religions have their quirks. Judaism is totally fascinating with many creative ways to continue the faith in modern times. At least we have a sense of humor about it.
And this, boys and girls, is why Jews make excellent lawyers.
I have an ERUV. It’s the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
“But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart. Nevertheless when it shall turn to the Lord, the vail shall be taken away. Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.” 2Corinthians3:15-17
Legalism… a bad idea then, a bad idea now.
I remember talking to a priest a long time ago around about my confirmation (60’s which was a time of great change in the Catholic church) and he said that as long as I truly believed that my actions were not sinful then it was not a sin in the eyes of God. Now I was asking in regards to whether I actually had to confess my sins to a priest and being as how impure thoughts and er, actions was technically a sin but not as far as I was concerned it was a great out for me. Over the years that and some other things turned me into more of a “Catholic Lite” where I am now. I think just about all religions have some degree of flexibility about them it’s just that Islam Fundamentalism seems attracts those that can’t or won’t think for themselves, have no self-esteem and no conscience and a deep desire to inflict, by any means, their views on everyone else.
I bring you these 15…. crash…. these 10 commandments.
Or something like that. It’s been years since I saw that movie.
Remembered right.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=I48hr8HhDv0
This is how smart people keep the useful parts of their religion while circumventing the parts that can hold them back in the modern world or, in fact, be harmful.
Muslims should pay attention and transform their religion from one that idolizes a pedophile, misogynist, homophobe, psychopath warlord. Maybe instead of making women wear burqas the men could sew their own eyes shut?
And Moses asked the Lord, “how much do they cost”?
And the Lord said, “they are free.”
“Then I’ll take ten,” said Moses
@cfm990: You win the comment thread with that one.
🙂
@Page O Turner: So maybe they can find a way to symbolically chop off body parts without actually doing it?
😉
@ Vet. I figure if you can loophole the Lord, you’s doin some hardcore lawyering.
where theres a will, theres a way.
Just seems like an awful lot of trouble.
The traditions and laws of Judaism have been developed over thousands of years. Just learning how it was codified makes fascinating reading. Every last law and custom is discussed by many Rabbis thru the ages. Just reading the different commentaries of the laws and traditions is a learning experience. The so called “loopholes” are not the point. How they were arrived at is. The reasoning and logic is rich with history, faith and culture.
If Catholics invoked the “No Unnecessary Servile Work on Sundays and Holy Days of Obligation” rule, they would certainly have bollixed up the Police and Fire Departments of the country. ERUV wires and prayer rugs a phucken stupid. Time to get real.
Judaism allows and requires the Sabbath rules be broken to save a life.
I always thought the Jews were smart, but never realized they could out-smart their God.
there are people who make sure the eruv is still intact before each Sabbath. and carry out repairs if there are any breaks. the boston eruv cost 70,000 in the 90s to create. it is constantly extended.
That’s gonna be some judgement day when you are gonna have to explain this BS.
Yes, it’s fucking bullshit, and I wonder if the City of New York, tax payers, are not paying for these expensive Cherry Pickers to fix the Eruv wires?
Form Irony: “That’s gonna be some judgement day when you are gonna have to explain this BS.”
No, these are the actions of those who know there will be no ‘judgement day’.
Fooling your self is one thing, thinking you will fool God when it matters is something else. These Jews know the time of the return isn’t going to happen.
They were involved intimately in the transcription of those events long ago. They steered the edits. It’s why they don’t have that much use for Jesus, other than saying he was a nice Jew boy.
Eruvs are like Sabbath ovens & those pieces of plastic the Jews use that “might” cause the lights to turn on, on Sabbath. I forget what those are called, but like the ovens, they sometimes cause house fires and kill the whole family. Those whacky Orthodox & their religious cheat codes out of their own religion. 😃
You should do a story on the 6 Jewish newborns that have herpes from the rabbi that performed their bris. This is kept on the Q.T. as much as possible, but very common.
I have to take their stuff down all the time it is attached to the telephone poles.
So why don’t they just use the utility wires that are already everywhere?
Mischie – help me out with this:
How can Trump’s daughter & husband be Orthodox Jews? She wears revealing clothes, doesn’t cover her hair, I don’t know, do they stay under the wire and in the dark on the Sabbath, no they have servants to turn on the lights and tear their toilet paper off the roll (considered work). Reform Jew I’d believe.
@Mischie
It is good to see one other who seems to understand that it is not about extending the home, or avoiding work, but about remembering the Sabbath, and keeping it holy.
If Christians can’t erecting a cross on public land, then why are the Jews allowed an erov?
Why isn’t the ACLU suing to have them all removed like they do for crosses?
I didn’t post this as an indictment of jews and their practices.
Mischie talks about reading up on how Jewish laws and tenets came to be.
I would recommend it too.
I had an Orthodox friend who “broke a law,” and she was very, very devout.
But she was a real estate broker.
She sold 2 of my houses, we were good friends.
She stayed alone with me in the house even though that was forbidden.
She taught me a lot about tradition and how and why it was first implemented and how it evolved over the centuries.
It was good stuff.
The Jews are blind to this one small thing.
They were given the law for the purpose showing them that they couldn’t keep it onto salvation.
The whole point of the law was to show there was only one who could ever keep it, and that was Jesus.
The law was satisfied on the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Your only law now is to love God and to love you neighbor. All the other stuff is fulfilled by doing these two things.
Fine, you want to keep your silly traditions. Go ahead. God will let you play your silly game. He does have a special place for His people that I don’t fully understand. But I do know one thing, God is on their side. So hands off.
That one’s debts have been paid does not, to me, seem like a license to incur more debt.
cfm990 March 12, 2017 at 5:47 pm
@ Vet. I figure if you can loophole the Lord, you’s doin some hardcore lawyering.
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Proverbs:
There’s a way that seemeth right to a man, but the end there of is death.”