A little nitpicking, Melisa

Submitted by Dan Goorevitch (Canada), Oct 10, 2006 at 23:46

Sorry to nitpick but a Jew does not risk his eternal soul by working either on the Sabbath or any day. The Jewish concept of judgement is a scale: whether the overall bad acts outweigh the good or the other way round: God is not a bean-counter.

Secondly, the Jew is expected to work if it is required of him for his family's sake or even if it considered vital community service: in fact, to place his family in jeopardy would be far more serious than merely working when he has no choice, and that's the standard. When Congress sits long, for example, Joe Liberman, an orthodox Jew, continues to work. The Jew is expected to do all he can but not more. In fact, if, as a result of his refusing work, he is fired and must depend on charity other than his own resources, he may not do so. But that's practical. You line up a new job before leaving the old.

Anyway, I understand what you said but really, orthodox Judaism cannot be properly compared to this denial of service fiasco. Every driver who refuses service for whatever reason should be sent to the back of the line and, if he receives enough warnings, he should have his airport license revoked. I drove cab in Vancouver and we had a rule: we could refuse to carry a passenger so drunk they couldn't make it inside the cab without help. We had to carry them, we didn't have to carry them!

And they did revoke licenses for infractions. Why not elsewhere?

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