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Religious perspective

Reader comment on item: El Al, "Goy" Airline?
in response to reader comment: How one practices the religion ... is a personal choice.

Submitted by Yaakov Watkins (United States), Jan 1, 2007 at 18:10

I'll try to cover the points in order that you make them.

Just as individuals cannot evade their responsibilities under Jewish law, neither can Israel. I am not imposing my beliefs on anyone. I am recognizing a state of affairs that already exists.

When someone is insufficiently educated to recognize their responsibilities under Jewish law, that changes their responsibility in the world to come and their responsibility for bringing sacrifices if the Temple is rebuilt in their lives, I can't see it as relevant here.

If religion is a personal choice then Judaism isn't a religion.

The issues of shabbes observance, medical emergencies, major financial losses, safety issues etc are all adequately dealt with in Jewish law. There are established priorities, and issues are dealt with according to those priorities. These are complicated issues and have complicated discussions. Any answer that could be given here to cover the whole topic would be so limited as to be useless. I'm sorry. Some topics require study.

Yes the wicked will be punished. One's degree of culpability is proportional to one's understanding of the issue. People who are more educated have a higher degree of responsibility than people who are less educated. People who are willfully uneducated bear responsibility for that also. Again that is complicated. By way of analogy, no one would think of putting a 5 year old in prison for life for intentional murder, yet an ex-cop with a history of violence would get that sentence. G-d is certainly capable of making very fine distinctions in the way he understands people's guilt. And he doesn't necessarily share that information with me. I just get rules to follow. I also have to study.

You bring up something that I'm having trouble understanding where you are coming from. "but do you really think you'll be thunderbolted and sent to the bottom pits of Hell for having a Big Mac?" I don't know where you get this idea of a thunderbolt, or the idea of the the pits of hell, but if I had to guess, I would say that you have been spending too much time listening to Calvanists. As for the issues surrounding eating a Big Mac, I'm sorry I can't teach you here what you are missing, go study Judaism.

Your assumption that Orthodox Jews are uneducated in the sciences, engineering, or running a business is unfounded, bigoted, and incorrect.

I believe, as many others do, that it is immoral for Jews to break the sabbath. I also believe that it is immoral to show movies of animals being tortured. Would you feel that it would be within the bounds of "running an airline" which Hareidim should not express an opinion about if El Al showed movies of animals being tortured? I would hope not.

So the questions are: "Which moral violations should Hareidim feel free to speak up against and which are ones that you would have them keep quiet about?" And "Which moral violations do you feel free to speak against and which are the ones that you feel constrained to keep quiet about?"

I hope this is suitably polite and to the point.

Submitting....

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Reader comments (29) on this item

Title Commenter Date Thread
1Parasitic behaviour [34 words]Susya Bar DrorJul 15, 2011 05:24187417
Suggestion for El Al [42 words]Omar KajFeb 12, 2007 12:5176914
What is in islam which produces fanatics? [146 words]kalyanFeb 2, 2007 04:5975572
This is supposed to be 2007, not 1007, not 7, not 7 BC, etc. [588 words]IssacJan 16, 2007 22:5573221
Surrender [142 words]Ynna (tchkah)Jan 5, 2007 14:3071750
More Irritation [157 words]FriedmanJan 1, 2007 11:3071318
Unnecessary language [35 words]Yaakov WatkinsJan 1, 2007 19:5271318
El Al GOY [2 words]steven LDec 26, 2006 12:2870611
...Professor [117 words]C FletcherDec 26, 2006 01:4970553
To C Fletcher [26 words]Ynna (Tchkah)Dec 28, 2006 22:4070553
why it would be wrong for El Al to fly on shabbes [112 words]Yaakov WatkinsDec 25, 2006 20:2670531
Don't listen to fundamentalists!!!! [498 words]IssacDec 30, 2006 20:0970531
Religious perspective [218 words]Yaakov WatkinsDec 30, 2006 21:3570531
How one practices the religion ... is a personal choice. [675 words]IssacDec 31, 2006 19:0170531
Religious perspective [526 words]Yaakov WatkinsJan 1, 2007 18:1070531
Practicing the Religion [391 words]IssacJan 2, 2007 15:0570531
Please clarify. [416 words]Yaakov WatkinsJan 2, 2007 16:4270531
Wrong for El Al [32 words]Charles R.L. PowerJan 4, 2007 16:0870531
I have an intellectual perogative because I have an intellect. [312 words]IssacJan 4, 2007 19:1170531
By the way [42 words]IssacJan 5, 2007 11:5970531
You've missed a couple of points [150 words]Yaakov WatkinsJan 6, 2007 23:4470531
One more point [135 words]Yaakov WatkinsJan 7, 2007 00:4170531
Do you want to know what is christianesque? [311 words]IssacJan 9, 2007 20:4070531
Whew. [326 words]Yaakov WatkinsJan 10, 2007 19:0670531
God may have a special covenant with the Jewish people but .... [281 words]IssacJan 11, 2007 20:2670531
One more try. [206 words]Yaakov WatkinsJan 13, 2007 22:3070531
El Al [15 words]Yaakov WatkinsDec 25, 2006 20:1870530
Shabbos Goy [25 words]Melvin LavinDec 25, 2006 19:3070527
Non Sense [383 words]Ynna (Tchkah)Dec 19, 2006 21:4870049

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