@IsaacMoses I think that question should be left closed, as a duplicate of the one I linked to, and
No, I don't think he would find it strange. Sounds like you have a different question than the one I linked to above, besides for the one you wrote about in this post -- why not ask a new question, about how that makes sense? ...I don't have an answer for you, but I'm pretty confident that someone around here might. — Shokhet1 hour ago
@IsaacMoses none from me. And maybe edit in a link to the (currently-proposed) duplicate somehow? "I know this other question says I'm Jewish because... but won't a rabbi think that's strange...?" (Treat that as an outline, not actual text. :-) )
@Shokhet Why not just make this post do that? We already know what Croin wants to know, and there aren't any answers that'll get broken by the change in meaning. Also, it's practically what the questions already was: "As far as I know yes. But it feels a little bit strange to say that I am Jewish just because my grandmother is?!"
@IsaacMoses Hm. I hadn't thought of that. ....maybe leave a comment first, inviting Croin to edit his own question? .....it's hard to get a feel for a person, but some people don't like the fact that their questions can be edited by anyone else, even if it's somewhere in the help center/T&C
> Perhaps, ironically, when the question "How do I get myself to yearn for moshiach if I'm comfortable in the diaspora?" came up on Mi Yodeya (mi.yodeya.com/q/26908/2), I posted an answer that quotes a previous column by R' Dr. Yanklowitz that provides sage advice from the Mesillat Yesharim for accomplishing just that. There are a bunch of other great suggestions there, too.
I just read Baby Seal's late answer for, I think, the first time, and I love this paragraph:
> Learn Laws of Sacrifices and Temple service. A good start is found in most prayer books. It is a section right after morning blessings, titled "Korbanot, Sacrifices". Realize that what you can only learn about was something we were once able to actively do. Think about how you would feel if you suddenly could only hear descriptions of the commandments of Matza, or the Four species, or Sabbath and could no longer active perform them!
> Realize that the only reason you don't 'get it', as far as sacrifices and Temple service goes, is because you never knew from them when they were a physical reality, and neither did your parents, or your great-great-grandparents. Realize how long it's been. Realize how sad that is! ):
The dawn of a new year, 2015, now approaches, or has already approached, either way it means that it is now time to reset our Community Promotion Ads!
What are Community Promotion Ads?
Community Promotion Ads are community-vetted advertisements that will show up on the main site, in the right s...
^^^ 1-2 upvotes each needed to activate the current crop of ads for the coming year. (2014's appear to still be active right now; I guess there's a grace period.)
@Shokhet I reposted as many of the existing ones as I could. I like them all. FTR, Bachrach had that made and then posted it on my off-line suggestion.
@Shokhet Yeah; maybe. I think they already have nice prominence through the dedicated tab with little blue number, while resources like HebrewBooks, Sefaria, etc. don't.
... which reminds me:
We already have a Community Promotion Ad for the link referencer, so it appears on the sidebar from time to time. Maybe we should make one for the glossary and other, similar features. — Isaac Moses18 secs ago
@Shokhet I, personally, would only upvote if I thought the blog was really good and potentially valuable to MY readers on its merits, even if written by a Yodeyan. So, I'd only solicit under those conditions, also.
@IsaacMoses thanks for sharing that. And wow, the post on which you commented does a great job of capturing some of my own difficulties on that theme. (That's about the third temple not moshiach, though of course they're highly related.)
I have trouble getting myself to mourn for the temple because, like the Rambam (as I understand him, which is certainly imperfectly), I think the destruction was necessary to get us to move on to prayer and is "going back" good? I say this sincerely, not to start a fight, and I hope my struggle is taken in that light.
@MonicaCellio Re: Rambam, this article came up in another thread about this piece. (Haven't read it myself yet.)
@MonicaCellio Re: how your struggle is taken, I think the answers to your question tend to have taken it in the spirit in which it was presented. R' Yanklowitz' presentation was taken by many on the internet as false humility, at least partly thanks to his chosen writing style.
@MonicaCellio MY is a better forum for not starting a fight than a newspaper/blog column, B"H :)
@IsaacMoses yes, I saw no backlash from my question on main. I took some care in writing that; I also took care in writing my chat comment here, but under more constraints (space, and I didn't spend as much time on it), so I was worried that that might be seen as somehow heretical or something, which wasn't my intent at all.
@IsaacMoses I've seen it (or something like it) for, basically, "stunned" -- presumably something like "mouth wide open"? Anyway, I was trying to write something proper and had trouble, so I fell back on a not-very-useful meme. Ironic, given that you were praising my writing. :-)
Anyway, if we could mekarev R' Yanklowitz to come to Mi Yodeya I think we'd all benefit.
@MonicaCellio Some of the questions there could probably be made into interesting and provocative MY questions. (Maybe I'll try after Shabbat.) e.g., "Do any rabbis defend the idea of centralized authority/monarchy in light of the high value most of us contemporarily place on democracy?"
Which type of government is suitable in the present world according to Jewish law? Is democracy allowed in Biblical or in Jewish law?
(I came to this question from wondering why the modern state of Israel is not a kingdom. But I don't know what its constitution is based on: Jewish law or not.)
By the way, thank you for pointing out that excellent part of Baby Seal's answer to my yearning-for-moshiach question. I'd read it before (and upvoted the answer) but it took your reinforcing it to make that part really sink in. And thanks for posting the bounty for him.
@MonicaCellio My pleasure. It made me think of stories from behind the Iron Curtain and of the nth-generation-slave Jews in Egypt. ... I think I have a devar Torah for my Shabbat table now.
@IsaacMoses yeah, we take for granted what we didn't have to work to get, we can't appreciate the things we never knew, and so we tend to focus on the things in between, the losses we've personally experienced, and miss the much bigger picture.
@IsaacMoses ... and for the next Seder I attend, supplementing a reference to the excellent penultimate question in Hagada - Mi Yodeya?
@MonicaCellio Exactly, which is why we need formalized observances to force our attention to the old losses, from time to time. I've often heard R' Rakeffet quote R' YD Soloveitchik as explaining that that's why we graduate into mourning, from 3 weeks to 9 days, to 9Av; while we graduate out of it, from shiva to sheloshim to year, for personal loss, which we have no problem feeling naturally
@IsaacMoses Someday we'll do a version 2 so we can incorporate new contributions. In the meantime, that's why we have the tradition of loose pages stuffed into other books. :-)
The dawn of a new year, 2015, now approaches, or has already approached, either way it means that it is now time to reset our Community Promotion Ads!
What are Community Promotion Ads?
Community Promotion Ads are community-vetted advertisements that will show up on the main site, in the right s...
Which type of government is suitable in the present world according to Jewish law? Is democracy allowed in Biblical or in Jewish law?
(I came to this question from wondering why the modern state of Israel is not a kingdom. But I don't know what its constitution is based on: Jewish law or not.)
