LL-L "Culture" 2011.05.30 (02) [EN]

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L O W L A N D S - L - 30 May 2011 - Volume 02
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 From: Hellinckx Luc luc.hellinckx at gmail.com
Subject: LL-L "Culture"

Dear Ron,

You wrote:

* In Israel, there is now a new kosher mobile telephone on the market,
specifically designed for ultra-orthodox people. The interface is in
Yiddish, and access to "inappropriate" sites is blocked so as to remove
temptation.


Please don't refrain...what do you think personally of such an evolution? Is
this wishful?

Kind greetings,

Luc Hellinckx, Halle, Belgium

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From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: Culture

Thank you for the question, dear Luc.

Please don't refrain...what do you think personally of such an evolution? Is
this wishful?

Refrain from what? Not speaking candidly, personally?

I would be lying if I said that I, like most other non-orthodox Jews, did
not have problems with many aspects of Ḥaredi (חֲרֵדִי, ultra-orthodox
Jewish) views, especially with those Ḥaredim of the West Bank settler type
and those that, although they don't even recognize the State of Israel, want
to dictate Jewish life there and elsewhere. However, aside from politics, I
am not paying lip service when I say that, despite enormous differences
between them and me, I respect them and their views with regard to their own
choices, just as long as they do not dictate those choices outside their own
world.

Ḥaredim, like most other orthodox Jews, take a literalist view of the
Scriptures, while most non-orthodox Jews take a metaphorical view and assume
that the Scriptures are man-made, albeit "divinely inspired." Unfortunately,
there is that great gulf between us. Non-orthodox Jews by far dominate in
the USA, home of a little above half of the world's Jewish population of
close to 13 million. Jewish Israel is mostly divided between a non-religious
majority and an (ultra-)orthodox minority that has been given more than its
fair share of power. This, and the fact that the Ḥaredim are procreating
rapidly (if not "rabbitly"), has been increasing the divide between us
American Jews (many of whom are leftish and leftists) and currently mostly
rightist Jewish Israeli politicians in power. Please stay tuned for the next
chapter.

To give you a comparison, I ask you to examine your Christian *
Weltanschauung* (if any) *vis-à-vis* extremist Christian Fundamentalists.

And please take all this as a personal, marginal postscript (though Judaism
is not totally irrelevant to the Lowlands).

Thanks for the interest!

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron
Seattle, USA

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