When Theodicy Is No Theodicy

April 1, 2011

There is an old, venerable strain in Jewish thought, which would have us allow current events to inspire us to greater introspection and inspiration in our service of G”d. The question being answered is not “Why has G”d allowed such a thing to happen,” but ” how should I change my life, now that these terrible tidings have reached my ears – how to I shake myself awake to become a better person?”

To understand that approach, we should delve a little further into this citation of “the world was created for me.”* Read the rest of this entry »

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What’s More Meaningful Is More Easily Remembered

March 23, 2011

Many a bar mitsva boy, or even a seasoned ba’al qeria, has spent countless hours trying to memorize the proper vowelization and cantillation of a text spanning sometimes well over one hundred verses. Is there a secret to make this process easier? Is there a golden bullet, a holy grail? Read the rest of this entry »

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Kann Israel sowohl ein jüdischer als auch ein demokratischer Staat sein?

March 14, 2011

Mein Vortrag an dem Dialog VI der jüdischen Gemeinde Karlsruhe (Einladung hier) ist nun online auf der Webseite jener Gemeinde: Kann Israel sowohl ein jüdischer als auch ein demokratischer Staat sein?.

Die folgende Geschichte, die ich im Vorrag nicht erwähnte, zeigt, das in noch einem Hinsicht, die obige Frage mit einem klaren ja beantwortet werden kann.

Die hebräische Webseite Bechadréj Charejdím berichtet über einen Araber aus Hebron, der von seinem jüdischen Arbeitsgeber mit Cheques bezahlt wurde, die ungenügend gedeckt waren. Der Arbeitsnehmer konnte dem entsprechend seinenLohn nicht einkassieren und sollte den Arbeitsgeber vor dem Gericht anklagen. Weil aberein Gerichtsfall teuer werden und lange dauern könnte, entschied er sich für eine bahnbrechende Einfall: er verklagte den Arbeitsgeber in dem rabbinischen Gerichtshof. Read the rest of this entry »

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Is Outsourcing Ethical?

February 8, 2011

Randy Cohen, the resident ethics columnist for the New York Times Magazine, responded to a query about whether a long time unemployed IT worker should take a job setting up an offshore help desk, considering that once up and running, the present help desk employees will be out of a job.

The anonymous job applicant heroically is inclined to forgo this job offer, having seen a relative suffer the effects of outsourcing, and he believes he has a greater ethical duty to fellow citizens of his country (this is actually a misuse of the concept of ethics; while he may have a greater obligation toward fellow citizens, it is a different kind of obligation, beyond the purview of ethics — see below). In order to fulfil his duty to his fellow citizens, he is willing to forgo this sorely needed job.

His wife agrees with the ethical assessment, but disagrees with his willingness to forgo the job, since forgoing the job will not achieve the desired results, as it will not prevent the outsourcing from taking place. Therefore, he might as well take the job.

Finally, Cohen disagrees with both of them, as he believes there is a greater ethical duty toward the residents of India or whichever country to which the help desk will be outsourced to, as outsourcing will give jobs to people who would otherwise remain stuck in a vicious cycle of poverty. In Cohen’s words:

Americans do not enjoy moral precedence over Indians. Some people feel we have a greater ethical duty to those closest to us — our neighbors — but in an era of global trade and travel, that is a recipe for tribalism and its attendant ills.

Drawing from the wisdom of Judaism, who is right here? Read the rest of this entry »

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How Does One Teach Social Skills?

January 3, 2011

In 1999, the “late” Jewish Observer (partial archive here) ran a feature on how to teach middos, i.e. proper, morally upright, religiously inspired behavior. The major question was, whether behavior is most efficiently and most effectively acquired through formal or informal means. In his article Dr. Benzion Sorotzkin argued that formal middos education is neither the most efficient, nor the most effective way to help the students internalize these values. Sadly, I could not find R’ Joseph Elias’ article on the web, but IIRC in that feature, he argued for the utility of formal middos education.

In many yeshivot, the study of the underlying philosophical-ethical material, the so called mussar works, constitutes an integral part of the curriculum. However, some would argue that any such study only becomes truly useful after properly developing and nurturing a moral disposition. Take Lashon haRa’, for example, the sin of gossip and slander. Some would argue that the most effective way to train students would be through the intellectual study of works on this topic, such as the Chafetz Chaim. However, consider that the following reason for the prohibition on gossiping: that God wants people to live in peace and harmony with each other, while tale bearing and slander are major contributors to strife (Sefer haChinukh §236).

If the purpose is to increase interpersonal peace and harmony, perhaps it is best achieved by … promoting interpersonal peace and harmony. Which is why the following article caught my eye:

Elementary school students who participated in a three-month anti-bullying program in Seattle schools showed a 72 percent decrease in malicious gossip. Read the rest of this entry »

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When Does Death Begin, According to Halacha?

December 18, 2010

One of the most vexing questions in contemporary medical ethics is when a dying patient can be considered dead. Until several decades ago, the answer was simple: when a patient stopped breathing and his heart stopped beating. However, since the invention of artificial respiration, the answer is no longer straightforward.

During the last fifty years, a number of landmark halakhic responsa have been written, evaluating whether neurological definitions of death (a.k.a. “brain death“), such as the Harvard Criteria of 1968, are valid in the eyes of halakha. However, up until now, there has been no systematic attempt to research which medical information had been used as a basis for those halakhic responsa.

Recently, the Vaad Halacha of the RCA has done just that and published a extensive paper on the determination of death in halakha. The paper has been picked up by the news media [Jewish Week] and been extensively discussed in some blogs [Hirhurim I and II].

While the paper does is presented as an educational exploration, not forcing any conclusions, the paper nonetheless demonstrates that to date, there has been very little support from the halakhic responsa literature, to support accepting “brain death.” See below for my take on this. Anyway, understandably, those who advocate accepting the neurological standard were not pleased, and not everybody welcomed the paper.

The lead author of the study is R’ Asher Bush, the chairman of the Vaad Halacha, and yours truly had the privilege to contribute as an editor of the paper.

Despite having contributed to the paper’s final form, the comments below are mine only and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the article’s authors. Read the rest of this entry »

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Where Willl We Find Refuge

August 26, 2010

… from technology overload?

The New York Times reports that when people keep their brains busy with digital input, they are forfeiting downtime that could allow them to better learn and remember information, or come up with new ideas.

A few years ago, pundits were predicting internet equipped, self-monitoring refrigerators, which would place automatic orders with your online grocery store, when supplies ran low. These refrigerators may not have arrived yet, but technology has not stopped reaching for new frontiers.

Advertising is becoming ever more intrusive. Cookies and other methods track our movements on line (though astute web users know how to limit this intrusion on privacy), advertising not only flashes before our eyes on television, billboards and web pages, but advertising is coming to ebooks, is projected onto the street as you walk and now, it is even set to encroach upon the otherwise calm and static pages of journals and magazines. Read the rest of this entry »

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Gibt es in der Unterhaltungsliteratur eine Rolle für G”tt?

July 23, 2010

Kann G”tt – nach jüdischen Verständnis eine Rolle in Unterhaltungsliteratur spielen?
Gott ist nicht nur in der religiösen Literatur ein Begriff. In der letzten Zeit gibt es auch aufregende Unterhaltungsliteratur, in dem Gott einer der Hauptrollen einer Unterhaltungsgeschichte bekommt.

So veröffentlicht Der Spiegel zuletzt ein Artikel über Religions-Comics, unter dem Titel Blasphemie und letzte Fragen:

Wenn ein Werk “Die Chroniken von Wormwood” heißt und von der Freundschaft zwischen Gottes und Satans Sohn handelt, ist nicht viel Ehrfurcht zu erwarten. Auch zwei weitere Comics zollen Gott wenig Respekt.

Anderseits, gibt es die der Religion und Gott gegenüber ehrfurchtsvolle Literatur, die auch literarisch überzeugt wie z.B. Die Hütte – Ein Wochenende mit Gott. Dort geht es um einen Mann, der in Depression versinkt, nach dem seine jüngste Tochter verschwunden und vermutlich gewalttätig umgekommen ist. Eines Tages erhält der Held des Buches einen Brief, unterzeichnet mit „Papa“, der ihn auffordert, sich dieses Wochenende mit ihm in einer Hütte zu treffen. Er verlässt seine Familie und begibt sich allein zur Hütte, unsicher, was er dort antreffen wird. Bei seiner Ankunft findet er nichts Besonderes, außer dem Blutfleck seiner kleinen Missy, doch als er wieder gehen will, verwandeln sich die Hütte und die umgebende Landschaft in eine paradiesische, einladende Umgebung. Er betritt die veränderte Hütte und begegnet dort Verkörperungen der drei Personen der Dreieinigkeit. Der “Vater,” erscheint als Afroamerikanerin, die sich selbst Papa nennt, Jesus als Handwerker aus dem Nahen Osten und der Heilige Geist als asiatische Frau mit Namen Sarayu. (Zusammenfassung basiert auf Wikipedia) Das Buch erschien er 2007 im Selbstverlag Windblown Media als The Shack. Bis März 2009 wurden fast ausschließlich durch Mundpropaganda über 6 Millionen Exemplare der Originalausgabe verkauft. (Ebd.)

Die obigen Büchern sind sehr deutlich von dem christlichen Gottesverständnis geprägt. Die Person Jesus, oder mindestens die eines menschlich verkörperten Gott, spielt in jedem diesen Büchern eine wichtige Rolle.

Kann über G”tt nach dem jüdischen Verständnis auch so geschrieben werden (obwohl ich abraten würde die respektlose Geschichten zu schreiben)? Oder nicht? Read the rest of this entry »

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Cows moo-ve over: camel milk coming to Europe

July 8, 2010

Is Chalav Stam endangered?

The Talmud prohibited the consumption of unsupervised milk of gentile provenance, lest it contain an admixture of kosher and non kosher milk. However, as the codified halakhah also stretched the definition of supervision to include potential supervision (i.e. the Jewish supervisor sits behind a fence and if he would get up, he could see whether the non-Jew was milking a non-kosher animal, e.g. a camel or a mare), therefore, some authorities ruled that milk produced in a farms that have no none kosher animals to milk, is permissible.

Consequently, some Jewish communities have customarily allowed themselves to consume the milk on the general market, since non kosher animals are not customarily milked in Europe.

Now, however, that may be set to change. Reuters UK reports that:

European grocery shelves may soon be invaded by milk from that proverbial ship of the desert, the camel.

An animal famous for bad breath and ill humour might seem an unlikely source of liquid to lubricate a bowl of breakfast cereal or froth up a latte, but promoters from the United Arab Emirates say it is healthy — and almost like mother’s own.
…
The European Commission recently approved plans for screening camel milk, and will send an EU panel to inspect the UAE’s two dairy farms producing camel milk — Al Ain Dairy, with “Camelait,” and the Emirates Industry for Camel Milk and Products’ “Camelicious,” found in most UAE grocery stores. (hat tip: SBA)

Will the kosher consumer still be able to argue that milk on the general market is permissible? Read the rest of this entry »

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Should Humanity Call It Quits?

June 10, 2010

Peter Singer, the controversial chair of bioethics at Princeton University, wrote an online feature for the New York Times, where he ponders, considering the multitude of suffering in life, whether it is not more moral to abstain altogether from procreation, knowing full well that that means that within one life span, there would be no more humans on earth. As he emphasizes, this is not a serious proposal, but a thought experiment in order to investigate the morality of bringing children into the world, the parents knowing full well that the child will suffer. On a different level, it is an investigation into the question whether life is worth living.

At first sight, this echoes a long lasting discussion between the Houses of Hillel and Shammai:

Our Rabbis taught: For two and a half years were Beth Shammai and Beth Hillel in dispute, the former asserting that it were more pleasant for man not to have been created than to have been created, and the latter maintaining that it is better for man to have been created than not to have been created.
They finally took a vote and decided that it were better for man not to have been created than to have been created, but now that he has been created, let him investigate his past deeds or, as others say, let him examine his future actions. (Babylonian Talmud, Eiruvin 13b)

ת”ר שתי שנים ומחצה נחלקו ב”ש וב”ה הללו אומרים נוח לו לאדם שלא נברא יותר משנברא והללו אומרים נוח לו לאדם שנברא יותר משלא נברא נמנו וגמרו נוח לו לאדם שלא נברא יותר משנברא עכשיו שנברא יפשפש במעשיו ואמרי לה ימשמש במעשיו (עירובין יג:)

Does Peter Singer have a point, or is he fundamentally misunderstanding what life is all about?

After quoting some excerpts of his article, I present an analysis of the Jewish sources on the matter, in the hope that, when asked “what is the meaning of life,” we will give a better answer than “42.”
Read the rest of this entry »

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