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02/19/09
Live long, in peace and plenty, whoever you are, and of whatever faith. :)
02/19/09
02/19/09
While the keeping of the Sabbath is a commandment (a mitzvah), implicit is that it should be performed out of active choice. The commandment to keep the Sabbath is worded in the positive ("Remember [zachor] the Sabbath day and keep it holy") and it is understood to include active aspects such as the kiddush.
While one is supposed to abstain from the 39 prescribed categories of activity, again, there is implicit an active aspect.
Passive restraint through technology, to my thinking, negates the mitzvah. It requires no real performance on the part of the person. For example, if someone locks me in my house on Shabbat, have I performed the melachot of not transferring things between domains?
02/19/09
This is just a Mio loaded up with some Orthodox Jewish content. It's not a big deal, and the post's author completely misses the point of it, as is common with any religious-oriented tech story on Giz or Engagdet.
02/19/09
For example, there is a "kosher" cell-phone that has no text messaging, no Internet access, no video options, no camera. More than 10,000 numbers for phone sex, dating services and other offerings are blocked and a team of rabbinical overseers makes sure the list is up to date.
The thinking is that the level of connectivity permits temptation and that then the user will sin. But that undermines the notion of free-will.
And it's not idiotic to assume that this would shut down on the Sabbath, given that this is a device that is already crippled out of consideration that being full-featured would lead to sin.
Here is the theological question for the day:
Why were Adam and Eve cast from Eden?
02/19/09
Actually, just to turn this on its head: if Eve had stayed away from the tree in the first place, she probably wouldn't have eaten from it. Fascinating how the two of them seemed to be hanging around it, no? Maybe there is something to be said for avoiding temptation.
I don't see how this device is "crippled", at least with regards to their target market. The target market _doesn't care_ about all these places. If I could rip all the non-kosher restaurant POIs out of my own GPS unit, believe me, I would. Is it because, "OMG I'M TOO WEAK TO AVOID NON-KOSHER FOOD?" No, it's because _I don't care_ about those places and actively avoid them. Their presence, to me, is actually a negative.
Unless you've got evidence this thing shuts down on Shabbos, you can safely assume it doesn't, like almost every other bit of Jewish-oriented electronics I've ever seen. Making up a fantasy scenario in your head to prove your point doesn't actually prove your point.
Free will does not require you to surround yourself with temptation to be effective. I don't buy pork rinds and leave them on my desk just so that I can not eat them. So, as a theological argument, what you're saying is pretty much a non-starter. _Ultimately, it's about doing what G-d told you to do_, at least for Orthodox Jews. Whether it's easy or hard is up to you and Him, I suppose, but purposefully making it harder (too hard?) is not a virtue.
02/19/09
02/19/09
02/19/09
They got punished, too. I'm still confused as to the point you're trying to make.
02/19/09
02/19/09
02/19/09
If they were cast out for eating of the Tree, then it would say that they ate of the Tree and were then immediately cast out. While a simple reading may lead one to conclude that eating the fruit caused them to be cast out, one should bear in mind that the Torah is understood to be the word of God and He would not have put in material that He felt was extraneous. It should be considered too.
Similarly, Cain was not cursed because he slew Abel. He was cursed for turning away from God and not taking personal responsibility.
Am I splitting hairs? Yes. But there is a long tradition of hair-splitting with regard to the Torah.
Finally, I would appreciate a more civil tone. You have been singularly disrespectful and curt, not only to me, but to Ethan Allison