I guess I'm an authority

[DavidDvorkin]

Last edited Tue Oct 29, 2013, 03:31 PM - Edit history (1)

At least in the sense that a commenter on an article in Huffington Post referred to an essay on Web site to support his POV.

The article is by a rabbi worrying about the future of Judaism in the US, based on current trends -- intermarriage, young Jews abandoning the religion. The commenter disagrees vehemently with the author and links to my essay to support his position.

Here's the article: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rabbi-berel-lerman/pew-survey-american-jewry_b_4169936.html

[cbayer]

1. I think you might want to be a little less cryptic.

It took some work for me to figure out what you were talking about.

Anyway, congratulations on the citation. I skimmed, but did not fully read your article and found it to be an interesting perspective.

[DavidDvorkin]

2. You're quite right

I added some context.

[cbayer]

3. Well done. I've read more of your article and it is an interesting take.

Thanks for bringing it here.

[Act_of_Reparation]

4. This is part of the reason I've grown to despise the HuffPo

If it isn't gossipy bullshit about which celebrity's genetalia made an unscripted appearance at an awards ceremony, it is the mush-brained, pseudo-philosophical scrivenings of money-grubbing would-be gurus.

I looked up Rabbi Lerman, and his website. This guy is Judaism's answer to Deepok Chopra.

An ostensibly left-wing publication willingly handed a soapbox to a young Earth creationist who not only believes in a global flood for which there is no evidence, but also that a man named Noah built a boat out of gopher wood and loaded it with two of every kind of animal and sailed it across open water for forty days and nights before unzipping his six-hundred year old pants to repopulate the Earth.

Oh, and your essay was fucking phenomenal.

Plenty of people make the argument Jewishness is a "cultural thing", not a religion, and I've always kind of accepted that without giving it much thought. But you make a very convincing argument to the contrary. I grew up in a Roman Catholic household, and in many ways, the beliefs and customs of the RCC are just as "cultural" as those of Judaism. I can't imagine how pissed I would be if people started referring to me as a "Catholic of no Religion".

[DavidDvorkin]

5. Thanks

The cultural thing is a way to avoid guilt feelings, in many cases. Casting that off and calling oneself an ex-Jew, no longer a Jew in any sense, is a difficult final step. I remember having trouble with that myself.