https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/one-of-the-ugliest-words-in-judaism-moser/
But it is hard to understand the ugly events of Brooklyn last week in terms that would even approach the threshold of rendering anyone a moser. The actions of the state — in this case, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and New York Gov Andrew Cuomo — were clearly motivated by a desire to protect the Hasidic community, and the broader population, from a deadly virus that took the lives of tens of thousands of New Yorkers this spring. Their imposition of the New Cluster Action Initiative threatened economic, social and religious hardships for certain neighborhoods in Brooklyn and Queens (including, incidentally, my own), but only the most extreme opponents of the measure would argue it was more than heavy-handed governance.
The fear of anti-semitism has dissipated. In a democracy, they do not have pogroms, so frum masses have lost all inhibitions, and are openly acting like behemos, like the other goyim who protest masks etc.
ReplyDelete"...were clearly motivated by a desire to protect the Hasidic community...."
ReplyDeleteMaybe, as a community, they don't want the protection because they dislike the meddling in their lives.
It's like when people want to do what they think is right for someone they label as mentally ill. They go before a judge and the judge may order the person who others find acting or speaking bizarrely to be forcibly evaluated by a psychiatrist and possibly forcibly confined and given psychiatric treatments.
But the person likes who they are and doesn't want to be forced to act other than the way they are in the habit of acting.
So who is right? In theory, the person can only be forcibly treated if they are a danger to others. But who is to decide that?
In our case, yes, COVID can be deadly. But it can also be quite benign.
The plague has exacerbated rifts in the Jewish community that were pre-existing the pandemic.
Torah thought on נח
ReplyDelete“Ham, the father of Canaan, saw וירא his father’s nakedness את ערות אביו and told his two brothers outside בחוץ. But Shem and Japheth took a garment השמלה, placed וישימו it against both their backs על שכם שניהם and, walking backward וילכו אחרנית, they covered their father’s nakedness את ערות אביהם; their faces were turned backward אחרנית, so that they did not see their father’s nakedness וערות אביהם לא ראו. When Noah woke up from his wine and knew וידע what his youngest son בנו הקטן had done to him, he said, Cursed be Canaan; A servant of servants עבד עבדים Shall he be to his brothers לאחיו.” (Genesis 9:22-25).
בראשית פרשת נח פרק ט פסוק כד
וַיִּיקֶץ נֹחַ מִיֵּינוֹ וַיֵּדַע אֵת אֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה לוֹ בְּנוֹ הַקָּטָן:
Sanhedrin 70a
“Rab and Samuel [differ,] one maintaining that he castrated him, whilst the other says that he sexually abused him. He who maintains that he castrated him, [reasons thus;] Since he cursed him by his fourth son [The sons of Ham were Cush and Mizraim, and Phut and Canaan. Gen. X, 7. Noah cursed Canaan, his fourth son. Ibid. IX, 25ff], he must have injured him with respect to a fourth son [i.e., by emasculating him, he deprived Noah of the possibility of a fourth son.]. But he who says that he sexually abused him, draws an analogy between and he saw written twice. Here it is written, And Ham the father of Canaan saw the nakedness of his father; whilst elsewhere it is written, And when Shechem the son of Hamor saw her [he took her and lay with her and defiled her] [Ibid. XXXIV, 2.]. Now, on the view that he emasculated him, it is right that he cursed him by his fourth son; but on the view that he abused him, why did he curse his fourth son; he should have cursed him himself? Both indignities were perpetrated [He both castrated and abused his father].
מלבי"ם בראשית פרשת נח פרק ט פסוק כד
ויקץ. נח לא ישן אז ולא הקיץ משנתו רק היה מבולבל מיינו ולא הרגיש בתועבה זו כדרך השכור, ואחר שהקיץ משכרותו ידע את אשר עשה, פי' שהרגיש בדבר התועבה, כמו וידעו כי ערומים הם שפי' שהרגישו בדבר, ומה שאמר בנו הקטן יש לפרש בנו של חם למה שכתב שכנען עשה זאת, ולכן קלל את כנען, ויש לפרש על חם אם חם היה הצעיר מכולם כדעת הרמב"ן וקלל כנען בכורו של חם כמו שנזכר לעיל פסוק י"ח:
My theory. Much politics right after leaving the Ark. Hertz Chumash p. 34: “22.Ham, the father of Canaan. This vague narrative refers to some abominable deed, in which Canaan seems to have been implicated. told his two brothers. Instead of showing filial respect and covering his father, Ham deemed the occasion food for laughter, and mockingly repeated the incident to his brothers.” Noah was like POTUS in his day. Terrible to make laughter and mocking on the president of the USA. Those that laugh and mock Trump will end up the lowest level in society. Canaan sex/abused Noah. Canaan laughed and boasted about it to Shem and Japheth. Shame on Canaan. Shame on those that laugh and mock Trump.
The University of Aveiro
ReplyDeletehttps://www.ua.pt/en/about-us
"Mesirah", like "Tznius" and "Tikkun Olam", has lost all connection to its actual meaning and gets tossed around like lettuce in a salad.
ReplyDelete