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From: arig@cvl.UUCP (Ari Gross)
Newsgroups: net.religion.jewish
Subject: Re: Who is biblical? Who is observant?
Message-ID: <94@cvl.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 26-Feb-85 09:34:06 EST
Article-I.D.: cvl.94
Posted: Tue Feb 26 09:34:06 1985
Date-Received: Fri, 1-Mar-85 21:08:18 EST
References: <207@npois.UUCP>
Organization: Computer Vision Lab, U. of Maryland, College Park
Lines: 43

> Ari Gross has written that
> >Orthodoxy, however, is the only true extension of
> >biblical Judaism. Clearly, in the times of the Bible Jews ate only
> >Kosher food (both in and out of the house). Is there any other sect
> >of Judaism today whose adherents without exception abide by this
> >very clear Biblical precept ? 


> So to a Humanistic Jew, the question poses itself like this:
> Is an Orthodox truly "shomer Kashrut" when he rejects perfectly healthy
> foods but ingests truly tref substances such as tobacco smoke? Isn't a
> Humanistic Jew, who eats things that are healthy today (regardless of
> how tref they were ages ago) but scrupulously refrains from defiling his
> body with things that are destroying human health now, closer in his
> observance to the actual substance and meaning of Kashrut?
> 
> 					Adam ben Tzvi Aharon
> 					(Adam V. Reed)
> 					npois!adam

   How does a Humanist Jew keep the mitzvah of Parah Aaduma (the
sprinkling of the ashes of a red heifer on one defiled by a corpse)?
And what is today's humanistic equivalent of "killing out Amalek" ?
Was that precept just to appeal to the bloodthirsty Israelites but has
no bearing on the 'enlightened'? What is the equivalent of 'hilchot
sotah' --  making alimony payments ?

   I think that a humanistic approach fails to consider the fact that
if the Torah is of divine origin then it is rather presumptuous of us
to assume that we can know all the reasons that motivated Him to give
us a particular mitzvah and are therefore capable of substituting it 
for its moral (humanistic) equivalent. What if there are additional
reasons for the precept that supersede our limited knowledge and
understanding?

   If, on the other hand, the Torah is not of divine origin then why
would a humanistic Jew feel compelled to keep any of its precepts'
moral equivalents? 

                                           Ari Gross
                                           arig@cvl.arpa