avi@hogpd.UUCP (07/14/83)
This is a (brief) reply to the reply of Yigal Arens to some of my less than pleasant comments about his original article. After reading his reply, I would admit that we are substantially in agreement. We agree that our comments did not apply to all Orthodox Jews, and that there are still "some" who do act as if they believe in things that "science" contradicts. After posting my letter, I realized that Yigal had been referring to another "sun" related Jewish event called Birchas HaChamah. As far as I can tell, there is nothing in this tradition that implies that the sun rotates around the earth - although I can see some people getting that impression. The details are not relevant to this newsgroup. I admit I was attacking a "straw man", but I could also defend this new position. Yigals comment about the use of "books"in some Orthodox Israeli schools that contain "outmoded" information is probably valid. I am of Romanian extraction, so I know little of the Israeli school system. I will comment that any of the old scholarly Jewish works - such as the books of "Maimonides" - can not be edited to fit new times. Therefore, these books can only be shown in their entirety, and any offending sections can be skipped. It is not like buying a new version of the history books that are used to eliminate traces of sexism. Unlike Many of the Christian holy books which are translated repeatedly, Orthodox Jewish books are always left in their original language (although translations have been made into the local language). I have read books in the original Hebrew, Aramaic, Yiddish and Ladino. Yigal has demolished my hypothesis that his father (or perhaps a near relative?) was Moshe Arens - which would have helped me to understand him better. As I mentioned previously, I am not surprised that s/he never got my letters. Mail from here (NJ) to California has been terrible. I finally got an answer from San Diego - after about four months - as a reply to my previous submission. I am submitting any further comments to net.religion, where hostility is accepted as the norm - and life is much more fun! Avi E. Gross [houx?]!hogpd!avi ABI Room 3C-314, 307 Middletown-Lincroft Rd, Lincroft, NJ 07738