avi@hogpd.UUCP (Avi E. Gross - ABI at Lincroft NJ) (07/06/83)
WARNING: entering my usual sarcastic mode!!!! (sometimes mistaken as wit) Perhaps this should go in net.flame. I am writing this as a follow-up to an article by Yigal Arens. As usual, I find myself agreeing with some of what he says, while finding his negative bias and lack of fundamental knowledge to be rather objectionable. Yigal wrote (in part): "You see, the problem is that Copernicus wasn't Jewish... Orthodox Judaism believes and teaches, to this day, that the sun revolves around the earth. And as an illustration of the horrors of state involvement in religious matters (and/or religious involvement in state matters) I'll mention that in Israel, the state run religious schools use state published textbooks that tell the students that the sun revolves around the earth, using Maimonides as a reference (he had a rather elaborate theory about it). I will start by stating that I am not an Orthodox Jew, although I was raised as one. I have submitted articles to net.religion on these topics, and this entire issue probably could be better dealt with in that hostile environment. I am not an expert on Israeli (notice that I did not say "Holy Land" - Andy) customs and laws. I do not approve of the influence that some of the more formally-religious Jews (and Christians and Moslems) have on the government. My impression is that Yigal, on the other hand, is not well versed on religious matters, and probably opposes anything that his father stands for. I keep seeing articles that reflect his bias against the current Israeli Government. I share some of the same concerns, but do try to maintain a balanced view of all the people involved -- including the Palestinians and the Israelis and their neighbors. There is no single entity called "Orthodox Judaism", in my universe. Judaism is fragmented into many splinter groups -- just as Christianity is. "Most" Orthodox Jews will agree with the usual "scientific" statements about gravity and the earth going around the Sun. Yigal is quoting out of context. The RAMBAM (AKA Maimonides) wrote his books during a time-period when the state-of-the-art of science was the works of Aristotle. He tried to integrate this "science" into an understanding of the "Bible". The books that he wrote have not been changed since that time. They do contain many such items that have become "dated". As I said, many people do not believe that things like this are still "Gospel Truth" (and they also do not believe in the Gospels). I am also puzzled at the reference to Coppernicus not being Jewish. Who cares? What does this have to do with anything? In a second quote, Yigal says: There is this Jewish holiday celebrating the beginning of a new "cycle" of the sun around the earth which occurs once every few years. Last time, a couple of years ago, the celebrations were attended by all sorts of high ranking public officials in Israel. Nobody mentioned Copernicus, the gentile scholar. Again, I do not understand the bias about gentile scholars. There are thousands of Jewish Physicists, such as Einstein, who have publicly announced similar beliefs about the nature of the universe. The truly-orthodox would not be bothered by who said something that was in conflict with their beliefs! In any case, Yigal shows his ignorance with his example. The "cycle" around the sun has absolutely nothing to do with his beliefs about Jewish Custom. The ancient Jewish Calendar (still used for religious purposes) is a LUNAR calendar. It has either 12 or 13 lunar months each year. There is a cycle of 19 years during which there are 7 13-month leap-years. At the beginning of each 19 years, the calendar is once again synchronized (quite well) with the usual solar calendar. The RAMBAM was some fascinating discussions of astronomy in his books which detail (to the nearest 1080th of a second) how to predict calendar events into the future. This stuff is still accurate. Needless to say, Israelis now use the usual western-style solar calendar for most usual purposes. It is obvious (to me at least), that Yigal does not know what he is referring to. Nobody is celebrating the "cycle of the sun around the earth". They are dealing with the synchronization of the two calendars. In any case, this is a mistaken impression of ALL Orthodox Jews! I have many more serious objections to fundamentalists in Judaism, Christianity, and every other religion that I have seen. I try not to typecast things that I do not understand. (And there certainly are plenty of things in that category -- I am still young!) I have tried to reply to Yigal directly, in the past. I have never received any indication that my mail ever makes it through the ARPANET gateway. Presumably, this public medium will get my message across. I find this net to be an excellent source of information -- and mis-information. I try to avoid commenting in areas where I lack expertise, and bite my tongue when people make statements like "aspartame can cause brain-damage" (in net.usenix - of all places!!! I just could not bring myself to reply to it there). As long as this letter has become this long, I will clarify my view of aspartame. Aspartame just consists of two amino acids, Aspartic Acid and Phenylalanine, linked together. These are harmless to most people. In kids born with PKU (Phenylketonuria), any foods rich in Phenylalanine are dangerous. They do not have the enzyme Phenylalanine Hydroxylase, and cannot metabolize this amino acid. Because a large number of proteins are rich in Phenylalanine, this means that they have to avoid many foods. If the phenylketone waste products accumulate in their blood, it causes brain-damage. Interestingly enough, another enzyme system kicks in as the kids grow older, and they can often resume a normal diet. The point is that they have to avoid any products containing Aspartame (AKA Nutrasweet) if they want to avoid brain-damage. They also avoid other food items like cheese - for the same reasons. Just in case you are curious, the incidence of PKU is very small in Ashkenazic Jews. This allows me to somehow make a cohesive whole out of this submission to the net. (or does it?) I am open to criticism on any errors I may have included, since I have not studied these topics in a while. My areas of interest have changed. I suggest that the above topics would fit better in net.religion and net.med, although much of what Yigal writes fits best in net.politics, net.philosophy and net.flame. Avi Gross hogpd!avi (201) 576-3063
nrh@inmet.UUCP (07/10/83)
#R:hogpd:-8300:inmet:6400018:000:178 inmet!nrh Jul 9 15:06:00 1983 Hey! You're right -- this discussion belongs in net.religion. Beat it! Dangle. Take the air. Walk. Buzz off. Drift. Toodle. Go 'way! Subtly yours, Nat Howard