C33%TAUNIVM.BITNET@ucbvax.UUCP (Pinyele) (11/02/86)
[I am having a lot of trouble these days figuring out whether articles
are really meant for this group or not. The news changeover seems to
have resulted in some odd forwarding. I am reasonably sure that this
one really was meant for this group. Pinyele has written a series of
articles describing Rebbe Nachman M'Breslav, who my Jewish friends tell
me was one of the leading figures in the Hassidic movement. I'm not
sure that all of these articles would be appropriate for this group.
But I thought this one might be interesting because of the discussions
about Christian secular power in the U.S, and the attempt to legislate
conservative Christian values. It may be instructive to see the analogous
problems in Israel. For those who do not know current Judaism, note
that in the context of this posting, "Conservative" Jews are to be
considered as liberal, because they do not follow all of the Orthodox
rules. Reform Judaism is a movement that attempted to remove
culturally conditioned aspects of Jewish law, and come up with a
Judaism appropriate for the modern world. The primary issue discussed
in this note is marriage. The problem here is that to Orthodox Jews,
one is a Jew if one's mother is a Jew, or if one has been converted
according to Orthodox conversion procedures. It doesn't matter whether
you yourself happen to be Reform, Conservative, or even agnostic.
When rabbis who are not Orthodox marry people or convert them, the
Orthodox are presented with a problem: The kids think they are regular
Jews. They may even come to be more observant than many people who
are without a doubt Jewish. But according to Orthodox principles they
may be illegitimate or they may have no connection with Judaism at all,
Since Israel is not really a secular state, this can even have legal
implications. The resulting mess has led people that I know to leave
Israel, rather than have their children considered illegitimate. --clh]
Aquarius-Age Chassidus
Article #5
Power: Different levels -
1) Raw power - Atilla the Hun, murder-rape for the fun of it.
2) Power stemming from evil ideology (anti-G-d) - communism.
3) Power stemming from 'pareve' ideology - neither evil nor good (not anti-
or pro G-d) - democracy.
4) Power stemming from good ideology (pro-G-d), but person just 'riding' the
ideology for his selfish power needs, he doesn't really believe in the ideology
5) Power stemming from good ideology, user does believe in ideology - but not
wielded properly. (For instance, Israeli Rabbinate forcing non-believers to
come to Rabbis for marriage and divorce. This causes tremedous bad feelings
between religious and irreligious Jews. Boomerang effect. The Rabbis should
have their political clout to enact a law to the effect that one has a choice.
If one chooses, he can be married through the Rabbinate. Then if and when the
couple decides to split up, they must get a divorce through the Rabbinate. Or
if one wishes he can have a civil marriage, which is just a registering of
names, no ceremony which could be considered marriage according to Jewish law.
Then the woman has the status of a 'Pilegesh' (concubine) according to Jewish
law. If and when deciding to split up - they get a civil divorce. I think
this arrangement would not cause any ill-will and would be problem-free from
the standpoint of Jewish law. Another example of this - Conservative and
Reform Rabbis performing marriages and conversions, thus creating tremendous
problems for the unity of the Jewish people. These movements should devote
themselves to searching for meaning and vision in the modern world. Just as
they buy phylacteries from the orthodox, they should import Orthodox Rabbis
for their marriage-divorce, conversion ceremonies. The Conservative and
Reform Rabbis have misused their power, the power of modernity and awareness
of change to create tremendous havoc. It's a question of being aware of when
and how to exercise power. At times one should relinquish power. This
requires tremendous wisdom and foresight.
6) Power stemming from good ideology, user does believe in ideology, power
wielded properly - but the person believes himself to be indispensible. He
suffers from delusions of grandeur. 'Kibbutz' is a cure for this. If he does
no hold himself aloof, but works intimately with a group and there's free
'put-downs' fro the sake of sanity and perspective, this problem will not
arise.
Dr. Pinchas (Pinyele) Gartenberg, the Honolulu Hassid
Computer Science Department
Tel Aviv University
Tel Aviv, Israel
C33@TAUNIVM.BITNET
There is a principle that everything can change to good.
If you believe that you can destroy and desecrate,
believe also that you can build and make holy...
Rebbe Nachman M'Breslav