Plan B Forum

שנה טובה ומתוקה

A happy and sweet New Year 5782 to you all.

I haven't the foggiest what this is about, not being verse in Jewish folklore.

This is the period of Rosh Hashanah, literally meaning "head [of] the year" — in effect, the Jewish New Year.  The biblical name for this holiday is Yom Teruah, literally "day of shouting or blasting."

Among other observances is a ceremonial meal, during which the shofar (the ram's horn) is blown during the prayers.
(yet another reason I'm still deeply missing Katie Barefoot...   she was Jewish, fluent in Hebrew, and was my 'go-to' source for any questions I might have had that required more explanation than Google could give me)

And out of respect for the religious beliefs of others, could you find a different word than 'folklore' next time?  That word makes it sounds more like something out of Grimm's Fairy Tales than a religious ritual.

-"BB"-

All religion is folklore. Judaism, Christianity, Islam, etc. etc., nothing more than fairy tales.

Gob wrote: ↑

Wed Sep 08, 2021 8:46 am

All religion is folklore. Judaism, Christianity, Islam, etc. etc., nothing more than fairy tales.

For a smart guy, you have a pretty simplistic and unsophisticated view of religion. Speaking for my own, sure, we've got plenty of folklore and fairy tales, but the point of these stories is to illustrate, comment on and derive meaning and guidance for human behavior -- serving much the same functions as the Mahabharata and Ramayana in Hindu tradition. If you consider these texts as studies in "ethics" or "moral philosophy," you might find plenty more than fairy tales. In my own tradition, the texts and commentaries also tell the story of my people -- some of it history, some of it myth, some of it somewhere in-between -- and further supply principles of law and social organization, some really evocative poetry, artful prose, beautiful songs, and general advice for getting along in the world.

You may be able to find ethical culture and personal enrichment elsewhere, and I certainly find it in many sources. But for me, my "religion" is already a built-in part of my personal and social identity, and it's had three or four millennia of preservation and development that would seem to speak to its value. I am not in a position to automatically reject the wisdom of the ages when it is pretty much handed to me as a birthright.

Sue U wrote: ↑

Wed Sep 08, 2021 3:27 pm

For a smart guy, you have a pretty simplistic and unsophisticated view of religion.

What other view can there be? To give it any credence requires belief in a "god".

Sue U wrote: ↑

Wed Sep 08, 2021 3:27 pm

If you consider these texts as studies in "ethics" or "moral philosophy," you might find plenty more than fairy tales.

Dressed up as holy words, therefore not moral and not ethical.

Sue U wrote: ↑

Wed Sep 08, 2021 3:27 pm

In my own tradition, the texts and commentaries also tell the story of my people -- some of it history, some of it myth, some of it somewhere in-between -- and further supply principles of law and social organization, some really evocative poetry, artful prose, beautiful songs, and general advice for getting along in the world.

But they are also responsible for lunacy like this;





How can the words of a supreme being, one capable of creating all, lead to people wearing certain silly hats?

Sue U wrote: ↑

Wed Sep 08, 2021 3:27 pm

You may be able to find ethical culture and personal enrichment elsewhere, and I certainly find it in many sources. But for me, my "religion" is already a built-in part of my personal and social identity, and it's had three or four millennia of preservation and development that would seem to speak to its value. I am not in a position to automatically reject the wisdom of the ages when it is pretty much handed to me as a birthright.

I wish you well in that. I've no problem with people's beliefs, except where they chose to see them as moral laws, not man made suggestions.

Gob resorts to broad declarative when the thread has gone beyond him and he wants to get attention.

Gob wrote: ↑

Wed Sep 08, 2021 4:52 pm

What other view can there be? To give it any credence requires belief in a "god".

No, it doesn't. I don't "believe in" any deity yet I am perfectly capable of reading both the Bible and the Bhagavad Gita and seeing the value in each.

Gob wrote: ↑

Wed Sep 08, 2021 4:52 pm

Dressed up as holy words, therefore not moral and not ethical.

I don't even understand what this is supposed to mean. Look, for example, at my most recent quote-post in the Image of God thread. What in that is "dressed up as holy words" and why would any of it be "therefore not moral and not ethical"?

Gob wrote: ↑

Wed Sep 08, 2021 4:52 pm

But they are also responsible for lunacy like this;

Nothing in those pictures is dictated by the Judaic texts; that manner of dress is a choice by one sect of one branch of Jews who rather prefer the styles of 18th and 19th Century Poland. Some people like skinny ties, some people like ascots, some people like to wear gold chains with crosses around their necks. Why can't people wear what they want? Why is it "lunacy"?

Gob wrote: ↑

Wed Sep 08, 2021 4:52 pm

How can the words of a supreme being, one capable of creating all, lead to people wearing certain silly hats?

Well if it's silly hats that has you wound up, I think you don't have much room to talk:

Hoping that it is indeed a happy new year.

Wishing youse Jews a happy new year. May no one run up and punch you just because you are. Because it is sadly a thing.

Happy Jew Year!

TPFKA@W wrote: ↑

Wed Sep 08, 2021 8:12 pm

Wishing youse Jews a happy new year.

Thanks! Same to youse!

TPFKA@W wrote: ↑

Wed Sep 08, 2021 8:12 pm

May no one run up and punch you just because you are.

I would think there are a lot of reasons that would be much higher on the list.

TPFKA@W wrote: ↑

Wed Sep 08, 2021 8:12 pm

Because it is sadly a thing.

It is? I mean, not that I'm actually surprised, given today's social climate, I just hadn't heard.

Maybe it's kind of like birthday whacks? A New Years punch?

Of course, I'd never hit a lady, new years or no new years.

Crackpot wrote: ↑

Wed Sep 08, 2021 5:21 pm

Gob resorts to broad declarative when the thread has gone beyond him and he wants to get attention.

No, I post dick pics when I want attention.

I've got to admit, you're too good for me Sue, you're wrong, but too good!

Gob wrote: ↑

Thu Sep 09, 2021 6:08 am

Crackpot wrote: ↑

Wed Sep 08, 2021 5:21 pm

Gob resorts to broad declarative when the thread has gone beyond him and he wants to get attention.

No, I post dick pics when I want attention.

We had a congressman in NY who did that; unfortunately for him, his name was "Wiener".