Sunday, May 27, 2007

A short interview with Rav Roov

The beloved Rav Roov is an actual orthodox Rabbi and my younger brother. My pen name is a variation of his his nick name.

1 Explain the difference between Ashkenzazi and Sephardi Jews for lay people.

2 Do you want to impose your religious views on the non-religious? Do you endorse the creation of a theocracy in Israel?

3 Why do Jews fast on Tisha B'Av

4 What is a Megillah?

5 Explain for non Jews what is the Talmud?

8 comments:

beakerkin said...

Hola por favor. Yo es la Rabino el Beak HaGadol.

To answer the questions de jure:

(1)I prefer not to discuss dirty terms. But Askenazi Jews hail from Europe, Sephardic Jews come from North Africa and therein. Ashkenazim walk around grumbling all Passover constipated, wheras Sephardic Jews are "liberated" and can eat rice, corn, beans and the like.

(2)Theocracy: I don't know the meaning of the word. I'm not a big fan on superimposing my values on others. However, I was a big fan of several rock and roll groups from the 80's and one of my favorite songs was "everyone likes to rule the olam" by Tears fro Fears.

(3)Tisha B'Av is the day of ultimate sadness -- the day when the temples in Jerusalem was destroyed. Eating would be inappropriate and the fasting is meant to commemorate the event and to inspire the current generation to repent and be worthy of the temple's rebuilding...

(4)Megillah means different things to different people. To Rabbis Channah and Barbara, it meant a large Gorrilla in a window... TO traditional Jews it refers to a small scroll of parchment, similar to a Torah scroll... In the Talmud, it refers to the Book of Esther, read publicly in commemoration of the Purim holiday.

(5)This is a very sophisticated question. NOt easy to answer, The Talmud is basically the most profound and inspired work produced by mankind. It was compiled in the third century CE, by a series of rabbis, and contains Jewish history, philosophy and an understanding of the commandments. It has bentranslated in english, Hebrew and french most recently. The best translation of the uneducated is the 75-volume work by Artscroll publications. I would caution people, that basically it cannot be understood without the teaching of a competent rabbi, which I humbly say that I hope to be one day, when I grow up (growing out is something I've been told I'm well on my way to mastering...)

Rav Roov

beakerkin said...

The above is the words of the beloved Rav Roov.

Pay attention to question two,

Ducky's here said...

"The Talmud is basically the most profound and inspired work produced by mankind."

And that is where you lose so much credibility. A seriously silly statement.

The Merry Widow said...

OY!
A very Good Memorial Day to all!
Donal has a parade at her site with bands(marching)!
I put up a prayer that bar kochba put up at Neocon Command, it was to beautiful to leave in a comment.

tmw

beakerkin said...

Ducky

Lets see one would expect a clergyman to make the statements about the materials he studies.
Coherent thought and intellegence arenot the traits commies are associated with. Treason, theft, class genocide and stupidity are associated with your kind.

The_Editrix said...

And that is where you lose so much credibility. A seriously silly statement.

Can you at least offer an alternative, arsehole?

Anonymous said...

What's wrong with profound and inspired to describe a book? What is so silly about it? Explain yourself, duck.

Warren said...

Nostradumbass said:
"A seriously silly statement."

As long as you're still posting, I doubt that you will have any serious competition.