How much is inspiration worth?

The Shabbos (Sabbath) morning service in the synagogue is really two services: Shachris, the morning prayers, and Mussaf, the additional prayers. Of course, if you have a rabbi, you generally have a speech. Where the speech falls in the service is a matter of personal taste.

Some rabbis choose to speak at the end, some speak between Shachris and Mussaf.

There are good reasons for the rabbi to speak at the end. For one thing, it doesn't interrupt the flow of things. For another, anybody who doesn't want to listen can leave. On the other hand, anybody who wants to come just to hear the rabbi speak can come late and skip the prayers (even though they are the whole point of things).

That leaving early thing is really great if the rabbi isn't. However, if you are lucky enough to have a rabbi who is a great speaker, he can truly inspire people through his words. If he speaks at the end, what exactly was that inspiration for? When a rabbi like that speaks in the middle, you can infuse your prayers with so much feeling it's almost like speaking to Hashem face-to-face. Why wouldn't anybody want that?

Is Divorce Idol Worship?

I think most of us have seen weddings, if not in person, then certainly on TV or in the movies. The couple, very much in love and excited about the new life they are about to begin, stands before their clergyman and with the blessings of G-d, they change from two people into one family.

At some time, before the couple reaches the point of holding the ceremony, chances are they went to the county courthouse and secured a marriage license. The question is: Why?

In the words of constitutional scholar Michael Badnarik, what does that license give them permission to do that they could not do before, who gave them that permission, and who gave that person the authority to grant permission? In truth, each religion has its own requirements that it expects a couple to fulfill before they can marry. In Judaism, neither one of the couple can be presently married to somebody else, there are some relationships which are prohibited based on a person's lineage, and they must be knowledgeable in the laws pertaining to marital relations. If they fulfill those requirements, they prepare a kesubah (marriage contract), stand before witnesses and they get married.

Sometimes, after the wedding, people discover things they didn't know about each other. He didn't know she wouldn't like his friends. She didn't know he likes to spend his winters ice fishing above the Arctic Circle. He didn't know her wardrobe occupies its own bedroom. She didn't know he snores.

Alas, for some couples it is too much, and they decide to divorce.

For most people, this means a protracted stay in divorce court. HOWEVER, if they didn't get a marriage license, and only had a religious ceremony, then it is up to the religious authorities to dissolve the marriage. And in Judaism, that is exactly what should happen.

The couple should (and often does) go to a Beis Din (religious court) which grants them the divorce. All too often, however, a Jewish couple, even from a Torah-observant background, will find themselves in divorce court because they involved the government when they decided to get married.

This is wrong.

In his commentary to Shemos 21:1, Rashi states that one who brings disputes before a secular court desecrates the name of G-d. He says it is tantamount to idol worship. So why does this seemingly religious couple bring their dispute before the secular court? Because they got a marriage license.

I wonder why the rabbi signed it. Isn't he then forcing them into the secular court system, forcing them into an idolatrous situation?

There Oughta Be A Law

How many times have you heard (or even said), "There oughta be a law . . ."?

We say this when we don't like what someone else is doing. Thnk about it a minute. If you were suddently granted the power to make whatever laws you wanted, what would they be? No cell phones in restaurants? Mandatory hand-washing after using the bathroom? No colorzing old movies?

Imagine how wonderful it would be if you could enact any laws you wanted. Imagine how nice and orderly the world would be.

Now imagine for just a moment that someone else received that power. What laws would they enact? No smoking in public ever? That's not too pleasant if you're a smoker. How about no meal with more than 3 grams of fat? Forget eating some of your favorite fast food.

Thnk about everything you do. Is there anything that someone, somewhere might not like? Maybe you drink too much (and some people consider any drinking too much). Maybe you like to eat animal products (which doesn't fly too well with the animal rights people).

Let's pretend that every time you get to pass a law against behavior you don't like, someone else gets to pass a law against your behavior. It starts to make what other people do a bit more tolerable, doesn't it?

In Norwood, Ohio, Joy and Carl Gamble just lost their home to the powers of eminent domain. It seems a developer wants their land for a shopping mall/condo complex. Joy and Carl want to keep their home, but at what cost to the community?

With the new development comes more jobs and more taxes. Those things are good for the city and for the majority of the citizens. Why shouldn't they be forced to give up their home for the greater good?

Only one reason--if they can be forced to give up their home, so can you. If we don't protect the rights of others, nobody will bother to protect ours.

If you want freedom, the only way is to work and fight for the freedom of evverybody else.