RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL:JEWISH RENEWAL:JEWISH SPIRITUAL RENEWAL:PICKING LEADERS:FRUM?

 

Shabbat Shalom:

 

Talmud Kallah, Ch. 1 relates to us:' ' One who gazes lustfully upon the small finger of a married woman, it is as if he has committed adultery with her.'' Luckily, I am wired not to have a pinkie-fetish.

 

Our people had very stringent rules for picking our leaders and when they were not followed, disaster befell us.

 

This Shabbat's Torah portions is entitled Shoftim, [Judges], and speaks about how our judges and rulers must have a level of holiness more than the average person. We are not to be looking for a soccer mom as our leader.

 

A special holiness is demanded from our kings, our political leaders. Our kings were obligated to write their own Torah scrolls and carry them with them at all times (Deut. 17:18-20). They were also obligated to study it daily. The
Kabbalists study the Hebrew word "melech" (king). They say it alludes to three words: "moach" (brain), "lev" (heart), and "kaveid" (liver).

 

The liver filters the blood before sending it to the heart. The heart refines the blood further before sending it to the brain. Before our kings reached a decision, they had to go through a process of intellectual and spiritual refinement.

 

I do not know if any candidate from any party, meets this criteria.

 

But I do know that our Jewish philosophy holds some thoughts dear to one who calls him or herself frum, religiously observant, as Gov. Palin does.

 

One who is frum, and this applies to one of any religion,  is known as a frummer. This term is generally used in a positive sense if he/she is frum "unto themselves" but does not force their frumness (frumkeit) on others. When a frummer tries to force their religious ways onto others, i.e. their religious views on abortion, or on creation theory, or on birth control, or sex education, Judaism  finds this abhorrent.

"Frummer" can also have a negative connotation similar to "Hasid Shotah" (pious idiot), which is how the Talmud describes a man who sees a woman drowning, but will not save her lest he touch her. A frummer in that sense refers to someone who is more concerned with the technical aspects of religious achievement and displays outward signs of religiosity, but lacks a sense of ethics and/or respect for his fellow man; in other words someone who has their priorities mixed up with no sense of proportion. In this vein, the word "frum" is said to be an acronym for "fiel rishus un veinig mitzvos" – "much wickedness and few mitzvoth ."

One who says they are a frum Christian, and treats her fellow man as if she were a barracuda and the fellows are bait, is called a liar and a hypocrite in both the Christian bible and our Talmud. Both say that anyone who says they love God Whom they cannot see, but disrespects a human who is made in the image of God who they can see, is  a liar and a hypocrite and doesn't love God or one's fellows at all. This is not my opinion. This is stated clearly in the Book of John 4:20 by Rabbi Y'shua quoting the Talmud, and was reiterated circa 1900 years later by the German Jewish philosopher, Martin Buber.

Unlike the Yiddish word "ehrlich" ("honest") which also means "pious", and is always used in a positive sense; the word "frum" can be used in a negative sense for: "hypocritically pious", "holier-than-thou", "sanctimonious"; or in a positive sense for: "pious", "devout", "God-fearing" and "upright".

The below photo, and I tend to doubt if its real, is not of one who claims to be a devout member of the Christian right nor is her bio or actions, even if the photo is fake.  A you well know, many politicians pander to groups to get their votes. Even Jesse Jackson  ate liver knishes when he was running for office.

May you have a shavuah tov, a good week, a week of peace, may your gladness reign and joy increase!

RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL

HILTON HEAD ISLAND, SC

BLUFFTON, SC

JEWISH SPIRITUAL RENEWAL

JEWISH RENEWAL

 

 

 

 

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