Too sexy for a Jew?

Oooooh, 

Quite literally ! Today is apparently 'National Orgasm Day'.  Apparently Ann Summers (the sex shop) has seen a surge in sales. Yeah, you got that right, the prudish Brits do have a day which celebrates sex. It seems rather odd and perhaps an indication of our strange cultural times, that on the one hand we don't normally talk about sexual intercourse, but on the other there is a huge growth of the porn industry and what I take to be the over sexualisation of society, especially young teenage girls. It is true that when I was a teenager I always wanted to look 'sexy' and older than I actually was. But to be honest, I never really pushed the boundaries that some girls seem to do today (my skirts were never and still are knee length). 

The strange thing is that as a far as Judaism is concerned, sex within the context of heterosexual married life is a good thing ( I believe that my sister has explained our family's approach to homosexual activity before, in her post here, so I don't want this to turn into another rant against the gay). We are actively encouraged to -put it crudely - shag on the Shabbat. We are also to have at least 2 children, if we can, but sex isn't just about pro-creation, but an enjoyment in its own right. Indeed I'm supposed to have sex even after I've lost the ability to have children. Sex in Judaism is also controlled by the woman and not the man. So sex in itself isn't a bad thing; it is in fact a wonderful thing. I enjoy sex. I really do. But the downside is that outside of its proper place and context sex can be a dangerous thing. Which is sad because that is not they way it is supposed to be. 

No true atheists ?

Over at the Cranmer blog, I have been involved in a discussion. I thought I'd put this up here so people can offer their own thoughts.

 To summarise :

I. No true atheists. 

The Christians on the blog have been arguing with an atheist & the claim is that this atheist is in denial about God's existence; i.e. an atheist really knows that God exists, but wilfully chooses not to acknowledge this fact.This stems from an idea of Christian theologian John Calvin, called 'sensus divinitas'. This Calvinistic idea states that we all have a knowledge of God, but then at the same time in denial of him. Furthermore this idea isn't just that man is in denial of a classical theist God, but the specific Christian God. The argument for this proof that God exists is by the creation & therefore nature itself. So for want of a better word, as far as this argument goes, there are no true atheists. My position was to dispute this claim (more below on that later). The proof from the Christian Bible for this argument was given to me as  Romans Chapter 1 verses 18 to 20, where Paul states : 

18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. 19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.

II. My response & the counter

Because I questioned this idea , a sub-thread developed, as to whether or not my faith, Rabbinic Orthodox Judaism, holds to a similar concept or not & various arguments have been put forward to this effect. The key idea here was the concept of the 7 laws of Noah.

My critique of 'No true atheists'. 

To deal with each of these issues in turn. Firstly 'sensus divinitas' would make sense if

1) It was trying to explain why there are multiple different religions in the world.

2) the world was 100% Christian & it was atheist vs Christian with no other religions.

From what I've got on this subject the theory is not attempting to explain the divine in all religions, but Christianity on its own; i.e. we are all somehow born with this idea of the divine nature of the Christian God, so point 1 becomes irrelevant. 

As for point 2, the world clearly isn't divided between atheist or Christianity, but these 2 groups alongside multiple other faiths. I cannot see how, say, a Hindu in India is born with a sense of the divine Christian God. That doesn't make any sense to me.

As for the argument from creation and or nature, my problem with this was  twofold. It is not that there is anything wrong with these classic theistic arguments. But for a start an argument for a God from creation doesn't necessarily in and of itself point to a Christian God or for that matter a Jewish or Islamic one. Therefore it doesn't push sensus devinitas  very far. Secondly an argument from nature does not get us very far when one thinks that the Christian God claims to be above all a God of love (John 3: 16 being the most famous). Look at nature and you will find some terrible stuff; black holes which stuck in all matter, black widow spiders and of course mankind itself is a part of nature : war, death, famine, hate, pride, lust are but a few examples of the downside to humanity. 

[Now I will say, I was surprised that this wasn't mentioned on the thread in response :  the concept of the Christian Devil and the fall of man in the Genesis creation account. I won't elaborate much on this, but from previous Christian encounters this has often been a fall back position].

A third idea to me is that Judaism has the proof that not only does a God exist, but we can grasp, however, shallow, what God is like. We have the concept 'Ana nafshi ketavit yehavit': I have invested my very essence in writing [The Torah], so when someone asks about God it is there in the words of our Bible. Of course that does not mean we can completely understand the divine will, which is why atheists have a greater luxury than those who do believe, as Sephardi Rabbi Judah Ha-Levi said " If I understood Him I would be Him" .Hence the real question for a Jew or for anyone of faith,is who is God? What is he like? What is his will? These questions are in part, for a Jew & the thinking person of faith generally, answered in the Torah,the remainder of the Hebrew Bible & the works of our Chazal, Sages & Rabbis.

One final point that I would like to make is that I noted during the  course of the discussion that Judaism is not a proselytising faith. In other words we do not actively seek to convert people, unlike Christianity or Islam, but we do suggest that Gentiles follow 7 basic laws as these are applicable to all of humanity. I noted, therefore that I felt relaxed about wanting to convince or convert an atheist to my faith. This leads us nicely to the counter argument put to me, which I outline below. 

The counter argument to me  : 

1. Do you believe knowledge of God is restricted to Jews alone and that gentiles can have no insight into the Divine? According to your faith, following the Seven Laws of Noah is a prerequisite for a gentile to share in the life to come. If he's never told this, how does he know other than instinctively i.e. the knowledge is implanted by God?

2. One of the laws proscribes Idolatry, therefore this implies to a gentile that one must follow God or believe in him in order to fulfil this commandment   

3.How can there be prohibitions against idolatry and blasphemy in the Noahide laws if we all don't know (even without necessarily consciously knowing) there is a Creator God? And the other laws indicate a inbuilt sense of right and wrong.

My response 

Judaism itself and the 7 laws are to do with implementing the divine will. That is it is about action and deed, not an abstract belief and creed, which is the point you haven't grasped & which is what the God of Judaism requires of a human being, unlike Christianity which is a full worship and belief in Jesus as the penal sacrifice for all of mankind's sins, past, present and future in order to obtain passage into heaven. 

The belief in a God isn't "implied" by these laws because the Rabbis of the Talmud who taught the 7 laws did, of course, believe in God and not only that they would say these laws came from God. But it is a slightly different matter for a Jew to demand that a gentile -atheist or not- follow God. Otherwise you'd all have to convert and as you know we don't evangelize as Christianity or Islam do.

Well, what do people here think of this issue?

NB- I agree that my response could have been more robust, but I didn't have a lot of time to go through in depth. That is the problem with the google blogging comment section, which is why I use discus . 

Scary dragonfly in Bucks

Apparently this was what flew into someone's home in Bucks,according to the Metro :

The eight-inch Jurassic-sized beast was photographed as it rested on a window blind inside 53-year-old Rowena Wilkinson’s home in Weston Turville.The black and grey coloured dragonfly was apparently whizzing around her kitchen as her daughter Molly, 24, prepared to say goodbye to her three-year-old goddaughter Isla Parkin and isla’s mother Ellie Shelby, 24.

 Ow, good job it wasn't my home  (:



Dragonfly facts

• The insect has existed for 325million years but is now threatened by insecticide use, water pollution and the draining of wetlands for housing.
• In Great Britain there are about 30 species - one has become extinct
• The largest in the UK are Demoiselles, which have a body length of about 50 mm and a wingspan of about 60mm

Hobbit 3 - battle of the five armies, first trailer

OOOH ! ! !

The trailer for the third and final part of the Hobbit film. Whilst I'm not particularly into science fiction, I do like films or books like the Hobbit, which are basically fantasy films. It looks fanastic! 

Battle Of The Five Armies, which once again stars Martin Freeman, Sir Ian McKellen, Orlando Bloom, Benedict Cumberbatch and Evangeline Lilly, will be released in cinemas on December 12.

Is Rabbi Sacks right about cyber space?

There is an interesting news item at the Jewish news, regarding Rabbi Lord Sack's recent intervention on social media/the Internet that threatens to return humanity “back to the dark ages”, the article continues :

Citing attacks against the Jewish community in France and Germany, he added: “Forgive me if I say that I did not expect, 120 years after the Dreyfus case and 70 years after the Holocaust, that the cry of ‘Death to the Jews’ would be heard again in the streets of France and Germany.”Lord Sacks added that while the recent violence carried echoes of the past, it is being spread faster by modern social media sites such as Twitter.

I agree with Lord Sacks that modern social media has made us more globally aware and that communications are such that anyone can have a voice; I also agree that the surge in anti-semitism is alarming and that some reports seem to want to explain that when Germans are pro-Israel it is because of holocaust guilt, rather than genuine support (see this BBC article). 

This democratisation of the political process is positive, in so much as the ordinary people have a forum for their opinions. The negative side is that social media can and does attract the cyber fanatics who are like a baying mob, especially toward Jews and Israel at present. The one thing that we must remember is that we Jews have often had to defend ourselves and our religion, when we had no Israel and no IDF. We did so on the back of our wits, belief & sheer courage : does anyone remember the disputation of Barcelona? 

So today there is an Internet and yes it can be full of disturbing messages and arguments. We must regain that voice quickly and win the argument .It is not social media that is the problem, rather we must remind ourselves that we are Jews and we have never been afraid of defending our faith when necessary, often with the most powerful weapon of all: words, writing and debate. So today we must remember that whilst opponents have a voice so do we. Let us make them hear us. Let us win the argument once more. 

The staying power of Orthodoxy in religion

This is a question I've been racking my brains about recently : why is it that as the world becomes more secularised & some religions wish to adapt to this zeitgeist, the religions which are surviving and growing are the ones who are decidedly not going along 'with the programme as David Cameron once said about the Church of England women Bishops issue. I wonder why that this the case, because the rationale for religions to move with the times is (so I understand) to help religion 'survive' current times. Yet in our own faith the liberal-reform movement is not doing well, but the other extreme, Haredi Judaism is growing the fastest. It is not just the Jewish religion, for example,  Evangelical & non denominational  Christianity, all sorts of non established movements, such as new age, paganism etc, last but not least the growth of -for want of a better word- Islamic fundamentalism.Are all doing well. 

My own immediate answer is that when people follow a religion, they want fire in their belly, not doubt; certainty, not confusion. They want answers, not a load of difficult questions as to whether or not things really happened in the way their texts say they did. They want community, not isolation, in so much as I think human beings will on the most part always follow the crowd. They will thrive under real or perceived persecution. Such as the rational reasons. Others would invoke their god. But then the problem with that is it doesn't explain why someone else's god is also seemingly making their religion grow as well (although of course you can invent the devil to explain these things).

Discuss.

Cravings when Preggers

Oy,  as I'm sure people are aware that most pregnant women have strange cravings and desires for foods which are decidedly odd. This is perfectly natural and normal with hormones going all over place (although I seemed to take quite a long time to get over mine, but I say I'm SPECIAL , so that's OK).

So to share and  get rid of any stigma I will share with you the cravings and foods I had during pregnancy : 

• Fried Banana with chili and ice cream
• Cold beef burgers & custard 
• Hard boiled eggs 
• Lot's of ginger beer ( I normally can't stand the stuff!)

If anyone else wants to share, please feel free to do so.

Darling, people in THIS VILLAGE ....

....Don't shop at TESCO!!

Via the Metro newspaper -

"A worried resident called police to report a ‘suspicious’Tesco van parked in the street.But when he was told by the emergency operator that it was most probably a delivery being made, the caller snapped: ‘People in this village don’t shop at Tesco.’ "

This tells you all you need to know about Britain's class system, as does this one about those who shop at a certain posh super market : [if the concept of a 'super market' can really be thought of as classy].

 Hilarious quotes from Waitrose shoppers collected on Facebook page. 'Overheard In Waitrose' is a collection of gems from UK's smartest shoppers Members of the public submit them to Facebook page for others' amusement. Highlights include: 

• 'Don't rummage in the reduced bin, someone from the golf club might see you': 

• 'Mummy, are we shopping for the boat as well?'

• Another customer asked: 'Darling, do we need parmesan for both houses?' 

• A woman told butcher: 'Topside for the dog? We're not TRYING to kill her'

• Another said: 'There are no pine nuts in Tesco, it's like the Third World'

• And another: 'Lucas, put the falafel down, you already chose olives as treat'

Thankfully being a daughter of working class Jews made good, I simply don't go into this sort of snobbery. I go to a local Kosher butcher and a Greengrocer instead. And  thinking you've got money and telling everyone else is vulgar, not classy or posh.  It would appear that having money is also no guarantee of politeness or etiquette. 

No More JW encounters?

Oy, apparently- and I have seen this at the train station when I go commuting- the Jehavoah's Witness's are changing tactic to do their 'mission' at train stations.  As people will know from my musings at my brother's blog, I do get a knock on the door every Friday morning from our local JW group. Even though they know we are a Jewish house hold and there is  my Mezuzah celebrating this fact, they STILL want to say hello. This is of course, not because they engage in religious dialogue (that stopped many months ago, because I'm a bit stubborn when it comes to debating theology ), but because

• I'm the only person in the  village who isn't a JW who didn't slam the door in their faces and debated them. 

• They like my selection of my FREE  herbal teas and strong Turkish coffee. 

Of course being kind to the stranger was the Jewish thing to do. I think I'm too kind. I will miss the encounters, although it looks like it will be just  the Anglicans trying to sell me a copy of the Parish Magazine from now on ( which is really the way for their Church to make money, which I don't object to , although reading through their lady Vicar's incoherent ramblings over 2 pages to me isn't worth £5 a year).

Strangely Placed restaurants?

I was reading the Metro on a train journey from London a couple of days ago and there was an article on the following ITHAA restaurant in the Maldives... part of a luxury hotel chain experience. Not that I or my husband would be able to afford a £190 meal per person-besides which  it wouldn't be Kosher & children aren't allowed for evening meals-  but there does seem to be something of a pull eating in a water free water tank (personally I think the design as impressive as a roadside service station) with fish all around. 

I wonder what the first restaurant in a space station or another planet would be like & would anyone pay for this ? Time for the imagination to wonder; glass domes on Mars, lunar colonies with egg shaped habitats, space stations orbiting the earth; space stations inside the gas giants. Wonder what they would be like? Please share your ideas and also do readers know of any other strangely placed restaurants? 

New Tory women?

I've posted the following at my brother's blog :

New Tory women?

Basically discussing attitudes of  women in politics, following the reshuffle last week.

לְקַדֵם בִּבְרָכָה

Hello All,

Welcome to my new blog. Whilst I am a contributor to my brothers blog (here), I have decided that I also wish to blog full time  at my own place. I'm a 30 something Jewish girl in South West England. Join me here for my journey through life's trials and life's joy. My focus will be : 

• Judaism
• Food
• Philosophy
• History
• Life for a Jew in England 
• Christian -Jewish relations and theology
• Other notes which may be of interest to me

Enjoy the ride.