We recently got Netflix, which has translated to a decrease in my book consumption, corresponding to a more-or-less proportionate increase in my movie (especially Documentary) consumption. Tonight I watched Vegucated, which makes some compelling arguments for Veganism. (The most effective for me is the animal cruelty angle). Anyway, curious how vegetarianism/veganism is viewed in the Orthodox community. My mother-in-law said that at a (Conservative) shul she attended, the rabbi has just become vegetarian, stating that he feels it is a higher form of kashrut. Would that sentiment be shared in an Orthodox context?
A quick seperate - maybe silly - eating-animals-related question: Why are eggs and fish pareve? It seems that if chickens are considred fleishik, eggs should be too, no? And fish as a living creature should seemingly also fall into the fleishik category.
In the comments of my last post, Anonymous (and I) asked how Orthodox Jews hire people on Shabbos. JRK answered that question beatifully (thanks JRK!), so here's another one . . . with a bit of a preamble . . .
According to Jew in the City (see above): "The resting that you do on the Sabbath comes from emulating what God did when he finished creating the world . . .When God rested on Shabbos all creative activity stopped. Therefore when we rest on Shabbos, we stop creating too". If this is the case, then: Why is it a mitzvah to have sex on Shabbat? (unless - I presume - the sex is premarital, extramarital, homosexual, and whatever other categories are prohibited). What's more creative in a God-like way than making a baby? I don't quite get the jump from the "theory" of resting based on emulating to God, to the "practice", of not emulating the tabernacle builders.
An aside on the topic of Shabbos, my 4 year old son is SUPREMELY interested in figuring out how things -particularly mechanical and electronic ones- work. He is therefore a little "dangerous" to have around our Shomer Shabbos friends/relatives on Shabbat/Yom Tov. Today we had to really suppress our laughter when we learned that while we were having Friday night dinner at my in-laws, Mini CL had managed to reset the light timers in the den, turn the TV to a low buzz, and set my FIL's wristwatch to go off every hour. If for nothing else, mixed religious observance in families is good for occasional comic relief. We've tried to explain that we don't push buttons at Bubbie and Zaide's on Shabbos, but clearly the message didn't quite go through. Admittedly, some of the messages are very mixed . . .we can't call Bubbie on Shabbos, but when Zaide is out at Shul, she can call us. Bubbie won't drive, but she'll take a ride from us, or the bus . . . etc.
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We recently got Netflix, which has translated to a decrease in my book consumption, corresponding to a more-or-less proportionate increase in my movie (especially Documentary) consumption. Tonight I watched Vegucated, which makes some compelling arguments for Veganism. (The most effective for me is the animal cruelty angle). Anyway, curious how vegetarianism/veganism is viewed in the Orthodox community. My mother-in-law said that at a (Conservative) shul she attended, the rabbi has just become vegetarian, stating that he feels it is a higher form of kashrut. Would that sentiment be shared in an Orthodox context?
