[quote]SexMachine wrote:
Indian Jews are interesting too and I know for a fact that the population is very anti-Semitic. [/quote]
Really only the muslims.
There is a lot of military and economic co-operation between Israel and India.
The only problem I’ve had in India was diarrhea from questionable ice cubes.
I read that underneath Ghengis Khan, that religion of any faith had rights and all that the Mongols cared about was fostering trade, this could have been why many Jewish people took the Silk Route. Is Ghengis Khan or the Mongols ever spoken of in Jewish oral history? The Muslims and Eastern Europeans were not the biggest fans, but maybe it is different with the Jews.
[quote]UtahLama wrote:
Thoughts on the passing of Ariel Sharon JB?
I tend to think of him as a warrior. He was a ferocious military leader, and his politics tended to follow the same approach.
[/quote]
I’d love to hear your thoughts on Sharon also, JB. (I tend to think of him much in the same way as UL).
Mufasa
[quote]UtahLama wrote:
Thoughts on the passing of Ariel Sharon JB?
I tend to think of him as a warrior. He was a ferocious military leader, and his politics tended to follow the same approach.
[/quote]
Fair enough.
I think he did what he thought was right, but I was born and raised in a town called Gush Katif (beach picture above from Wiki).
It was a Jewish/Bedouin town for thousands of years until 1929 anti-Jewish pogrom by the arabs — captured and re-settled after the 1968 war.
Learned to surf there.
Kissed my first “girlfriend” on the beach — a Bedouin girl whose father was my father’s business partner.
Married there (the first time).
My family had a prospering farm selling geraniums of all things.
Anyway, Sharon ordered the town forcibly evacuated as part of the “peace process.” The non-Bedouin arabs came in and destroyed everything, even green houses specifically left for them to take over the businesses we had to leave behind.
My boyhood home was burned down.
Anyway, it’s now a no-man’s land of barbed wire, empty beach-side hotels, and land mines.
So, while I won’t speak ill of Gen. Sharon, I won’t speak good of him, either.
[quote]edmontonalberta wrote:
I read that underneath Ghengis Khan, that religion of any faith had rights and all that the Mongols cared about was fostering trade, this could have been why many Jewish people took the Silk Route. Is Ghengis Khan or the Mongols ever spoken of in Jewish oral history? The Muslims and Eastern Europeans were not the biggest fans, but maybe it is different with the Jews.[/quote]
Ghengas Khan was very religiously intolerant, forbid the practice of circumcision and demanded Jewish people eat pork and other things. This is in contrast to the native Chinese leaders who were very open and giving to Jewish immigrants.
If you read a bit on Jewish history in China, it really looks like GK set in motion the gradual destruction of Jewish life in China by his forcing of assimilation.
This thread has been really interesting, especially since my exposure to Orthodox Jews is limited to seeing Yentl back in the 80’s and reading some Chaim Potok novels. 
I think I’ve read through this thread, but I apologize if you’ve covered this and I missed it. I don’t know enough to ask any deep questions, but I had a couple of more practical ones.
The observance of so many laws effecting food and would make socializing with people outside your faith difficult, or at least awkward. If you lived on my street, how would you handle social invitations? Would your children play with my kids? Be allowed in my home? Aside, my son took a Jewish girl (not Orthodox) to the winter formal last year and she informed him that she “could go to the dance, but they could never marry.” Haha!! I’m pretty sure that was about the furthest thing from his mind.
You mentioned that you had never been to church services. Is that because your social circles are strictly within your own faith? For example, we are not Catholic, but we’ve attended baptism services for friend’s children. If a Christian co-worker dies, would you attend his funeral? Go to his wedding in a church?
You’ve mentioned the modest dress for both men and women, at least on the sabbath. Is women covering their hair a function of maturity, or is it an indicator of marital status? Women of a certain age, or married women? If your wife wanted to run a marathon, or take a ballet class, would that be acceptable? If so, what would she wear? Can she wear a bathing suit at the beach?
If I went to religious services with your family, would I hear women speak? Pray?
I have read that Orthodox families tend to have more children. Is that just a reflection of your values, or is birth control or spacing one’s children discouraged or prohibited?
Our high school aged children attend religious classes every morning from 6-7 am, before school. They also attend church for 3 hours on Sunday. What is religious instruction like for your kids? Does it differ for men and women?
Weird, I really got to check the sources of what I read! Also since you mention Bedouin in your last post, it seems they have a warm relationship or was this an isolated situation?
[quote]Powerpuff wrote:
This thread has been really interesting, especially since my exposure to Orthodox Jews is limited to seeing Yentl back in the 80’s and reading some Chaim Potok novels.
I think I’ve read through this thread, but I apologize if you’ve covered this and I missed it. I don’t know enough to ask any deep questions, but I had a couple of more practical ones.
The observance of so many laws effecting food and would make socializing with people outside your faith difficult, or at least awkward. If you lived on my street, how would you handle social invitations? Would your children play with my kids? Be allowed in my home? Aside, my son took a Jewish girl (not Orthodox) to the winter formal last year and she informed him that she “could go to the dance, but they could never marry.” Haha!! I’m pretty sure that was about the furthest thing from his mind.
You mentioned that you had never been to church services. Is that because your social circles are strictly within your own faith? For example, we are not Catholic, but we’ve attended baptism services for friend’s children. If a Christian co-worker dies, would you attend his funeral? Go to his wedding in a church?
You’ve mentioned the modest dress for both men and women, at least on the sabbath. Is women covering their hair a function of maturity, or is it an indicator of marital status? Women of a certain age, or married women? If your wife wanted to run a marathon, or take a ballet class, would that be acceptable? If so, what would she wear? Can she wear a bathing suit a the beach?
If I went to religious services with your family, would I hear women speak? Pray?
I have read that Orthodox families tend to have more children. Is that just a reflection of your values, or is birth control or spacing one’s children discouraged or prohibited?
Our high school aged children attend religious classes every morning from 6-7 am, before school. They also attend church for 3 hours on Sunday. What is religious instruction like for your kids? Does it differ for men and women?
[/quote]
Ug. I had a multi-page answer to this and my phone rang and I accidently deleted it.
Will respond in a day or two.
[quote]edmontonalberta wrote:
Also since you mention Bedouin in your last post, it seems they have a warm relationship or was this an isolated situation? [/quote]
The native Bedouins have always been cool with Jewish people and vice-versa. The arabs that cause problems are from Eqypt/Jordan/Syria/Lebanon.
There are some problems recently in Bedouin communities, but I think it has more to do with the fact that the modern world is not well-suited to a more-or-less nomadic Peoples.
Worse, we have a soul-sucking welfare program in Israel just like Europe and the USA so they end up sitting on their rear ends in desert ghettos instead of being the proud people that they are.
[quote]Jewbacca wrote:
[quote]UtahLama wrote:
Thoughts on the passing of Ariel Sharon JB?
I tend to think of him as a warrior. He was a ferocious military leader, and his politics tended to follow the same approach.
[/quote]
Fair enough.
I think he did what he thought was right, but I was born and raised in a town called Gush Katif (beach picture above from Wiki).
It was a Jewish/Bedouin town for thousands of years until 1929 anti-Jewish pogrom by the arabs — captured and re-settled after the 1968 war.
Learned to surf there.
Kissed my first “girlfriend” on the beach — a Bedouin girl whose father was my father’s business partner.
Married there (the first time).
My family had a prospering farm selling geraniums of all things.
Anyway, Sharon ordered the town forcibly evacuated as part of the “peace process.” The non-Bedouin arabs came in and destroyed everything, even green houses specifically left for them to take over the businesses we had to leave behind.
My boyhood home was burned down.
Anyway, it’s now a no-man’s land of barbed wire, empty beach-side hotels, and land mines.
So, while I won’t speak ill of Gen. Sharon, I won’t speak good of him, either.
[/quote]
Thanks, JB.
It’s interesting…when I’ve read and listened to all that’s been written and said about Gen. Sharon over the past 2-3 weeks…the feelings are usually passionate…both “Pro” and “Con”…
Mufasa
[quote]Jewbacca wrote:
[quote]UtahLama wrote:
Thoughts on the passing of Ariel Sharon JB?
I tend to think of him as a warrior. He was a ferocious military leader, and his politics tended to follow the same approach.
[/quote]
Fair enough.
I think he did what he thought was right, but I was born and raised in a town called Gush Katif (beach picture above from Wiki).
It was a Jewish/Bedouin town for thousands of years until 1929 anti-Jewish pogrom by the arabs — captured and re-settled after the 1968 war.
Learned to surf there.
Kissed my first “girlfriend” on the beach — a Bedouin girl whose father was my father’s business partner.
Married there (the first time).
My family had a prospering farm selling geraniums of all things.
Anyway, Sharon ordered the town forcibly evacuated as part of the “peace process.” The non-Bedouin arabs came in and destroyed everything, even green houses specifically left for them to take over the businesses we had to leave behind.
My boyhood home was burned down.
Anyway, it’s now a no-man’s land of barbed wire, empty beach-side hotels, and land mines.
So, while I won’t speak ill of Gen. Sharon, I won’t speak good of him, either.
[/quote]
Thank you as always for your viewpoint JB.
I can see how his policies would hit home in a personal way for you.
[quote]Jewbacca wrote:
[quote]Powerpuff wrote:
This thread has been really interesting, especially since my exposure to Orthodox Jews is limited to seeing Yentl back in the 80’s and reading some Chaim Potok novels.
I think I’ve read through this thread, but I apologize if you’ve covered this and I missed it. I don’t know enough to ask any deep questions, but I had a couple of more practical ones…
[/quote]
Ug. I had a multi-page answer to this and my phone rang and I accidently deleted it.
Will respond in a day or two.
[/quote]
Thank you. Sorry to be so long there. And I also apologize if some of these questions are insensitive. I realize keeping yourselves apart from the rest of the world is in part an issue of survival.
Are the Bedouin more aligned with the Jews or the Arabs, or just stay neutral?
Any chance that these reports of Ghengis Khan were miscued? He often gets blamed for atrocities that people (Tamerlane for example) who claimed to be his decedents . Mongols were for example full of many different religions and from what I read they cared more about trade and conquering new lands, then changing the religion of conquered peoples.
Is sex considered immoral if not done for the sake of procreation?
[quote]edmontonalberta wrote:
Is sex considered immoral if not done for the sake of procreation?[/quote]
Nope. It’s considered a lot of fun.
– Mrs. Jewbacca
Haha, alright so no stigma in enjoying sex in the confines of marriage I assume?
[quote]edmontonalberta wrote:
Haha, alright so no stigma in enjoying sex in the confines of marriage I assume?[/quote]
There are several posts earlier in the thread where this is covered pretty thoroughly.
I’ve been answering some of my own questions. Wikipedia - Tzniuit.
And I found this pic of Orthodox women who trained to run a marathon together here in LA. Baseball caps, knee-length lycra skirts, and long sleeves. Nice story about how their husbands got together and helped with childcare so they could train. Note, the woman in shorts is a news reporter.
I also found a picture of an Orthodox woman who is a professional ballerina, but apparently there are some conflicts there because dancing in front of men who are not part of your family, as well as touching men you are not related to can violate her covenants. At least that’s the way I read that. Along with the issues of covering the area between the collar bone, elbow and knee when in mixed company.
I found an article about Orthodox women exercising together without covering their hair, but in a women’s only space. So I’m assuming Mrs. Jewbacca could come to my ballet class as long as there weren’t men in the class, or windows.
About clothing, I did look back and see the picture you put up of Ivanka Trump. NOT what I expected. There are some Orthodox clothing bloggers who are just beautiful, and very stylish. http://www.alamodesty.com/ and http://www.pinterest.com/sharonlangert/modest-fashion/ I was picturing frumpy pictures of grandmotherly types that we’ve all seen on TV. I had no idea you could spend $3000 on a wig. And modesty seems to be related more to covering the areas mentioned, and the hair in married women. I’d assume some of this adherence to Tznuit would vary in interpretation? Some would be uncomfortable with all the bling in terms of jewelry and expensive handbags, etc… I was thinking of the Quakers, or religious ideals that come out of a Puritan influence being very simple and plain. Just thinking out loud here, but modesty as more than a focus on necklines and hemlines, and more about what’s going on inside - an expression of humility, inner-dignity, not doing things out of pride, to seek attention, or the praise of the world.
As for my other questions…
[quote]UtahLama wrote:
[quote]edmontonalberta wrote:
Haha, alright so no stigma in enjoying sex in the confines of marriage I assume?[/quote]
There are several posts earlier in the thread where this is covered pretty thoroughly.[/quote]
Alright thank you