A new name for an eruv?
The problem involving the string illustrates how devious we have become in observing the laws God actually gave us. The Torah that we refer to today is not the Torah of Ezra, and it certainly is not the book of the Covenant. Despite all historical records and rational thought, we have been fed many untruths about our religion. Rationality, as well as Ezra’s Torah, informs us that being a Jew is not as the sages and rabbis interpret for us. The sages, in their time and with great belief in God and the commandments, of necessity, built a wall around Judaic laws for our benefit at that time. That time has long passed, and although their motives were clear and just, they went too far. They neglected to remember that belief is of heart and mind, not of body, which is controlled by the mind. They perpetuated the Aaronite priesthood and forgot the priests of Melchizedek. They changed the freedom of belief into the captivity of ritual against which the Prophets had warned against. God stopped creation on the seventh day. Is carrying a creative activity? The rabbinic definition of work is ridiculous, because it expands the commandment to absurdity. The string? Another reason for rationality to be applied to a situation. Carrying, pushing a baby carriage, and similar actions are not creative activities. Work, as defined in the Torah, involves an act of creation. Who are we to change simplicity into absurdity?
Shel Haas
Fort Lee
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