Sunday, October 12, 2008

AISH.COM and Imaginary Reality

When will the propaganda from Aish ever end? Aish.com speaks of the sukkah holiday as a bailout plan for the jews. Ya that really worked, like when rockets were hitting religious neighborhoods in Israel, during the 1940s, the pogroms in russia , the persecution in Arab countries, the Spanish Inquisition, the roman invasion of ancient israel, etc. etc.

The article http://www.aish.com/spirituality/odysseys/Invincible.asp says "The holiday of Sukkot is about vulnerability and faith." Lots and lots and lots and lots of faith. So much faith, we have to believe it's ok for synagogues to engage in commerce and sell seats on Yom Kippor when the laws of Shabbat are supposed to come into effect.

Next, the article goes into some new age bull shit by saying "we live within two realms: the physical and the spiritual. Both are real and both demand our attention." You see, if you break one of the orthodox rules that comes from stretching what is actually written in the torah, you are hurting yourself in another dimension. You can't feel it, you can't know that it's there, it is undetectable by human science, but shhhh! You are HURTING yourself. * gasp *

The whole thing is trying in a roundabout way to use the economic crisis as an advertisement for orthodox judaism, by saying that God gives people problems out of love. Has the Aish people lost their minds?

There is a completely rational reason for the economic crisis which is, banks were buyin mortgages of / and giving them to less than qualified borrowers and wall street was giving the banks insurance in case the borrowers defaulted. The borrowers defaulted, then the banks didn't have $$$, then even wall street could not keep up.

It has nothing to do with "showing God's love" as Aish implies, it has everything to do with banks and wall street taking dumb risks.

About Aish's relying on God stuff I have this to say, about a year ago I was very sick from consuming too much fast food unwittingly. I always knew that such things were not conductive to good health, but the extent of that caught me WAY off guard. My primary instinct was to increase my consumption of vegetables, vitamin c, green tea, water, and I lived. If I were an orthodox jew who got sick from consuming too many unhealthy foods, my primary instinct would have been an increase in prayer and study of religious texts- and today I would be a dead man.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

For someone who hates Judaism, you sure spend an awful lot of time looking it up and researching it on-line. Have you ever thought about getting a different hobby that won't get you so upset?

Jeff Eyges said...

Has the Aish people lost their minds?

Can't lose what you never had in the first place!

SJ said...

I'm not upset, I'm having fun bashing Aish. XD

Mighty Garnel Ironheart said...

Yeah, but here's the point: Aish doesn't care. You're tilting at windmills.
I know, have you ever considered extreme sports?

SJ said...

garnel, i do get readers.

Anonymous said...

I'm sure you do. After all, if I get readers, then anyone can!

I'm thinking that you might like the extreme sport where they put you in this giant transparent rubber ball and throw you off a mountain. Ever seen that one?

SJ said...

in orthodox judaism, looking at girls is an extreme sport.

Anonymous said...

Okay, so become frum and hang out near the local Bais Yakkov. See? There is a future for you in Judaism!

SJ said...

>> so become frum ... See? There is a future for you in Judaism!

i don't think so.

Anonymous said...

> i don't think

Well, according to you that's prerequisite no. 1 to being frum so welcome back brother. I'll point you to a place on the web that sells black hats after the holiday.

jewish philosopher said...

"and today I would be a dead man"

You make that sound like it's a bad thing.

SJ said...

Just charming JP.

Jeff Eyges said...

You know my solution.

Anonymous said...

I agree that Aish is idiotic and tries desperately to catch onto whatever people already like or agree with and then cut and paste it onto Judaism and act like it was already there.
People identify with the economic crisis? Okay, pull that in and pretend Succos is about that.

And Ironheart, you usually come across as somewhat intelligent but wrong. Here, you just come across as wrong. Great job using the ad hominem argument subtly.