_(english).jpg "Taking the Spiritual Dive")
_(english).jpg "Genetic Screening for Breast Cancer Genes")
_(english).jpg "When Bad Things Happen")
_(english).jpg "Judaism and the 12-Step Program")
+.jpg "Knowledge and Wisdom")
+.jpg "Moshe, Miriam and Prophecy")
+.jpg "Don't Give Up")
[In Sodom] when someone built a stone fence, people would walk by and take one stone each, saying, "I am not really harming him. I am taking only one stone" (Sanhedrin 109b).
The Talmud elaborates on the social practices of Sodom, some of which are uncomfortably reminiscent of some current social customs.
Sodom was characterized by self-will run riot. Nothing stood in the way of gratifying a Sodomite's desires, regardless of what they were. Any barriers to gratification that might arise from guilt were eliminated by two widely practiced maneuvers: rationalization and legislation. If one had no way to justify a particular immoral or unethical act, a law was passed to legalize it. Sodom was the symbol of justified and legalized social and moral corruption.
There is one example of Sodomite rationalization - considering a particular improper act trivial and insignificant. Each Sodomite who took only one stone from the neighbor's fence told him or herself that this infraction of another person's property rights was so minor that it would hardly be noticeable. In this way, the owner's entire fence was demolished.
I once brought a letter to my grandfather which my father had intended to mail to him. My grandfather opened up his desk drawer and tore up a postage stamp saying, "We have no right to withhold revenue from the postal service that is due to them." To a person for whom pennies (and postage was three cents back then) are negligible, misappropriation of thousands of dollars may also be feasible.
(1) Beverly Kurtin, June 10, 2010 8:50 PM
Wow!
What a man your zede was. Our representatives in Washington D.C. should function with that in mind. It grieves me that the Robert's Supreme Court seems to be taking money under the table. The court ruled that corporations are "people" and can use their unlimited funds to prevent a candidate from winning an office; yesterday they further restricted how individuals can raise money. In short, we have corruption in our Supreme Court and it goes all the way down to the income tax cheaters. My youngest son called me one day saying, "Thanks to you, I just lost ten dollars." It seems that a cashier made a $10 error by giving him change for a $20 bill when he had given her a $10 bill. He had a little discussion with himself, thought about me, and gave the money back. Had I won a million dollars, I could not have been more pleased that the lessons I had shown him by giving back money I had been given in error. He learned from my example and what more could a mother want (except maybe a Ph.D.?). I know your zede has a special place in gan eden.