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From: barryg@sdcrdcf.UUCP (Lee Gold)
Newsgroups: net.religion.jewish
Subject: Re: Re: Beacon from a lost sheep from 11 lightyears away.
Message-ID: <2420@sdcrdcf.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 26-Oct-85 00:48:03 EST
Article-I.D.: sdcrdcf.2420
Posted: Sat Oct 26 00:48:03 1985
Date-Received: Thu, 31-Oct-85 07:24:25 EST
References: <808@nmtvax.UUCP> <2409@sdcrdcf.UUCP> <1964@aecom.UUCP>
Reply-To: barryg@sdcrdcf.UUCP (Lee Gold)
Organization: System Development Corp. R+D, Santa Monica
Lines: 30

Eliyahu, you apparently didn't read me closely enough.  Let me try to
make myself clearer.ext of your letter.

I said: Judaism does not say you have to feel the presence of God.
This does NOT mean the same thing as saying you don't have to believe in
God.  I can (and do) believe in God without feeling any mystical contact
with Him.

I also said:  It [Judaism] doesn't even put all that much emphasis on
believing in God.  Having your good deeds exceed your faith is preferble
to the reverse.
If you like, I'll quote the Pirke Avot on this.  Or perhaps you now
remember the passage.

I NEVER said anything about not believing in Torah.  Or that keeping
kosher was insane. (In logic, this sort of tactic is called attacking a
straw man.) I was discussing the concept of starting to keep SOME of the
mitzvot with someone who a) apparently doesn't keep most of them now, and
b) has spent many years undergoing psychoanalysis in order to get to the
point of being open to human emotions.  I also suggested that such a
person might find Reform Judaism less demanding than Orthodox Judaism,
as a method of putting him back in touch with his traditional faith.

May I suggest that if you want to continue this discussion, you start out
by asking me what I think, rather than assuming you KNOW what I think and
telling me how wrong I am.  Given the number of points you misunderstood,
either my writing isn't clear enough for you to understand it on the first
try--or some other barrier is getting in your way.

--Lee Gold