Re: [ha-Safran]: I Don't get it?
When it comes to interpreting Torah, Gemara, etc. it is very important to understand that most of us do not have the background to properly do this. Thankfully, we have brilliant G-d fearing Rabbis living today who have phenomenal memories and who have literally spent their entire lives from childhood on, thoroughly learning each and every page of our vast holy texts--from Tanach and Gemara to Zohar, commentaries, responsa, etc,. These types of Rabbis have the mental capabilities to objectively correlate related passages to each other, and hence to properly analyze our Holy texts. Their brains make computers look primitive. When we come across "difficult passages", yes, we should question, and attempt to understand, but we should not conclude until bringing our questions to such a Rabbi. All librarians, from those who serve Reform to Orthodox libraries, should make a conscious effort to know who the Talmud Chocham--Torah scholars, are in their cities or regions--in order to refer their patrons to a Rabbi qualified to analyze such a passage. Sarah Field Past President, ALJ- MI Messages and opinions expressed on Hasafran are those of the individual author and are not necessarily endorsed by the AJL === Submissions for Ha-Safran, send to: Hasafran @ lists.acs.ohio-state.edu SUBscribing, SIGNOFF commands send to: Listproc @ lists.acs.ohio-state.edu Questions, problems, complaints, compliments;-) send to: galron.1 @ osu.edu Ha-Safran Archives: Current: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/maillist.html History: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/history.html AJL HomePage http://www.JewishLibraries.org
Re: [ha-Safran]: Defining What is Jewish
Regarding the comments of Mr. Wise, "Sensitivity for philosophy and outlook should exist on both the right and left side of the aisle." Mr. Wise is absolutely correct. The sad reality is that many librarians fear that some books are "too religious", for their libraries G-d forbid. Building on the logic of the numerous comments to Mr. Wise's initial email... Just as Jewish families may have members that contain intermarriage, gay people, etc., -- the exponential growth of the Baali Teshuva movement means that tens of thousands of Jewish families now also have Orthodox sons, daughters, grandchildren, parents, sisters, brothers, cousins, etc. Therefore it follows that if libraries are REALLY concerned about representing their member's needs in order to understand the particulars within their families better, then books of an Orthodox nature should also be included in their collection development strategies. The sad reality is it seems like Orthodox perspective books are quickly excluded from purchasing decisions simply because they are "Orthodox" and perceived as too religious G-d forbid--without any further consideration. Sarah Field Messages and opinions expressed on Hasafran are those of the individual author and are not necessarily endorsed by the AJL === Submissions for Ha-Safran, send to: Hasafran @ lists.acs.ohio-state.edu SUBscribing, SIGNOFF commands send to: Listproc @ lists.acs.ohio-state.edu Questions, problems, complaints, compliments;-) send to: galron.1 @ osu.edu Ha-Safran Archives: Current: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/maillist.html History: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/history.html AJL HomePage http://www.JewishLibraries.org
