Re: kol isha in action

[Dan Jacobs <dan...>]

On Thu, 20 Feb 2003, avi finegold wrote:

> all it says int he torah is that you should not cook a
> kid in its mothers milk.

Not true, it gives lists of Animals that are kosher and that are not, but
I agree with your point, most of Kashrut is Rabbinic.

>  Kol Isha was created by a human.
>
> according to orthodoxy nothing was created by a human

not exactly true, all laws can be traced back to the torah, this is
different to saying all laws are from g-d.  Obviously human interpretation
and weakness comes into play.

Also there are areas of law that can be 're-interpreted' depending on time and 
society, these include areas
where modesty is involved and also sexual arousal.  I'm sure most rabbonim
would agree that a womans voice does not have the same effect now on men as it 
may have had when the gemora was written.


> > Kashrut has made
> > sense for many reasons in many times in history.
>
> WHOA! im a rabbinical student and im still grappling
> with the notion of kosher being a logical thing to
> follow. i even have a hard time understanding why i
> should not eat fish and meat on the same plate (which
> IS a rabbinically decreed custom). that doesnt mean i
> dont do it. a central tenetof orthodox philosophy
> stress the notion that regardless of there being a
> reason for doing it or not, it should still be
> followed. of course this isnt to say that we shouldnt
> try and understand why a law exists or not.

I think this is a matter of hashkafah (approach), I think that we need to
question, and if we find that what we have been doing is a problem
for the Jewish people then we alter our practise (where possible and
carefully).

Regards,

Dan

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