Fundy LOLs (General)

[longskirts]

They may visit graves and attend burials of very close relatives.

[thoughtful]

They may visit graves and attend burials of very close relatives.

Well, that's good to know -- glad to hear that kindness trumps rigid rules in some way.

And thanks. Guess I could have googled to find out before I posted, it just crossed my mind and came out my fingers.

But that does bring up another fundyism-has-no-logic aspect of this. Why behave as if the "deadness" is a tangible thing that can reach you without a plastic bag in one instance, but completely irrelevant, with nothing to protect you but earth, simple wooden caskets and shrouds (assuming the relative being mourned, and others buried nearby, were also observant/Orthodox Jews, that's all there would be between them) in another?

I know, to them it makes sense.

[longskirts]

It's not really about protecting. The idea is that kohanim/priests aren't supposed to let themselves come in contact with this impurity under usual circumstances. But if a close relative dies, that's an exception to the rule and they can come in contact with the impurity in that case.

[docmom]

The idea is that some materials, like metal, pass along the impurity, but other like wood or plastic don't. Kind of like how some materials conduct electricity better than others.

Jewish Law is really complex and while I don't agree with this person's approach, if someone is trying to avoid impurity it is not so easy to do that just because something is between you and the dead body. Only specific kinds of barriers will work.

OK, and and I know you didn't make this up, but plastic wasn't around in Torah times. It hadn't been invented. So why plastic now?

[tropaka]

OK, and and I know you didn't make this up, but plastic wasn't around in Torah times. It hadn't been invented. So why plastic now?

That's what I was wondering.

[salsa]

That's what I was wondering.

Me, too

[longskirts]

Jews don't really follow the Torah in terms of doing what it literally says, or what they did back then. We follow the Talmud and later decisions by rabbis. The Talmud and codes of Jewish law give guidelines about stuff (like in this case, which materials transmit impurity) and then rabbis apply the guidelines to new things as they come along. I can't give an explanation about why plastic qualifies because I don't know much about the criteria for transmitting impurity. But it is definitely not about what the Torah says or what happened in Torah times.

[salsa]

Jews don't really follow the Torah in terms of doing what it literally says, or what they did back then. We follow the Talmud and later decisions by rabbis. The Talmud and codes of Jewish law give guidelines about stuff (like in this case, which materials transmit impurity) and then rabbis apply the guidelines to new things as they come along. I can't give an explanation about why plastic qualifies because I don't know much about the criteria for transmitting impurity. But it is definitely not about what the Torah says or what happened in Torah times.

d'OH! :doh: Talmud, not Torah, and its modern application makes perfect sense. Thank you. The Talmud interprets the Levitical laws, among others .... got it.

[Patsy]

Yeah, Sabbath elevators aren't based on a Torah passage about pushing buttons being forbidden, they're based on the traditions and interpretations that have ben built up since then - kind of like how court cases can be ruled based on precedent of previous court interpretations of the law.

It's why fundies think meeting Real Live Jews will somehow get them closer to Jesus - because religions are all about following one unchangeable document to the absolute letter, right? so obviously Jesus was exactly like the Jews of today. He also wore a special Sabbath key belt while simultaneously having a Protestant work ethic and modern middle class conception of SAHMs and nuclear families.

[Mama Mia]

I'm wondering why the original poster thought this was about shielding himself from being in contact with women on the airplane ?

I'm fascinated by the urban legend spread of information since social media became popular. Reading facebook is like a game of telephone, mixed with the National Enquirer, thrown in with your crazy old Uncle's rants - on steroids, times a billion, refreshed hourly.

[Incognito22]

Me, too

My guess is being literally above cemetaries wasn't an issue until modern air travel? Plastic would have been around by then. I find this topic really interesting and learned something new today!

[itaintmebabe]

Looks like the guy is trying for a Darwin Award.

[shedemei]

Followup from Ynet: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340 ... 41,00.html

[snarktastic]

Quote from guy in bag on link above -

"If a person from the Zulu tribe would see me talking into a telephone, he would think I had gone mad, because he can't understand how sound waves can travel hundreds and thousands of kilometers. He has no understanding of electromagnetic radiation either, because he can't see it with his eyes.

Unless of course the Zulu was living in the 21st century in a country with a phone system. Let's think, does South Africa have telephones yet? And are there black people out there doing advanced engineering degrees?

Note to guy in bag - stop digging mate. You're really not doing your religion any favours.

[docmom]

Quote from guy in bag on link above -

Unless of course the Zulu was living in the 21st century in a country with a phone system. Let's think, does South Africa have telephones yet? And are there black people out there doing advanced engineering degrees?

Note to guy in bag - stop digging mate. You're really not doing your religion any favours.

Not to mention the fact that there are actual sound waves and electromagnetic radiation and both can be measured. Not so much with the death rays... Also even deep in the rainforests of Africa, they have cell phones.

[HeckBound]

Hope he went to the bathroom before he got on the plane.

I wonder how someone smells after marinating in a plastic bag for a few hours.

[Savoring Samsara]

Hope he went to the bathroom before he got on the plane.

I wonder how someone smells after marinating in a plastic bag for a few hours.

According to the follow-up news story that someone posted above, he was only in the bag while taking off from Cyprus, because the flight path was going to go directly over a cemetery during take-off. So it sounds like at least he didn't have to spend the whole flight suffocating and/or needing to pee...

[ProfessorAndMaryAnn]

What happens if they drive/walk past a hospital? Or an abortion clinic???

[Confused_by_religion]

MY CELLS CONTAIN DEAD PEOPLE. Does this mean I am living or dead? or am I simultaneously living AND dead?

Obviously, you are Schroedinger's Miffy. Dead and alive at the same time. :-)

[shedemei]

What happens if they drive/walk past a hospital? Or an abortion clinic???

Tumah is apparently only able to travel perpendicular to the earth, not in a tangent. So they're good to walk past a hospital. There are complicated laws about being IN a hospital, though: http://www.yeshiva.co/midrash/shiur.asp?id=6412