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Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Common Sense

Monday was the yahrtzeit of my Uncle Marvin, discussed previously on this blog. I think that it ties in well with what most of the posts in this roundup, particularly the best of the bunch, remind me of: Common sense. Not only did he have it, but more importantly, he instilled it into his children, who are instilling it into theirs. There's something to be said for finding people with it - whether as a spouse, teacher, employer/employee, etc.

On the lack of side, there's this group:
  • Wolf discusses an article saying that loshon hara causes... science. Oy.
  • Meryl and Dave both discuss a suicide bomber who was shot by Israeli soldiers when they realized what he was. It's interesting to read the retelling of the story by different Palestinian news outlets... and just how quickly it changes for the worse. Sick. Worse yet, people on this side of the ocean buy into this garbage.
  • ProfK discusses those who can't do the math: When you exclude someone who shouldn't be, then you don't have a whole group. I actually want to discuss something similar later, we'll see if I have a chance.
  • and RafiG notes that some posters in RBS are likely actually fakes posted by the other side, in hopes of drumming up backward support for their cause. This isn't smart because not only is it easy to verify, but if you get seen, it's exponentially more inflammatory.
On the common sense side, however:
  • Life of Rubin links to and praises a very nice editorial on VIN News regarding R' Horowitz, in response to the letter to the editor in Mishpacha (and the subsequent post that was thankfully eventually taken down by Yeshiva World).
  • RafiG has a couple of truly amazing stories that are worth checking out.
  • Sephardi Lady has no true solution, but discusses the need for more exercise among kids in the frum community, tying it loosely to shidduchim and ED's.
  • and Treppenwitz has another IDF heals Palestinian story, which rarely get enough press.
The best of them all for today, however, is this post by West Bank Mama: You Don't Need To Give Up Your Common Sense To Be An Orthodox Jew. Check it out.

5 comments:

  1. My comment @ WBM:

    You don’t have to give up your common sense to be an Orthodox Jew.

    Well…yes and no.

    Let’s be honest, there are plenty of things that you/me/we would never think of calling into question that anybody who actually thought about it for a minute would say go against common sense.
    This clearly applies to those things that fall within the area of “’cause the Torah tells me to, I do that too”. Additionally, there are those things which common sense would dictate we think twice about yet we don’t “’cause I’m a Jew, I do that too”.

    So is it any wonder that there are people who find it hard to draw that very thin line between when we act on common sense and when we do not?

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  2. Also, common sense is far too often not all that common...more is the pity.

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  3. Nice to see the return of the round up.

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  4. As G said, common sense is not too common. Sometimes it seems a wonder to me that some people are actually able to get up in the morning, tie their shoes and go about their daily lives considering how much they lack simple, common sense

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  5. G - Valid point, but I think there are different levels of common sense. As to it not being common enough... sad but true.

    Jack - Like a week now! :)

    SMM - True true...

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