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Politics : View from the Center and Left
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To: Wharf Rat who wrote (405263)4/12/2019 12:15:10 PM
From: cosmicforce  Read Replies (1) of 541488
 
That is a little ethnocentric. Sanskrit and Sumerian predated Hebrew by a couple of thousand years. So maybe Hebrew is the oldest and most consistently written and spoken contemporary Western languages but then again, there is Chinese, predating Hebrew by at least 400 years. While Sanskrit is largely religious - Chinese is not.

What I'm hearing is a utilitarian argument is that because a technology is ASSOCIATED with a culture and religion, that it is BECAUSE of the religion. An interesting conjecture, but hardly scientific -

Post hoc, ergo propter hoc


So, Rat, can we say because Jews didn't eat lobster or clams, that there is no value in them? Or it's converse, that only goats and sheep have value because they were associated with being Jewish? Did God know about tomatoes and just forget to put them into a Kosher / Not Kosher bucket?

My position is that religion may be catalytic and transformative in a historic context, but when it isn't, it usually is reactionary and not embracing change. That is the very nature of religion - to be timeless. More often than not that means being trapped in time like the Mennonites or Orthodox Jews who find clever ways of tricking God to avoid "work" during Shabbat. If I were God and looked at the "indirect action" ruse that is in the modern Hasidic world - I'd be pretty much like:

"Really?! You guys have some of the great minds of logic and science and you think THAT is what I meant?!"

myjewishlearning.com

5 Must Have Gadgets for Shabbat-Observant Jews

From a foldable hot plate to a Shabbat light bulb, these devices help make the Sabbath easier for observant Jews.
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