Thursday, January 07, 2010

Worthwhile reading.

Here a collection of links, worth reading.

Parents from Hell -- at WestBankMama. What were they thinking?

A few from Mom in Israel:

How do large families survive?
Dating and Marriage in the Religious Community.

Our Shiputzim:

Whats a Fadicha?
Torani communities in Israel - a must read about serious, committed communities, without the window dressing.

Rafi G tells us about the gilgul in Bnei Brak which found relief.

To tell you the truth, I was disappointed in Rafi -- I was sure he was going to write about the Brazilian dybbuk, and its attempted (but failed) exorcism [but he didn't write about it].

If your Hebrew is up to par - you can hear the audio (and read more about it), here.


Going to Israel?
Now get 2 phones for the price of 1 (and free calls too) with Talk'n'Save.


Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael טובה הארץ מאד מאד

6 comments:

Mrs. S. said...

Thanks for the links, and Shabbat Shalom!

dirtyshirt said...

As a self described and card carrying chareidi, it is terribly sad to see how many honest and well meaning jews will buy into this dybbuk nonsense.
Why can't we just stick to Toras Hashem? Why do we feel that we need something deep and black that we cannot understand? Are our lives so devoid of meaning that we hope everything has a deeper translation.Is not the fact that we are attempting to live the words of Hakodosh Baruch Hu satisfying enough?
Why don't we look at where these practices really come from. A quick glance at wikipedia tells us more than enough.(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exorcism)

CHRISTIANITY "In Christian practice the person performing the exorcism, known as an exorcist, is often a member of the church, or an individual thought to be graced with special powers or skills. The exorcist may use prayers, and religious material, such as set formulas, gestures, symbols, icons, amulets, etc. The exorcist often invokes God, Jesus and/or several different angels and archangels to intervene with the exorcism."

HINDUISM-"Vaishnava traditions also employ a recitation of names of Narasimha and reading scriptures (notably Bhagavata Purana) aloud. According to Gita Mahatmya of Padma Purana, reading the 3rd, 7th and 8th chapter of Bhagavad Gita and mentally offering the result to departed persons helps them to get released from their ghostly situation."

BUDDISM-"The Zen technique of exorcism is thus described by “a visiting Zen Buddhist monk” exorcist : “I recall one person who was being bothered by a spirit who refused to leave. I could see the spirit myself ... . But I could also see that it was a product of the individual’s ... . When I explained the nature of the spirit to the individual, ... the spirit was gradually absorbed through the top of the person’s head"
We are an Am Hakodosh. We have no business dealing in the Chukas Hagoyim.

Anonymous said...

dirtyshirt: As a self described and card carrying chareidi, it is terribly sad to see how many honest and well meaning jews will buy into this dybbuk nonsense.

Well then - why is it the chareidi rabbis advocating this silliness?

dirtyshirt said...

I said that I am chareidi, however, I did not try to insinuate that all is well and good within the chareidi community. There is a tremendous problem of no access to certain gedolim. Entry is strongly controlled by Askanim/Gabboim. Access is only permitted to those whose viewpoints coincide with the agenda of the given askan. What also follows is that we only hear the rulings and happenings of these rabbonim through their gabbaim. I no longer know what to believe and what to disregard. Additionally, one does not have to adhere to the words or viewpoints of a rav if it does not pertain to halacha. As far as the mekubal is concerned, I ascribe to a more rationalist viewpoint where these people do not command much respect from me.

Rafi G. said...

sorry. I was majorly unavailable today and hardly by the computer to blog. and now it is old news....

westbankmama said...

Thank you for the link.

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