I am pleased to announce that this Thursday, in honor of
parashat Shemini, we will be running a special live online presentation from the Hall of Kashrut and the Hall of Small Animals at the NEW Biblical Museum of Natural History! You can sign up at
https://www.biblicalnaturalhistory.org/product/shemini-live-at-the-biblical-museum-of-natural-history/ Please spread the word!
(By the way - the previous post, about the brachiosaurus on top of the museum, was an April Fool's Day joke. And the behemoth of the Bible is not a brachiosaurus; it's a hippopotamus, as discussed in my books Sacred Monsters and in The Torah Encyclopedia of the Animal Kingdom!)
Is it חוקות גויים to do April fools jokes? (Giving credence to their holidays)
ReplyDeleteIs that 1800 UK time? A bit early for me and my son, who I would like to watch it with. Any chance the recording will be made available afterwards?
ReplyDeleteMan I sure did give that dino credence. So I learned a lesson either way.
ReplyDeleteUnlike the use of birthday candles on a cake(the custom is an issur d'oreysoh - google is your friend), at least April fool's day has no apparent connection to avodah zoroh, so not chukas hagoy.
ReplyDeleteBirthday candles are an issur d’oreysoh?
DeleteIs this also an April Fools joke?
Yes, the issur of bechukoseihem lo seleichu. The custom is straight from pagan idol worshippers, go google it.
DeleteYou mean like how shlissel challah is likely from pagan worshipers?
DeleteYes, Shlissel challoh is ossur, if based on hot cross buns. Although apologists claim it developed independatly. No schlissell challoh in my house.
DeleteSee http://www.mesora.org/shlissel.html
and the counter view
http://daattorah.blogspot.com/2013/04/schlissel-challah-analysis-by-rabbi.html
http://www.5tjt.com/schlissel-challah-an-analysis-by-rabbi-yair-hoffman/
DeleteIt's strange that you're so certain as to the origins of candles on birthday cakes, when the wikipedia page cites a number of theories, none of which are obviously correct.
DeleteI'm not googling b-day candles at this moment, but can we not say that such things have evolved away from A"Z enough? One can argue that it might fit the "stupid" argument (chukos hagoyim is assur due to AZ or stupidity and both can apply independently) as fire on food is dangerous and so is having a germ-infested child blow all over the cake before everyone eats it...
DeleteYosef R
DeleteNo you can't say that. If it was proper avodah zoroh, it would be other issurim. This issue is anything that once had AZ as a source.
Setting.... 4/5 8:19PM
ReplyDeleteIs that an April 5 Fools Day חוקות גויים joke?
Tribute to Greek goddess Artemis.
DeleteIs this really for 1.5 hours!? Is it geared for kids? What ages?
ReplyDeleteThanks for dissecting the frog, as the metaphor goes.
ReplyDeleteThis was not a Joke.
ReplyDeleteApril fools day may have pagan sources which would certainly make it problematic for Jews to give credence to such a day.
https://www.ancient-origins.net/history/tracing-back-ancient-origins-april-fools-day-001513
And since covering your mouth when you cough originated in the fear that your spirit would leave you and you'd drop dead, you've decided to stop covering your mouth when you cough. Right?
DeleteI thought people thought the soul might rush out in a sneeze - hence saying gesundheit. But there is a health reason to DO the act, and therefore perhaps it overrides the vague origin.
DeleteWhat about chickens for kapparos? That's definitely pagan in origin.
ReplyDeleteIt's a רמא in שלחן ערוך....
DeleteYou haven't seen the censored version of the ramoh where he writes clearly its chugas hagoi in very strong language.
DeleteSpoiler alert: Judaism has pagan sources. I assume drawing attention to the 'Hebrew' calendar months. Tammuz was the summer god, and the fast of Tammuz bemoaned the changing of the seasons.
ReplyDeletehttps://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dumuzid
Just enjoy Judaism for for what it is and stop performing unscientific virginity tests on rituals.
Fast of Tammuz is a פסוק!
Deleteצום הרביעי וצום החמישי.....
@Setting, The Hat meant the name of the month, not the observance of the fast. (Though it would not be impossible for an observance that is referenced in Tanach to have some pagan sources, especially since it [again, the fast of Tammuz] is not a mitzvah d'oraysah. But this treads on very shaky ground so I will stop with it now.)
DeleteGoing the other direction, one can wonder whether the names of the month that Judaism uses count as "Judaism has pagan sources" in that virtually nothing about machshava or halakha derives from the fact that the month names are Babylonian. AFAIK. (Other than a few after-the-fact kuntzim like Elul being an abbreviation for three possible pesukim....)
There is plenty of post-Biblical stuff that is likely to come from other religions (and therefore, paganism). But it has been "kashered" over the years. So it's not considered chukos hagoyim to believe in a fiery place for sinners to go after they die.
I'm just waiting for everyone to realize that an upshirin is pagan, or possibly Muslim, in origin.
There seems to be an unpublished policy to avoid publishing actual rationalism on this site insofar as it would constitute heresy. I am therefore limited in what I can say but for the avoidance of doubt Dr Yosef judges me too kindly.
DeleteInteresting article about locust eating:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.theyeshivaworld.com/news/headlines-breaking-stories/1963375/watch-on-the-menu-in-bnei-brak-candied-locusts-dried-locusts-locust-powder.html