Forget ‘Kosher Cheeseburgers,’ Let’s Focus on Rebuilding the Temple
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
Whether religious Jews should eat anything that looks non-kosher
Whether the desire for kosher cheeseburgers indicated a character or spiritual flaw
Whether one should eat in a restaurant at all
Whether one should stick to eating “Jewish food”
He points to these narrow arguments about diet as evidence of an “Exilic” mentality that is hostile to innovation and “incapable of providing the intellectual and spiritual leadership necessary for the flowering and growth of Jewish life in Erets Yisrael today.”
So what should Jews be debating? The rabbi has some suggestions:
Whether religious Jews should actively seek the reinstitution of the pre-Exilic customs of the Land of Israel
Whether the lack of desire for the Temple indicates a character or spiritual flaw
Whether synagogues should still be saying the prayer for the spiritual centers and Torah academies of Babylon”
How we can re-establish institutions such as the Sanhedrin and the Temple in order to “renew our days as of yore”
This is progress? Personally, as much as I share Rabbi Bar-Hayim’s distaste for holier-than-thou one-upmanship, I still find heated discussions of kosher beef patties topped with tofu “cheese” more appetizing than the alternatives he proposes.
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