tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12970718.post858764912050733600..comments2024-03-18T03:40:39.185-04:00Comments on The Curious Jew: The Sin of CompassionChanahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17655144434904957767noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12970718.post-31589185747194447022007-03-07T13:59:00.000-05:002007-03-07T13:59:00.000-05:00One thing which I do agree with is that ‘compassio...One thing which I do agree with is that ‘compassion’ is not always appropriate. Or, perhaps more accurately, it is okay to feel compassion, but it doesn’t always dictate the course of action.<BR/><BR/>But I have a very difficult time with your conclusion, which to me is one of the most disturbing thing about the idea of religious fundamentalism. Our idea of what God has commanded us is greatly shaped by how we were raised and educated. The same people who would argue for killing Amalek would be advocating jihad had they been raised as Moslems. Personally, I can not conceive of a God who would want his creations to blindly follow a patently immoral action simply because they think that it is God’s will. And I think that all of the convoluted rationales for subjugating our innate sense of good for that of a higher morality are hollow entirely unconvincing.<BR/><BR/>Also, by the way, I think that you can hold on to your own sense of moral prerogative without throwing away the entire mesorah.<BR/><BR/>(btw, I think that ‘chemlah’ is best translated as ‘mercy’, which has a slightly different nuance.)dbshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06447811758752083384noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12970718.post-26562384433971894962007-03-06T11:51:00.000-05:002007-03-06T11:51:00.000-05:00I'm not entirely sure that compassion is the corre...I'm not entirely sure that compassion is the correct translation of "חמלה", particularly in the case of Shaul. After all, he didn't have חמלה on the women, nor on children or little babies. They had חמלה on the nicest of the sheep and cattle, and on a king that they could take home in a victory parade. חמלה seems to be more "shame to waste this" than compassion, although to test it, I would have to look through the rest of Tanach.Tobiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14930468887760990485noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12970718.post-49866651985281148472007-03-05T15:37:00.000-05:002007-03-05T15:37:00.000-05:00Bravo, Chana! Do you have a publisher yet?In most ...Bravo, Chana! Do you have a publisher yet?<BR/><BR/>In most of your examples, not only would compassion be a sin, but a bit of hindsight lets us see why the "compassionate" act was not so compassionate after all. <BR/><BR/>Baby Micha is saved and becomes the means through which the Jews make the Golden Calf, which has repercussions to this day.<BR/><BR/>Shaul saves Aggag, who fathers Haman's ancestor, nearly letting Haman wipe out the entire Jewish people.<BR/><BR/>It sounds a whole lot like what Yonah was trying to avoid; he tried let a city be wiped out, so in the future it would not destroy a kingdom. But as you pointed out--it ain't the compassion, net or gross, that matters. It's G-d's orders.M.R.https://www.blogger.com/profile/01871988896906196843noreply@blogger.com