Monday, May 05, 2008

Labels

I like labels, and have always championed them. They're helpful and (almost?) always correct.

And yet frum dating sites have turned me off of them more and more. Trying to sign up to YUConnects, I have hit a brick wall trying to figure out if I am "Modern Orthodox (Machmir)" or "Modern Orthodox (Liberal)". In fact, I have no idea what those terms mean, and here I'm supposed to decide my future based on them.

OK, I suppose I have features of both. So let me rephrase: I still like labels, so long as they don't get too minute. Why is there no simple "Modern Orthodox" option?

As long as I'm linking to YU's page, this story really makes me shake my head.
The Sistine Secrets posits that the paintings covering the Sistine Chapel, the
largest fresco painting on earth in the holiest of Christianity’s chapels, does
not contain a single Christian image.
Whaaa? First, there are two frescoes on the walls (of four total) entitled "Christ Giving the Keys to St. Peter" and "The Temptation of Christ".

OK, so maybe they mean (based on context) "frescoes by Michelangelo." Well, OK, except, um, an entire wall is covered by "The Last Judgment", by Michelangelo, which has a huge depiction of Jesus front and center.

OK, so maybe they mean (again based on context) the ceiling. Well, OK, except for the depiction of the ancestors of Jesus lining the sides...like I said, it's a bit of a head-shaker. Michelangelo did lots of Christian works: The Doni Holy Family, the Pieta...I give up. R' Blech is a great guy and a great author, but books like these don't do much for Judaism.

4 comments:

beckse@gmail.com said...

Those are not pictures of Jesus. They are pictures of (lehavdil) Leo Strauss. Or (elef alfei havdalot) R. Carmy. Or both.

_________
_________

"MO Liberal" means that one is upfront about his/her negiah-related shortcomings. Joking aside, that's what it's code for in shidduch-website land. (It seems like you really want to know, so I'm telling you. ;-)

When do we get to entertain you in W.H.?

All the best,
SB (your Thanksgiving host)

Nachum said...

Ah! Thank you. It appears that my defintions of those terms are not the same as the velts. I'm thinking heads, they're thinking hands. I just fear that I'll get an OK hands and a not-so-OK head.

As to the Strauss/Carmy comment, ha!

Still have great memories of Thanksgiving(s). Hope to see y'all soon.

Anonymous said...

You're a brave man Nachum. I hope all goes well with YUConnects! Also, I've enjoyed your flurry of posts recently. Keep 'em coming!

Anonymous said...

I cannot believe that an entire ideology/worldview and complicated levels of practice of Jewish law is boiled down to whether one can keep their pants zipped or not.