[Avodah] Al petach beito mabachutz

[Zev Sero]

Dr. Josh Backon wrote:


> So as far as Chutz La'Aretz is concerned, "sakana" may not mean actual 
> physical harm [after all, Jews lived in closed ghettos up until 200
> years ago and I can't imagine hordes of goyim descending on a ghetto
> because someone lights a "lamp" outside their door. It doesn't make
> any sense] but not being in charge of their destiny.


I imagine that in Europe they started lighting indoors because of
actual sakanah, at a time when any attention from the goyim was a
sakanah, and when that danger abated (because they all lived in the
"Jewish street", etc.) they continued the custom because of the cold.
(Remember that the Little Ice Age lasted until the mid-19th century,
and it then took 100 years or more for temperatures to recover; to
an extent, we're still recovering from it.)

But nowadays, in the neighbourhoods where most of us live, there is
no sakanah from lighting outside, and the Little Ice Age is over;
there's still the "unnaturally" cold climate of the North-Eastern
USA to deal with (caused by the Rockies diverting warm winds to the
south, leaving room for cold winds to pour down from Canada), but
in NYC we have a huge urban heat island counteracting that.  This
year, in Brooklyn NYC, there were a few nights on which it wasn't
very cold, and I lit outside without any discomfort.



-- 
Zev Sero               Something has gone seriously awry with this Court's
zev at sero.name          interpretation of the Constitution.
                       	                          - Clarence Thomas