[Avodah] is this ok?

[Zev Sero]

On 16/08/2012 11:18 AM, saul newman wrote:
> why does an ex-meshumad  toivel ?  is there not an inyan of  removing tum'ah?

There's a metaphorical tum'ah of AZ, which is compared to a meis.  So
there's a *minhag* to be tovel.  It's not a halacha, and certainly not
me'akev.  It was basically a medieval takana to drive home to people
what a terrible thing shmad is.  But it doesn't apply any more to a
clergyman than to any meshumad, or indeed anyone who served AZ without
formally shmadding himself.  If someone attended a Catholic mass, and
bowed to the bread when the rest of the crowd did, then he has served
AZ.


> let's assume he were  wearing a crucifix.  could he then put on tfillin ?

I don't see why not.  Obviously it's a dovor mechuar, and if possible he
should be asked to remove it, but basically it's the same question as
whether he can put on tefillin while chewing on a piece of chazzer, or
while wearing shatnes.  If the alternative is doing the aveira and *not*
the mitzvah, then it seems to me a no-brainer that he should do the mitzvah.


> what about [assuming he understands the bracha]   his thoughts when he  says  Hashem's name ?   is it ok  to  be believing an entity other than Hashem is  part of a godhead?   or  to be thinking 'X  is messiah' 'messiah is G-d  or  part of G-d'   while he makes the bracha  ?

Of course it's not OK, and maybe it would be good to ask him *not* to
have that kavanah.  I can see a problem there, because he thinks that
his god *is* Elokei Avrohom Yitzchok veYaakov.  That's why a sefer torah
sheksavo min is worse than one sheksavo aku"m; a Baal-worshipper understands
that the Sheimos in the Torah refer to the Jewish god, whom he doesn't
worship, but a Xian thinks they refer to his god.  So maybe it would be
better not to say the bracha with him; I don't know.  It would be an
interesting shayla to ask a posek, but you'd need to find a good one.
Maybe R Shochet (R Immanuel if he's up to it, otherwise R Ezra).


-- 
Zev Sero        "Natural resources are not finite in any meaningful
zev at sero.name    economic sense, mind-boggling though this assertion
                  may be. The stocks of them are not fixed but rather
		 are expanding through human ingenuity."
		                            - Julian Simon