<html><head></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#3E68FC"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px;"><b>R' Micha wrote:</b></span></font></font><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#3E68FC"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px;"><b>I understood RYBS as stating that there<br>is an implied prohibition against not using </b></span></font></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#3E68FC"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px;"><b>the intelligence G-d gave you</b></span></font>.</font></div><div><br></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica, arial, helvetica; "><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica; ">That's fine and nice but who is to determine how much or</span></div></span></div><div>what is the quality of the intelligence that G-d gave you? </div><div>AND our perception of the bowing is quite different from the</div><div>Japanese perception. Intelligence is both subjective and </div><div>objective. People's intelligence can vary quite significantly, </div><div>as do different cultures,so to be judgmental and say that someone</div><div>else's culture is stupid may also be considered stupid. The following </div><div>may shed some light on this example: "<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, arial, helvetica; line-height: 24px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px; ">The etiquette of bowing demonstrates </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, arial, helvetica; line-height: 24px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px; ">the courtesy of and respect for Judo, Judo Sensei's and other judoka. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, arial, helvetica; line-height: 24px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px; ">Bowing in Judo equals to the American handshake and has nothing to </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, arial, helvetica; line-height: 24px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px; ">do with any religious practice." </span></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="arial, arial, helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 24px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><br></span></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="arial, arial, helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 24px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica, arial, helvetica; line-height: normal; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; "><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, arial, helvetica; line-height: 24px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px; ">Obviously, it is against our halacha, but to call someone stupid who is</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, arial, helvetica; line-height: 24px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px; ">unaware of the halacha is somewhat condescending. That is why I make</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, arial, helvetica; line-height: 24px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px; "></span>the distinction between "stupid" and "ignorant." A person unaware of halacha </div><div>is "ignorant." </div><div>Also, you can have two people aware of halacha but interpret it differently. Does </div><div>that mean if someone who interprets it differently from you is "stupid" or "ignorant?"</div><div>ri</div></span></span></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="arial, arial, helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 24px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica; line-height: normal; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; "><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="arial, arial, helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 24px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><br></span></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#5046FC"><b><br></b></font></div></span></span></font></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, arial, helvetica; line-height: 24px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px; "> </span></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="arial, arial, helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 24px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><br></span></font></div><div><br></div><div><br></div></body></html>