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<DIV><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" color=#000000 size=2 face=Arial>redirected from Areivim at moderator request</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" color=#000000 size=2 face=Arial>From: Eli Turkel <A title=mailto:eliturkel@gmail.com href="mailto:eliturkel@gmail.com">eliturkel@gmail.com</A><BR><BR>>> There
is also the opinion of Yeshaya Leibowitz that there is no<BR>connection at all
between mitzvot and good or moral. <<<BR><BR>-- <BR>Eli
Turkel</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV>>>>>></DIV>
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<DIV>I cannot understand or process such a statement. </DIV>
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<DIV>Think of the many exhortations to treat widows, orphans and converts justly
and charitably -- often with a reminder, "You know the heart of a stranger
because you were strangers yourselves in Egypt."</DIV>
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<DIV>Look at the Haftara of Tisha B'Av, from Yirmiyahu: "Mi ha'ish hechacham
veyaven es zos...Who is the wise man who can understand this?...al meh avdah
ha'aretz?...why was Eretz Yisrael destroyed and left desolate, her people
scattered to the four corners of the earth? Vayomer Hashem, al azvam es
Torasi....Hashem says, it is because they abandoned My Torah.....Al yis-hallel
hachacham bechachmaso, ve'al yishallel hagibor bigvuraso....Let not the genius
pride himself on his intellect, let the hero not pride himself on his strength,
let not the wealthy man pride himself on his wealth....Rather if someone wants
to pride himself on anything, let him pride himself on studying and knowing
Me...Ki Ani Hashem oseh chessed mishpat utzedakah be'aretz...For I, Hashem, do
chessed, justice and charity in the land...ki ve'eileh chafatzti ne'um
Hashem...This is what I desire, says Hashem."</DIV>
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<DIV>"Azvam es Torasi" is here equated with abandoning chessed, mishpat and
tzedakah. And there is "no connection at all between mitzvos and
good or moral"?!</DIV>
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<DIV><FONT lang=0 color=#0000ff size=2 face=Arial FAMILY="SANSSERIF" PTSIZE="10"><BR><B>--Toby Katz<BR>==========<BR><BR></FONT><FONT lang=0 color=#000000 size=2 face=Arial FAMILY="SANSSERIF" PTSIZE="10"></B>--------------------</FONT></DIV>
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