Kosher pork

[Jude86]

My apologies, I was just having a back and forth with myself. I intended no disrespect. I think I should probably leave.

I certainly did not mean to imply that you are not welcome on the forum. If I had meant to say that I can assure you I would have said it in plain English with no ambiguity.

I will say, however, that when your desire is to have private conversation with yourself - I do it all the time when I'm working things through- it might be wiser not to post it on a forum where the expectation is that a post is meant as both observation and an invitation to participate in dialogue. 

I am also not troubled by the fact that we approach things from different religious perspectives. Heck, there are differing perspectives within Judaism, so much so that I have commented more than once that not only is there a need for interfaith dialogue, but for intrafaith dialogue as well. Because Judaism is not monolithic there are often times when one cannot provide THE Jewish view on a issue, only A Jewish view. 

A problem develops when one approaches an issue not simply from the perspective of one's own religion perspective, but also makes presumptions about the perspectives of the other person' religion, without really having an understanding of that other religion. 

The Baal Shem Tov, whose disciples created the modern Chasidic movements, taught that if a person on the street passed a building where the windows were closed but the curtains were open, where musicians were not visible because of the angle, and the people inside were engaged in vigorous dance, the passerby would think the dancers were crazy.

Let's see what type of conversations we have in the future.

Well, it wasn't a back and forth that people weren't free to comment on which is why I published it. If anything, what I would say is that my intention is to try and understand Judaism and Jewish law from the Jewish perspective. You can very well consider the back and forth as my attempt to try and understand what the different perspectives on this could be. I'm sorry that it was offputting, and I'm sorry that it came off that I was making definitive declarations. I mean, I guess that's why I added in the informal language and the emojis. I think that there's a lot to be said for that lack of tone that was able to carry through in what I said.

Again, all I can say is that I'm sorry you found it off-putting. I have to keep in mind that you don't know me in person and aren't, therefore, necessarily aware of my tone nor my intentions when I say the things I say. But I did intend for my comments to be made public, and then to be corrected if they needed correction. Like, "Well actually, that's not . . ." or whatever. I see now, reading back, how  my comments might have been interpreted as making declarations concerning Jewish law, but that wasn't my intention at all. I just feel I need to redouble that point: I wasn't intending to make any declarations.

And I understand, because, as I mentioned, I know what it feels like to feel as though someone misunderstands your religion or makes presumptions about what you believe without really knowing the inner workings. So I get it.

I just sometimes forget that I'm talking to strangers who are unaware of my intentions and who cannot necessarily read me.