Reply To: A Shabbos Desecrator Saying Vayechulu With the Congregation

Avram,

First of all, thank you for the well-thought out response (even if you did characterize it as a rant).

Your example of an EMT (by the way, did you know that I used to be an EMT?) is not really applicable since both halacha and New York State law would allow you to “trespass” on someone’s property to save their life. I’m not aware of anything that says that one is allowed to be sad on Shabbos just for sake of being sad.

I will admit that my “talking during laining” bit is a joke, but the rest of it is not. Nonetheless, for the sake of your argument of:

This mechalel Shabbos one’s not so funny, however, because it can add stress or misery to a person who is depressed, doesn’t see the fallacy in your argument, and might take you seriously.

I will say the following:

Any judgements I make apply to myself and myself only. For your own personal situation, please contact your local Orthodox Rabbi.

Also apparent is that you likely did not give this person all of the relevant information, which is not in the spirit of ????????? ?????? ??? ?????? ????????

I don’t know why you would assume that I didn’t give the person I spoke with the complete, unadulterated truth. I assure you that that’s not the case. Nonetheless, I stand by his ruling, as one does not go “p’sak shopping.”

Are you trying to bait extreme posters like mosherose to give crazy responses so you can prove their ignorance or have fodder for your blog?

No. You’ll notice that my blogging activity has dropped off considerably in the past year.

Are you trying to make halacha and/or Orthodox Jews look bad?

Absolutely not.

I can’t possibly accept that you are being serious with this.

I don’t see why you can’t accept that. Sometimes the simplest answer is, in fact, the true one.

The Wolf