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Has anyone else noticed that many Asian Nail Salons have Avodah Zaroh in them lately?
Literally Avodah Zaroh. They have an idol of a Buddah. They serve it food even. Scared me when I first saw it. Straight out of what we were taught in school was Avodah Zarah.
sle; Funny. I never went to a nail salon (Yet) to have my nails polished. Asian, or otherwise.
Maybe it wud be better for you to join a russian nail salon.
All you have to worry about over there is working under the influence of Vodka, or getting a haircut instead of a Pedi.
Be careful. In Soviet times, beauty salon personnel amputated the part of the body that needed styling and returned it to you styled in 2 weeks. This was called “remont volosa” (hair repair) in Russian, as opposed to the “parikhmakerskaya” where you needed to wait three weeks for an appointment in those dark times. I do not know if they had that system for nails, but there was a “remont litso” for facials. Many of the stylists there were actually men and today many work for the Russian Mafia, as they really know how to rearrange your face!
Make sure any Russian stylist you go to did NOT work in a “remont volosa” in Soviet times. The stylists there were very unskilled because few of their clients could afford better so they never complained.
bein_hasdorim, 600 Kilo Bear – if your posts are jokes, they smell not really good
sle – Why you need to go to Asian nail salon? Because they charge less than American girls? Because you do not have Jewish salon to go? What make you think girls from Asia can’t have in their work place what they have? They don’t bring avoda zarah to your home/life – YOU coming to them.
Just go to a Chinese one. Mine is amazing! She knows so much about Juadaism from all her frum clients. It’s hilarious. She wishes us happy birthday in hebrew and always knows what time shabbos is that week. She even closes for the yumim tovim since most of her clients are jewish so it’s just not worth it for her to be open. It really is funny to see everything that she’s picked up from all of us.
“They don’t bring avoda zarah to your home/life – YOU coming to them. “
I don’t know, but maybe they consider their work in front of their A”Z as part of serving their A”Z.
Even if they do not consider their work as serving AZ it may still be problematic to go there as they may be attributing your business to their AZ (see maseches AZ). And even if they don’t, you may need to research when they have their holidays because then they probably do.
Who here lived thru the shaitels from India story?
And who had to throw away a shaitel because of it?
(We did, to both questions)
Seems like the Baal Dovor knows he can get his hoof into the doors of frum homes by using the words “fashion” and “beauty”
sle: You know something funny, once my husband was in conversation with a non jew from Sri Lanka, and the man told my husband that there had been a miracle recently in his village back home, that in their temple of g-ds, where they set milk out before the idol it was GONE the next day… and everyone has been talking about it in the Hindu community.
So my husband asks “Oh yeah? So did it go to toilet as well?”
The guy was mad and just walked off. LOL!!
SO next time you see that ask them why don’t they also provide a little toilet for their idol, with a smile, of course.
Scissors i don’t think its our place to mock people who have a different belief system, a lot of the things we do can easily be mocked as well. We should set an example and be tolerant of others beliefs (as long as those beliefs to not present a danger to Klal Yisroel) in the hope that they will be tolerant of ours.
cv; If your steak is a keyboard, it tastes not really good.
(but i’m sure it smells great.)
Scissors,
I agree with Goq, that it’s not polite to mock what others beleive. But I think that one could ask if there is any rational explanation. If he says ‘no’ then ask if there was video camera.
actually not is it only permitted to mock avodah zarah, it is encouraged.
the following im not 100% certain of but i believe it is even a Mitzvah to mock avodah zarah (not to its adherents necessarily, but at least privately)
regardless of whether or not we think doing so is “nice”
Just to be clear the buddah is not worshiped by everyone(buddhsim).I believe hinduism worships buddah. Also if you walk into a store and it has a cross does it mean you have to walk out.In most places these symbols are only used as decoration and not worship.
bein_hasdorim,
I apologize for my English – it is not my first and not my second language.
It does not matter your jokes smell OR taste not good. The key words are “not good”, because they have discriminating smell / taste (whatever word you prefer).
The Issur of Lifnei Eideihem does not apply in Chutz La’aretz. And Buddha is not worshiped by anyone (Hinduism has nothing to do with Buddha, though some religions have formed from a crossover between the two) but some of the actions done with Buddha dolls may constitute Avoda Zara anyway.
cv, I thought all nail salons are Asian.
Yehuda Yona: MOST of them are!! Half the time they have noooo idea what I’m saying. which could end up being such a commedy show, and is a shame it’s not on film!:)
Can anyone imagine an arab lady dressed from head to toe,(except for the eyes of course), getting her toe nails done..:-)
Buddah is worshiped by many,and forsure by hindus.Do some research.
GOQ you are way off! I even spit sometimes when I pass a bais avodas zara all for Hashem’s name. For Hashem’s Glory.
If you had have said “dont mock others nations” then I would have accepted your advice. But we are Jews. We are loyal to our King.
When we see stupidity and evil we must point it out.
end of perek shlishi in mesechet megillah 25B it says it is muttar to mock avodah zara and goes in to all sorts of fun examples. But it doesnt say anything about it being a mitzvah (at least, not there)
All i know scissors is that your husband was insulting and committed a chilul hashem . We are supposed to be a light unto nations.
Sam: Like I said, at some point some overlapping religions formed from the two. At its most basic, Buddhism is an atheist religion. And Hinduism is much older than Buddha, with its own pantheon of deities, none of which include Buddha. Read the Wikipedia page for starters if you are interested. But basic Buddhism is not Avoda Zara.
Sam: I agree with you that buddhism does not worship buddah,but hindus do. I think we are saying the same thing.
The Goq
i cant disagree with you more.
Gentiles are also commanded not to serve AZ and so it is a MItzvah to belittle the AZ and show the stupidity of it.
i think scissors’s husband was Mekadesh Shem Shomayim, i wish i would have the opportunity to do an equal Kiddush Hashem!!!
we should be a light unto the nations, true, but when it comes to AZ we should belittle and mock it and show them how wrong it is.
i recall a story i once heard, funny i dont recall with who, about a kid whose father had a AZ store, big ones, little ones, and some old lady came with a white loaf of bread or something other food and he smashed all the AZ with a sledgehammer except for the biggest one and when his father came home he told his father how they had all been fighting and the gig bad guy took the hammer and smashed the little guys so that he got the food.
boy was his father angry, especially that he was making such fun of the AZ, he was mocking the AZ and although the boy one day became religious, his dad was still a gentile.
i dont know why the boy was making fun when he should have been a light unto the nations, actually i think he was a light unto the nations……
so maybe my morah got the story wrong!!
or maybe it is a MItzvah to belittle AZ.
SOOOOO!! where exactly do the buddahs wash up after lunch? and do they floss or just brush their teeth???
Buddaism came from Hinduism over the issue of re-incarnation , They both belive you are re-incarnated in the next life based on your actions in this life, the difference was what was the final re-incarnation, The Final re-incarnation is almost impossible to get to in Hinduism than it is in Buddaism
They do NOT worship the Buddah, they sort of treat it as a icon like the catholics do who do not think their statues are actual gods.
However they do think the statue is GOOD LUCK much like the Catholics think their icons are good luck.
Some feel its good to rub the Buddah for good luck and Ive seen Catholics rub the feet of their icon for good luck.
Would you make fun of a Catholic who had an icon?
Treat the Buddah as you would as Catholic icon.
not sure if i noticed the buddah in the salons i go to, but i do notice the gold and red cat. what is that? almost every asian salon has that!
no one go to the chinese?
The cats are called maneki neko, the Japanese and Chinese believe them to be good luck charms and nothing more.
Goq what would you do if someone came with glee to report that a miracle happened. Last night they set out food in front of an idol and GUESS what??? …it ate it all up!
??? That is not called being rude. My husband is a very kind well respected-by-everyone in the workplace mentch.
He goes out of his way to even help them with personal loans when they get stuck.
Putting out food and drink for a stone idol and claiming that it drank and ate is so obviously a ridiculous story that by asking him a question as to how real his idols are, whether they can even make and excrete waste is not rude. The question is only asking him to WAKE UP????????? without making fun.
Can I share a funny story here, with you all?
ONce in my younger years I had a room mate who was a Yoga fanatic. She opened a Yoga Class studio in our living room dining room. Well one night I come into the kitchen late at night and over the oven, where on a shelf SHOULD have been a microwave was a huge stone statue of some hindu god.
I was working around in the kitchen, and this thing was giving me the creeps so I threw a kitchen towel over it’s head. I thought I had done the right thing since, even though I hadn’t been raised frum, my mother hammered it into my all my years that idol worship is wrong and statues are wrong.
Scissors: Or it means that someone snuck in overnight and took the food away and the religious followers thought it was a miracle.
so wait am i not supposed to go to the places that have the little statues? if i’m just sitting there getting my nails done it’s not like i’m doing avoda zara. is it wrong to go???
yeah sam2 maybe that was the miracle. That someone got in there.
Scissors: By the way, you should never do anything with Avodah Zarah, even if you feel that what you are doing is insulting to the idol or in your best interests. Remember, if part of the service of this idol was to cover it for a period of time then you accidentally were Oved Avodah Zarah. Idols should be completely ignored unless you know for a fact that whatever you are going to do to it is not any type of service.
I know that the small “altar” with a Buddha statue and food that is found in many Asian businesses is there to honor their ancestors. If I am not mistaken, the food is not for the statue, but for the souls of their ancestors. They have a similar custom about leaving food for a deceased person about a month after they pass away. They leave candles (red if the person lived a long life and died of old age and white if the deceased was young) and a bowl of fruit in a certain part of the house – usually where 2 hallways intersect (something to do with wind) and they believe that the soul of the deceased and the deceased’s friends and relatives come through the house that night. The food is for the souls. Most oriental people will follow this custom even if they are now xtians. Kind of reminds me of people who call themselves “cultural” Jews. They don’t believe in organized religion but still like the customs of Judaism.
cv; If you don’t like the taste or smell, stay out of the kitchen!
I wouldn’t want to offend your senses.
Great post Tzvideer!!! I was going to say the same thing myself.
how sad; this is where common sense and halacha leave a gap apparently. the jewish nation is supposed to set an example by their behavior, and the one thing we must avoid at ALL costs is chillul hashem. so if one is a respected and well loved member of a community, and by saying a line about idols needing toilets he will cause some irritation, but not more than that, well i dont know maybe its ok.
but now imagine that saying that to a woman in a nail salon with whom you have no realtionship will cause her to be angry at your mockery of her belief (i am not saying this will happen, we have not been provided with enough information, i am merely wondering aloud to all those who blindly promote mocking idol worship) now she and all her co-workers go home and, fuming, tell all their families angrily about the rude jews who have no respect for others. well i wont draw up any crazy fantasies, but things could easily go beyond this point.
however, even without going farther, are you SURE that this behavior is what hashem desires? avraham avinu is not a good example; he was trying to accomplish something very different, and indeed had his own unique mission. NO ONE believed in god, and he needed to break through their belief system in a dramatic way. (according to many mefarhsim, not only was he was not aware god was going to perform a miracle for him, but he was actually quite certain that breaking all the idols like he did would result in his death. if mocking the idol worship in the nail salon would result in you being murdered, would you still be confident it was what hashem wanted?)
i would take a more appropriate example from the nun at rav yaakov kaminetskys levaya.
sam4321: thanks for the info!
minyan gal: that is so interesting. never heard that before.
i was sure someone would say that going to get your nails done is avoda zora. i have heard it before. not that i follow that but…
My wife does her nails, sometime I drop her off and pick her up…I can’t recall ever seeing a non Asian working there….That being said she loves the salon and the people that work there are very nice to her…
lolface, there are going to be times as a Jew when you’re called upon to stand up for Hashem and Emes. If you aren’t willing to do that in the name of “pleasing the nations” and appearing so cordial and considerate that you miss the opportunity to do as the CR member Yid.Period above wrote :”end of perek shlishi in mesechet megillah 25B it says it is muttar to mock avodah zara and goes in to all sorts of fun examples.”
For example, one time, another non jew, idol worshipping Hindu in my husbands firm was talking about how all their gods have wars with each other. My husband asked him, how come all these powerful gods have all these big wars going on and we never hear about it in the news? It should be making headlines.
My husband said you could see his blank expression set off the wheels in his mind turning, and realizing how futile his own words and beliefs were.
Isn’t that what being a jew is about? To bring about acknowlegement of Aibishter’s name? When you get an opportunity you do it. That is a Sanctification of G-d’s Name! Not remaining passive and quiet because you’re afraid to offend.
lolface, what would you do if you were on a subway in New York and a crazy man pulls out a gun and shouts “everybody get down and bow to me, I am g-d. Whoever doesnt do it is going to die.”
Well if you’re religious you wouldn’t bow. YOu wouldn’t. You’d choose to die rather than bow to worshipping a person.
bein_hasdorim – “cv; If you don’t like the taste or smell, stay out of the kitchen! I wouldn’t want to offend your senses.”
***
I accepting your advice and living this “kitchen”. The best way to defend yourseft ( not only from taste and smell, but also from AZ ) – do not go to the places, where you can be offended.
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