Orthoprax Ethics in the Workplace: Shabbos & Yom Tov

(15 second clip)

As evidenced by the clip C. Montgomery Burns has some sort of religious comp time plan. (Or at least some sensitivity to the issue of taking off for Shabbos). My office is also pretty cool about taking Shabbos & Yom Tov off too. But, what are the ethics of asking for (demanding, really) special treatment when you don't necessarily believe it is required?

When I ask for religious days off (I try to avoid using the word "holidays" because I think "holiday" implies fun/partying) sometimes I'm not asking for anything unreasonable but at some point I'm basically asking for special treatment. For example:

LNM: Hey boss, can I take time off for Rosh HaShana?

Boss: Sure.

LNM: Yom Kippur?

Boss: No problem.

LNM: Sukkot?

Boss: Huh?

LNM: Shmini Atzeret?

Boss: You're kidding, right?

Like the Jewish guy in the clip there is also the issue of leaving-early-on-Friday-in-the-Winter. Arranging to leave early every. single. Friday. for months is requesting special treatment.

My basic question is: Is it wrong to ask for something you don't believe you need?

Certainly, if your job gives you vacation days you have the right to use them. Also, when you take a job it is reasonable to make an agreement with your boss to whatever terms you can agree on.

But, when if you ask for religious time off every Friday for an entire season (Winter), or ask to take two days of vacation every week for the entire month of October, you begin to push the bounds of what's reasonable.

Asking for religious days off is not just a matter of scheduling. When the requests become special requests I'm not just asking for the time, I am also asking my boss to be sympathetic to my practices. Chances are I'm probably playing into his/her own connection to god and religion. If I don't believe I am required to observe Shabbos & Yom Tov, but I ask my boss for the time off as if I do, does this constitute genavas daas (deception/obtaining a favor falsely)?

Is it ethical for an atheist, or orthopraxer, to ask for special treatment with regard to taking religious days off?

It's a Beautiful Day (in CA)

Listen to the speech for at least a minute. Then, when you're ready, play this clip (it will drown out the speeches):



This should give you a feeling of how I felt all day. (This is da CandyMan.)

Night at a Lubab Wedding: Guest Post by Avi

GUEST POST by Avi

[Note: This was submitted a couple of weeks ago and has been edited by me. - LNM]

Last Thursday night we had two weddings in Crown Heights. (Actually one of them we crashed because my daughter was there with her husband). The first wedding was at 770, naturally.

At the meal, which was across from 770, I sat next to some Lubies. I didn’t take their name or give them my name (but it was emblazoned on my kippah in English and in Hebrew). Being my natural big-mouth self I didn't try very hard to hide the fact that I am an atheist. I was sitting among three Lubies. When these three Lubies understood I don't believe in God they mumbled back to me:

"What do you mean that you don’t believe in God? Every Jew, every Jew must believe in HaShem!"

"I don’t. What should I do about it?"

"Read the 'Tanya' and other books on Chasidus. That will do it. There you will see the truth."

"Why must I as a Jew believe in God if my mind tells me otherwise?"

"The 'Yetzer Horah' (evil inclination) is trying to trick you. He's telling you not to believe what your mind really tells you. Your mind is misleading you."

"But, my mind was given to me by HaShem. Why would He give me a mind that would mislead me? That would be defeating his purpose."

In the end their answer was just learn Tanya, and make sure to put on Tefillin, and daven, and that I would see it will come back to me, and I will become frum again. But of course in the end they really had nothing to say. Not a word of proof to me on how the Yetzer Horah is misleading me, or that my mind is in any way misleading me, or anything to that effect. I wanted them to prove something to me. But of course they could only mumble, "read the Tanya and other books on Chasidus and you will find the correct path."

"Don’t you want to have Jewish Grandchildren?" they asked.

"I already have Jewish grandchildren, my kids all married Jewish."

"What must your kids think of you? Don’t you want their respect?"

"My kids love me and respect me for who I am, and they don’t know what I think." And that ended the discussion.

I guess the choson and kallah (groom and bride) really didn’t like each other that much. They were both lifted up on tables and they were throwing things at each other across the mechitza (partition). Ouch! If one of those hits you on the head it could hurt.

Then we went to visit my daughter and her husband at the other wedding. There my wife was talking to my daughter. My son-in-law was talking to his friends. And I was happily left alone to watch the women dance. I really wanted very much to walk over to a chasidish lady who was wearing stockings with seams. She was quite attractive. I just wanted to ask her if she ever feels like breaking away from the mold by wearing seamless stockings. My daughter said that she would probably slap me. So, instead I spent the rest of the evening standing around, getting slightly inebriated, watching the women dance and letting my imagination go with them.

Avi

"Does God Exist?" Harris vs. Wolpe (Full Video)

This post is a good follow up to last weeks "Does God Exist" debate between Hitchens and Boteach.

On November 6, 2007 American Jewish University hosted a debate between Sam Harris and Rabbi David Wolpe on the subject of "the existence of God and the role of religion and faith in society." Unlike the debaters in the last video these guys have a real discussion. Both debaters score points on each other and I find that Wolpe offers a lot to think about even if I think Harris ultimately carries the day.


Run Time: 1hr 44mins

Hat-Tip: Holy Hyrax

New Skeptic Blog: Fed Up with Religion

Check out my favorite new blog, Fed Up with Religion.

Fed Up is off to a great start. He is trying to seriously tackle the issue of Morality (capitol M) in a god-less world. Great stuff. I especially liked his recent post: No Need for the Torah!

Go check him out!

(Link)

Turkish Delight

GUEST POST by The CandyMan

My friend E is a lot like your typical Orthodox woman in her twenties. Every morning she stands in front of the mirror and figures out how to make herself look good without compromising modesty. When she was dating, she had long discussions with her boyfriend about shomer negiya. When they got married, she had to decide whether to cover her hair. But E is not Orthodox -- she's not even Jewish. E is a devout Muslim, born and raised in Istanbul. Earlier this week, she invited me over to have dinner with her, and with her parents, who are in town and barely speak English. (photo: the Turkish "evil eye," sort of their version of the mezuzah)

I grabbed a bottle of Mendocino Pinot Noir Grape Juice ($12.95 at the neighborhood wine store), plucked a huge lemon from the tree in front of my house, and headed over on an empty stomach. E is a great cook, and let me tell you, the food was delicious. The first course was a lentil soup, amazing taste, I'd never had anything like it. While we were sipping, E let slip to her family that I was Jewish. E's father -- a short, mustached fellow with serious brown eyes -- got very excited about this.

E's dad informed me that there were many Jews in Istanbul. Apparently, the late, great Ottoman Empire had taken in the Jews when they were chased out of Spain by the inquisitors. "Yes, there are many, how do you say, hahams in Turkey," E chimed in. E's father, himself a civil engineer, had recently read a biography of Einstein ("He was religious!") and was greatly impressed. He taught me that inshallah is the Arabic equivalent of im yirtzeh HaShem, gave me a blessing that I should have good luck in my career, and offered to host me and show me around if I ever visited Istanbul. He was very friendly in his somber way and I didn't detect a trace of anti-Semitism in the man. (With his three daughters and his sister at the table, I think he was just happy to have another guy around.)

We retired to the living room, where we sat together on the couch and broke open the grape juice. "Nice color," E's dad complimented, holding his shot glass up to the light (the Pinot Noir grape gives a deep red color, not the dark purple of the concord grapes). We drank the sweet, cool juice with a twist of the lemon I had brought, a wild California lemon with a large rind. "The lemon tree in my garden tastes the same," E's father reminisced. Then E served up flan with caramel. It held together perfectly and had a clean, just-sweet-enough finish. It was one of the best desserts I have had in my entire life. I reminded her husband, a friendly PhD who makes microchips for a cell phone company, that he's a lucky man.

Only once did the Israel/Palestine issue come up (or as E's father malaproposed, the "Isra-el/Phili-stines"). He was opining about how our two cultures had so much in common. "You and I are cousins!" he exclaimed, squeezing my shoulder. "So why are our peoples at war?"

I had a flash. "Sometimes we fight most with members of our own family."

E's father nodded and smiled, his dark eyes flashing. "I understand what you said. I understand."

"Does God Exist?" Hitchens vs. Boteach (Full Version)

Apparently I'm posting videos all this week (I have one for tomorrow too unless our friendly neighborhood CandyMan has something to say).

Last January Christopher Hitchens and Rabbi Shmuley Boteach debated the question "Does God Exist?" at New York's 92nd Street Y. The event was hosted by Dr. Neil Gillman (not to be confused with the legendary Neil Gaiman).

While at times interesting I found the debate had more entertainment value than intellectual value. In my opinion Hitchens really rips Boteach to shreds, but that may just be my confirmation bias talking.

Who do you think won this one?

(Run time 1 hr 34 mins)