B"H
More Questions and Freudian Lace
Someone asked me:
Does even the authority of G-d Himself, when he commands us in Deuteronomy 17 to follow and obey the Sages and Leaders in each generation, even if they don't "meet" her own high "standards" (cf. the judges Gideon and Yiftach, even though am ha'aretzim, were ruled by G-d as having the authority of Moses in their generation; and even if the leaders honestly err - lo b'shamayim hee - "The Torah is not in Heaven!" - Hashem will hold by their rulings!) intimidate Doreen?
In the utter absence of any Essene leaders for 20 centuries, leaving only our glorious Phariseeic leaders, how does she explain this eternal mitzvah from G-d, and who is her own rebbe/rabbi/yoetz in this generation to whom she looks to fulfil this mitzvah?
Or is Mrs Dotan just her own voluble, unguided, wayward, uncounseled, unintimidatable, bitter self?
Response of Doreen Dotan:
09:30 11 May 2004
B"H
Your question is pertinent, and so I will answer it, even though it never ceases to amaze me how utterly blind you are. You are blinded because you are staring into the glare of your own image in a mirror and do not realize it. You have never once made a single light-hearted comment, or evinced the slightest ability to laugh at yourself; yet you imagine me to be bitter. You do an inordinate amount of projecting. That is due, in part, to your own character; but also to the way in which you are being educated and with that which you have been inculcated.
Yes; I am unguided. I am not, however, misguided.
There is much in the Pharisaic/Rabbinic tradition that it true Torah and I trust my judgment to know which is which, as I pray continuously to HaShem to guide me and not let me go astray in a dark and lonely generation.
Although much in the Pharisaic/Rabbinic tradition is true, the distortions that take it off course are enough to bring us far afield. We may use a missile launched into space as an analogy. If it veers off the perfect course, even by a fraction of a degree, it will be hopelessly lost before long, going further and further off its intended course the further it travels. The Pharisees were not entirely off course, they "just" veered a bit in order to ameliorate the foreigners who were occupying Eretz Yisra'el and to attract as many of the Am Ha'Aretz as they could. By our time the tradition the Pharisees began is very far off course indeed, even though originally they "just" rounded corners, made a few compromises, and allowed the unclean to enter the Temple.
You may be likened to a misguided missile entirely dependent upon those who are (mis)guiding you.
I, in contradistinction, may be likened to an unguided heat (Truth) seeking missile. I am guided by my target (where the Truth lies). I cannot miss.
In a generation in which there are no sages or leaders it is better to be unguided and put oneself in HaShem's hands in utter helplessness than to turn to Rabbis who earn salaries of tens of thousands of shekels a month from the government, which is getting its money from gentile interests, for the express purpose of keeping the religious communities baffled with b...........t.
(Is what was written in one of the local papers true? The Chief Rabbi of Tzfat earns 54,000 Shekels a month???)
P.S. I noticed something in your post above. You did not capitalize the word He in relation to HaShem. You did, however, capitalize Pharisees, as you *always* do. You are obviosly projecting your own lack of belief and accusing me of it. You don't believe in HaShem at all. You are just a weak person who needs to be part of a group in order to have an identity. You are in a state of "groupthink". If you weren't religious you'd be in some anti-social group. The lace of your Freudian slip peeped out and we all saw it.
Doreen Dotan, Tzfat
