sRepliesHTML = "";iReplies = 38;mReplies = iReplies;iDiv = 2702
AddReply(298810,"Batya\'s Comment","Larry","Tel Aviv","04/15/08","I agree with this, more so now that I am here. We need the \'Galut\' Jews in different ways, just as they need us. I come from one of these assimilated families, so I know that the connection usually remains, at one level or the other. In some way, we are all Jews or none of us are. There is such a strong desire among religious people to cut off the transgressors, or punish them with isolation. This is not \'Jewish\', in my view. And I will resist a \'Torah state\' if it means finding a pretext to be nasty to other Jews.");
AddReply(298173," For lack of knowledge my people","les","Ayr ","04/13/08"," parish\'  To whom much is given, much is required.  All the rituals of Holy days will be emplimented when Messiah returns to His new temple in Jerusalem and would be nice if the world of believers knew the reason and how these things are performed, to have it in their minds daily.   Just a thought\'");
AddReply(298133,"to Malka","Batya","eye of storm","04/13/08","My relatives and I don\'t talk politics and rarely mention religion.  Some of my cousins and their kids amaze me, and some news just shuts me up.  Most of the younger generation was born after our aliyah in 1970, and of course many are married with their own.\nWe take what we can of the opportunities to meet.  I\'ve become more a \"novelty\" than a thorn.  I thank G-d for the good relationships I do have.  One should never take anything for granted.  Clutch at all opportunities.");
AddReply(298055,"To Malka L.","Rachel K.","Israel","04/13/08","I know how you feel, I have the same problem that you have, and so do many of my friends here. We are all on good terms with our non-religious relatives in the States and we never criticise them nor tell them how to live their lives, but we feel so distant from them. Most of their kids have married out, and even the ones who are still Jewish observe nothing or almost nothing. Because of all this, we are all happy that we made the decision to live the life we live. We feel much closer to our friends and neighbors in Israel than we do to our own blood relatives in the States. Also, by living thousands of miles away from them,we avoid the tension of not wanting to attend their \"simchas\", like Reform weddings or intermarriage weddings. If we lived there and didn\'t attend  there would be plenty of fights etc. I thank HaShem every day that I am a religious Jew and that I made aliyah.");
AddReply(298018,"#33 Malka","ZL","Canada","04/13/08","Malka, the situation\'s gonna change very soon, ..\nEmuna, savlanut...Yalla, chag sameach !");
AddReply(297950,"visits to US","Malka L.","Yesha","04/13/08","Batya, my cousins do not seek me out. Even though I am definitely not fanatic about my religious beliefs, they all think that I am nuts for observing Shabbat and kashrut and especially for leaving the Golden Medina of America and moving to dangerous, primitive Israel--and to the \"West Bank\" yet!!!  Some of my relatives feel that the settlers are fanatic crazies and have no interest in hearing differently.  They also think I\'m crazy for having a  big family!  As I\'ve said, I\'m always happy to return to Israel and to my \"settlement\" where everyone feels and lives the way I do. I\'m always warm and friendly with my relatives in the States, but I feel that we have nothing in common--except maybe the same grandparents! The whole situation is very depressing for me.");
AddReply(297744,"yes, thanks","Batya","eye of storm","04/11/08","Malka, I know what you mean.  But I think my visits are important, not only as kibbud av v\'em, but for my cousins and others who seek me out.  I can\'t give up on them.\n\nzl, thanks for posting it.\n\nShabbat Shalom to all");
AddReply(297632,"#28","zl ","canada","04/11/08","I posted #25 on behalf of Chabad, among others, the guardian angels,  of the Jewish ppl..baruch Hashem ! ");
AddReply(297609,"Depressing","Malka L.","Yesha","04/11/08","The marriage announcement pages in the US newspapers are depressing to read too. I think that the intermarriage rate is way over 50% already.When I occasionally visit my elderly parents in the States, I feel that I have nothing in common with most of my relatives. I\'m a religious Jew and they have almost all intermarried and assimilated out of the Jewish People. I think that most of them observe nothing at all, and it doesn\'t even bother them. I\'m always happy to return to Israel where all my family and friends are religious Jews who care very much about the future of our people. After my parents are gone (ad 120!) I do not plan to ever go there at all. It\'s just too depressing . Batya, do you feel the same way I do?");
AddReply(297603,"To Batya","Naomi","Israel","04/11/08","Thanks for answering me about your own family. I have a friend here who became religious and has 10 Jewish religious kids, but in her case too, her kids are the only ones in her whole large extended family who are Jewish, marrying Jewish, and producing the only Jews for future generations. Also, occasionally I read the obituary column (!)  of the newspaper of the city I grew up in in the US, and it is so sad to see that most of the old Jews who died either leave no grandchildren at all, or else non-Jewish ones. It looks like there will be almost no Jews in the Galut in another 2 generations, except for the Orthodox. The Jewish future is here in Israel only.");
AddReply(297320,"zl","Batya","eye of storm","04/10/08","Yes, it would be nice if everyone would invite just a couple of non-observant Jews to their seder, and we all should try.\n\nBut please remember that there aren\'t all that many Torah observant Jews in this world, and many Jews live in places where as non-observant as they may seem in our eyes, they may be the most observant, or only Jews, in their area.\n\nSo yes, open your home, but please don\'t condemn those trying to observe even the tiniest sliver of Yiddishkeit. That\'s why I say:\n\"Better A Traif (non-kosher) Seder Than None At All\"");
AddReply(297272,"#21 & #22","Meira","Home Soon","04/10/08","  Comma, #21, I wasn\'t challenging you. Touchy,\n Touchy. I thought I  \nwas adding to your comment. To tell the truth,\n I\'m not sure what your  \npoint was. I HAVE been to these \"seders\" and they\n have rewritten the  \nHagadah. It doesn\'t delete anything but it does\n add the J-Man and  \ntries to explain how the Exodus and Seder itself\n are  \"foreshadowing\"  \nof him.\nMeira, Home Soon\n\nNaomi, #22,  My Brother-in-law married \"in.\"\n  They were very friendly  \nwith the local Chabad rabbi but when they moved\n for job reasons, they  \nslid into \"Conservative\"  practice becasue it was\n \"better\" for the  \nkids. What????  B-i-l is a big macher now at the\n \"synagogue\" and The  \nkids are teens. One just went off to college and\n \"Oh! we\'re observant  \nyada, yada\" but somehow it\'s ok for the kid to\n participate in team  \nsports on Shabbat.  How they railed at our making\n aliyah.\nI can\'t wait until he brings home his shiksa, G-d\n forbid and they  \ncan\'t figure out why, these hypocrites who still\n don\'t accept me as  \nJewish even tho I underwent a \"conversion because\n of doubt\" in Israel  \nand we had a Chupa afterwards.\nThe point is you can marry \"in\" and go astray and\n wind up with goyish  \ngrandchildren or you can marry out but if that\n gentile you marry is  \nseeking and loves Judaism, that is the spark that\n Ha Shem left in  \nevery Jewish soul. It needs to be nurtured so it\n bursts into flame.   \nMIne was fanned into being in a messianic\n congregation believe it or  \nnot because I, as a single woman raised gentile,\n was afraid to  \napproach an Orthodox rabbi with my doubts.   I\n knew even then that  \nonly Orthodoxy would make a difference.  Any\n other denomination didn\'t  \ncount.\nMeira, Home Soon");
AddReply(297250,"To: #24 ZL","Comma","","04/10/08","I think that depends on the size of the pot and the amount of soup in it.\nIt\'s not the right analogy.");
AddReply(297193,"INTERNATIONAL SEDER DIR.","Chabad","international","04/10/08","http://www.chabad.org/holidays/passover/seders.htm\n\n");
AddReply(297185,"suggestion","ZL","Canada","04/10/08","if every religious family would invite at least one or two non observant jews to their seder , you wouldn\'t need to think about the possibility of a treif seder !!\n\na treif seder is not a seder at all, it\'s called a \'picnic\' \n\nseder means order(ly)..\ndo not lower the religious standards or, you\'ll get balagan/ big mess\n\nif by accident *only* one drop of pork oil falls into a kosher hot soup, is the soup still kosher ? \n\n");
AddReply(297159,"#22","Batya","eye of storm","04/10/08","Good question.  Tough question/answer. \n\n My sister\'s kids know that they\'re Jewish, but it\'s not a big priority.  They certainly know that they have relatives in Israel, who are religious and lots of other Jewish relatives who are \"all shades.\"\n\nOf my other intermarried relatives, it\'s totally mixed.  From being active members of Reform shuls, the only which would accept them, and others totally live as goyim.  \n\nSome branches (those descended from various aunts and uncles) of my family have either nobody of the youngest generation halachikly Jewish, or identifying as Jews.");
AddReply(297132,"To Batya","Naomi","Israel","04/10/08","This is a personal question, but I am interested in hearing the answer. Is your sister raising her kids Jewish? And your cousins? On the same subject, while I was raised religious, many of my friends here are chozrim b\'tshuva and almost all of them tell me the same thing, that their siblings and cousins have all married out and that they here are the only ones raising Jewish kids. The Silent Holocaust, for sure. What a tragedy.");
AddReply(297062,"To: #20 Meira","Comma","","04/10/08","I didn\'t write about churches doing seders.\nI wrote about churches doing \"seders\". \nWhen you put quotes around a word, it means that the word with quotes around it does NOT have the same meaning as the original word.\nYou are reading far too much (and wrong) into my post.\nBTW, kosher store owners may not discriminate against their customers, to the best of my knowledge. Plus, are they supposed to grill every customer who comes to the store before Pesach?\nI\'ve never been to one of those \"seders\" and I wouldn\'t pretend to know what\'s going on there.");
AddReply(296834,"to # 15","Meira ","Home Soon","04/09/08","# 15 talks about churches doing seders. doesn\'t\n he realize they use  \nthe matozohs to represent their dead messiah and\n the afikomen his  \nresurrection? They tie it to the communion\n service/institution of the  \nnew covenant. Wine or grape juice is his blood.\n  They may have the  \nkarpas, egg, etc. they especially love charoset,\n but they eat treif,  \nholding these at treif restaurants. I even heard\n of one where the  \nhotel was told, no bread, and they put out rolls.\nThey don\'t care about the \"laws\" of kashrut\n because that \"sacrifice,\"  \nwhich they think is represented by the stripes\n and holes in the  \nmatzoh, cancelled \"The Law.\"\nthis is part of the decepetion of \"two tribes\"\n  and also to lure  \nunsuspecting Jews in so they are a captive\n audience to hear about  \ntheir \"true\" messiah. Some do it at Passover but\n not necessarily on  \nthe appropriate night if that\'s inconvenient but\n some tie it to easter  \nas was done by a local seminary.\nI would not sell matzoh and kosher wine to these\n people for this  \npurpose. If they are regular customers and have\n taken on the  \nobligation to eat only kosher for whatever\n reason, then fine. Sell to  \nthem.\n");
AddReply(296495,"Jewish source for seder plates, etc.","Comma","","04/08/08","http://www.jewishsource.com/default.asp\n\nThey ship internationally");
AddReply(296430,"Home soon","Meira","","04/08/08","I  wanted to reply to Meir from Jerusalem. I agree  with a lot of it but  not the driving vs. praying at home.\n \n First, as a woman, there is something special\n and uplifting about \n hearing my brothers praying aloud thru the  mehitza. In our chabad \n there is a lot of singing.\n \n Second, we are supposed to HEAR the Torah, not  just read it silently \n in Eng.\n\n Third, there are some things that are omitted  if not praying with a \n minyan.\n \n Fourth, it is halacha to study and learn on  Shabbat. this can best be \n done in a shul with wonderful rabbis and others more mature in their \n Judaism.\n Whenever we stay home on Shabbat, even if we  pray and my husband reads  the parasha (in Engl) it is not the same. I feel an emptiness. I  will say this however, it is one of the big  reasons we are returning  to Israel. There is no point in trying to go to  a \"more vibrant\" \n Jewish community here. That\'s just a delusion.\n We came close  to being  attacked in Ft. Lauderdale last week. We are\n uncomfortable driving to  shul but it balances out the rest for now.\n Chabads here tend to be in \n expensive or commercial neighborhoods where  living close enough to  walk is not an option.\n");
AddReply(296429,"There is no such thing as a treif seder.","Betzalel","Baltimore","04/08/08","");
AddReply(296426," a few replies","Batya","eye of storm","04/08/08","Adam, thanks, and I like your invitation as reply to questions.\n\ncomma, you wouldn\'t believe how hard it was to find picture of a seder plate on the internet which wasn\'t on some xtian site.");
AddReply(296344,"BTW, a lot of churches have \"seders\"","Comma","","04/08/08","every year and they come to kosher stores to buy matza. Just FYI.");
AddReply(296336,"Re: #13 - I have been asked, actually","Adam","Monsey, NY","04/08/08","I have had times in my life where (for better or for worse) I was the \"halachic authority\" in tiny enclaves of Jews, far far away from Monsey.  Point blank, secular Jews have asked me if it\'s better for them to go to a Reform Seder (or service, or shabbaton, etc.) or do nothing.  I told them I would be happy to host them for anything and everything whenever possible - but if it\'s really an A-B decision, that they should just stay home.  The liberal breakaways are just so corrosive to the neshama.  G-d gave me strength to break free, but I was unusually blessed.  I\'ve also seen how open Israeli Hilonim are to Torah - much more so then American RefoConservaStructionist Jews.\n\nBy the way, I\'m so happy that Batya\'s blog is getting this much attention, finally.  I\'ve been impressed with the writings of both Medad\'s.  I wish Mrs. Medad continued success and attention in her future blog posts.  :o)");
AddReply(296311,"Who\'s asking you or me?","Janet Kasten Friedman","Kochav HaShachar","04/08/08","It IS an interesting philosophical/halachic question, which is worse, a treif seder or no seder at all. I can see Batya\'s point (in fact I also experienced it personally, as did Batya). I can see Adam\'s (from Monsey) point too, and I\'ve met people who suffered from the I-know-what-Judaism-is attitude about which he warns. Perhaps the Messiah will tell us after the fact, which was worse. In the meantime, the far-away Jews wherever they reside will either attend pseudo-seders or they will not. They will continue to eat off treif dishes and many will eat hametz d\'oreita, AND THEY WILL NOT ASK YOU OR ME (or any rabbi) what to read, or what to eat, or how to pray, or whom to marry. They do whatever they feel like doing...\nBy all means, anyone who can do any outreach to our brethren who were raised captive among the goyim, please do whatever you can! But let us not waste any more time or electrons arguing about which is worse! Each path leads to Jewish oblivion! Which path makes it \"easier\" for a Jew to return to Torah depends on the individual\'s nature and many other factors, not the least of which is Divine help. ");
AddReply(296310,"me, too","Batya","eye of storm","04/08/08","I can give you stories in both directions.  You\'re all right.  Just in my family alone.  You have me who became religious and my sister who married out.  My cousins and their children have also gone in all sorts of directions.  There\'s no recipe for 100% Jewish continuity.\n\nJust please understand that most of the traif s\'darim aren\'t reform, they\'re just ignorant of Torah Judaism and trying their best to observe something.");
AddReply(296245,"Traif seder","Sarit","Jerusalem","04/08/08","I, too, knew a Jewish girl in my childhood whose parents were Jewish liberals. They had a traif seder to which they invited many non-Jews every year. They made it a point to invite many blacks and called it a \"Freedom Seder\" in order to compare the Jews\' freedom from slavery in Egypt  to the blacks\' freedom from slavery in America. Anyway, to make a long story short, their only child, a daughter, later became a Catholic and a very, very religious one at that.");
AddReply(296168,"Treif Seder","Rina","Jerusalem","04/08/08","I know a  woman who was raised with absolutely no Judaism at all in her life although both of her parents were Jewish (and atheists). They even lived in a small town where there were no other Jews. When she reached adulthood she converted to Christianity, and now she is such a strong believer in it, that it is impossible to try to show her the Jewish way of life. She just doesn\'t want to know anything at all since she has never felt Jewish. In a case like this, Batya, I think that you are right....better something than nothing at all. I,too, don\'t like the idea of treif food at a seder, but, again, it hurts me to say this but it\'s better than nothing.");
AddReply(296166,"Reform and Conservative \"immunize\"","Comma","","04/08/08","the kids against Judaism. They are usually done with it right after bar mitzvah, if not earlier.\nI knew someone who had those \"seders\" and all her sons are now intermarried and each has 2 non-Jewish children.");
AddReply(296160,"Seder","Miriam","Jerusalem","04/08/08","As much as it bothers me that treif food and chametz dishes are at a seder, I have to agree with Batya: better something than nothing at all. These families never keep  kosher, so at least let them read the Hagada and do something. Otherwise, they would do nothing at all.");
AddReply(296149,"Reform Judaism, a worse option ","Shlomo","jerusalem","04/08/08","I had a relative who was thinking of transfering her daughter from a secular school to a reform judaism school. She asked us what we think about this and we asked several rabbis. The Rabbis answered that it is the lesser of evils for the girl to remain in the secular school than to go to an institution that teaches heretical and warped concepts about Judaism.");
AddReply(296121,"careful about rejection","Batya","eye of storm","04/08/08","I have no doubt that more Jews have been lost to us because of perfectionism, \"if you\'re not going to do it right, don\'t do it at all,\" than by holding onto some tradition and reminding themselves and their children that they are Jews.");
AddReply(296116,"The \"un-learning\" process","Adam","Monsey, NY","04/08/08","it\'s more difficult for a Jew raised in a liberal deviation of Torah to un-learn everything he/she learned in Hebrew School and Temple services.  If a person has no connection to Judaism at all, he/she has nothing to un-learn.  I\'ve personally worked with both types of Jews.  Thank G-d, I\'ve seen spiritual growth and mitzvah observance from both types, but the secular are always better off with no past teachings to confuse them and no families who feel threatened because their child is implicitly criticizing the way they live \"Jewishly\".");
AddReply(296072,"Traif Seder better than none at all","Meir","Jerusalem","04/08/08","I could not disagree with you more.  Do you know what the Seder is?  Do you understand its purpose?  You comment suggests that you miss the entire point of the Seder; it is not a storybook about freedom and emancipation for no purpose.  The Seder does tell the story of our oppression at the hands of Egypt and we are finally freed, however for a lofty purpose- to serve the Lord and follow His Torah- which expressly forbids the consumption of non-kosher food.  It\'s the same thing as driving a car on Shabbat to go to pray in the synagogue.  It\'s better to pray at home and not violate the sabbath.  Better to tell the story of the redemption of the Jewish people and fast than to eat forbidden food.  It is very sad- you miss the entire point.");
AddReply(296030,"tradition","Batya","eye of storm","04/07/08","If a non-observant Jewish kid, whose family has \"some sort of\" seder goes off to college and hears of a seder on campus, he may go, just because he misses his family. Those memories may bring him to the \"real thing.\"  \nBetter something than nothing at all.");
AddReply(296020,"is something really better than nothing?","Adam","Monsey, NY","04/07/08","In my experience, the Jews out there who had little to no religion in their lives had an easier time becoming observant than those who had extensive Reform or Conservative backgrounds.  If you\'ve always had a Seder with your family that seemed to be \"kosher\", it\'s harder to leave your family\'s Pesach celebration and join a halachic one.  If a Jew grew up with no Seder at all, there\'s no hard decision to make between Torah and family practice.\nThis applies many other mitzvos and Jewish family rituals as well.");
AddReply(295993,"better together with people who know a little","chava","yerushalayim","04/07/08","Maybe you\'re right -- it\'s better to have some sort of seder rather than nothing.  But aren\'t these seders kind of like Thanksgiving with a little reading inserted --- ie a family and/or friends dinner with some traditions added -- wine, 4 questions, afikomen, opening the door, whatever.  Wouldn\'t it be great if people with a little bit of knowledge about Pesach invite family and friends who don\'t know, and the seder becomes something meaningful as well as enjoyable.  (It\'s always more fun if someone knows the songs, not to mention stories, history, philosophy, etc.)");

WriteReplies(6,2702,iDiv);