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yemel's avatar

Calling Jewish things you don't like idol-worship is reactionary and not useful. Lag Ba'omer has grounded credibility with mainstream Jews as a Day, and it's fair to not like the elements that masses take out of proportion, but it's obviously not emorite idol worship to circle the fire. The criticism is valid but the attempt to tie it to halcha is stupid.

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Deconstructionist Jew's avatar

You say that "If you believe that ‘Judaism is what Jews do’, then none of that matters very much, but, if you don’t, there are some pretty obvious tests you can perform."

And then proceed to list "traditional sources" and "Rabbis." as counterarguments.

But what makes them traditional, what makes those Rabbis authoritative?

You’ve accepted that Judaism is defined by the judgments of prior Jews, you’re just choosing which ones to count. If you have a better model of what Judaism is other than what Jews do, name it. But once you start pulling out the Tosefta or 19th-century condemnations, you're just reaffirming my argument.

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