Fri, Jul 04, 2008

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David N. Friedman


Trying to do our best

Truly, Chevy, some people do a much better of a job than others and further--some make an effort and others do not.  The suggestion that "no one is virtuous" indicates that virtue is an unachievable commodity when this is not at all true.  It is the very opposite of the fundamental pre-requisite of having good moral character and being a holy nation.  Holiness does not mean that we have NEVER missed the mark.  It means that we accept the standards and we make a good faith effort to hit the target.

Absent from the posting from Elisheva was any sense as so why sex just had to take place and if we all make an effort--some of us really go out of our way to have a Jewish life--why not in this major category of sin?

Temptation never ends and we all have opportunities to have one form of forbidden sex or the other--simply because I am married does not mean that the temptation is over.  Refraining is a baseline demand of Judaism and one cannot say, ,with good faith regarding a sexual affair, "it just happened"--surely, in defense of the action, one  would have to speak about overwhelming pressure and when a Jew is trained in a serious way, the pressure to cut Shabbos short for convenience or eat treif food or chase after one's secretary diminishes.





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