Fundamentalism

[debka_notion]

I think back in high school I wrote something about the perils of fundamentalism. I really don't remember what I wrote, but it's probably still online on my geocities website. It's funny to think about- that (asI think I mentioned recently) my mom looks at my religious outlook, and pretty much sees something fairly fundamentalist. And in some ways, I suppose that she's right, from a secular viewpoint. I can't see it myself though: I can't see someone who is gender-egalitarian as a fundamentalist in Judaism, especially not someone who is more than willing to compromise about Torah MiSinai (the belief that the Torah was given complete from G-d to Moses on Mount Sinai, and that hte entire Oral Law was also given at that time), even if the latter idea is one that has Plenty of backing in traditional sources. Maybe that says something about the current state of Jewish theology as much, or more so than it does about my own beliefs and behaviors, but I always did see fundamentalism as something based on belief, not behavior. But perhaps that is because it's a term I first learned as associated with Christianity, which deals far more strictly and detailedly(as far as I can tell) with theology in comparison to practice than observant forms of Judaism do. I do wonder if, by that definition, one could call someone who is completely non-practicing, but believes in Torah MiSinai a fundamentalist. Yet that seems to miss some part of the package as well.

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Re: More to the point . . .

[debka-notion.livejournal.com]

Speaking of Karaites- I found the neatest book of Karaite liturgy/ritual/texts at the library at work. I only looked through a little bit of it during a quick break, but it was really neat stuff. The wedding ceremony I looked at seemed like a very neat cross between stuff that seems familiar to us, and an Indian wedding (in the sense that the wedding seems to involve a lot of travelling, with Psalms and songs being sung the whole time). I think I need to start spending my lunch breaks in the library there...