(January 23, 2017 at 8:31 pm)Wyrd of Gawd Wrote:(January 22, 2017 at 8:55 pm)Minimalist Wrote: Or....suppose 'god' tells you to because he caught them working on the sabbath?That's one reason slip-on shoes were invented. It's a sin to tie shoelaces into a knot on the sabbath because that's considered work.
Seems fair, huh?
True story. Years ago when I was a union official I was attending a meeting with the Local's President and two of the senior managers of the IRS in Brooklyn. One of them was late so we were just sitting around shooting the shit with the other guy. Now, the president was Jewish but not observant at all. He thought all of it was as stupid as I did. The Chief of the Examination Division was Italian but he lived in a building in a very orthodox jewish section of Brooklyn called Williamsburg. So he was telling us how on high holy days he performed a service for all of his neighbors in the building: He would open their refrigerators and loosen the light bulbs so that the light would not come on if they opened the door because, as you say, THAT would be considered "work."
My union president laughed this off as another example of how stupid the hasidics were but I couldn't let it go. Even then I was a ball buster. So I asked "What happens if when they open the door the temperature in the frig goes up and the compressor comes on? Isn't that the same thing? Does the floor suddenly open and they fall into a fiery pit?"
The president sat there trying to stifle laughter but the Chief said in all seriousness " the issue never came up. I'll have to ask." With that the president lost it and we all cracked up.
Chalk it up to Good Laughs at the Expense of Religious Assholes.
