Re: Who is a Jew? And who gets to decide?

In article <hdkdmj$26b$1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
<flaviaR@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

On 13-Nov-2009, micha@xxxxxxxxxxx (Micha Berger) wrote:

flaviaR@xxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
On 13-Nov-2009, mm <NOPSAMmm2005@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Kids with a good relationship
with their parents want to believe what their parents believe. At
least until they're about 13. Maybe that's why bar mitzvas are then.

Part of me wants to laugh, even if you are serious - good one!

I presented this seriously once. Part of my notes from that talk went
into <http://www.aishdas.org/asp/2005/11/adam-and-pinocchio.shtml>. (The
rest of the talk was woven from material already posted on the blog.)
Here's the relevent paragraph, translations added:

Our Sages say that a person is born with a yeitzer hara [evil
inclination], but gains a yeitzer hatov [good inclination] only at
his bar/s mitzvah. Perhaps they mean the following: Until adolescent
rebellion, children choose good -- but they do it because their
parents, teacher, principal, etc... expects it of him. Jiminy Crickets
telling them "you gotta". Until the child is capable of rebellion,
he doesn't truly operate from the perspective of an internalized
yeitzer hatov.

How does this match with the part of the High Holiday service
which states that "the soul which You gave me was pure"? This
is incompatible with starting out with a yetzer hara; that is
the Christian view of "original sin" and is incompatible with
Judaism.
--
This address is for information only. I do not claim that these views
are those of the Statistics Department or of Purdue University.
Herman Rubin, Department of Statistics, Purdue University
hrubin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Phone: (765)494-6054 FAX: (765)494-0558
.

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