Religious Freedom

Are the American notions of liberty of conscience and freedom of religion genuine Jewish values?

I guess its too late to write a 1500 word essay, so I figured I'd jot down my thoughts here, for the zero followers of mine to read and give me $3000. Oh, wait, I can't put a shiny yellow donate button on my blog until I'm eighteen. Oh well.

When I first read the question, I thought it was asking a general question about American notions of liberty.
I immediately thought of conservatives who believe that American liberty means complete capitalism and laissez-faire economics, to which I would respond that they are NOT genuine Jewish values. I would base my answer on this post. In that post, Rabbi Eliyahu Fink of the Pacific Jewish Center quotes Rabbi Isidore Epstein's introduction to the Talmud, who quotes many examples of Rabbinical Socialism. EPIC WIN.
Either way, that isn't what the question is asking. MEH.
What it actually is asking about is whether the American notion of freedom of religion is a genuine Jewish value.
That is harder to answer.
My first thought is that since this country is not governed by Jews, there is no obligation upon the gentiles to obey the seven Noahide laws. It is not a commandment upon them. It is our obligation that those around us in our area of jurisdiction follow those seven laws. Unlike regular mitzvos, which are a Jew's personal obligation, the sheva mitzvos bnei noach are the governments responsibility. Seeing as our government isn't Jewish, it has every right to allow whatever religious freedom it wishes (including gay marriage <----LOL).

Nonetheless, a more genuine Jewish perspective would tell you that all mitzvos have a purpose, and the seven Noahide laws are meant to be a moral structure for society. Therefore any gentile who performs those commandments would receive merit in the world to come. Furthermore, because we believe that mitzvos are inherently valuable, converting is a form of elevation.This would mean that Judaism does not truly inherently value religious freedom, although it permits it. It would, however, prefer if everyone kept its moral standards.

That being said, even in a land under Jewish rule, no one would be forced to convert. For the majority of history, Judaism was the only religion which allowed any freedom of religion whatsoever. Most other religions, for the majority of history, believed that only someone who embraced their religion could merit reward. Judaism believes that anyone can achieve greatness, as long as they follow basic morals. (To see what my basis for calling them, "morals," is, see here.)

However, those basic tenets of morality must be kept. Some of them are open clauses. Who is to decide what is considered sexual immorality? It can't be based on Jewish laws of sex, because there is no chalos kiddushin (actual recognized marriage) between two non Jews. They definitely don't have the laws of niddah. Also, who is to decide what is considered a court? Is a monarch tyrant considered a government. Is an American justice system which searches not for the truth a establishment of a court? What is considered idolatry? Is a trinity monotheistic? Is Islam idolatry? Is the commandment not to be pagan, or to believe in one God? If the former, then atheism would be permitted. The rest are pretty clear cut, but all of those seem to not contradict any American values of religious freedom. The only two which may cause a problem are idolatry and sexual immorality, but those prohibitions are subject to introspection, or tzarich iyun.

In conclusion, there are two reasons why Judaism values religious freedom, despite the fact that it may inherently wish for something better. Firstly, because this isn't a country under Jewish jurisdiction. Secondly, because even those things which we may expect  gentile society to keep, are already, arguably, being kept.

Do You Believe In Miracles?

Here's a patch I started writing around Pesach, but its fine for any time of year, really.
This year, a I felt a new pre-pesach fear. After only recently becoming a navoch stooped in patchionalism, I was worried about how badly tainted my view of the miracles of Egypt would be. Patchionalists claim to minimize the quality and quantity of miracles. They happen less often, and when they do, they are less than supernatural.
So I began to think about how my opinion of yetzias mitrayim would be affected.
I contemplated my own view of miracles.
I recently read the view of R' E. E. Dessler on this issue, and the following are my thoughts about it.
He says that while God generally runs the world according to tevah (nature), miracles are completely removed from nature. He says this in contradistinction to the opinion that miracles are just nature stretched.
While this was satisfactory at first glance, a closer look into the term tevah can show that it doesn't really answer my dilemma.
Nature simply means the way the world naturally goes about its course. An thing that happens that isn't usual, is miraculous.
Science, however, is entirely another thing. Science is the explanation for anything that happens in the universe. Miracles have to have a scientific explanation. Perhaps that science isn't physics. I don't know. Maybe its, "miracology," but the way to gain scientific knowledge of something is to study it repeatedly in a lab. That would undo them being miracles. Any thoughts?

OR

One could argue that miracles ARE within laws of saying, despite the fact that they are unnatural. One would then have to research if they break any laws of science. (Much of modern physics nowadays is only theory, educated guessing though it may be, which is much more easily discarded. But most of all science we have is empirically proven fact.)
If they do, no respected intellectual, or even a simple patchionalist  for that matter, of our time, would accept it. Firstly because we believe that science is God's creation just as much as the Torah is, and they can both teach us things. Secondly, because that would make the world of our forefathers similar to that in Lord of the Rings. Not that that is impossible, but I disagree with it theologically.

If they don't, great, but you've just made the miracle that much less cool. Oh, and now let me guess, there's a moral that we can appreciate better now that we know that that is what the Torah/Midrash/Gemara is actually trying to tell us in the first place (and not a historical accounting). and let me guess, I'm supposed to apply that moral to my life to make myself a better Jew and a better person? Lame, I hate making myself a better person. (Not that this is the only reason yeshivists don't like patchionalism, especially because very often yeshivists do stress the morals that can be learned from these stories, even if they at the same time believe them in the technical sense. It's just that its emphasized, and very often coupled with the expectation that never picking your head up from a gemara will grant you these superpowers.)

Meh, what do I know. I guess I'll wait until I die, or Mashiach comes.

Just a quick patch-on to the patch about NPC's.
I was thinking more about this game of God's called Life,and about all the characters in it.
To each individual player, or person, isn't everyone else an NPC? The answer is obviously no.
No one is an figment of anyone else's imagination.
One can never know for sure, because all it takes is extremely advanced technology to give an NPC in a game an intricate brain possible of being creative on its own.
Kind of like creating artificial intelligence in real life, but easier.
But online multiplayer is a much more pleasant way of viewing God's game.
More like an open world game like World of Warcraft or RuneScape then Halo Multiplayer, btw.
In fact, I can't begin to try to explain the world w/o it. It just fits so well.

הוראת שעה

Rabbi Moshe Ben Maimon (The Rambam) and his  rationalist Judaism thrived in an era entrenched in Aristotelian  philosophy.

Rabbi Israel Ben Eliezer (The Besht) and his optimistic Judaism thrived in an era stooped in un-enthusiastic-ality and depression in light of many a failed messiahs.

I've come to the realization that everything is a hora'as sha'ah. Rabbinic leaders deal with the issues that are  presented to them. There is no more objectively true pat[c]h to God. Every generation adopts one of the shivim panim l'Torah.

How then, is one to discern the truth? The Truth is to serve God. One serves God the way his rabbinic leaders feel that they are supposed to given the circumstances their generation is in. Maybe Rabbeinu Avraham ben Ha-Rambam when he was right when he said that Chazal only told of supernatural Messianic wonders and of the pleasures of Olam Habah in order to entice the weak-minded and lustful. Maybe the critics of patchionalism are right, and we should be condemned for our lack of faith and belief only in that which we can perceive and understand.

But in a day and age where all forms of rabbinate exist, and we are able to create any society which we please, whether be it one which appreciates the beauty of science, or one that isolates its members from coming into contact with any distant piece of modernity that might expose them to blasphemy, how is one to choose? Is it simply dependent upon which society one is born into? How can one claim the other to be foolish? How can one claim the other to be heretical?

Everything is a Hora'as Sha'ah. Nothing is true. Just Kidding.

Do NPC's exist in God's world?

(For all of you noobs out there who don't know what an NPC is, see here.)
Either way, when it comes to the question of what the purpose of life is, people are quick to answer. 42, to serve God etc. Every Jew has a specific purpose in this world. Yeshivism often preaches that non Jews are here to serve us.I often wonder if there are NPC's in this world. People who's purpose here is only to be a tool to others. That's kind of what yeshivism claims all non Jews are...Perhaps more open yeshivists would be willing to admit that other non Jews help develop society and civilization. Or maybe they aide the yetzer harah (e.g. Steve Jobs). What about completely mentally disabled and unaware people? Are they only tools for others to do chesed? One can never know the answer... Any of your thoughts would be appreciated.

זמן חירותינו

Every man is born with obligations and responsibilities. Every moment, man is ignoring one of those responsibilities out of servitude to another. Every choice has a loss. Freedom means a lack of servitude. At first glance, this would mean that freedom is either a lack of obligation (which is technically and physically impossible) or as is it is commonly believed to be, the lack of loss when a responsibility is ignored. Freedom, therefore means nothing to lose. You can do whatever yo want, and ignore all of your responsibilities because there is loss in doing so. How then, does someone in this position make any decisions whatsoever? They generally choose to do what they believe to be the most immediately gratifying and physically satisfying thing they can do. However, this person clearly has a mental obligation to his physical desire. Where then, has his freedom gone? So we agree that freedom cannot mean having nothing to lose. Is there no such thing as freedom? Or does true freedom have to lead to no choice being made? This can't be either, for neutrality itself is a choice. The most sound explanation of freedom is the ability to make the correct choice. As Jews, we believe that God is The Truth and serving Him is the best thing doable, and therefore, we are thankful to God for freeing us and enabling us to choose to serve him. Why is the ability to choose what is the incorrect choice not equally free? The incorrect choice is always chosen out of servitude to an obligation, and not from a completely obligation free perspective. Freedom is the ability to choose what is best. צ"ע.

IT'S YOUR FAULT, GOD

The gemara recounts a story about how they took a vote in the beis medrash on whether it wold have been better to have never been born. The majority agreed that while it may have been better for us to never have been born, now that we do exist, we should make the best of our lives. My Mashgiach Ruchani told us that someone once asked the Dubno Maggid the following question. If it is better for us not to have been born, why  don't we sin all we want, and after 120 years, tell God that it's his fault for creating us, so its his fault that we sinned, and he cant blame us for it? The Maggid answered with a parable. In a certain town, there was a deaf man who was extremely ugly. In the same town, there was also a blind woman who was extremely loud and would always nag. The community arranged that they should get married. She wold never see his ugly face, and he wouldn't hear her complaints. One day, a traveling doctor passed through the town. It was advertised that he could cure blindness and deafness. The couple decided to spend a large sum of money in  order to heal their impediments. The doctor healed them both, and they were extremely grateful. Later, when she saw his face, and he heard her nagging, they both started despise each other. They went back to the doctor and demanded a refund. The doctor agreed to refund them, on the condition that they allow their ailments to be restored. They protested started describing how they love the ability to see/hear the world around them. So too, said my Mashgiach, we can't tell God that we didn't want to have been born and that we demand a refund, unless we are actually willing to have our lack of life restored. My problem with this is that it is assur to commit suicide. So why  don't we tell God, "Look, I didn't want to be born, you wouldn't let  me kill myself so that i wouldn't have done any aveiros, so its your fault and you cant hold me responsible"?