10 Kislew 5766/11 December 2005

Greetings.

Interesting things I ran across over Shabbath:

• Ezekiel 18:23, ad-hoc translation: “‘Do I really desire the death of someone wicked?’ says ’Adhonay-YHWH. ‘Is it not in his repenting from his ways he will live?’” (It sounds better and less awkward in the original Hebrew.) The chapter is about the notion that children who do not follow the ways of their parents are not to be punished for their parents’ sins and that God prefers that sinners repent rather face divine punishment.
  
• It is popularly noted that the Rambam (Maimonides) held that a man who is obligated to divorce his wife yet refuses to do so should be beaten by a court until he acquiesces. I finally ran across a citation of that ruling: Mishneh Torah, Hilkhoth Gerushin 2:16.

Reminder: Enter the The Weird Thing of the Day Dune Fantastic Religion Contest for a chance to win fame and glory, and to get to pick the weird thing of the day for a week.

Today’s weird thing is “Tape recording”, a puzzling article on red tape. Enjoy.

Aaron