On 9/6/2010 3:29 PM, Ellen K. wrote:

> Just to be clear here, I am not telling you you are doing anything
> wrong. I only explained the situation in the first place because Janet
> seemed to be telling me *I* shouldn't be doing what I'm doing.

Ellen, that is definitely not what I meant.

I grew up in an orthodox home. My mother is the daughter of a rabbi. My
uncle was a rabbi who had smicha from rav Cook in then Palestine. My dad
was a schochet. His rav was Rav Moshe Feinstein. My dad was also a
talmudic scholar and a whole bunch of impressive rabunim from NYC
showed up at his funeral and pronounced him a lamed vavnik. I attended
Yeshiva through my Junior year of high school. I have an education as
well as a yichus.

I am aware of the differences in interpretation between Ashkenazis and
Sephardim, but I do know that neither wants people to get sick
fulfilling a mitzvah. My mother was insulin dependent and it was more of
a sin for her to fast on Yom Kippur than it was to eat. As much as she
hated doing it, she understood that she had to eat and couldn't fast
because fasting would make her sick and that was a sin.

G-d doesn't want people to harm themselves worshiping. The primary
directive for *all* Jews is "above all choose life". I am sure that if
you told your rabbi that you had a medical reason for not being able to
eat enough bread or matzoh, he could figure something out for you.
That was what I meant in my post.

I hope you can forgive me.


--
Janet Wilder
Way-the-heck-south Texas
Spelling doesn't count. Cooking does.