Lawyer-Wearing-Yarmulka
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Vending Machine Judaism
Noyam posts a really good rant, part of which is about segulahs. I've posted on this before a bit, but it's an issue I talk about a lot more in person.
My main beef with the segulah explosion we're witnessing, is that it cheapens Judaism. I've used the term Vending Machine Judaism before, and I think it's the perfect description of the new religion we're creating. Basically, God is a giant vending machine. We stand in front of it, see what we want, press a button, and we expect to get it. Need a shidduch? Say Shir haShirm. Parnasah? Say Parshas Ha'mon. Can't find your keyes? Give money to R' Meir Baal Ha'Ness.
This is turning religion into nothing more than a means to an end. It's a selfish version of Judaism, as in "How can I use God to get exactly what I want"?
My main beef with the segulah explosion we're witnessing, is that it cheapens Judaism. I've used the term Vending Machine Judaism before, and I think it's the perfect description of the new religion we're creating. Basically, God is a giant vending machine. We stand in front of it, see what we want, press a button, and we expect to get it. Need a shidduch? Say Shir haShirm. Parnasah? Say Parshas Ha'mon. Can't find your keyes? Give money to R' Meir Baal Ha'Ness.
This is turning religion into nothing more than a means to an end. It's a selfish version of Judaism, as in "How can I use God to get exactly what I want"?
posted by LWY, 5:52 PM
2 Comments:
I agree with you. I like the term also "vending machine judaism" :).
This is what gives people hope, afterall, with each generation people are allowed to do less and less to make a parnassah. And they're getting more and more ridiculous with "referencing" when it comes to shidduchim, why not rely on a segulah...makes one feel better about their irrational decisions to rely solely on shadchanim or on one income when they have 5+ kids and in chinuch.
This is what gives people hope, afterall, with each generation people are allowed to do less and less to make a parnassah. And they're getting more and more ridiculous with "referencing" when it comes to shidduchim, why not rely on a segulah...makes one feel better about their irrational decisions to rely solely on shadchanim or on one income when they have 5+ kids and in chinuch.
The "explosion" as you call it is really not all that new. My 85 year old mom and my dad came into marriage with a whole slew of segulos, for parnoseh, for chochma, for seichel, for a shidduch, for an easy delivery of a pregnant woman.
