"If men get into a fight with one another, and the wife of one intervenes to rescue her husband from the grip of his opponent by reaching out and seizing his genitals, you shall cut off her hand; show no pity."

Not a great translation, but that doesn't matter. "you shall cut off her hand" means that she is to be fined.

Just like the Torah never commands anyone to poke someone's eye out, this section is frequently misunderstood.

Very good point. Why should you believe me, as opposed to the people who translated the King James, etc.? Well, it's simple.

There is an Oral Tradition (a.k.a., the Oral Torah) that explains and elucidates the Written Torah (i.e., the 5 Books of Moses). The Written Torah is incomprehensible and illogical without it. The best analogy that I like to use is that the Written Torah is the tip of the iceberg above the water, the Oral Torah the great mass below. The link below is a very good detailed explanation:

http://www.aish.com/literacy/concepts/The_Oral_Tradition.asp

BTW, the Pharisees were the ones responsible for maintaining the Oral Tradition through years of persecution.

"Don't you at least find it a little odd, that in this book, which is "God's Words', God can not find time to come out and condemn slavery, warn against incest, or provide some useful knowledge about the world like that we are part of a solar system or that germs make people sick……."

Hashem explicitly condemns what we in the US call slavery in the 8th Commandment. "Slavery" in Torah is either a punishment for theft or a means for a gentile to become Jewish. Incest is explicitly prohibited. Finally, have you ever heard of the phrase "Cleanliness is next to Godliness"? That's from Talmud, which is where the bulk of the Oral Tradition is recorded.

"Yet can devote an entire paragraph to outlining the procedure for dealing with what to do if two men are fighting and the wife of one of them comes to rescue her husband from the man who is beating him, by grabbing the other man's genitals?

And even so… Why is the woman in the wrong here? She was trying to break up a fight! Shouldn’t she be rewarded?"

Very very good question, like all your other questions. Unfortunately, I can't answer all of them, nor could anybody in 1000 words. Here's a good place to start: www.aish.com. Should you want reference materials, www.artscroll.com. Good luck with that.

And yes, the King James Version of the Bible should be pulped.

Honestly speaking, do you see no absurdity in this?

Silly cut and paste thingy!

"Therefore I have to study it some before I can really expand on that argument."

My work here is done (:=).

Just remember, Torah was not written in Greek.

Seriously, Torah invites intense scrutiny of the kind of questions you bring up, jamiso. You'd make a fine Jew, if you're not already!

but if I had even considered it, Jackie Mason's endorsement would have turned me blue...

If you read what I wrote, I'd said "You'd make a fine Jew, if you're not already!" Jamiso misquoted me. I'm not a proselytizer.

I'm not ashamed of anything here. You, on the other hand, out and out lie.

"Old Testament campaign based on the uplifting principle of 'an eye for an eye.'"

That's a bad translation. The passages are about monetary damages. Mr. Shapiro, please don't continue the slur. Thanks.

is with the Orthodox. I myself am Orthodox, and it seems like I am the only one who voted/will vote for Obama. People look at me like I have 3 eyes when I tell them who I'm voting for. I don't get it.

As of now, the Orthodox are a minority amongst Jewish Americans, but Democrats should worry, because in twenty, thirty years time, it wouldn't be surprising if they are the majority.

Myself, I am kind of in between "black hat" and Modern Orthodox. While I wear a black hat on Shabbos and other Holidays, I live and participate in the secular world a lot.

My cousins, however, are what the world frequently calls "Ultra-Orthodox", a term I hate. One cousin has 14 children, another 9; the one with 9's second wife has 10.

That's a sitcom.

As far as high birth rates affecting populations are concerned, look at the history of French Canadians from 1763 to 1960. They went from 20,000 to about 5,000,000.

They all start with R.

Read Koheles (Ecclesiastes) for this essential truth.

I had a '73 Vega. Stupid thing left me all over the place, about once a month.

I vowed never to buy an American car again (except used), it's been almost 30 years and I'm still mad.

They can all go bankrupt, for all I care.

I think flying a big plane would be incredibly difficult. Can I come with anyways?

Huckabee's a Reverend, right?

Buying naming rights to a stadium is a very strong sell signal for a corporation. Forbes had an article about it recently.

Enron Field, anybody?