The LW's real "problem" is that there are these new residents who live an alternative lifestyle that she doesn't approve of. We only get one side of the story in this column, as per usual. Here's a real life scenario where the pushy guy really wouldn't be so bad.

I am an Orthodox Jew and, I have Crohn's disease. The condition doesn't rest on Shabbos, and I often really need to use the facilities as I walk to my host's residence. Were I in that condition, I would push myself past an obstinate person such as the LW and would not feel the slightest remorse.

Security is a chimera here. Trust me, Orthodox Jews are just as concerned about security as anyone else, though I will say that they should wait in the lobby for their guests. This is so easily resolvable by anyone without the LW's emotional issues.

Me thinks the lady doth protest too much. Say it with me: closet case.

By the way, the Laws of Shabbos Observance are incredibly complex; a popular English language summary takes up 4 hardcover volumes. Salon letters isn't the forum to do the issues justice.

is really a special T-shirt that we (men) wear. They are called tzitzis, for the strings on the bottom. People have seen them on laundry lines and let their imagination run wild.

FYI

Nowhere in the Bible is the phrase "An eye for an eye" written. This is a terrible mistranslation of a section of Torah that calls for monetary justice, not compensatory mutilation.

Ayin tachas ayin literally means "eye under eye". It's an expression, just like the English phrase "go jump in a lake." Torah uses that format quite often. The phrase has always been understood as referring to monetary compensation.

Even the Rambam (who lived before English) complained about people taking the phrase literally.

Don't rely on Christian sources for understanding Tanakh, as they don't have access to the Oral Tradition.

that you can't welsh on...

becomes another blood libel, G_d forbid...

Glenn, I don't think that you realize that this is a blood feud. It's us vs. them. Simple. There is no middle ground, there is no solution, there is no peace possible. It's the Israelites vs. the Philistines again.

Deal with it.

does not appear in the Hebrew Bible. It is a mistranslation; it really means the opposite.

Ger Tzadikim (Converts) are full Jews, whether African-American, Arab, Latino, German or whatever originally.

It makes absolutely no difference whether a Jew is a blood descendant of Ya'akov Avinu or not (except for Cohanim and Levi'im)

Dr. Sands point is irrelevant, that's my point.

The Drag Queens of San Francisco, all the Womon's Collectives in college towns, unReal Americans, etc., should all very publically send diapers, butt wipes, onesies, etc. to the new parents.

Two, three birds or so, one stone.

Did anybody on board seriously think that they were going to break through a war-time naval blockade, to deliver supplies to the blockading enemy? It was an idiotic stunt; the Israelis should have commandeered the vessel and delivered its supplies to Sderot.

Do you think that the Union Navy would have allowed "humanitarian" supplies to reach the Confederates? C'mon.

Isn't McKinney the one Jon Steward called "bat-shit insane"?

Thanks for the tip about the IRA and Southern Ireland. Did not know that.

I guess the IRA is the Irish Hamas.

Thanks for the detailed info about the Liberty. Basically sounds like a standard friendly fire incident.

The guy you call Jesus said some pretty nasty things about us Pharisees (i.e., all of the Jews today). Spawn of Satan, Wicked Scribes and Hypocrites.

Let's talk about proportionality. See Doonesbury this week? All about Iraqi Christians, exiled by Arab and Kurd Muslims, about a million or so.

Where are the Cynthia McKinney's sailing boats up the Euphrates River? Meanwhile, < 100 civilians have been killed in one of the most densely populated areas on Earth.

are Mizrachi or S'fardi, not Ashkenazi (i.e., Eastern European).

The non-Ashkenazim tend to be more right wing, and more anti-Arab, having lived under them.

FYI, the Gaza Strip was created by Egypt and the blockade is a joint project between Israel and Egypt, backed by Jordan and Saudi.

Maureen, seriously, what did you expect a nation at war to do with a blockade runner?

What would expect Egypt to do should Hamas lob rockets into the Sinai? And if Israel deserves to be showered with rockets, what about Egypt?

Do the R's really expect to win this, or is someone going to speak to Coleman and tell him to let it go.

Or perhaps, he's keeping on keeping on to raise money to pay for his legal defense?

when they seat Sen. Franken!

There are two unresolvable issues: Jerusalem and the Right of Return, both of which are deal breakers.

Give up hope.

"Imagine the American and Israeli protests if Egypt suggested taking down its wall across the entire southern border of Gaza today ... because that would conclusively break the siege of Gaza."

The whole point of the Gaza disengagement was to give Gaza back to Egypt. Israel doesn't want the Philistines, and neither does Egypt.

Why do you think that Egypt has been collaborating with Israel on the blockade?

I didn't see this until after the Sabbath, and I don't want to slog through 45 screens of letters.

Do you implicate Egypt in this war as well? Surely, the Sinai has plenty of space for civilians to escape to. Surely, the Egyptians are partners with the Israelis to destroy Hamas.

Do you ask the questions of the Iraqis, when Sunni and Shia kill each other?

Did you ask these questions during the Algerian Civil War?

Or, do you hold Israel and Jews to a higher standard than Arabs?

If so, I applaud you, I do too. I would appreciate it, if you were open about it.