Conversion: Why?
Recently a non-Jewish friend asked me why someone would want to convert to Judaism. Although I could think of a lot of reasons, I’m not sure which one was the best. What would your answer be?
Cohen and Marriage
Why can’t a Cohen marry a divorced woman? Is she less than others because of her unfortunate situation?
Coffins and Burial
A company is selling “a variety of eco-friendly, biodegradable burial products including Ecopod, a kayak-shaped coffin made out of recycled newspapers,” according to the newspaper story, it will also offer “fair-trade bamboo caskets lined w/bleached cotton” and “more traditional-looking handcrafted coffins made of wood certified by the Forest Stewardship Council. “Prices of the biodegradable containers start at about $100 for a basic cardboard box. “Biodegradable coffins are part of a larger trend toward ‘natural’ burials, which require no formaldehyde embalming, cement vaults, chemical lawn treatments or laminated caskets,” the article also says.
This all sounds very Jewish to me (for different basic
reasons, of course); I’d like to know if a traditional burial would be
kosher in a cardboard box or recycled newspaper coffin — since both cardboard and newspaper are basically made of wood to start with. Or might there be other elements in them to render such things unkosher?
Jewish Clothing
I was studying this coming week’s Torah portion of Tetzaveh, which discusses in great length the clothing that had to be worn by the Jewish priests (Kohens) in their service. I was struck by the intricacies in the Torah of how these articles of clothing had to be woven and worn. I wonder why that is so important; why should clothing make such a difference in the temple worship?