#*GOYIM DO NOT USE THIS POST TO DEBATE OR ARGUE

[galateaunloved]

#from what i understood from the. books i read about it. is that it's more like a legal process#like instead of 'fighting' youre supposed to be able to understand and debate for or against a given rule#and be able to interpret or adapt them for the current time. and you aren't responsible for ones that arent relevant or possible for you - aquaticanthrobotic

Mostly yes and (slightly) no. Yes, halacha is a legal process. Yes, it isn't technically "fighting," it's a legal discussion. This is why I always put "fighting" in quotes in my post, and even hesitate to call it arguing. It's debate. It's discussion. There is no connotation of malice of one side for the other here, and yes you are supposed to interpret or adapt them.

How you interpret or adapt them depends on your sect. The strictness to which you adhere to this laws also depends on your sect. So while "you aren't responsible for ones that aren't relevant" (also yes, and that's something goyim inherently do not seem to get which is not everything is for everyone and its not malicious, etc, not the point of this particular comment but I could talk more about this too), that's also very sect dependant. More orthodox sects tend to consider halacha to be... well, halacha. These are rules you must follow, albeit not all of these rules come from the talmud (since, like you said, many aren't relevant anymore, unless you own an ox and have a fence between you and your goat owning neighbor) as many come from more recent sources: aka, your local rabbi, but to say "not possible" or "aren't relevant" are also specific keywords that are used when separating orthodoxy from conservative, reform, and other sects.

Relevancy and possibility are determined by those communities. For a conservative Jew, for example, they might take a stance on relevance and possibility saying that in nideh a woman having to check herself three times for spotting was because ancient Jewish women weren't on Birth Control, and therefore, did not have their hormones monitored like ours are today, so it is unnecessary to check for the end of your period if you are on birth control; whereas, an ultra orthodox Jew would disagree, even if they were on Birth Control because you are still able to spot even after your pills change. A reform Jew might say that nideh all together is an ancient institution no longer supported by a liberated society where women should be protected from being sexually touched by their husbands regardless of bodily function, and so none of the ritualistic aspects of nideh are necessary and any its not like there's a mikveh anywhere near where you live (if that is the case, which is rare in western society, they're usually just not advertised, then an Orthodox person would say that if you're going to live there then you need to build one). So like I said in a very long-winded way, that claim is relative to your community.

The concept of 'fighting god" itself comes from Yitzhack and the angel and Choni haMagel generally (in less religious or goyiche spaces). Ironically the Choni haMagel story isn't as well known expect for a fun throwaway, simplfied "hey isnt this myth so funny haha" that happens to many cultures when they encounter outsiders. But I have seen people use it when talking about the idea.

But those stories are usually significantly simplified and reiterated through an irreverent lens, which was specifically what I was referencing here and I think was also partially what you caught on to. For many Jews, this is not a unique crazy story of fighting god, but representative of a huge history and culture of, essentially, legal and spiritual (because all things are mixed in talmudic Judaism) discussion. Why did Yitzchak fight Esav's Angel? How could Choni haMagel have demanded that Hashem bring rain? Why did Avraham tell Hashem that he could not destroy Sodom and Gemmorah because of the good people there? Because disagreement isn't inherently irreverence in Judaism. The angel was just doing his job, and Yitzchak did not think it was rightous. Hashem told Choni haMagel that only because he was Choni haMagel that Hashem would listen, because he was a tzadik. Hashem promised Avraham to spare Sodom and Gemorrah if there were a thousand good people, and when he could not find those thousand, he promised it for a hundred, and then ten, and then one, all because Avraham loved Hashem and loved the people of the world, and he was there to remind Hashem of mercy and of the ability in every person to become better every second of their lives. It's because, and only because, they loved Hashem and His thought that they disagreed with Him. It is because Hashem loved them back that he listened, and encouraged his children to build courts and judges and the Sanhedren so they could continue to discuss His commandments and adapt and improve upon them until their word became "as if Hashem's."

It is because of that, when a vote happened in the Sanhedren over the oven of achnai, that even though the Sanhedren's ruling wasn't "true" according to Hashem's intentions, that Hashem told Reb Yehoshua "נצחוני בעניי" (Nitzchuni baenai). "My children have bested me," but also "my children have eternalized me." They have argued their cases well and voted using the systems of government I approve of and helped set into place, because they love me. They have discussed the status of this question because they love me. They have voted, and whether or not it was the choice I would have made, they still engaged in the holy process of lawmaking exactly as I intended and with love. And for that I love them back, for that I am proud, and for that they have made given my name honor.

So go learn something with a chavruta today and rejoice, because Hashem is proud of you.

That post about "girls loving patterns and dissection of media" that has thousands of notes only goes to prove the antisemetism on tumblr and in other fandom spaces. Dissection of media (no matter how much I disagree with your stupid ass headcanon) is a basis of fandom, and for those same people to turn "jews fight god" into something irreverant is so antisemetic.

For Jews, discussion is holy. God did not create loopholes so we can "haha gotcha!" Him. He did it for his "children to best" him. Discussion of laws and following said laws are intrinsticly linked if you believe discussion is an act of religion. If you believe that it is holy to learn, ask questions, and grow. To follow your conceptions. This is Judaism. Starlightomatic (iirc) made a post years ago about how uncomfortable they were with people who encountered Judaism through tumblr acting as if all Judaism is was "fighting god," and how it was important to note that many Jews actually enjoyed engaging in halacha. The fandomization of "judaism is the religion that fights god" and the antisemetism culturally inherent in goyiche societies turned Judaism on tumblr into the "leftist religion" of radical rejection instead of what Judaism is. "Fighting god" (which is a simplification (*cough cough* fandomization) of a much more complicated biblical story) should not be through defiance. It is joyous. Hashem gave us free will and thought, and we find the patterns and connections that He left for us among his commandments to find and build.

"My children have bested me," does not mean that we beat god derogatorily. It is Hashem, our parent, seeing how far we've come in Their ways and the pride, nachat, of seeing your children succeed.