News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:The Wire That Transforms Much of Manhattan into One Big, ... by UltraSane on Monday June 09, 2025 @12:41AM (#44221464)
I love how Orthodox Jews can't change any of their laws BUT they can and do change the definition of words to such an extent it accomplishes the same thing, such as changing eruv from meaning wall to wire.
Re:The Wire That Transforms Much of Manhattan into One Big, ... by throw37384848 on Monday June 09, 2025 @02:36AM (#44221931)
Jews can absolutely change their laws. For example butchering animals and women rights are completely different now!

Orthodox Jews at East Europe still do not allow women in synagogue, very similar way is Islam!

Re:The Wire That Transforms Much of Manhattan into One Big, ... by elAhmo on Monday June 09, 2025 @03:48AM (#44222283)
Islam does allow women in mosques.
Re:The Wire That Transforms Much of Manhattan into One Big, ... by UltraSane on Monday June 09, 2025 @05:12AM (#44222633)
Only in the back LOL
Re:The Wire That Transforms Much of Manhattan into One Big, ... by yreew on Tuesday June 10, 2025 @05:09AM (#44234371)
It doesn't have to. The women are sometime separated on the (left or right) side, not in the back.
Re:The Wire That Transforms Much of Manhattan into One Big, ... by UltraSane on Tuesday June 10, 2025 @06:16AM (#44234889)
But then the men can SEE them!
Re:The Wire That Transforms Much of Manhattan into One Big, ... by elAhmo on Tuesday June 17, 2025 @09:17AM (#44298833)
You seem quite ignorant about islam, it would be good to educate yourself and not make childish comments like this.
Re:The Wire That Transforms Much of Manhattan into One Big, ... by bwestergard on Monday June 09, 2025 @10:18AM (#44224792)
Interpretation of a law can be very subtle without being merely a ruse to "find loopholes".

The development of the religious law around eruvim strikes me as a series of common sense adaptations that took place to preserve an ideal in the face of changing historical circumstances.

Re:The Wire That Transforms Much of Manhattan into One Big, ... by UltraSane on Monday June 09, 2025 @02:52PM (#44227920)
Going from a solid wall providing actual privacy and access control to a completely pointless wire is NOT "common sense adaptation". It is negating the law while pretending you are still adhering to it.
Re:The Wire That Transforms Much of Manhattan into One Big, ... by bwestergard on Monday June 09, 2025 @06:36PM (#44230319)
Can you site any rabbinical responsa for the assertion that "privacy and access control" are relevant factors?
Re:The Wire That Transforms Much of Manhattan into One Big, ... by UltraSane on Monday June 09, 2025 @07:36PM (#44230833)
Eruv originally meant wall and those are the main functions of a wall. It is reasonable to assume that that is why the law used a wall as a condition for exceptions on Sabbath restrictions. They sure as hell didn't originally use a freaking WIRE.

It seems similar to Islam allowing women to wear completely sheer niqab.

Re:The Wire That Transforms Much of Manhattan into One Big, ... by xg15 on Tuesday June 10, 2025 @05:32PM (#44241684)
Agreed. I think in situations of religious laws, where the text really can never be changed because it is literally holy, it's at least understandable and mostly harmless. But in general I find the practice of reinterpreting law texts to the point of absurdity really problematic. It undermines faith in the legal system, because suddenly law texts become "legalese" that cannot be interpreted by laymen. In the worst case, you get "creative reinterpretation" of legal terms like the Trump admin is doing it currently.

I remember reading about an US state where the governor was allowed to unilaterally modify state laws before they came into effect, by removing parts of it. The constitution didn't specify what was meant by "parts", so some governors took it as the right to delete individual words and letters from the text and thereby completely change the meaning of the laws...

Re:The Wire That Transforms Much of Manhattan into One Big, ... by xg15 on Tuesday June 10, 2025 @05:26PM (#44241626)
Non-jew here, but what would be the rationale for the shabbat exceptions otherwise? I assume they didn't just make up random rules for fun.
Re:The Wire That Transforms Much of Manhattan into One Big, ... by z500 on Monday June 09, 2025 @12:19PM (#44226051)
From what I understand, they believe God intended that to be part of the fun.