levite

So, since a couple of people in Dlish's awesome "Ask A Muslim" thread have expressed interest, the "Ask A Jew" thread is now open for business. I am not a bottomless well of Jewish knowledge, but I have good resources to find out what I don't know, and I know some stuff. As many of you know, I'm about to start my fifth and (hopefully) final year of rabbinical school, so it actually is my field, so to speak, and not only my religion.

I should note here that I know there are at least a couple of other forum members who are observant Jews, and I sincerely want to acknowledge them and their knowledge, and not make it seem like I'm shutting them out. You guys, if you want to add, or disagree, or present counterpoints, don't feel like I think this is my party. I'm just a mouthy bastard who's gung-ho for his work, I don't claim any provenance over things Jewish.

That said, note to all that I am nominally a Conservative Jew, although I tend to think of myself more generally as simply a liberal traditional Jew, rather than as a part of a movement. This means that I have a certain frame of understanding Judaism and Jewish law. I was raised Orthodox, and my fiancee is a Reform rabbi, so I do have some understanding of how other movements see things, and I promise I will try always to give a spectrum of answers reflecting that. But if I default to an unspecific answer, know that what you're hearing is a liberal traditional view, and take it as such.

OK, 'nuff said. The sign is flipped to open, and the Jew is in!

__________________
Dull sublunary lovers love,
Whose soul is sense, cannot admit
Absence, because it doth remove
That thing which elemented it.

(From "A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning" by John Donne)