Sticky

I never heard of this ans idea of Orthodox Judaism- sex before marriage being considered a a sin for women but an acceptable sin for men.

Further to what levite was saying regarding this. If you pay ver close attention you will see that there are many differences in the dress of the Orthodox - of those who do have specific dress.
From those who wear suits and fedoras, you will see that some groups wear larger brimed fedoras. Some other groups wear the fedoras a specific way.
You will then see those that wear suits with very long jackets (capoteh).
Others with high socks.
Other were the capotehs are not black but beige or gry with stripes.
Usually all these groups are decendants or followers of the teachings/opinions (halachic opinions on discussions and arguments raised in the talmud) or certain rabbis from certain geogrphic areas, towns, shtetls, yeshivas (jewish religions schools where torah [jewish law] is studied.

Here is an interesting story of a junior hockey player faced with this issue. How does on in this situation make such a hard decision especially at such a young age? Making the NHL or any professional league is considered very special and anybody who is on the cusp believes they can make it. What a hard decision.
But is this really any different than anybody working in any job? What does an observant Jew do on a Friday afternoon when the sabbath is approaching and you just need to finish the closing of the big deal? What if your boss wants you to come infor a meeting with a prospective client on a Saturday morning. Observant Jews face these dilemas all the time it is just that athletes are much more high profile so we all hear about these cases.

Sports on the sabbath are not strictly forbidden.
Some won't play sports becuase they consider it not in the spirit of the sabbath. Others, becuase sports are not forbidden find that it is something that they can do that relaxes them, helps them unwind, or is just plain fun and permissable.

There are some sports that would be considered inherrently forbidden according to halacha depending the situation and others that have very few issues.
With football becuase of carrying of the bal while you run, if there is no eruv (a demarkation of a geographical area usually with a combination of fence, wire, and string that surrounds a neighborhood or city within which carrying on shabbat would be considered permissable) then it would be considered forbidden. If there is an eruv then those who feel that playing sports is OK to do will be allowed.
Soccer, since there is no carrying involved would not require an eruv and if you are of the type that would play sports it would not be a problem at all.

An eruv has much more practical benefits than sports and is a huge discussion in itsefl.

Something else interesting is the way that commandments are approached.
As levite said, there are 613 commandments and some are just not possible to keep due to circumstance. Some are positive commandments - do this. And some are negative commandments - refrain from doing this.
While an observant Jew (of any denomination) will try to follow as many of the laws as he/she can (in the ways their specific denomination follows those laws), each of those laws is seperate and the non-observance of one law does not keep one from observing others. Each commandment followed is a mitzvah and is good.
There is an understanding that it is impossible to be perfect and that intent is often the most important thing. As you can see from levite's explanation above the list of 613 is not even possible.

I have a question:
- levite, are you a Levite?

---------- Post added at 11:01 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:57 PM ----------

They are less concerned about drawing attention from those outside their group as they are from drawing attention within their group.
Is this effective, I don't know.

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Sticky The Stickman