Details, details

So one of the reasons C. and I appreciate the Reform movement is that Reform Jews don't consider halacha to be binding. We especially consider this around Shabbat prohibitions, or lack thereof...we use electricity; we drive; we cook. (Well, sometimes we cook.) We try not to spend money frivolously, but we will buy things we need or go out to dinner.

We joke between ourselves sometimes that at least we don't have to worry about accidentally winnowing or threshing, since we thought those were purely agricultural prohibitions, and we live in the middle of a city.

We were, however, mistaken, as it turns out. It is, indeed, possible to thresh when one is not a farmer. I have not explored the possibility of inadvertently winnowing.

I do not, of course, intend this as a criticism of Orthodox Judaism; it's more an eye-opener for me as to how very little I know. I do know that, if I attempted Orthodoxy, I'd get so spun up about the details that I'd end up spiritually paralyzing myself. But I have great admiration for those who manage to balance fairly strict observance with living in today's world.