You have made an enormous, huge, and fatal mistake, Michi. I am astonished at you—what did you see in this nonsense? I remember that 20 years ago I heard from the holy mouth of my teacher and rabbi, Rabbi Spieler of blessed memory, the light of Israel, that it is a mistake (even of rabbis, in his words) to speak in such terms as though there were such a thing as self-sacrifice on the part of these vile suicide attackers. Rather, this is the very lowest depth that exists in creation. I do not remember the exact definition he did give for it, but I have grown up since then and it is not hard to understand that a savage subhuman creature, low, despicable, and vile, who is willing to sacrifice his life for the basest, lowest, and most degraded lust on the globe—namely their foolish and infantile belief that they will receive 70 virgins (as much as it has become a ridiculous expression among us, it is unbelievable that this, and nothing else, stands at the basis of their expectation of reward for the murder, not for its own sake, to which the rule “from doing it not for its own sake one comes to doing it for its own sake” does not apply, since he kills and is killed)—someone willing for this to murder and spill his own blood and the blood of the murdered victim, is that what is called self-sacrifice? This is a mutilation of the concept at its most basic level almost, (it is roughly like discussing the street expression “you got eaten” and whether it requires the measure of digestion for an after-blessing).

I only ask, Michi, before you type your answer in the blink of an eye, think carefully before you type me a response, and do not answer like someone snatching at coals. I will help you formulate a thought if you want, and it is this: before every answer you write, test yourself with the following philosophical test. What would you say about a father who is willing to abandon what is dearest to him of all, namely to hand over his beautiful daughter to prostitution in exchange for payment, to appease and entice a woman to sleep with him—would you say there too that you are full of appreciation for the prices that this father is willing to pay for his values (woe to the shame that these are his values), only that you are full of criticism of him? Or would you simply rise and cry out in a hoarse voice: the emperor is naked, and the father is vile and low, the lowest of the low, a pedophile, and every curse-word in the lexicon.

I am truly trembling with excitement as I read the pathos in your words. But unfortunately, that kind of pathos does not really work on me. If you are not prepared to think beyond your gut reactions, there is no point in having a discussion.

It is no shame, Michi, to admit and say, “I was wrong.” Have you ever done that publicly? I do not remember even half a case like that. How are we supposed to believe you in the rest of the posts when you say the truth and that your mouth and heart are aligned, if when you have no substantive answer, you dismiss it with an inappropriate attack, “gut flutterings”? Respect yourself and this platform of yours.

To ‘Swift as a Deer + Mighty as a Lion,’ here is a quotation from the Rabbi from column 303 (on knowledge and free choice; text highlighted in red) —
“After the column was uploaded, an anonymous commenter sent a response that convinced me I was mistaken. Therefore I added this passage to the column and updated it.”

To Zalmi: look there in the column after the red text, at the addition in blue where he retracts the red.