Dark Light Leader on Miscarriage Prevention
As we all know, the Talmud is packed with ooky spooky Kabbalah voodoo nonsense science and health information. Like the importance of not offending preggos with nail clippings and inducing miscarriages. Duh!
Dark Light leader Rabbi Mendel Weinbach notes,
The only problem which nail-biters face is what to do with the nails. Since discarded nails are a threat to the health of a pregnant woman it is forbidden to cast them in a place where such a woman may pass. Rabbi Yochanan’s action took place in a Beit Midrash that women never entered. Some nail-biters solve this problem by simply chewing and swallowing their nails while others restrict their nail-biting to areas such as the one mentioned in the Rabbi Yochanan precedent.
So please be more careful in regards to this matter. Okay?
7 comments
Ouch, for real?
What about encouraging girls to get tested for toxoplasmosis instead?
Heh. The Rabbis are much too lenient on this. Personally I have no sympathy whatsoever for nail biters. Nail biting isn’t a bad habit –it’s a moral failing and a character defect. When the moshiach comes there will be no nail biters.
I have nothing to add. Just thought I’d drop by, say hello, and throw some nail biting clippings your way.
Nail clippings were very powerful in the days of the Talmud. They have lost their potency since then, but we keep the prohibition out of respect to the Talmudic chochamim.
Unless the chemical composition of nail clippings has changed since the time of Talmud, then one would think that the power of nail clippings has remained the same.
As far as having respect for the Talmudic chochamim,
there’s a problem with that. It would seem that you freeze the religion into medieval or ancient thought patterns, and thereby cause a loss of respect for the chachomim.
The way I see it the Chachomim knew that nail biting is disgusting, so they wanted to make it as burdensome as possible. If you see it that way, what they said makes sense.
It’s funny you mentioned altered nail composition, Ichabod. The truth is, there are probably many compounds in our nails that wouldn’t have been in the nails of our sages. All kinds of compounds, including toxins, collect up in various tissues of our bodies and stay there. So yes, maybe you’ve hit the (finger)nail on the head there.
As for your 2nd paragraph, I can only nod solemnly in agreement.
As a final note, the prohibition covers all nail clippings, not just bitten ones. Some things just defy explanation, I guess.
C Girl
Okay, I stand corrected. You may well have a point.
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