BARUCH COHON BLOG

Frequently I get humorous emails from friends of my generation, about our diminishing faculties — like memory that fails us, hearing loss that confuses us, fading eyesight, and of course that sorely missed activity called sex.  Well, I tell them, I tried it both ways.  I’ve been young, and I’ve been old, and I came to a definite conclusion:  young is better.  But when it comes to advancing years, you know the alternative to growing old — and no contest there.  Growing old wins.  Or does it?  If the individual involved is fighting a painful physical condition, or a mind so demented that it cannot communicate with other human beings, is growing old worth the trouble?  Enter total misery.  Enter prayers for deliverance.   Enter physician assisted suicide.   Our society debates that idea, vociferously and validly.  After all, medical science does make groundbreaking new discoveries that could — and do — give us additional welcome and productive years.  We should not give up.  Tired as these words may sound, they still have meaning: where there’s life there’s hope.  Above all, whatever problems we face, we need to believe they can be solved.  That’s what we pray for, three times a day in Judaism: “Heal us, G-d, and we shall be healed.”  Look at life expectancy today as compared with a century ago.  And then look at the malach-hamovves (the angel of death) and laugh: “On your way, fella.  I’m not ready for you yet.”  Remember, laughter can indeed be the best medicine.  So zy gezunt — be well!  

Freedom OF religion? Or freedom FROM religion? What does the Constitution say? We’ve all read it: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.”
An establishment. That is the separation that must be kept. The Constitution does not separate religion as such from public or private life. Many of the Founding Fathers were reportedly not churchgoers but they were Deists. They believed in G-d. They intended that Americans would always have the right to worship in their own ways, and they embodied that right in the First Amendment Prohibiting all religious expression in public events is therefore illegal. That includes non-sectarian prayer, the pledge of allegiance, displaying the Ten Commandments, etc. Prohibiting those expressions is just as illegal as it would be to pass a resolution declaring the United States to be a Christian country, or a Muslim country, or a Jewish country. No atheist should be punished for abstaining, and no believer should be prevented from praying.