Yeah. Tamar's story is weird, but I always chalked it to some things not usually mentioned:

"Wasted seed" doesn't apply to diaphragms, IUDs, spermicides, foams, and birth control pills. Rabbi Moshe Feinstein has ruled that diaphragms and pills are not about shefichas zera, and most of the above qualify under the category of a "moch". So, to reiterate, there's no reason for a woman to be concerned with…

Nope. Incorrect.

NOW I'm curious.

Actually, many veterinary studies were instrumental in our current infertility treatments.

Talk about missing the point.

To add, though, since the "be fruitful and multiply" is a commandment given to men, and not women, birth control for women is not an issue.

I'm cracking up about that lettuce joke. Too true.

The thing about Orthodoxy is that there is no one central opinion about issues. Rabbi Moshe Feinstein, generally accepted as the premier decider in many tough issue-of-the-day, decried abortion for Tay Sachs, Down's, etc. However, there are many other Orthodox Rabbis that do not concur. Orthodoxy also comes in…

A lot of children are being sexualized at age 10.

There's also another study recently that indicated that to feel fully rested, you shouldn't eat for 12 hours. I can't find it on Google, but it was on i09 somewhere.

That's awful. I'm so sorry!

I think this is seriously the best comment I've read so far.

Is The Lottery about empathizing with the villains? Is A Clockwork Orange about that, or is it about redemption? Is Hamlet about empathizing with his uncle?

Very well spoken. As a teacher, I'm completely embarrassed about my repeated error of inserting "emphasize" when I meant "empathize". I'm at work and doing way too many things at the same time, and sometimes I just type without proofreading.

I've enjoyed Lolita and Rebecca and other novels as literary diversion, yes. Whether or not I agree with the ultimate moral message of each is another question, which is why when my students ask for recommendations, I don't mention either of them, but I haven't discouraged anyone from reading these novels.

I realize. I was being sarcastic. I wasn't clear here, sorry.

I was being sarcastic. Sorry that wasn't clear.

I wasn't clear. I was being sarcastic.

I think that there's no valid lesson in Lolita, and therefore I have never encouraged my students to read it. Whether they do or not, it's out of my hands, and I am not a school administrator. However, if a student DID read Lolita, and empathized with the molester and said that it's perfectly understandable to rape…