<p>Well said Rabbi Taragin. As a Kohen I am familiar with the halachot and immediately upon seeing the picture I knew what was going on. &nbsp;Like you said, for many reasons, it was the wrong decision.&nbsp;</p> <p>While what you said about ridiculing this guy is important, I think you minimized the impact of what he did. Though you mentioned it at the outset, the safety issue cannot be overemphasize. This person litterly put people's lives at risk.&nbsp;</p> <p>Also, while it's important that we follow halachot in the God it's also critically important that we be aware of the world around us and avoid, at all costs when possible, doing things that make God and his Torah look foolish.&nbsp;</p> <p>So, on the one hand maybe people should not have ganged up on him and tried to explain what he was doing, on the other hand it's just as important, if not more so, to make it clear that this is not normative orthodox Jewish behavior.</p> <p>I tried to do both in a couple of places. One where a friend of mine who's not orthodox posted it on his Facebook wall. And another on the blog of world reknown Jewish atheist where the comments were off the charts. (He actually mined my comment and turned it into a separate blog)</p>

<p>Michael&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>I completely agree that the decision was ill conceived and that it is important to protect the dignity of torah and halacha rather than making orthodox behavior seem foolish chas v'shalom.&nbsp;<br />Knowing that I was speaking to a largely if not exclusively orthodox audience &nbsp;I assumed the above and focused on the knee jerk ridicule or alienation that people may had felt.&nbsp;</p>