Home › Forums › Inspiration / Mussar › Being Ostentatious
- This topic has 17 replies, 9 voices, and was last updated 12 years, 7 months ago by BTGuy.
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March 30, 2012 1:10 pm at 1:10 pm #602724avhabenParticipant
Is it okay?
March 30, 2012 1:30 pm at 1:30 pm #864878mytakeMemberWhat’s on your mind, avhaben?
March 30, 2012 1:40 pm at 1:40 pm #864879avhabenParticipantA real fancy house.
March 30, 2012 1:45 pm at 1:45 pm #864880mytakeMemberI have an issue with real fancy houses. I’ll let someone else respond.
March 30, 2012 1:52 pm at 1:52 pm #864881writersoulParticipantI don’t think I’m going to judge people on the styles of their houses right now.
March 30, 2012 2:47 pm at 2:47 pm #864883BTGuyParticipantI think if one can acquire it, nothing wrong with enjoying an aesthetically pleasing home.
March 30, 2012 2:57 pm at 2:57 pm #864884cheftzeMembermytake: What issues do you have with ostentatious houses? (I agree with you, FTR.)
March 30, 2012 2:59 pm at 2:59 pm #864885WolfishMusingsParticipantI can’t win, no matter what I do.
A number of years ago, I won a megillah at a Chinese auction. It came with a large silver case with silver bells which I never used because I considered it far too ostentatious. Instead, for years, I carried the megillah around in a Ziploc bag. Eventually, my mother-in-law bought a wooden/faux-leather megillah case for me, which I currently use.
When I mentioned the above on these boards, a poster criticized me for not appreciating the concept of hiddur mitzvah (because I didn’t want to use the large silver case).
So, I can’t win. If I use the case, I’m being ostentatious. If I don’t, I’m taken to task for my lack of sensitivity to the concept of hiddur mitzvah.
Just a further sign that I’m a horrible person. Only a horrible, rotten person would not be able to properly perform a mitzvah no matter which choice he makes.
The Wolf
(edited to remove questionable language)
March 30, 2012 3:08 pm at 3:08 pm #864886mytakeMemberLike I said, I personally have an issue with it and I don’t judge those who disagree with me.
I’m not in the mood of starting a debate on this, and if I answer your question that’s exactly what this thread will turn into.
March 30, 2012 3:22 pm at 3:22 pm #864887cheftzeMemberIs there anything positive to be said about having a house that is ostentatious on the outside, calling attention to itself from all passersby here in golus?
March 30, 2012 3:30 pm at 3:30 pm #864888WolfishMusingsParticipantIs there anything positive to be said about having a house that is ostentatious on the outside, calling attention to itself from all passersby here in golus?
Ostentatious is relative. My house would have been considered ostentatious 150 years ago. Today it’s modest.
The Wolf
March 30, 2012 3:36 pm at 3:36 pm #864889mytakeMember“Ostentatious is relative.”
One of the reasons why this conversation is pointless.
March 30, 2012 3:40 pm at 3:40 pm #864890cheftzeMemberThere is a point of ostentatiousness that we all can agree is ostentatious and over the top.
March 30, 2012 3:48 pm at 3:48 pm #864891tomim tihyeMemberI enjoy walking down the blocks that have gorgeous sprawling houses; it gives me a lift. I enjoy living in my simple one, though.
March 30, 2012 7:07 pm at 7:07 pm #864892cheftzeMemberIf makes the nochorim envious. And that leads to no good.
March 31, 2012 12:12 am at 12:12 am #864893ToiParticipantyay death to nochrim!
wolf- i side with you in regards to the hiddur shaila.
March 31, 2012 11:41 pm at 11:41 pm #864894Shticky GuyParticipantJust a further sign that I’m a horrible person
Wolf you can easily dispel that myth by sending me your unwanted and unused silver case. ☺
Why do you keep running yourself down so much recently. I’m concerned about you. You have a great following here in the coffeeroom. You are among the top 3 posters ever. Then for a while you disappeared and since you came back you havent seemed to like yourself. What’s going on in your life? Is it something you can share without compromising Jothar’s security rules? Maybe we can help. Lets start a wolf fan club and show him what he is, the chessed he has told us that he does, the golden middos he has displayed in many threads. I’m gonna begin a wolf fan club thread right now. Please will everyone post on it. Thank you
April 2, 2012 3:58 pm at 3:58 pm #864895BTGuyParticipantWe have to keep in mind that we dont know the details by what each of us may evaluate as ostentatious.
Why put a single drop of negativity upon reacting to something we think is ostentatious? Does that preclude the owner is a bad person? Does it mean the person who was the creator was involved with the purchaser in being/doing ‘wrong’?
Too much of this, to me, seems subjective and presumptuous, so I say leave it alone.
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