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Ninth Paper

By Alan Cecil

In response to a few of Mr. Lawson’s (Jeremy's) comments:

“What I do find most disheartening (and I find it exceedingly disturbing that it

seems so prevalent an attitude in the B'nai Noah community) is the SOLE focus on

legalism. Is this ALL that we can ever hope for? Incessant debates about the

minutiae of performance of 7 laws?”



Nowhere in the article did I suggest we give up spirituality. I made it clear in

my article that there needs to be a balance. One should not sacrifice the

legalistic for the spiritual, and vice versa. I was also critical about the

“quibbling about halachic minutiae.” The point I was making, obviously not as

clearly as I had hoped, was that Noahides should focus on implementing the Seven

Laws into our legal system, and work out the details later. After all, the rabbis

certainly do not agree on all the details of halacha. Why should the Noahides

think that the details should all be worked out before implementing them into our

society?



Another question that was raised was “Where can we go to worship our G-d?” I do

not understand why one needs to “go” anywhere to worship G-d. The idea that there

has to be a specific time and place to worship G-d is not a Jewish concept. Yes,

I know that there are specific holy days and times for prayer in Judaism, but the

idea of having to worship G-d in a specific place is not a Jewish concept. This

is something that the Noahides need to grasp. There is also the matter of what

constitutes “worship.” We need to understand that the way to worship HaShem is to

keep His commandments, and one of the Seven is to set up courts of justice. We do

not have a commandment to set up temples of worship. Am I suggesting that we

should not have places for Noahides to come together and pray and fellowship? Of

course not. What I am saying is that this is not one of the obligatory

commandments for the B’nai Noah. If you wish to walk in the ways of the Torah,

you need to follow the Seven Laws. Yes, there is much more you can do, such as

prayer and observing Jewish holidays, but not at the expense of the Seven Laws.



This leads into another comment Mr. Lawson made, “What schools can we send our

children to where they won't be inundated daily with christian beliefs and are

surrounded by 99.9% christian boys and girls?” Well, that is why we need to work

to implement the Noahide Code into our legal system. The problem isn’t simply a

“religious” problem, but a cultural one. The very concept of “separation of

church and state,” the idea that “religion” or the “service of G-d” has certain

times and places outside of our everyday affairs, is alien to Judaism. Why is the

Sabbath a day of frivolity and shopping in our culture? Why does the government

shut down on Christian holidays and not on, say, Yom Kippur? Why is the Torah

ignored in our schools and universities?

 

This leads us to Mr. Lawson’s next

statement that “we have no siddur, no religious services, no real holidays, no

real places of worship, no institutions of higher education, no institutions of

elementary education, and honestly no real sense of community. What kind of

legacy are we creating for our children?...So, if you want my opinion about what

the B'nai Noah movement NEEDS, then it is these things.” This is the point I was

making in the article. This is exactly the thing we need to do, and it is not

going to get done by spending all our time trying to figure out how a Noahide can

keep Shabbat or if a Noahide can affix a mezuzah on their doorpost. Each Noahide

has the freedom to observe the Torah their own way, what prayers to say, when to

say them, how to celebrate Shabbat, Rosh HaShannah, etc. The point Mr. Lawson

seems to miss is that we are not commanded to do these things. What we are

commanded to do is to set up courts of justice, and, according to Ramban, set up

laws that are based on the Noahide Code and reflect Torah values.. We have got to

change our society, and the way to do that is to implement the Seven Laws of Noah

into our legal fabric.



And finally, Mr. Lawson also stated that “To imply that a gentile is INCAPABLE of

or PROHIBITED from studying [kaballah] is the ultimate condescension.” Yes, Mr.

Lawson, this is exactly what I am implying. Noahides have absolutely no business

studying kaballah. I’m not being condescending, either; this is the opinion of

quite a few rabbis whose opinions I certainly trust, including Rabbi Katz. If you

wish to argue the matter further, I suggest you take it up with him.



As far as the Lubavitch problem, yes, there is a division among the Lubavitch

concerning whether Rabbi Schneerson is HaMashicach or not. The problem is, the

pro-Mashiach group is by far the most vocal and the most present on the internet;

there are a lot more Schneerson Melech HaMashiach sites, and they certainly get

the most attention, particularly from our foes.



Alan Cecil

 

 

 

 

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