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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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