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What About Those
Seven Noahide Laws?
Frequently
commended in Presidential proclamations of Education Day are the Seven
Noahide (in some of the quoted material below, spelled "Noachide")
Laws, as instanced in President Reagan's proclamation above. That the
average American has never heard of these laws is not surprising — they
originate in the Babylonian Talmud, and make no appearance in the old or new
testaments of the Bible.
A question that arises upon hearing of these Noahide laws is why — given that
he feels compelled to interject religious injunctions on Education Day — the
American President does not prefer to urge Americans to follow the Ten
Commandments, which are a later and more comprehensive version of the earlier
Seven Noahide Laws, and which Ten Commandments bring the advantage of being
widely known and broadly accessible?
The explanation of this puzzle is startling. In fact, it could not be
more startling. The explanation is that the Habad Hasids have a goal,
and the puzzling things that we see happening are the signs of their progress
toward that goal. The goal of the Habad Hasids, as announced by
themselves, and as I will demonstrate below through direct quotations, and as
can be verified by anyone who has access to the Internet, is as follows — and
I advise you to hold on to your seat before reading on.
The Habad Hasids have a plan to conquer the world and to set up rabbinical
rule in every country. They recognize that by themselves they do not
have the manpower to execute this plan, and so are in the process of
conscripting a vast army of non-Jews to help them. The members of this
non-Jewish army of helpers are called the Noahides, or the Children of
Noah. They consist mainly of disaffected
and apostate Christians searching for religious guidance in an age of
disintegrating Christianity. The Noahide Laws are the laws that the
Habad Hasids ask these helpers to obey. Foremost among these Seven
Noahide Laws is the renunciation of Christianity, and indeed of any religion
other than Orthodox Judaism. The educational activities of the
Lubavitchers which are annually commemorated by American Presidents consist
mainly in luring non-Jews into playing the role of Noahide helpers, which
requires as an initial step their renunciation of Christianity.
Below follows the Noahide program in greater detail, and from the mouths of
the Habad Hasids themselves:
The
Seven Noahide Laws are in reality seven topic headings
One might expect that the Seven Noahide laws would go something like,
"Honor thy father and thy mother, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not
commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal," and so on. However, I have
been unable to locate any such listing. All I can find is listings of
topic headings of Talmudic subjects, as for example:
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Noachide Laws, seven laws, given to Noah, considered by rabbis as
incumbent on all men without exception: prohibition of idolatry, blasphemy,
bloodshed, sexual sin, theft, eating limb torn from animal while living,
and instruction to establish legal system.
Geoffrey
Wigoder (Ed.), Encyclopedic Dictionary of Judaica, Leon Amiel, New
York and Paris, also Keter Publishing House, Jerusalem, 1974, p. 455.
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Every society in existence places limits on sexual activity, and in this
sense provides its own definition of "sexual sin," so that merely
being told that the Noahide Laws forbid sexual sin tells us nothing. Undoubtedly
there are extensive Talmudic definitions of sexual sin that are being
referred to, which is why I consider the two words "sexual sin" to
be a topic heading and not a law. The same goes for "instruction
to establish a legal system" — these six words are not a law that any
Noahide initiate will find himself able to obey; rather, they make reference
to hundreds, if not thousands, of pages of Talmudic writing as to the nature
of the legal system that should be established. Similar observations
can be made on all items in Wigoder's list of seven above.
Alternative depictions of the Seven Noahide Laws (as at www.noahide.com/7laws.htm)
similarly lead to the conclusion that we are being supplied with no more than
topic headings, and any elaborative statements that may be made under each
topic heading are vague, and hint at more concrete original Talmudic writings
which are not being disclosed.
Seven
occasionally proliferates into 30, or even 66
As might be expected when dealing with broad topic headings, these can be
subdivided so that sometimes the number of Noahide Laws is considered to be
not merely seven, but 30, or even 66, as can be seen on the Noahide web site
at www.noahide.com/lawslist.htm.
Scanning these more extensive lists,
the typical American must be seized with unease, and occasionally with
outright trepidation. (Square-bracketed material below was in the
original.)
- Some of the Noahide laws
are mysterious: "Against practicing Ov." "Against
practicing Yiddoni." "Against causing our children to
pass [through the fire] in the worship of Molech."
- Some proscribe thought
crimes: "Against entertaining the thought that there exists a deity
except Hashem." "Against desiring."
- Some seem to define the
powers of the rabbis, rather than laws that are to be followed by the
people, and these rabbinical powers violate the separation of church and
state, and which if implemented would turn America into a theocracy:
"To appoint judges and officers in each and every community."
- Some
prescribe procedures that are alien to American culture, as execution
by beheading, or the necessity of animal sacrifice: "That the
court is to administer the death penalty by the sword [i.e.,
decapitation]." "To offer ritual sacrifices."
- Some would have such rare
application that they seem inappropriate to include in a short list of
the most important laws: "Against eating a limb severed from a
living animal, beast, or fowl."
- Some are out of whack with
deeply-entrenched Western practices: "Formal marriages via bride
price & marriage gifts."
- Some would turn back the
clock in the evolution of farm animals and pets: "Not to crossbreed
animals."
- Some offer excessive detail
concerning topics of trivial importance, such as how many grapes a
migrant picker should be allowed to eat:
"A laborer shall be allowed to eat of the fruits among which he
works [under certain conditions]."
"Against a laborer eating of such fruit [when certain conditions
are not met]."
"Against a laborer taking of such fruit home."
- Some would prove difficult
to enforce in contemporary America: "Against engaging in erotic
conduct that may lead to a prohibited union. [That is, petting by
persons whose marriage would be illicit.]"
In other words, adoption of the Noahide Laws must lead
to pretty much what one would expect from the exercise of taking the
religious laws of an ancient people and attempting to apply them to a modern
society — wholesale irrelevance and absolute impracticability.
The
Noahide Laws may have to be imposed by force
The only way such laws could be imposed on the American people is by force,
perhaps the sort of brute force that one sees Israelis applying today to
Palestinians, a prospect that the Lubavitcher Rabbi has already anticipated,
with the softening afterthoughts being added, as below, to public versions of
his anticipation so as to avoid causing alarm:
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Aren't we busy enough working with Jews? Can we really afford to
divert time and money to the campaign to transform the gentiles?
[T]he Rambam uses the expression, "lakuf ("to forcefully
influence") all inhabitants of the world to accept the Noachide
commands." Although obviously one must do this in a pleasant,
gentle, and peaceful way, it still must be done with persistence.
If you have already tried several times, try again nevertheless. We
frequently see that although people are sometimes spoken to five times,
they do not change until they hear it a sixth time!
— Purim, 5747, Sichos in English, vol. 35, p. 4.
www.noahide.com/rebbe.htm
(underlining and square-bracketed material is in the original; the answer having
nothing to do with the question is not atypical of Lubavitcher writing)
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Idolatry
is the greatest sin
One thing that is abundantly clear about the Noahide Laws is their emphasis
on the prohibition of idolatry — an emphasis which is evident in the idolatry
law being placed in first position, and in the idolatry law being related to
the blasphemy law which is accorded second position. It is on the
question of idolatry that the Noahide Laws are most revealing.
What
is the idolatry that the Noahide helpers must avoid? The answer is that
idolatry is primarily Christianity, but also every religion other than
Judaism.
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Encouraging the abandonment of Christianity: "...according to the
known Jewish legal ruling that Christians are idol worshippers."
— Likutei Sichos 37:198, from a letter of the Rebbe dated 26 Iyra,
5726, cited in Kol Boi HaOlam, p. 389.
www.noahide.com/rebbe.htm
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A Universal Prayer
Guide for the
"Children of Noah"
Rules of Effective Prayer
for People of All National
and Ethnic Backgrounds,
Based on the Word of G-d
as Preserved in
the Jewish Tradition
by Boruch Ellison
[...]
Unless otherwise impossible, the prayer should be given indoors, facing a wall
with no mirrors, pictures, or other potentially idolatrous images; it goes
without saying that one should never pray towards a statue of any kind
(some seemingly innocent statues and figurines are considered idolatrous by
Torah, and one must learn the rules to avoid accidentally owning idols or
their equivalents). Christian crosses, of course, are absolutely out
of the question.
www.noahide.com/prayer.htm
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Noachides
may not observe any religious holidays outside the rabbinical traditions of
Torah — most especially including such Christian holidays as X-mas, Easter,
Halloween, All Saint's Day, Good Friday, Ash Wednesday, and probably even
the "new year" (January 1st). Alien religious holidays are
forbidden even under the minimum of the Noachide code; these are violations
of the commandment against idolatry.
Instead, Noachides should commemorate at least the following holidays: Rosh
Hashanah, Sukkos, the 19th of Kislev (the chasidic "new year"),
Chanukah, Purim, Shavuos — and each person's birthday on the Hebrew
calendar. However, Noachide participation in these holidays is
different in various ways from the manner of Jewish observance.
www.noahide.com/minimum.htm
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Jesus
Christ is regarded as a false prophet whose execution was justified under
Talmudic law for reasons like the following:
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1) He
and his disciples practiced sorcery and black magic, led Jews astray into
idolatry, and were sponsored by foreign, gentile powers for the purpose of
subverting Jewish worship (Sanhedrin 43a).
2) He was sexually immoral, worshipped statues of stone (a brick is
mentioned), was cut off from the Jewish people for his wickedness, and
refused to repent (Sanhedrin 107b; Sotah 47a).
3) He learned witchcraft in Egypt and, to perform miracles, used procedures
that involved cutting his flesh — which is also explicitly banned in the
Bible (Shabbos 104b).
www.noahide.com/yeshu.htm
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It follows that when President Reagan in his 1985 proclamation above refers
to "the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and eighty-five," he is —
according to the very Noahide Laws that he has just recommended to the nation
— uttering a sacrilege and revealing himself as an idolater. He pays
respect to the Jesus Christ whom — were he alive today — the Lubavitchers
would execute, had they the power.
The
Noahide Laws are formulated for the non-Jewish Noahide helpers to follow
We are given our first glimpse at the end of the second-last block quote
above that the Judaism practiced by the Noahide helpers is not the same as
the Judaism practiced by Jews, and here follows a more explicit statement to
the same effect:
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The
Law contains two parallel (but separate) paths for the world: 613
commandments for the Jews, and 66 commandments (contained in the 7 Noachide
Laws) for gentiles. Once a Noachide is committed to keeping the 66
mitzvos, he may (and really should) take on the responsibility for
additional mitzvos, with certain clear exceptions: Non-Jews may not observe
Shabbos (or holidays) in the manner of Jews (by avoiding the 39 categories
of work), nor may non-Jews put on tefillin or tzitzis, put up a mezuzah, or
be called up for a public Torah reading in a synagogue. There are
other restrictions as well, including certain limitations on Torah study
(depending partly on individual circumstances).
www.noahide.com/minimum.htm
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The conclusion that the evidence examined so far points to, perhaps, is that
the Seven Noahide Laws are the laws that Hasidic rabbis direct non-Jews to
obey, and that these Seven Noahide Laws are in reality a collection of topic
headings. Anyone committing himself to follow such laws, then, is in
effect putting his signature to a contract that he has not read; or, perhaps
a more accurate analogy, putting his signature to the bottom of a blank sheet
of paper, the top of which will be filled in by Hasidic rabbis at a later
time.
The Noahide helper can expect that the laws which he
will be asked to follow will be largely Judaic, but in the end only
quasi-Judaic. Although the
Noahide helpers are expected to completely renounce Christianity, they are at
the same time expected to incompletely embrace Judaism. They are
expected to be satisfied with the status of almost-Jews. They are
expected to take service in a pro-Jewish auxiliary commanded by Jews, manned
by almost-Jews, expected to participate in some Jewish rituals, but expected
to live separately from Jews and not intermarry with them. In
consequence, what such Noahide helpers might reasonably expect is that they
will be accorded a status that is subordinate to Jews, will not share in the
full rights and privileges of Jews, may be commanded to do things that Jews
themselves are not commanded to do, and perhaps most importantly may find
themselves being used to serve Jews while being represented to the public as
non-Jews.
The
plan for world conquest
The background of the Habad Hasidic plan having been outlined above, we are
now ready for the gist — the world conquest part.
It will help in understanding the following excerpt to be reminded that: Moshiach
is the Messiah; Amalek is a hidden nation that for thirty-three
continuous centuries has conspired to rid the world of Jewish influence and
of Jews, and that is so thoroughly evil that it is beyond redemption and must
be destroyed; and a legal code which conforms to halacha is one that
conforms to Talmudic writing on legal matters. The appearance of
"be" below — which I have written in red — where we would expect
"the" was in the original.
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The Final War for
Jerusalem
Why
Permanent Israeli Victory
Is Now Within Reach
[...]
Judaism has always been a conquering religion, not for the purpose of
converting gentiles to become Jews, but rather with the mission of
returning the world to the universal covenant between G-d and Noah.
For halachic reasons too numerous and detailed to list here, gentiles today
who follow Christianity, Islam, or other religions are not, for the most
part, "righteous gentiles" who inherit the World to Come.
That status belongs only to those gentiles who carefully observe the Seven
Laws of Noah, including following the halachic authority of the oral Torah
and the rabbis.
(For those who find the concept confusing, we hasten to point out that this
is not part of a conversion to Judaism, nor even a step in the
process. The Children of Noah have their own, independent role to
play in assisting the Jewish people and refining the world. Those
individuals who wish to convert may do so, but there is no such requirement.
In the Messianic era, these righteous gentiles will worship in the
Jerusalem Temple and celebrate certain Torah holidays, but will maintain a
separate court system and not intermarry with Jews. Today, such
Noachides also assist in bringing non-observant Jews back to Torah, among
other functions.)
During the time of the first Temple, the dream of eventually refining and
transforming the gentiles was reflected in the presence of ten menorahs in
the Temple sanctuary — for a total of seventy lights — representing the
elevation of the seventy gentile nations. But when the Temple was
destroyed, the Jews had to influence the gentiles in a more quiet, gradual
manner. Although causing the gentiles to observe the Seven Noachide
Laws is itself one of the 613 mitzvos of the Torah, the exile at times sank
to such depths of harshness and oppression that Jews simply could not
fulfill this mitzvah for fear of death. In such times, Judaism was
forced to adapt itself to mere survival; conquest was simply out of the
question.
That situation has completely reversed itself today. The very fact
that Amalek can stir up such chaos in the world is proof that gentile
society no longer presents true opposition to Jewish teachings. One
now sees anti-Semitism only where Amalek is provoking trouble, which is
precisely where gentiles are the most desperate for guidance. As
Christianity spirals downward into strife and theological confusion [the Apostacy], it becomes a vacuum
unable to defend itself against either the lies of Amalek or the truth of
Torah. Amalek can exploit the worldwide collapse of Christianity only
by default — that is, only when the Jewish people do not seize the
unprecedented opportunity.
And as the Lubavitcher Rebbe has explained, by transforming the gentiles we
can quickly create a vast army of supporters who will help us reveal
Moshiach and bring all Jews back to the Torah. Specifically, the
Rebbe has emphasized that the "peace process" in Israel will be
defeated only through our influence on the gentiles — especially through
the campaign to teach the Noachide Laws (see Sichos in English, vol. 16,
[19 Kislev 5743]).
Our most pressing task, to put it simply, is to launch an international
Noachide revolution without delay. The process has already begun,
with dozens of tiny Noachide communities having appeared throughout the
United States, generally composed of former Christians who have abandoned
that religion. The task of organizing be
revolution can be divided into two broad stages:
1) We must first create a new Noachide society as an international network
of communities and organizations functioning inside, but separately from,
the surrounding society (based on halachic requirements and directives,
Noachide institutions function quite differently from their Christian and
secular counterparts).
This starts with an aggressive outreach program, by Jews and Noachides
alike, to teach gentiles about their responsibilities according to Torah.
Simultaneously, we must organize functioning programs and institutions that
are prepared to absorb these vast numbers of ex-Christians and immediately
involve them in efforts to bring Moshiach. The Noachide communities
require schools for their children, modeled after the Jewish yeshiva
programs; Torah study groups geared for their specific needs; coordinated
celebrations of appropriate Torah holidays; family services for marriage,
support for the elderly, and burial; courts of justice, led by rabbinically
trained righteous judges, which will function similarly to Jewish batei dinim;
and tzedaka programs to assist the needy, to build new Noachide schools,
and to support Jewish settlements in Israel and synagogues throughout the
diaspora.
2) In the second stage, the growing Noachide movement will seize political
power — using only peaceful, lawful means — in the capitals of the Western
nations. This, of course, will not take place until the Noachide
society has grown to some threshold size. We do not know how large
this needs to be nor which nations will join the revolution first, although
the United States, as a fairly religious, conservative nation, certainly
tops the list of prospects.
Upon seizing the reins of government, the new Noachide leaders will move
quickly to implement a full agenda of reform. All economic and
technological aid to the Communist Bloc, including the PLO, will be
terminated immediately. Full support will be given to Israeli forces
to reinvade PLO-controlled areas, with military assistance offered where
necessary. Jewish courts (the batei dinim of the rabbis) will be
granted full legal sovereignty over Jewish citizens within each country,
who will no longer be subject to the authority of gentile courts. The
pre-existing Noachide judges and courts will replace the existing court
system of each country, and the legal code will be drastically rewritten to
conform to halacha; in the United States, the emphasis will be on restoring
the authority of the Constitution and abolishing all unconstitutional
government programs and agencies. The national debt will be foreclosed,
probably by paying off creditors with government land holdings, thus
averting economic disaster. And law and order will be fully restored
through the establishment of internal security measures, again in
accordance with Torah law.
Almost as soon as aid to the
Communist Bloc stops, the international Communist revolution will plunge
headlong into crisis. The captive peoples, seeing their
liberation at hand, will genuinely rise up to throw their brutal dictators
out of power, and the armies of Gog and Magog — ranging from the Soviet
Communists to the PLO — will self-destruct before the eyes of the entire
world.
Naturally, Amalek's agents will scream hysterically to intimidate Jews from
carrying out the above campaign, hoping to delay this victory. They
have no power, however, to prevent our successful action; they can only try
to create doubts and hesitation.
As the world plunges headlong toward the imminent revelation of Moshiach
while the last walls of the exile disintegrate, the number of confused
gentiles ready to change is rising exponentially. If the Jewish
people immediately begin preparing adequate structures for the Noachide
movement, this tide will be channeled directly into a glorious revelation
of Truth. But if we allow ourselves to be caught unprepared, this
same overwhelming force for social change can, G-d forbid, be diverted to
empower Amalek's final assault on holiness. It is not a matter of whether gentile society will explode in the
face of the growing crisis; this event is an inevitable, and
fast-approaching, reality. We do not want to miss this incredible
opportunity to provide light in the final moments of darkness.
The world has reached its ultimate point of decision, and the power to
succeed belongs entirely to the Jewish people. We can wait until
Moshiach comes on his own, following a world war, or we can bring him
through our own actions, as the Lubavitcher Rebbe has stated is our
mission. The choice is ours.
There is not a minute to waste. Jews everywhere, unite!
Copyright © 1998 by the
Committee for Israeli Victory
www.noahide.com/finalwar.htm
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