RBIS September 18, 1998: Questions and Answers

I have questions I need answered. One on the seven laws states that death is for idolatry. Then we leave it undefined. What is considered idolatry? I am leery of ANY group who begins talking about idolatry. It all has to do with the Inquisition and the Holocaust.

I am a supporter of Israel and I love the Jewish people as they are to me the apple of my G-ds eye. Yet, I believe in Jesus, as the Messiah. He was rejected by Israel.

Then we have the Catholics, that are being mighty cosy with the leadership in Israel. They can throw Jesus out hey, no big deal as long as we keep Mary holy. What is your stand on Jesus and Mary?

What is your stand on women who are able to read and study the Torah and able to disagree and dispute with the Rabbis? I want to know how that is looked upon? I have read some things recently about the Lubavitch that I find disturbing. It was in regard to women.

How to you view the Torah and the Talmud if they disagree? Which has the authority? One must be the standard, yes? Then which is the standard that judges all truth, the Torah or the Talmud?

What of Melchisedec? Who met Abraham, when Levi was yet in his fathers loins? He received tithes of Abraham? Abraham was called righteous because he BELIEVED G-d. His son Isaac was the son of the free woman, Ishmael of the bond. One of promise, one of law? What does this mean?

Can you answer me?

YEHOSHUA FRIEDMAN ANSWERS

According to a major stream of legal opinion in Judaism, a non-Jew who believes in any Trinitarian Christianity is in error but not guilty of idolatry. Protestant Trinitarianism is more distant from idolatry than Catholicism with its adoration of Mary and saints and statues all over the place, but still no great bargain.

Idolatry is fairly well defined (see "The Path of the Righteous Gentile", also available online, but I don't have the URL at hand just now). It includes subjects such as sacrificing, bowing down, making a libation to an idol, not what Christians do. The self-hating elements in the State of Israel have been "cosy" with the Catholics, who want to internationalize Jerusalem, just as they are with the PLO who want to drive us into the sea in stages. That ain't us.

My stand on women who study Torah and try to know G-d better: more power to them. My stand on men or women who do acts of piety for egotistical or polemic purposes: not good at all. I have always encouraged my wife and daughters to learn as much as they can. G-d alone knows the heart. To my knowledge Lubavitch reflects an opinion similar to mine.

The Lubavitcher Rebbe of blessed memory encouraged intellectual achievements by women. The Torah and the Talmud don't disagree. The Talmud interprets the Torah. The Talmud is the distillation of the oral teaching given to Moses at Sinai and not written down. The Torah explicitly gives authority to the elders of the High Court (Sanhedrin) to make ordinances to strengthen the Torah. These injunctions are also in the Talmud. Deeper study shows that apparent contradictions are only apparent.

Malki-tzedek (king of justice), king of Salem (Jerusalem) in the time of Abraham, was recognized by its residents as priest as well. All Noachides, even today, are authorized to perform sacrifices to G-d (burnt offerings only). More than we Jews can do today. (Go figure it).

Some rabbinic sources identify Malki-tzedek as Shem, the son of Noah. Shem and Ever established a house of study in the Noachide tradition at which Jacob is said to have studied. By simple arithmetic we see that Noah was still around until Abraham was 58. Shem was obviously around a long time later. The rabbis' choice of Shem as identical with Malki-tzedek would explain why Abraham respected him and gave him a tithe. At one time the first-born was the priest in every family, and as Noah's first-born son, Shem was the high priest of all existent mankind.

Regarding Isaac and Ishmael, according to the Torah Isaac is the legitimate heir.

Shabbat Shalom and Shana Tova from Kochav HaShachar, Israel,

Yehoshua Friedman
Kochav HaShachar, Israel