RBIS September 7, 1999: The Noachide Laws and the Catholic Church

I do esteem highly what is handed down from Moses, both what is written in Torah and the Oral Torah as discussed in the Talmud. But don't you see how objectionable is your statement, "The Catholic Church has shown no sign of abandoning its own root concept, that its temporal sovereignty should essentially extend over Jews"?

The Catholic Church has "temporal sovereignty" nowhere on earth but the few acres constituting Vatican City (and as Nazis and Fascists demonstrated during WW II, such "sovereignty" is fragile and vulnerable to the whims of the nations of the earth).
Talk to the Chief Rabbi of Rome. Find out for yourself if the Vatican seeks any "sovereignty" whatsoever over Jews in Rome or anywhere else.
Shana Tova,
David Carey.

RABBI YIRMIYAHU BINDMAN ANSWERS:

The question of Moses is the reason why we address ourselves to you as non-Jews in this fashion at all.

We represent Moses. He was commanded to teach the Noachide Laws to all humanity, as are all his successors in Bet Din (Jewish Court). We presently exercise this function because our leaders have told us that now is the time to do so, in contrast to earlier situations.
The concepts of sovereignty that Moses taught, received from the A-mighty, are found in the explanations of the Noachide commandment of Dinim -- court jurisdiction -- and those are the only parameters we use.
The sovereignty exercised by the Catholic Church in previous years may well itself be said to have come from a 'whim of the nations' (your expression, as per above), simply because the Roman Emperor decided to decamp for Constantinople. However, 'de facto' the Church took what it had been given. During the Nineteenth century a top issue throughout Europe was what would become of Church sovereignty.
I am told that the Church negotiators with Israel for the present agreement asked for canon law alone to be applicable to its members here, co-equal with the law of Israel, very similar to the 'benefit of clergy' that existed during the Middle Ages. This concept of internal autonomy is at variance with Noachide definitions for the Land of Israel, and for the Church itself.
One cannot miss the connection with the Resident Arab ("Palestinian") demand for autonomy, territorial for residents, while the Church demand is non-territorial for transients. It should be noted that Noachide law gives the State of Israel no authority to concede such demands. If they are granted under pressure this is still at variance with Noachide law.
The Chief Rabbi of Rome was disconcerted when the Pope turned round from his embraces and met with and physically embraced the murderer and arch-terrorist Abdul Rauf el-Codbi el-Hussein ("Yasser Arafat"). This act gave el-Husseini an unwonted legitimacy in sovereignty terms while his terrorist P.L.O. organization was still at war with Israel. The Rome Jewish community suspended relations with the Catholic Church at that point. The Jewish community only agreed to a resumption of relations if the Pope would come to Shabbat services (he did: by car) and sit in the congregation in honor of them.
Even after this relations are still poor. What else is to be expected? The Chief Rabbi of Rome is an exponent of the Noachide Law, as are all his predecessors and colleagues everywhere in the world. Nothing can change this knowledge or its source in Mosaic prophecy.
Shana Tova from Jerusalem,
Rabbi Yirmiyahu Bindman

P.S. I am not an "enemy of peace", nor illiberal. The Pope, for example, says that the death penalty is cruel, but this is a false mercy. The A-mighty says different, through Moses, for all humanity, and what more can anyone want?