This show is titled:

A Noahide is not a Jew but a Jew is a Noahide. How Can This Be?

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For over 3,300 years Israel has said yes to each of these questions. Israel has stood alone proclaiming the truth of God‘s existence and guarded the sacred commands, statutes, and judgements of His Torah. Israel has said in the face of murder, exile, hatred that God exists, he spoke to Israel as a nation and He commanded Israel the paths they were to walk in.

For over 2,000 years the greatest minds humanity has produced believed that the universe was eternal and for that entire time Israel stood, unwavering saying the Universe had a beginning. Approximately fifty years ago science caught up to the revelation at Sinai. Today we are told that the univers had a beginning but that beginning was billions of years ago and life evolved slowly from single celled organisms. Israel maintains the viewpoint of the Torah that the universe hasn’t existed for billions of years, and life is a matter of special creation and not evolution.

For almost 2,000 years Israel has maintained their obligation to worship God alone and to continue to keep His commandments. This is in the face of the Christian armies that have swarmed the earth wiping out anyone who oppossed the voice fo the Church. In spite of exile, murder, torture, the death of dear ones (mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, children) Israel has remained faithful to the truth of Sinai.

For over 1300 years Israel has maintained the truth of Sinai in the face of the brutality of the Muslim armies who like their Christian predecessors wiped out all opposition. Israel remains true to the truth of Sinai. Even in light of Islam’s murderous desire to wipe out Israel through terrorism and lies Israel maintians that God told Israel that the only prophets they were to listen to were ones who were like Moses, men and women of the Israelite people.

What could make a people so stubborn regarding truth? Why would anyone give up so much to proclaim the truth of Sinai in the face of even the worst kinds of challenges? It is because over 3300 years ago God took a nation from within another nation and through miracles and brought them to the foot of a mountain. There, God revealed Himself to this nation and they all heard God tell them His truth.

God told Israel “I created the heavens and the earth in six days and rested on the seventh day” so Israel doesn’t care how old science says the earth is who knows better God who created the heavens and the earth or scientists who are just beginning to understand a few things?

God told Israel “I am the God who brought you out of Egypt, there is no one but me” so despite the Christian armies and murderous monks, and predatory pastors, Israel has refused to worship a man as God. Jesus didn’t bring Israel out of Egypt and Jesus wasn’t at Sinai. Israel knows better and has remained loyal to God.

God told Israel “Only a prophet from amongst your brothers will you listen to” so even though Muhamed claimed to be a prophet Israel knew better. Israel doesn’t listen to people who claim to be prophets unless (at the very least) they are from the Israelite. In spite of the Muslim armies Israel refused to listed to Muhamed’s claims.

God told Israel, “You will be a light to the nations” so despite the protestations of her enemies and the hatred she has experienced Israel has always been willing to teach those who are interested in the truth of Sinai. Israel knows that the only beliefs, knowledge, or truth that matters in this world is the truth of Sinai.

In every matter that has confronted Israel God told them the truth, and so Israel confronts the challenges in this world. Not in a bold way but steadfastly, stubbornly, righteously. Israel has stuck with the truth that God revealed to Israel in the face of the worst challenges. Israel has shown what she will do for truth. Now, consider, what would you do for truth?

God threatens Adam with death if he eats from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. When Adam does eat of it he, his wife, and the serpent are each cursed. Adam and Eve are driven from the garden and the tree of life is withheld from them so that they can’t live forever now that they have eaten from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Not only did God not want Adam and Eve to eat from the tree (because if they do it’s a death penalty) but once they do eat from it, God clearly isn’t happy about it! If God wanted us to have the knowledge of morality why does he go through such lengths to prevent human beings from having it, and once they have it why does he drive Adam and Eve away? It sounds like God doesn’t think very highly of morality.

The Rambam tells us in pages 14-16 of his Guide for the Perplexed that our intuition about the text, that God does not want us to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (from here on referred to as the tree), is correct. Prior to eating from the tree human beings had a knowledge of necessary truth or a knowledge of the true and the false. Examples of this are: the speed of light in a vacuum is 186,282.4 miles/second is true while the earth is flat is false. The knowledge of necessary truths allows us to draw closer to God because we can understand the universe as it truly is.

After eating from the tree, human beings gained a knowledge of apparent truths or matters of good and bad. Examples of this are: Saving a life is good while murder is bad (evil). Knowledge of apparent truths distracts us from drawing closer to God. This is because apparent truths are very difficult to determine at times. Murder, for example is wrong, but are there times when killing is not evil? Perhaps someone is trying to murder another person, isn’t killing that person an act of good rather than evil? Such questions distract rathter than encourage a closer relationship with God. Before the tree questions regarding moral choices never would have been asked while now these question are essential to living correctly and being able to draw close to God.

Eating from the tree created a state of confusion in the world that we have not recovered from. God gave us His Torah, in part, to answer many questions (or to teach us how to find the answers for ourselves) regarding apparent truths so that these questions would not totally distract us from the goal of drawing close to God. The Torah, then, serves as a remedy for the after effects of eating the poison from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

It is apparent from this that humanity was in a much more perfected state before eating from the tree than after eating from the tree.  After eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil human beings became consumed with moral questions (apparent truths). This is clear because before eating the fruit of the tree Adam and Eve saw that they were naked but it did not occur to them that it was an issue. After they ate from the tree they were aware how much evil could be committed as a result of “nakedness.” This also shows us that after human beings ate from the tree they were brought lower and became closer to animals while at the same time losing a level of closeness to God.

There are some who make the mistake and think that we did not have free will until we ate from the tree. The fact is that the commandment not to eat from the tree would have been meaningless if we did not already possess free will.

Conclusion

The question that began this article was “Do we need morality?” Initially God intended for human beings to draw closer to Him from the state of perfection that we were created at. In this state the knowledge of apparent truths (questions of morality) were unnecessary. Once, however, we were brought lower to the level of animals we needed the Torah to guide us through and teach us how to correctly answer moral questions so that we can spend the rest of our energies drawing closer to God.

So, do we need Morality? We do now.

What no one discusses is the fact that not only is God hidden in this world but so is Israel. What I mean is that Israel’s greatness, who she is, isn’t obvious in the world. This is the source of anti-Semitism. If everyone knew the greatness of Israel could they or would they hate her? Would the nations knowing who Israel is dare conceive of attacking her? The hidden God chose a people for Himself who share with him the quality of hidden-ness. Israel is to be a light to the nations but at this time do the nations really see that light? Today the nations imagine that Israel is nothing special while in their hearts they know that she is. It is with the advent of the Messiah that Israel will truly be revealed and as Israel ceases to be hidden in this world so Hashem will cease to be hidden in this world. This is why in the messianic era conversion to Judaism will no longer be allowed. Blessed are those among the nations who see Israel for who she is now, knowing Israel and thus knowing God.

Just as there are consequences to physical actions there are consequences to intellectual commitments. Regarding the physical; a physical commitment leads to a physical consequence. Regarding the intellectual; an intellectual commitment leads to intellectual consequences. As human beings our intellectual commitments lead to physical commitments and thus what we think and believe affects what we do. You do according to what you believe, whether you know it or not.

There are some who are unaware of the connection between intellecual commitments and their logical consequences. A person who believes theft is okay will steal or will allow for others to steal. A person who believes that theft is wrong will not steal and will not allow others to steal. This is even if the person previously said that stealing is not okay. Once they allow theft they reveal their true belief and that is stealing is okay. The scenario implies that we may not know what we really believe. It isn’t until some do something that they truly know what they believe.

A true servant of God will always strive to identify what their intellectual commitments are and thus know what they believe. That way they will always be sure that their physical and intellectual commitments are of the same accord. It is further the responsibility of the servant of God to determine what consequences their commitments imply (to the extent that is possible).

An example of this: A person might say that believe that the Torah is God’s revelation of knowledge and teaching to human beings. Couple that belief with the belief that God is good and desires good for us and we will naturally conclude that the Torah is for our good. This is true even when it seems like following God’s teachings will lead us to experience something bad.

The Torah teaches us not to work on the Sabbath. For a poor person who needs every cent he can get; following Torah might seem to him to ask him not to earn money for food or a place to live. Thus he will do without his needs.

Let us say that our poor person has committed himself to the following beliefs:   

1. the Torah is God’s revelation of knowledge and teaching to human beings
2. God is good and desires our good
3. the Torah is for our good

Because the poor person has committed himself to these beliefs, he will find a logical consequence of these beliefs is that even though keeping the Torah may seem to be bad (he’s not allowed to work on shabbat and thus cannot earn money for food or a place to live) he will conclude that inspite of missing a meal or losing a home that not working on Shabbat is for his good. This person will not work on Shabbat. If he did work on shabbat then it is clear that he did not really believe that the Torah is for our good.

A true servant of Hashem will always strive to know what they believe and will be willing to follow through with the consequences of that belief. It is important to make sure that what you believe is true. A person who does not undertand his beliefs cannot be fully committed to them and often will not be able to abide by the consequences of their belief. Understand your beliefs and be willing to accept the consequence of those beliefs. This is what it means to serve Hashem in truth.

And God said, “Let us make Man in our image, after our likeness…

–Genesis 1:26

 In our last article we discussed the Hebrew word zelem (image in English). We defined this word in the sense of “essence.” In some way the essence of man approximates, as much as possible for a created being, the essence of God. This approximation is had through the proper exertion of our free will.

If zelem (image) refers to our being made in God’s image, what does it mean for us to be made in God’s likeness? Isn’t the Torah just repeating itself?

It is a fundamental belief concerning the Torah that there is nothing superfluous (extra or unnecessary) in it. This being the case we must conclude that if the Torah says image, and likeness that the two terms represent different ideas. This position is borne out by the fact that likeness is a different word in Hebrew. In Hebrew the word for likeness is demut.

According to the Rambam the term demut

…is derived from the verb damah, ‘he is like.’ This term likewise denotes agreement with regard to some abstract relation: comp. ‘I am like a pelican of the wilderness” (Ps. 102:7)’ the author does not compare himself to the pelican in point of wings and feathers, but in point of sadness…

– Moreh Nevuchim p. 14

According to the Rambam demut refers to an abstract relation between two beings (or even things). What abstract relation does there exist between man and God? According to the Rambam it is intellectual perception. Intellectual perception is the ability to not only see and be aware of things in the environment but to understand, analyze, and contemplate—or to know. Animals perceive their environment but only through their senses. Man is able to perceive his environment and go beyond it through the faculty of his perception.

Similar to being in God’s image we share the quality of intellectual perception only by way of similitude, as a crude approximation of God’s perception. God’s knowledge does not require organs such as eyes, ears, mouth or anything else to “perceive.” Man approximates God’s intellectual perception by being as similar as a created being can be in this way.

When God created man He wished to make man similar to him in two ways. First, God created man with an essence similar to God’s. Second, God created man with a capacity for intellectual perception similar to God’s. To clarify, we could translate our verse in Genesis as follows:

And God said, “Let us make man with an essence similar to ours, as-well-as intellectual perception comparable to ours…

–Genesis 1:26

Our two similarities to God, then, are:

1. Our essence
2. Our intellectual perception

In God’s wisdom it was determined that to fulfill His purpose creating human beings required these two qualities. Why?

To answer our question “Why does man need to have both a similar essence and intellectual perception to God’s in order to fulfill His purpose for creation” we will turn to our propositions.

The propositions useful for answering our question are:

Proposition 1: God created the universe because He desired to give of His infinite good to another. The act of creation was something God chose to do to benefit another.

Proposition 4: Human beings were created by God to receive His gift of Himself, that is, the infinite good.

Proposition 5: Through free will, we can not only receive God’s gift, but actually ‘earn’ or ‘deserve’ it. God desired to give of His infinite good to one who could earn it, because one who earned could be said to be the master of it. By earning the gift by becoming its master man is similar to God.

Proposition 17: The Torah gives commands and teachings that, if obeyed and deeply understood, will draw us closer to God.

From these propositions we could arrange an answer to our question as follows:

Why does man need to have a similar essence and intellectual perception to God’s in order to fulfill His purpose for creation?

God created the universe because He desired to give the gift of His infinite good to another. Human beings were intended to be the recipients of this gift. Through free will we can earn God’s gift. The Torah gives commands and teachings that will draw us to God so that we can earn God’s gift.

Let’s break our answer down.

God wants to give human beings the gift of His infinite good, but He also desires that they earn this gift. Free will is the means for earning the gift. The Torah teaches the way to earn God’s gift. We may choose to follow God’s way or we may choose to follow some other way. Choosing necessitates perception. Perceiving and choosing are necessary qualities to earn God’s gift. Thus God created man with the ability to perceive the world around him and to choose between various options. When we choose the option to follow God’s ways we earn God’s gift and therefore fulfill God’s purpose for creation.

For Torah observant people it is important to utilize both our free will and our intellectual perception to make the proper choices and thus grow closer to God.

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Image of God

Not like Avraham, for whom it is written “mountain,”as it says, “As it is said this day, on the mountain Hashem will be seen.” And not like Yitzchak, for whom it is written “field,” as it says, “And Yitzchak went out to pray in the field.” Rather like Yaakov, who called it “home,” as it says, “And he called the name of that place ‘the home of God.’”…The very nature of a home is privacy….And that is what the four walls of a home create….However, Avraham Avinu held that to attain the necessary privacy between the Jewish People and the [Holy One], it is enough to go up on a mountain top, disconnect from the impurity of the world and be alone there with Hashem.

Came along Yizchak and said: No, a mountain top is not good enough….He maintained that to be alone with Hashem, such a level of privacy is required [as that of a privately owned field].

And Yaakov Avinu claimed that even the privacy of a privately-owned field is not sufficient to support a proper relationship with Hashem. A [person] needs total privacy; the privacy found only inside the four walls of a home….If we want to have a relationship with Hashem, it is not enough to just have a relationship. A relationship needs privacy. A close relationship requires a very high level of privacy. We need a home – a Beis HaMikdash [Holy Temple].

By Jeff Day

Quite often, the Hebrew word chesed is simply defined as “loving-kindness.” While this is a good working definition, one could go much deeper in conveying the actual meaning of chesed. Preceded by the intellectual sefirot of Hochma and Binah, Chesed is the first of the emotive sefirot. This would denote that while chesed is emotive, it is preceded by intellect. Thus, true loving kindness is not simply an amorphous “feeling” that one has toward others, but an intellectually driven desire to “love.”

Since chesed is the first of the six sefirot after those of intellect, it is also high in the chain of action that will eventually manifest through the individual in the physical world. It is the emotional initiator of action, thus, chesed should be understood to be proactive- hence Abraham “ran” to perform Chesed. As a friend once aptly stated, chesed must be performed in action, not simply as study or a desire to act. But there is a much deeper aspect to chesed that is rarely discussed.

Chesed, an intellectually driven emotive desire to be proactive in performing acts of loving kindness, also entails understanding that one is actually channeling the Chesed of Hashem. Often one thinks that THEY are performing the act of loving kindness alone, or that it is simply the fulfillment of a mitzvah. However, in actuality, one is channeling the loving kindness of Hashem to His creation.

Since it is Hashem’s will to “give” we must receive in order to fulfill His will and our place in creation. However, to receive for ourselves alone is selfish and negative, so we must learn to fulfill our role in creation by receiving IN ORDER to give. In doing so, we receive (which we were created to do), but we also emulate the Creator by giving unrestricted to others. In this way, Chesed can be truly seen in its correct light as an act that literally has no cause, no ulterior motive.

But can Chesed alone be enough? Apparently not, for Abraham was “tested” to insure that he had also achieved the ability to execute gevurah, or judgment. This is one of the great secrets regarding the binding of Isaac. Since Abraham was purely chesed, he had to achieve the attribute of judgment to be complete. Likewise, since Isaac embodied gevurah, he had to achieve chesed. The akedah (the binding of Isaac) allowed both Abraham and Isaac to achieve their needed attributes and become complete. In the act, Abraham had to suppress his natural compassion in order to perform Hashem’s will, and Isaac had to suppress his natural propensity toward judgment and show loving kindness toward Abraham and Hashem to do the same by submitting.

The prayer for Rosh Hashana says:

Remember unto us, O Lord our God, the covenant and the loving-kindness and the oath which Thou swore unto Abraham our father on Mount Moriah; and consider the binding with which Abraham our father bound his son Isaac on the altar, how he suppressed his compassion in order to perform Thy will with a perfect heart. So may Thy compassion overbear Thine anger against us; in Thy great goodness may Thy great wrath turn aside from Thy people, Thy city, and Thine inheritance.

In Vaera : 35. the Zohar states:

And Elohim tested Abraham” and his reply should definitely be written “tested Abraham,” because he was supposed to be included within Judgment, as there was no judgment in Abraham previously–he had consisted entirely of chesed. Now (with the akedah) water was mixed with fire; chesed was mixed with judgment. So Abraham did not achieve perfection until he crowned (prepared) himself to execute Judgment and establish it in its place.

And Elohim tested Abraham” Come and behold: observe the mystery behind this issue. Even though it is written: “Abraham” and not Isaac, Isaac is still included in the passage. It is written: “Elohim tested (et) Abraham,” rather than ‘tested Abraham.’ Instead of a dative particle, it uses et. Et is accurate and alludes to Isaac, because at that time Isaac resided in Gevurah. And as he was bound and underwent the trial of Judgment performed by Abraham, Isaac was crowned in his place together with Abraham, and the fire combined with the water and rose upward. And Abraham with chesed rose up to chochma, and Isaac with gevurah rose up to binah (the higher level achieved by the merging of the two). Then the dispute was settled properly, because they made peace between themselves as fire and water were combined and became inclusive of each other.

This is illustrated by the Magen David. One triangle up, and one down, fire and water merge.

So yes, chesed is a trait to be desired, but chesed alone is not good, one must also attain judgment in order to be complete. This is something to consider in light of the terrorism and hate that is rising in the world today. There must be a balance….