For Israelites
From Sebomenoi
[ Read "Al Dar'kenu" ~ A treatise by www.Mechon-Mamre.org Explaining its overall perspective regarding the current state of the people of Israel, and the solution: proper learning and implementation of Torah - the eternally binding covenant between Israel and the Creator. For Info. on Torah observance, click HERE.]
BE CERTAIN YOU, AS AN ISRAELITE (JEW), KNOW THE FOLLOWING:
The Basics of the Basics: KNOW the Creator, and that HE is Absolute in His Oneness; Read the first chapter of "The Foundational Laws of Torah (Hilkhoth Yesodei haTorah)" in Hebrew here, or in an imperfect translation here. {no translation can be perfect}; AND read about the singularity of our devotion to Him HERE.
KNOW the foundation of our Torah, from where it has come, in whose hands it has passed, and who has authority to tell us how to implement its commandments; Read the "Introduction to the Mishneh Torah" and the articles related to "Oral Law." No one has authority to add to or take away from the Torah. This is one of the 613 everlasting commandments. The Almighty gave authority as to questions of HOW to implement the commandments ONLY to the Great Court established under Moshe (Moses). Do not be deceived by those who elevate their understandings and rulings higher than or to equal status of the rulings of the Great Court established under Mosha (Moses); Anyone who does so has added to the Torah and commited one of the most serious violations of the 613 everlasting commandments.
KNOW The 13 PRINCIPLES OF OUR FAITH.
[Click to read about Rabbi Yosef Qaro's Perspective on keeping Jewish law according to Mishneh Torah.]
Related Articles: [People of Israel - Their Purpose & Permanency] [The Everlasting Covenant]
It should be clear to any among us, the people of Israel, that our current situation in the world is unique in our history. There are many great potentials now which did not exist, practically speaking, for the past 2,000 years, and yet at the same time there are many troubles and great confusion in these last generations, such as was not at any other time in our history. We find both in the Torah and in the Ne'vee'eem (prophets) that when we return to the Land, we will still have idolatry among us. What is this idolatry? How can we identify it? How did it continue to exist for so long without being noticed? How do we return to our L-RD in true and complete national repentence? Not all the answers can be provided at once, nor can they all be put into effect but at stages as are fitting. This section of the "Path of Abraham" is to give pointers in our return, and to highlight what appears to me and many like myself to be critical issues in regard to our perception of Torah and our purpose as a people, which have been ignored for far too long. I believe when these things begin to be realized by our people on a large scale, and we begin to act in accordance with the knowledge that appears before us, then we will see great challenges to our people and our purpose become crushed on such a scale as was never seen before.
Humility - let us realize that if Moses, the greatest of prophets, made mistakes, then certainly even the greatest among us after his time may have made mistakes as well; all the more so we among the multitudes of our people.
Acceptance - let us realize that we as a people will never be united as is fitting and proper so long as inconsistent ideas and principles remain unquestioned and great leaders continue to be considered infallibale mouth-pieces of HaShem [the Almighty]. With stengthening comes soreness; with healing comes pain; and with growing up comes the rod of a caring Parent's discipline. We must realize and accept that solutions may not always be comfortable at first. When it becomes apparent to us according to the consistency of a proposal that the same proposal stands true, we must conform to it, and we not attempt to make it conform to us.
Surrender - upon completing the above, we as a people must surrender our misconceptions, assumptions, and all our goals and worries to the TRANSCENDENT ONE who formed us as an enduring nation from a people that once was not. We must cast aside all those things which distract us from heeding His Guidance and which take away from the unlimited devotion that to Him alone is due. __________________________________________________
We as a nation have lost our way during the 2,000 years of our exile, itself due to the arrogance of our hearts. We must realize that IF our current state is acceptable to the Holy ONE, then there is no reason why Moshiahh has not already come or why our enemies continue in their vile ways hammering away at our people -- for the Torah makes clear and the prophets have proclaimed that the result of our walking properly according to His Instruction will be blessing and not curse.
HARD REALITIES:
1) ignoring reality A fundamental of our Torah is that one should acknowledge truth - not run from it.
2) other gods: The majority of our people, religious and secular, orthodox and reform, yeshivish and modern -- have established in their lives, without realizing the harm, other things which they uphold as venerable authorities worthy of devotion, together with or completely in the place of the Absolute ONE - our Creator. At best, for those who have avoided the disgust of establishing devotion to something in addition to the True L-RD, we have allowed an enormous amont of distractions to hold us back from whole-hearted service of our L-RD the Creator - myself among the fallen. We must each individually return to upholding the "Shema," and not just saying it -- to KNOW that the TRANSCENDENT [Y/H/W/H] is our ONE Venerable Authority, and to serve Him alone with ALL one's heart, ALL one's soul / life-force, and with ALL one's resources.
2) supplanting the Torah of Mosha ["Law of Moses"] continually seeking new insights and establishing new innovations, making as though a great felony out of the violation of relatively recent customs which were not even mentioned by the Geonim, while making light of, if not completely ignoring, blatent abrogations and violations of Torah-commandments from the mouth of the Most HIGH and the edicts of the judges He commanded us to heed - whose instructions are preserved in the Talmudic texts. We must return to upholding His commandments as HE commanded them -- becoming familiar with the 613 everlasting commandments, doing them the best of our ability, and upholding the edicts of the Sages of the Court established under Moshe (Moses), which are found in the Talmudic texts and fully codified and organized only in the Mishneh Torah. We must take care to uphold the commandments of the Torah and the decrees of the only court that was without a doubt granted authority by the by the Creator, as recorded in Torah, MORE THAN being strict about extra customs -- assuming such customs are permitted. (It is only permitted to increase in strictness with regard to customs; it is forbidden to do a custom that is more lenient than what the command allows or than the Sanhedrin decreed.) It goes without saying that we must put more effort in becoming familiar with the 613 everlasting commandments and the edicts the Great Court decreed related to those commandments than is put into learning and doing optional customs - again, on the condition that such customs are of the permitted time to begin with.
3) ignoring our essential purpose
4) knowingly promulgating ignorance of fundamentals of the Torah
5) not making it among the top priorities to counter-act the above sicknesses in the body of our people. Whoever does not do what is in his power to do, in order to prevent the violation of Torah by others, he is considered responsible for the violations of those he did not try to correct. The Samuel H. Goldenson Lecture, February 23, 1997 Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, Cincinnati, Ohio
David Novak
...
from his commentary on the tractate of the Mishnah dealing with idolatry:
Know that this Christian nation, who advocates the messianic claim in all their various sects, all of them are idolaters. On all their various festivals it is forbidden for us to deal with them. And all Torah restrictions pertaining to idolaters pertain to them. . . . We deal with them as we would deal with any idolaters on their festival. [34]
[34] 34Commentary on the Misnah: Avodah Zarah 1.3, ed. Y. Kafih (Jerusalem, 1965), 2:225. See, also, ibid., 1.4, p. 226; MT: Avodah Zarah, 9.4 (full text in Kafih's ed. of Commentary on the Mishnah, 2:225, n. 10).
