Were Cham and Kena'an Not Actually Cursed With Avdus and Turning Shachor?

Apropos to Parshas Noach, This post by MaNishtana makes an interesting argument, going back to Gemara and Midrash, that Cham and Kena'an were not cursed with blackness, and therefore that Noach's curse of slavery pinned on them was not referring to the African race. I like his use of comparative psukim and Gemaras to ellucidate the meaning of uncommon and unusual words, though I simply don't have the time to do independent research into the issue right now.

While the author's (almost) use of curse words and his erroneous assumptions about Rashi and other Rishonim are offensive, he does have some very interesting arguments that I had not heard before.

Do any of my more knowledgable readers know if these arguments are legitimate? Shkoyach!

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Video About Bnei Noach From My Home State

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Special Forces Soldier' in Iraq - Perspectives from the Ground

I usually do not post anything about political or secular topics, except occassionally in jest. However, I am in touch with a Special Forces soldier in Iraq ("SF"), who believes in the Torah and is committed to keeping the Sheva Mitzvos Bnei Noach. In this case, I think his insights from the ground in Iraq are invaluable and so rare for us to hear. In these two e-mails, he explains what the issues really are in Iraq, what the people really think of America's involvement there and the prospects, on a derech hateva level, for a positive outcome there. I think you will be riveted and hear things that you never knew before. I want to clarify though, that he is speaking only for himself, and in no way are his statements to be construed as an official statement of policy by the U.S. military.

He wrote me this e-mail in late August:

...As for you questions about Iraq, in general it is a very complicated place, which I imagine can be said of any country. Iraq is a very classically arab country in the sense that they are extremely particular about hospitality even if they don't want Americans in the country.

For the most part, Iraqis are not supportive of the American presence in the their country, but I think that you would be hard pressed to find any local nationals wouldn't prefer to be in charge of their own country. That being said, most Iraqis aren't going to pick-up weapons and start fighting with us since they realize that America is trying to help even if it is doing a poor job of it.

One of the big problems that I see is that we as Americans are used to throwing money at problems. However, up until the present we have thrown our money at temporary solutions instead of long-term solutions. I was talking with a city council member for one of the largest cities in Iraq the other day and they took turns lecturing me about how Iraq has plenty of their own money and what they really need is advisors and experts not a bunch of money.

Electricity is always a problem for Iraqis, although that has been the case the entire time that Sadaam was in power.

As far as politics are concerned the tribes in Iraq need to step up and take a lot more initiative with governing their country even if it means that we stop trying to force an American democracy on them. (redacted) I think that will be a good thing since it is a much more natural fit for Iraqis.

As far as the security situation, it has gotten drastically better over the past couple months, but Ramadan is approaching so we might see a surge of activity. One thing that the news is not focusing on at all, but is a daily reality for us, is Iran's Revolutionary Guards and Hizbollah's involvement with insurgent activity within the country.

But, deep down Iraqis are just like everyone else in the world, they want to see their children grow up to be prosperous and they want to go about their lives. Overall, I can not stress enough that Iraq is a complex country and nothing should be evaluated with it in a hasty manner. But if we pull out to soon the country stands a high chance of completely falling apart.

He wrote me the following e-mail last week, explaining to me the effect that he thought Barack Obama's election in the U.S. would have on the future of America in Iraq:

I don't read much of the American press while I'm over here so I'm not sure what is being reported and what isn't being reported.

One of the big things that is of concern right now is that the UN resolution runs out at the end of December and if it isn't renewed then we don't have any rightful legal basis for being here. And, politically, it is unlikely that it will be renewed because the UN will likely not renew simply out of one last spiteful act against the Bush administration with the implicit understanding that Obama's campaign has already
made public their intention to take troops out of Iraq.

That being the case, if the SOFA agreement ("Status of Forces Agreement") is not ratified by both the US and Iraqi side then Coalition Forces in Iraq will be in a very awkward situation. As of right now it doesn't seem likely that the SOFA will be agreed upon because now that the Iraqi politicians realize that Obama will gladly pull out of Iraq, they have started to put ridiculous clauses in the SOFA so that it will never be accepted by the coalition Forces. Hence it appears as though Iraqi politicians are acting like they want a SOFA, but at the same time clearly working against such a thing ever being ratified by both parties.

It is a complicated situation that has become even more complicated with Obama's election. I think that the common misconception in the States may be that we aren't going to leave unless the SOFA is agreed upon. So when they talk about a phased withdraw in the SOFA, people think that the entire point of the SOFA is the withdrawal. It is most certainly not. With a SOFA in place we at least have a set, agreed upon timetable for certain activities within the country, but as long as it is not ratified we could be forced out of here tomorrow. The lack of a SOFA doesn't mean that we can stay here indefinitely, it actually means the exact opposite. In fact, one of the primary insurgent groups, which follows Muqtada Al Sadr, is against the SOFA because they realize that if isn't signed then we may have to pull out of here within a couple of months.

Don't get me wrong, we can't just pack up one night and fly back to the states the next day. There is way too much equipment over here for us to do that. The problem is that once the announcement in made that we are leaving, the entire atmosphere will change. I don't mean that fighting will start. Rather, insurgent groups will probably not conduct any attacks so as not to prevent us from leaving.

But once we make the announcement that we are leaving, Al Qaeda's entire focus will shift back to attack the states and that will be very hard to prevent due to the amount of practice they have had in Iraq. A drawdown of troops is one thing; a withdraw is a completely different animal all together.

As for the changes that people expect Obama to bring, Iraqis, and all Arabs for that matter, don't care about arguments stating that Obama isn't a Muslim. As far as they are concerned his name is "Barak Hussein Obama" and that is enough for them to know. The educated Iraqis have express amazement that America elected a president that has the "John Smith" of names in the Arab world. Obama's name has more in common with the terrorists of 9/11 than with the average American. This simple fact makes Iraqis feel as though he has an intrinsic connection with their part of the world. Thus, what the Arab world suspects is the Obama is going to basically reverse the current treatment of the Arab world. Especially of note is that most Iraqis realize that Obama is going to change the fortunes of the Palestinian people.

I think that the entire world situation right now is very tense and Obama has only thrown another wrench in the gears of the world, but we will have to wait and see what he actually does once in office. Either way, B"H that Hashem is in charge of everything and as Rebbe Nachman said, runs the world even better now!

-SF

(Picture courtesy of Britanica.com)

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Judaism DOES Have a Place for Attracting Converts

I just learned (from my rebbe) of sources that indicate that Yiddishkeit not only welcomes sincere gentiles who want to convert to Judaism, but even indicates that we out to encourages it.

In the Parsha of Hakhel (the gathering of the entire Jewish people during the Sukkos after the Shmita year, just like this Sukkos) in Parshas Vayelech, the Torah says that one of the kinds of people who must be brought to Hakhel are "gercha asher b'sha'arecha," "strangers in your gates." I always understood this to refer to Gerim, converts to Judaism. However, many meforshim learn that this refers to Gerei Toshav, Bnei Noach, gentiles who have committed to observing the Sheva Mitzvos Bnei Noach. This, alone, is interesting enough. It's not just that a Ger Toshav has a special status in that they are gentiles who are allowed to continue living in the land of Israel. They are even invited to come to Hakhel, the once-every-seven-years gathering of the Entire Jewish people to listen to the King of Israel read Mishna Torah, Deuteronomy, which is an experiential reenactment of the giving of the Torah on Har Sinai!

But this is not all. The Ibn Ezra there says that the reason why Bnei Noach are encouraged to attend Hakhel is so that they will be so impressed with this re-experiencing of the receiving of the Torah that "Ulai Yisyaheid," "hopefully they will convert!"

I had always heard that we welcome converts but never engaged in any activities to attract converts. Here, there's an example right in the Torah of the fact that we are commanded in the Torah a certain mitzva for the purpose of encouraging Bnei Noach to take it to the next level!!

-Dixie Yid

(Picture courtesy of 7kanal.com)

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Inner Unity in the Machlokes Btw Ramban & Rambam Re "Dinim"

We've talked before about Toraso Shel Moshiach, and how one can discern the unity behind the various machlokes'n (disputes) between major Jewish authorities throughout history.

Tuesday night, September 9th, 2008, I was talking to Rav Itamar Shwartz, the author of the Bilvavi Mishkan Evneh seforim on the way back from Ma'ariv during his speaking trip to the U.S. We were talking about the fact that I was in law school we were talking about being Jewish in a non-Jewish court system and I brought up the opinion of the Ramban (on Breishis 34:12) that non-Jews must keep all of the civil laws that the Jewish people have to keep under their mitzvah of "Dinim" (which is one of the 7 Mitzvos for Bnei Noach). This is in contradistinction to the Rambam's opinion that under "Dinim" gentiles only have to enforce the Sheva Mitzvos Bnei Noach.

The next morning on the way to Baltimore, I told him that I was curious whether or not he had a mehalech (method) of learning any inner unity between the opinions of the Rambam and the Ramban with regard to whether or not Bnei Noach's civil laws are simply an incorporation of the laws of the Jewish people. He asked me if I was asking this because I had my own mehalech or because I wanted to hear if he had one. I told him that I didn't have a mehalech, but that after learning many of the Torahs in Bilvavi Mishkan Evneh Al HaTorah, I had a feeling that he would have a mehalech in learning what the inner unity in this machlokes is.

Without hesitation, he began to explain his pshat in this machlokes to me. He pointed out that there is a question; "How is it shiach (possible) for the Ramban to hold that gentiles have any shaychus (relationship) at all to the Torah's civil laws for the Jewish people, when they come from such a completely different reality than the Jewish people come from?"

He began to answer this by pointing out that in Yemos Hamoshiach, it is stated in the Rambam that on a certain level, the nations of the world will become Avadim to the Jewish people. Which Torah laws does an Eved Kena'ani have to keep? All of the negative Mitzvos and all of the positive mitzvos aside from time-bound commandments. So even though he is still not Jewish, he will keep almost all of the laws of the Jewish people, including the civil laws.

And it is this reality that Bnei Noach actually do have a relationship to the Jewish Civil laws because they will apply to them in the times of Moshiach that makes it possible for them to have any shaychus at all to those laws. And it is this reality that makes it possible for the Ramban to hold that our civil laws are applied to them within their mitzvah of "Dinim."

Amazing insight, eh? I asked him if this is written in any of the seforim and he said he didn't know. (!) Not sure if that's true, but it was certainly an amazing thing to see that he doesn't only unify dispirate aspects of Yiddishkeit in certain areas that he's pre-selected, but even in a machlokes that I just brought out at him from left field, he still had a mehalech at the ready. Ashreinu sheyesh lanu Madrich kazeh!

-Dixie Yid

(Picture courtesy of jurylaw)

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The Practical and the Mystical - Guest Post by Alice Jonsson

I am often struck by how practical Judaism can be. Coming from an agnostic, secular background I thought of religion in general as being mystical and fantastical, not at all practical. In fact it seemed to me that religions, and I know I’m generalizing greatly, want us to go beyond a practical solution to a moral solution- and those seemed universes apart to me. And of course so many people get bogged down in stories that may seem impossibly fantastical, like spies and giants, plagues, and arks. Or concepts about the nature of God that are just too hard to wrap one’s brain around. There are so many people who don’t understand that the Torah isn’t just mystical and fantastical feeling stories. It also helps you to get along with your mother-in-law, to succeed at work, to break bad habits, to protect friendships, and to find a more meaningful way to view mundane activities like cleaning out the gutters on your house. The tangible successes that come from applying a practical principle to everyday life make the Torah real for me.

Keep in mind, I don’t pretend to be a Torah scholar. I also realize that there are mystical ramifications for very down to earth actions, so it’s quite complicated. This is a short list of some of the practical lessons that have really helped me.

1.There’s a time and a place for self criticism: One of the ideas that I came across in Rabbi Brody’s and Rabbi Arush’s books is that you should not walk around being critical of yourself all day. The time for that is in your hour of personal prayer. You meet with your creator and part of what you spend that time doing is assessing the decisions you made, for better or worse. But you should not clobber yourself all day, like some self-flagellating martyr who, instead of beating up on his flesh, as they do in some religions, is beating up on his soul. This puts you in a disconnected space and apparently puts you into the negative spiritual spiral. This makes a ton of sense to me. Furthermore, it seems clear to me that a person who is pessimistic about himself is more likely to see the whole world in those terms, which is clearly not productive.

2. Out of sight, out of mind: If you are trying to tame a temptation, don’t expose yourself to that temptation until you are really capable of staring it in the face and shouting an emphatic ‘no’. I can’t have Breyer’s mint chocolate chip ice cream in the freezer without eating it. Period. I’m not there yet. So why have it around? This is incredibly practical advice.

Related to this, of course, is how we interact with members of the opposite sex. I have come to see the logic in the sexes keeping a little distance, or even a lot depending on the situation. One clear benefit of this is that it protects a marriage. This is just one of those let’s-be-real situations that I can now see as practical.

3. Men are from Mars: Very generally speaking, the notion that men and women have different roles and strengths relating to those roles has helped in many practical ways. I am a feminist, dyed in the wool, yet I am comfortable with this notion, again very generally speaking. I realize that some people on both sides of the aisle don’t think it’s really possible to be a feminist and into Orthodox Judaism, but I contend it’s not a problem. Let’s save that discussion for another day and get back to the basic premise here. While there are some men who are better at traditionally feminine tasks and vice versa, I do think we are very different creatures in many ways. I think it’s quite practical to see the world this way.

From my perspective, this in no way legitimizes oppressing one gender or the other and should never ever be used in a negative way. But having a son has shown me not only how much we have in common as sexes, but also how boys just come out differently, generally speaking. As a child I did not want to wrestle people, for example. And I did not think it was funny to be spit on. He does. If you were to approach him and stick your tongue out and blow, he would embrace you like a long lost sibling. After he spit on you. He’s two, FYI.

4. Sparing someone’s feelings can be a great thing: The notion that telling the hundred percent truth in every single situation may not be the most moral thing to do. ‘Truth’ is not the highest value in a situation where someone has served you some really awful minestrone soup that they slaved over all day. You will eat that soup as if it’s the best soup ever and you will be grateful and make that person feel your loving gratitude. Very practical. Which directly relates to...

5. Conversely if they need to hear something, and they are open to it, you must tell them: I can’t tell you how many times I have been way too honest with someone when they were not ready to hear it. So rude and fruitless! On the other hand, there are moments where you must get over the fear and be honest. And I suppose this also means we need to be the kind of person who makes others feel they can be honest with us without crushing us beyond the point of repair.

6. We aren’t the mistakes we make: Which makes accepting criticism easier. It’s not an indictment of your total self. It’s a moment to reflect on an action that can be changed. This is a liberating and, again, very practical idea. It helps to be easier on yourself if you are the guilt ridden sort. It also takes the burden off of strained relationships. That person you have a hard time with isn’t the mistakes they have made, just like you aren’t. To me it means we should deal with the action that offended us and not commit a character assassination on the person. Which should be balanced with...

7. In being kind to the cruel you are, or will eventually be, cruel to the kind: To me, this means that we must impose order and apply the rules/laws fairly, even when it’s frightening or tough to do so. When we take the easy way out by not standing up to injustice, we put others in a vulnerable position. In other words, we feed the cruelty and become part of the problem. This strikes me as enormously practical advice. Tough, yet practical. It’s a nip-it-in-the-bud thing. I see parents making this mistake often, myself included, because it’s just so darn tiring to discipline, not to mention confusing. But as an educator of ten years I can tell you that parents who don’t get a grip on the discipline are creating a lot of pain and work for others, including the child.

At this point I’m thinking of the lyrics to a song by Coldplay, “If I could write a song a hundred miles long...” This list could go on and on. I’m really interested in finding out what others see as practical Torah concepts. Do tell!

P.S. An interesting addendum, right after I wrote this I had a Torah lesson wherein the rabbi discussed how hard it is for Americans to let go of dualistic thinking. Clearly this is the case for me to some degree. However, I have to wonder if it is only natural for someone just beginning down the road to relate more, to be inspired more, by the more clear action/reaction experiences. I’ve wondered if this is part of Hashem meeting us where we are as individuals. Maybe some people will be more reassured by seeing the successes that follow the application of very practical, seemingly earthy, as I would call it, advice. Maybe this is a stepping stone towards seeing the truth of more difficult to grasp concepts such as Moshiach or understanding how the Exodus could have occurred. Conversely, perhaps a different person would be inspired by the more mystical and grand stories of the early days of the Jewish people than by the more mundane daily advice that I find reassuring. I see it as clear evidence that the Torah describes reality, that it’s the blueprint.

-Alice Jonsson

(Picture courtesy of Matt Dowling)

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Guest Post by "B" on Davening When Tragedy Strikes

(This is a guest post by "B," a Ben Noach reader, who has written here on Dixie Yid before and whose letter was just featured at Lazer Beams, by Rabbi Lazer Brody)

I was glad to see what you wrote today in your posting concerning praying in what seems like hopeless situation. It brought to mind a hasidic story that I believe was told about Avraham HaMalach the son of the Maggid of Mezritch. Avraham once had trouble davening one day because of constantly being interrupted by foreign thoughts. Even by the end of shacharis he was still very disconcerted because he did not feel that his davening was on the level that he was accustomed to. Yet, immediately after the service his father, the Holy Maggid, came up to Avraham and told him that the heavenly realms were in a state of joy like the Maggid had never seen before because of his son's prayers.

Also, I believe that I heard by Rabbi Dovid Gottlieb that prayer also has a profound effect on the individual who is praying in that even though we may not feel that our words are having any effect and the same thing is bound to happened again.

It is as Rabbi Nachman say, that even drops of water will wear away a stone over time. Thus, not only in effect turn our hearts of stone into hearts of flesh, but also affect great movements in the higher worlds.

To relate it to the Bilvavi, I have found that personally doing small periods of hisbodedus and including prayers for others through out the day have been highly effective for myself since I am no where near the level were i can seclude myself in a room for hours devoted to saying tehillim and crying out to Hashem for the sake of others.

I am getting ready to do a combat scuba course right now, which is like learning to hold your breath under water. You don't go out immediately and try to hold your breathe for 5 minutes. You slowly work your way up to it by doing small intervals of breathe-holding. This is also similar to the manner in which the Lubavitcher Rebbe would give tzedaka; one dollar at a time.

Besides, in the end you must remember that you are a holy Jewish neshama who has a special connection with Hashem that even I do not have!

I am probably writing this both for you and myself, since I am on a very low level of emunah and must constantly remind myself to be striving for higher and higher levels of emunah.

-Dixie Yid

(Picture courtesy of Merkaz Memorial.com)

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The Role of Bnei Noach in the Torah

HT to Alice, for pointing out this video

-Dixie Yid

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Guildines for the Noachide Perplexed

Alice Jonsson at Breslov World: Guidlines for the Noachide Perplexed

Bnei Noach are thinkers. We are curious people who felt that something wasn’t quite right and we weren’t going to stop looking until we figured out where we went astray, what was missing...

-Dixie Yid

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Teaching Torah to Bnei Noach

HT to Avakesh for finding and posting this video.

-Dixie Yid

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Guest Posting - From Campus Crusader to Ben Noach

Guest Posting by a Ben Noach from Fort Carson, CO:

I grew up as a Christian in a relatively religious home. I was always involved with a pretty big church that my family went to. I would say that it was a very important part of my early life, up until I went to college. When I was in college I got really involved with a group called Campus Crusade, which tries to convert people to Christianity and bring non-religious christians, college kids, back into the church.

I thank Hashem to this day that I never heard of or, myself, tried to convert a Jew to Christianity, but that was not intentional. If you had asked me, back then, if I thought Jews should convert, I would have said, "Absolutely." Either way, one day I was walking through the library at my school looking for a book about Calvinistic Christian theology, because a friend of mine was very into theology at the time, and I came across the library's section of Jewish titles. As a spur of the moment sort of thing, I figured that since Christianity claimed to be descended from Judaism, it would be interesting to see what Jews had to say.

Before this I knew next to nothing about Judaism. So I picked up a small book that was called "Jewish Spirituality: A Brief Introduction for Christians." I ended up reading through the Jewish book and I barely touched the theology book that I had gotten. I can't remember exactly what that first book I read covered, but it struck a chord with me. I realized that I had never really read the first five books of the bible, since every christian considers them old and done away with. I decided to start reading through them from beginning to end time and time again in order to try and get a sense of what the Torah was saying.

At the same time I had begun working on praying and with out my knowing it at the time, was basically doing hisbodedus. So I started reading the Torah, which at that time I still refered to as the "Old Testament," and I fell in love with it to the point that many of my Christian friends would lecture me about the need to study the new testament since the old was not relevant anymore. After a little while, I came to the conclusion that Christianity was very far from were it originally started and that it was necessary to get back to the roots of Christianity.

I saw no reason why christians should not be following 'the law,' which is how christians refer to the Torah and Jewish lifestyle. After all, Christianity started as a sect of Judaism and I figured that if the founders of Christianity followed the Torah, then Christians today should also. From that time on, I ate up every Jewish source I could get in order to understand how the founders of Christianity lived and believed. I then found out that there was a growing movement of Christians doing the exact same thing that I was, around the world.

I basically got the point where I was reading more and more Jewish sources and doing away with Christian ones. At first I figured that the Talmud and Oral Torah were completely false and so I did not delve into that area of Judaism. Then slowly I began to see the beauty in the Oral Torah and fell inlove with the Talmud. During this time I was basically continually whittling away Christian doctrine that I saw had no foundation in Judaism or in the Torah, but I held firmly unto my core Christian beliefs.

I was aware that there were Jewish sources which refuted Chrsitianity but I ignored them because I figured that given enough time I would know enough to be able to refute the anti-missionaries and prove the truth of Christianity from Jewish sources. I was still very stubborn in the correctness of my Christian beliefs, even though I was doing away with everything else in the religion because it seemed ridiculous since it didn't match up with Jewish sources.

I was very serious about the entire thing. to the point that people were petitioning me to write acommentary on the new testament according to Jewish sources. Either way, as I committed myself more andmore the Torah and Talmud and the entire cornicupia of Jewish source, I figured that I would try and face what the anti-missionary groups were saying in refutationof christianity. Since by this time I already had a small amount of knowledge about most areas of Jewish life but I had a hard time refuting what the anti-missionary groups were saying. I struggled with it for alittle while until I realized that if I were going to continue in my path of Judaizing Christianity and stubbornly holding onto Christian beliefs in the face of all evidence to the contrary, I would basically be creating my own religion. Instead of following a path to Hashem, I would be creating my ownpath to a god that I had created on my own.

Thus I came to the conclusion that to be a member of any one religion, a person must take part in that religin's lifestyle according to the traditions established in the religion and not just believe and do whatever he wants. Thus, I came to the conclusion that since I trusted the Jewish tradition in everything else, it was ridiculous not the trust it in relation to the Moshiach as well. And the more I delve into it, the more I realize just how diametrically oppossed Christianity and Judaism are to one another and that I did not find Christianity to hold any amount of truth or validity.

Was it hard to leave behind Christianity? Yes, a little. But honestly I had already fallen so in love with everything Jewish that it was like stepping from one room into the next. The hardest part was losing all of the friends that I had whose entire life, as mine used to be, was oriented towards bringing people into Christianity. It was easier in part for my as well because I have a great relationship with my family and they were convinced, along with me of the ridiculousness of christianity and all christian beliefs and they became Bnei Noach too.

I know that a Ben Noach is only allowed to study those parts of Torah that are relevant to his performance of the Sheva Mitzvos Bnei Noach. At the time that I was studying in depth those parts of Torah I was still operating under the false assumptions of Christianity and did not really consider myself completely a ben noach/non-jew. That being said I prayed that I did not do too much damage to my soul by studying parts of Torah that I was not supposed to.

It wasn't until I left behind any vestige of Christian belief and study the matter from a Bnei Noach perspective that I realized that there was such prohibition of non-jews study parts of the Torah. Thus, after I left behind Christianity I discontinued my study of those parts of the Torah that I should not have been studying. To be honest, that is one of the greatest struggles that I have had in the whole change from being a Christian to being a Ben Noach with the hope of becoming Jewish.

I have a great longing to delve into the Gemara which, from the first moment I really started delving into it, I saw as the core of all things Jewish. I really look forward to the days after my eventual conversion that I can just sit and study the Gemara, the Rishonim, and the great works of Halachah.

Because of the way that I came to Judaism, albiet impure in it's beginnings, I have sort of been stuck in a life in-between. Though I now live a life in accordance with Sheva Mitzvos Bnei Noach, I had previously lived a full Jewish lifestyle al pi halachah and thus the transition for me from a Ben Noach to a Ger will, bezras Hashem, not be as difficult as for some others since many facets of daily Jewish life I am already acquainted with. That being said, the fact that I still have 2 and 1/2 years in the military before I can even beginning to take part in the Geirus process leaves me plenty of time to works on my avodas Hashem and those areas of musar and such that are applicable to Bnei Noach.

(Picture courtesy of Blackfive.net)

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Living as a Bas Noach - Alice's First Column at BreslovWold.com

Please click over and read Alice Jonsson's first column on living as a Ben/Bas Noach at Breslov World.com. You may remember her first essay as a guest post right here at Dixie Yid.

Great job Alice and keep up the good work! By the way, here's a picture of Rabbi Lazer Brody from his recent visit to Atlanta, GA, with Alice's son that she talks about in the column I linked to above at Breslov World:



-Dixie Yid

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Vayeira - Lot's Daughters & Kiddushin for Bnei Noach - A Kasha

In parshas Vayeira, when the men of Sdom were demanding that Lot hand over his three guests so that the people there could forcibly be with them, he refuses and, very troublingly, offers them his two daughters, saying "הִנֵּה-נָא לִי שְׁתֵּי בָנוֹת, אֲשֶׁר לֹא-יָדְעוּ אִישׁ--אוֹצִיאָה-נָּא אֶתְהֶן אֲלֵיכֶם, וַעֲשׂוּ לָהֶן כַּטּוֹב בְּעֵינֵיכֶם." (Bereishis 19:8) Basicly, he tells them that these two daughters have never been with a man and that they can do what they want with them. It is obviously troubling how he could do this, and it is another illustration of why Chazal say that Lot was not saved on his own merit, but rather on the merit of Avrham.

I had a kasha a few psukim later, though where Lot goes to tell everyone in his family that they must flee before Sdom is destroyed. He goes to tell all of his sons-in-law and they all laugh him off. In Bereshis 19:14, it says that he told, "חֲתָנָיו לֹקְחֵי בְנֹתָיו," "his sons-in-law, the betrothers of his daughters." My first question on this was that a few psukim earlier, he had just said that his daughters had never been with a man, but now there are sons-in-law? Was he lying to the Anshei Sdom?

So Rashi answers this on the spot and he says that "חֲתָנָיו" refers to his married daughters living outside the home, and that "לֹקְחֵי בְנֹתָיו" refers to the men who had betrothed his two daughters using the first of the two stages of the marriage process, Kiddushin. They, therefore, were still living at home and had never been with their husbands yet. Therefore, this answers my question that he was truthfully able to say that those two daughters had never been with any man.

However, this made me think of another question. According to Rashi, at least with regard to the laws of marriage, Lot is keeping the laws of the "future" Torah, just as Chazal say Avraham was. But if this is the case, why did he offer his daughters to Anshei Sdom at all, from a halachic perspective? If they were Arusos (betrothed) already, for all intents and purposes, they were married women and it would have been adultery for Anshei Sdom to be with them. So why is that any better than the mishkav zachar that they wanted to do to the three guests? Either way it is a capital transgression of Gilui Arayos for Bnei Noach! What is he gaining by trying to give over his daughters?

However, I was thinking that the Rambam says at the beginning of Hilchos Ishus (1:1) "קודם מתן תורה, היה אדם פוגע אישה בשוק--אם רצה הוא והיא לישא אותה--מכניסה לביתו ובועלה בינו לבין עצמו, ותהיה לו לאישה." "Before the Torah was given [the way a marriage was effectuated was that] a man would meet a woman in the market. If he and she wanted to get married, he would bring her into his home, have relations with her in private, and she would be his wife." Therefore, for the halachos of Bnei Noach, since these two daughters had only been betrothed to their "husbands," and were still living with their father, those daughters were not considered married women at all, and therefore it wouldn't have been the more serious transgression of Gilui Arayos/adultery for those people to be with them, since according to the laws of Bnei Noach, they weren't married at all.

Of course it could also be that Rashi and the Gur Areye on the spot were using the term "arusos," betrothed in a lav davka sort of way. They might have been using it in the way modern Israelis use the term, which just meant "engaged" without any kiddushin or "Harei At Mekudeshes Li." Either way, it is unbelievable that Lot could even think of doing that to his daughters. A friend suggested over Shabbos that since Hachnasos Orchim was the only good mida that Lot picked up from Avraham, he took it to the extreme, with any thought or perspective whatsoever.

This mida is no so unheard of. Sometimes, someone with a Yartzeit pushes another chiyuv out of the way so that he can daven for the amud. Other times, somebody is so focused on davening in their makom kavuah, their usual spot in Shul (One who davens in a set place with have the G-d of Avraham helping him out, after all), that when he comes in to Shul a few minutes late, he will make a guest in Shul who happens to be sitting in "his" seat feel unwelcome. It's not good to be so focused on one particular mitzva, such that it pushes all sense of perspective and balance out of one's brain. This, my friend suggested was Lot's mistake with his daughters. Perhaps the way he treated them is somehow related to the ignoble act they did with him that produced Amon and Moav...

-Dixie Yid

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How A Bas Noach in Southeast Asia Learned About Hashem

A fascinating Q&A is posted at ASJ on this topic. Click here to read it.

-Dixie Yid

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Guest Post by Alice - A Bas Noach's Road to Hashem

Imagine a 10-story-tall catapult. But instead of a boulder the size of a VW bug, its cargo is you. Because this catapult has been cranked back slowly, each tooth clicking into place, for thirty-six years, the energy behind the launch is tremendous. You find yourself being rocketed through space, old grudges, all of the axes you were grinding, mountains that you were carrying on your shoulders are one by one falling away, making you lighter and lighter, increasing your velocity. Convinced this bizarre dream will end with a violent splat -- or a human shaped hole in the middle of a field of corn with you at the bottom -- you find yourself not rocketing but gently coasting at great altitude, experiencing true joy and relaxation. When it comes time to land, instead of racing towards the earth, your landing is more like a leaf flitting back and forth in the breeze, making a lazy descent towards the grassy field.

The field is a good place to end up, because that's where you will do some great work. Despite the fact that you feel like a lunatic, albeit a gleeful one, you take the advice of a very wonderful rabbi half way around the globe and go for walks talking to the old corn stalks, ravens landing on power lines, and the grasshoppers that land on your sweater with a chirp way too loud to come from such a tiny creature. This is your synagogue and they are the congregation. There you can talk to the perfect God for you, even though this still strikes you as being totally bonkers, and amazing things begin to happen.

Of course this is a totally irrational and unscientific thing to do. But it works. Quickly. Even though you aren't Jewish, this rabbi’s advice fits you like a custom made suit. You learn that you don't need to be Jewish to believe in Judaism, and that there are seven laws just for you. Negative emotions that plagued you for decades dissolve, leaving you not your old self, but a person you never were. Lessons accumulated over millennia by Sages living near the Dead Sea, or deep in the woods of the Ukraine, guide you through grocery trips, dysfunctional family dinners, and help you to not lean on the horn in traffic jams.

Well, that’s how the journey began. Three years later, we live in the big city. The cornfields have been replaced with subways and burglar bars. It’s a good thing Hashem can be found anywhere because that all sounds a bit depressing, yet the tranquility found in those fields persists. We live near shuls and kollels, minyans and lunch and learns. And just like when we lived in the country, I read Jewish websites, listen to cds in my car and lectures on my MP3 player, anything to maintain the connection to God. Now that we're in the city, Torah classes are part of my life as are a hodgepodge of fellow Torah believers: Western European Ashkenazi, Hassidim, Iranian Jews, Sephardim from Morocco, Sephardim from Mexico, Sephardim with lush Southern accents and plaid flannel kippas, soon-to-be Jews, thought-they-were-Jews, and even Gentiles-who-wish-they were Jews.

Where do Bnei Noach fit in? It's clear that any newcomer to the world of Torah runs the risk of becoming overwhelmed by the labyrinth of traditions, commandments, communities, and politics, let alone a Gentile. But to my mind it doesn't matter if you are a BT from a line of rabbis ten generations long or your dad's a Methodist who married a beauty named Shoshanna. There are times you will feel in. And there are times you feel out. And when that 'out' feeling starts to wheedle its way in, I return to the cornfield, only this time it's a broken sidewalk, and I'm pushing a red stroller ferrying a blonde two-year-old clutching a water bottle. Hashem is right there with me again to remind me that I am one member of an enormously complex congregation who know that the Torah is the blueprint. And that He is always there with me. And with you.

I recommend with great enthusiasm any of the cds by Rav Shalom Arush and Rabbi Lazer Brody available on Lazerbrody.typepad.com. And for a terrific, accessible approach to Torah techniques for coping with negative emotions, The Trail to Tranquility, by Rabbi Lazer Brody. Many of the techniques that have worked so well for me and for my family are described therein.

-Alice

(Picture of a beautiful potential Hisbodedus location courtesy of Natural Resource Canada's website)