Author Topic: Mishneh Torah and Rambam/7 laws.  (Read 1829 times)

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Offline decimos

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Mishneh Torah and Rambam/7 laws.
« on: September 16, 2007, 08:38:56 AM »
I recently watched i must say i found this uplifting and the Rabbi is Michael_Bar-Ron.I trawled the internet and found his email address and he sent me this back{i include the entire email from me here to}
In the Name of HASHEM, G-d Eternal
 
Dear David,
 
Well, you certainly represent yourself, and that is someone!  You are clearly a thinking, intelligent person, that you could track me down (yes, that was a very incomplete and imperfect little U tube video of me).  As such, I'm sure you have some agenda, even if it's as simple and wholesome as serving the Holy One, Blessed be He.  If I can help you even a little to pursue such an agenda, I'd be greatly honored.  
 
Per your request for knowledge, I'm forewarding you a short essay I wrote that has been praised as being the most complete, accurate and honest introduction to the Noahide covenant a few people have seen.  If it helps you, Barukh HaShem  (Blessed is G-d).  If it does not, I hope you'll eventually another, more qualified teacher whose teachings will speak to you.
 
With Torah regards blessings from Israel,
 
Rabbi Michael Shelomo Bar-Ron
 
  
 
----- Original Message -----
From: DAVE BAILEY
To:
Sent: Friday, September 14, 2007 1:32 AM
Subject: child of Noah.


Hello,
        I represent no  one and have no agenda but i would like to know more of what a "Child of Noah is and are you the Rabbi i saw on u tube.
regards David.


A BRIEF INTRODUCTION TO THE NOAHIDE COVENANT

 

Rabbi Michael Shelomo Bar-Ron

 

According to the ancient oral Torah tradition of the Jewish People, every human being among the nations of the world is considered a Ben NoaH (Hebrew for 'Noahide').  More than the literal meaning of a "descendent" of the biblical Noah, Ben NoaH refers to an obligated member of the Covenant G-d made with Noah after the Flood.  Only Israel are not called B'nei NoaH, since Abraham our forefather was sanctified with special, additional commandments, according to the unique role of the nation that would stem from him—the role of holy priests to minister to the other nations of the world.

 

Therefore, the Noahide Covenant is not a religion that one must convert to, a people one must be accepted into.  It is the Divinely-ordained social, moral, legal framework all humans are born into, just as we are born into a natural framework of physical laws and limitations.  That fits in with the Torah tradition that in fact, six of the Seven Laws were given to Adam in the Garden of Eden (with the exception of the prohibition of eating meat from living animal, which did not apply to the first man, who was not permitted to slaughter animal meat for consumption).

 

The Noahide Covenant is made of Seven fundamental Commandments, which are generally viewed as Seven categories of Law, containing other laws within them, and other laws that accompany them.  The Seven general Commandments—mainly prohibitions—appear in Talmudic literature under the following titles:

 

Idolatry  (the prohibition)  

     Cursing G-d's Name  (the prohibition)

          Murder  (the prohibition)

               Forbidden sexual relations  (the prohibition)

                    Theft  (the prohibition)

                         Consuming Meat of a Living Animal (the prohibition)

                              Courts of Law  (the obligation to establish them)

 

The simplicity of this Covenant is striking:  It includes no religious ceremonies, requires no sacrificial service, no priestly hierarchy.  Equality between men and women.  Equality of all races and colors.  What a vision... what a world!  

 

It is the most basic code of human behavior that allows for a world united under the One and Only G-d of the universe.  Fittingly, it is forbidden, according to Torah, for non-Jews (or anyone) to create man-made religions.  Why add to the simple perfection of G-d's covenant?  "You shall not add and you shall not subtract from it" (Deuteronomy 13:1)  Just as with the rest of the Torah, adding is subtracting.  The suffering and death in the name of man-made religion should be enough of a proof to the wisdom of this prohibition!

 

The lack of organized religion is difficult for some.  Having grown up in rich, idolatrous backgrounds with song and ceremony, the six "don't do's" and the one "do" don't satisfy their spiritual thirst for more.   For them, it is important to stress that the Seven Laws are a beginning—not an end.  With only a few exceptions, a Noahide may practice any of the Torah obligations of a Jew and receive Heavenly reward.  Therefore, for those whose souls thirst for more closeness to G-d and more fulfillment of His Torah Commandments, there is tremendous room for growth.  As it is written in Yalquth Shim'oni on Judges, section 42,

 

I bring heaven and earth to witness that the Divine Spirit rests upon a non-Jew as well as upon a Jew, upon a woman as well as upon a man, upon a maidservant as well as a manservant.  All depends on the deeds of the particular individual.  

 

However, since they are the most basic moral elements to human existence and can even be arrived at naturally through human logic, there can be no excuse that can legitimize the willful transgression of a Noahide Law; no plea of ignorance.  When a person willfully transgresses the basic Divine laws that make human life possible, it is a crime against life itself and therefore a capital crime.   Likewise, as the bedrock principles for humanity, there are no minimal measures beyond which one is exempt: ultimately theft is theft, whether one dollar was stolen from a wealthy man, or a poor man was robbed of all he owned.  It could be said from a G-dly perspective, that for the individual, for a community, for a nation, and for the whole world, observance of the Seven Laws are a human being's right to life.  Clearly, matters of such importance require careful study.

 

Sadly, there are those out there with no desire to study honestly, and the issue of capital punishment has become a source for antagonism to the Seven Laws.  Antisemitic literature, written from a place of blind ignorance and hate, cite this as a desire on the part of the rabbis to butcher the gentile world, G-d forbid!  They comfortably ignore the breadth of the Talmud, which is saturated with teachings of peace and goodwill towards non-Jews, to the extent that wronging a gentile can be considered worse than wronging a Jew!  They conveniently ignore that there is no capital punishment in Israel before the Temple is rebuilt, Sanhedrin or no.  And that is rooted in the purpose of Torah, which they miss entirely, which is education ("Torah" literally means "teaching").  Torah, for Jews and for gentiles, is "a tree of life" (Proverbs 3:18), given to educate and uplift us, not to kill us.  Obviously any society in our times that adopts the Noahide Covenant will need to go through a gradual process of transformation to this special, Divine system.  

 

In general, Torah is comparable to medicine (see Exodus 15:26).  Any application and enforcement of the Law in the wrong hands is like a scalpel in the hands of an untrained fool in the operating room!  It is for this reason that, in his infinite Wisdom, G-d entrusted the application and ultimate interpretation of the Seven Laws, (like the 613 Laws of the Torah), into the hands of the "surgeons" of Torah Law: the Great Court of 71 ordained rabbinical sages, the Sanhedrin of Israel.  

 

When a true Sanhedrin with full halakhic (legal) status will eventually be restored in Israel , may we see this day in our lives, it will have the monumental task of determining the precise application of the Noahide Laws in this 58th (21st) century.  When that happens, then the full vision of Isaiah 2-5 might not be far off:

 

And it shall come to pass in the end of days, that the mountain of the LORD'S house shall be established as the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it.  And many peoples shall go and say: 'Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the G-d of Jacob; and He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths.' For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem .

 

According to sacred Torah tradition, the G-dly teaching going forth from "the LORD's house" refers to the holy judgment the Sanhedrin, the "Pillar of Teaching" (Mishneh Torah, Maimonides, Book of Judges, Laws of Rebels), when they will sit in the Chamber of Hewn Stone in the Temple .  May we live to see the prophesied result of their selfless work of righteous judgement:

 

and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.  (see above)

 

As mentioned above, careful Noahide observance requires study.  Today, any non-Jew with proper guidance can learn and practice the Seven Laws from the Mishneh Torah of Maimonides.  This unique code of law—the only encyclopedic code of Torah Law ever written—is a summary of the entire Oral Tradition, including the Seven Laws of Noah.  The Noahide Laws are summarized in the Book of Judges, in chapters nine and ten of Laws of Kings and Their Wars, followed by the chapters relating to the Messiah and the prophesied "End of Days".  However, there are laws throughout Mishneh Torah that are very important for Noahides to study, such as Laws of the Foundations of Torah, Laws of Idol Worship, and Laws of Repentance.  These are all found in the first book, The Book of Knowledge.  From this source, any human being can learn the most succinct, true and authentic Torah perspective on the most basic principles of faith—without the filter of modernity.  Another example is the Book of Damages, containing key information on the complex subject of theft.  Many of these laws are no less binding on Noahides than on Jews.    

 

When these subjects become more familiar and important to people from every race in every land, the world will progress towards the day, when

 

They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea. (Isaiah 11:9-10)

can i get some feed back on this,another Rabbis point of view on this would enlighten me more.


  
And that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall be put to death; because he hath spoken perversion against the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed thee out of the house of bondage, to draw thee aside out of the way which the LORD thy God commanded thee to walk in. So shalt thou put away the evil from the midst of thee.Deuteronomy 13:5.

Offline q_q_

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Re: Mishneh Torah and Rambam/7 laws.
« Reply #1 on: November 15, 2007, 12:18:33 AM »
how odd. the video has been removed!