https://hesedyahu.wordpress.com/2019/08/28/what-do-the-approbations-mean/I remember creating my video series refuting Asher Meza’s nonsense about the seven laws (here and here). In those times, the Divine Code was my main source of info about the seven laws. I remember and watch myself promoting the book as authoritative and the reason I did so was because the book had approbations inside of it.
I see someone else creating videos and saying how the book has received approbations but this person has taken it a step further to say any teaching deviating from the Divine Code is wrong.
The thing is that we both referred to the approbations as if they granted the book the status of “perfect” and “the only true way.”
But did the approbations really do that?
I’ve been throwing the word “approbations” a good few times. By “approbations,” I mean letters of official approval, praise and commendation. In this context, it means that senior rabbinic figures wrote messages of praise about the book and its author.
Once again, as a student of the seven laws, I can say that the book is an epic effort and deserves much praise as well. The author, rabbi Moshe Weiner, must be recognised for the amount of devotion, study and self-soul-consumption to get this made, as well as his colleagues for translating it and publishing it.
But …
Yes, there is a but.
But just because he (and his colleagues) worked so hard on it, does that make the book 100% correct? Such an argument would be a non-sequitur, the conclusion wouldn’t follow necessarily from the premise.
And because he did study and provide copious footnotes, does that mean he always got his conclusions right? Again, not necessarily.
So what about those letters of official approval? Do they say “the Divine Code is the one truth for Gentiles and anyone deviating from it is wrong?” You can go check: they do not! Do such letters even imply that? Since when did praise imply perfection? Of course such letter don’t imply that.
Do they even imply wholesale agreement?
Now with that last question, I know the answer is “no.” How do I know? Because one of the letters of praise comes from rabbi Zalman Nehemiah Goldberg, yet dotted throughout the book are mentions of disagreement between Goldberg and Moshe Weiner. If there is disagreement, with Weiner saying one thing and Goldberg saying something contradicting, then there are places were Goldberg sees Weiner, the author, as wrong (not simply different). So approbation doesn’t mean perfection or total agreement. It doesn’t mean dissenting views are wrong.
I think letters of praise are simply that: celebrating a good work and a good book.
This says nothing bad about the work of rabbi Weiner and Ask Noah International. This says nothing bad about Gentiles who choose to take up the book and have Weiner and Ask Noah International as their teacher. I know such humble students who just want to live and learn.
But it does say something against those who teach “Weiner is the way, the truth and the right; no man can know the seven laws except by him. Only teachers agreeing with him are true!” Such people go too far.
Topic: What do the approbations mean? (Read 3073 times)