Additional Topics

Alan W. Cecil, author of “The Noahide Code,” has been a Noahide for over twenty years. A religion major in college, Alan studied ancient Greek, Church history, theology, philosophy, and ethics. In addition, he studied Torah at the Atlanta Kollel (a kollel is a yeshiva for married men) under the direction of Rabbi Menachem Deutsch and Rabbi Yaacov Schwartz.

Source

(NB NOT Qaraimizm)

Karaite Judaism is the 20th Century culmination of centuries of Jewish opposition. It was crystallized by an East European Karaite Turkic Judaizer, Tuvia Levi Babovich, who moved to Cairo to save the ignorant and decrepit communities of Egyptian Qaraites from oblivion by merging his tradition with theirs. Although Tuvia brought with him some Karaite followers from Eastern Europe, and the new religion came to be known as Karaite Judaism even after the last of the original Karaites in Tuvia's movement had passed away. It survives today thanks to the Universal Karaite Judaism organization based in Israel.

It is sometimes proposed that that the modern state of Israel (which was founded on the back of the Subbotnik migrations) could operate better as a Karaite Jewish state and this has led to a massive concerted effort to deny the Subbotnik origins of Tuvia Levi Babovich in order to increase Karaite Judaism's appeal as an alternative for reform Jews whose religion is not recognized by the state of Israel.

For more information about Karaite Judaism, please see Meir Rekhavi's Karaite Jewish University which runs under the auspices of Universal Karaite Judaism.

The New "Karaite" Jews

Karaite Judaism was discovered by Mordechai Alfandari, an American Talmudic Jewish apostate of Turkish origins who was attracted to the proposition of rejecting all Oral Torah like a Sadducee and saw Tuvia's Karaite Judaism as the possible platform upon which he could achive his dream of resurrecting the Sadducee religion. Mordechai was only posthumously accepted by the Karaite Jewish community for his efforts and allowed to be buried in the Egyptian Qaraite Jewish graveyard in Israel. His "World Karaite Movement" was continued by Meir Rekhavi who opened the Karaite Jewish University in association with HaYahadut HaQarait HaOlamit of Moshe Firrouz cleverly mistranslated as "Universal Karaite Judaism" rather than "The Universal Qaraite Judaism" thereby blurring the once significant distinction between Karaite Judaism and Qaraite Judaism. Many more Karaites as well as Karaims (such as the composer Abraham Kefeli) have been absorbed into Yehudim Qara'im of Israel as Karaite Jews since then.

The Neo Karaite Jews are people who adopted Mordechai Alfandari's Karaite Judaism but objected to Meir Rekhavi uniting it with Moshe Firrouz's Universal Qaraite Judaism.

See Also

• Karaites (disambiguation)

• Rahab, as mentioned in the Book of Joshua. According to Jewish tradition, she married Joshua, gave birth to a daughter, and was the ancestress of several prophets .
• Ruth, the great-grandmother of King David, born a Moabite princess . Had she not converted, we would have been denied not only the kings of the house of David, but also the Books of Psalms, the Song of Songs, Ecclesiastes, Proverbs, and Isaiah.
• Naamah, mother of King Rehobaom (she was one of the wives of King Solomon), born an Ammonite. All kings of Judah from Rehobaom on were her descendants, as well as the Prophet Isaiah.
• The Prophet Obadiah , born an Ishmaelite.
• Shmaya and Avtalyon, the teachers of Hillel;
• Ben Hay-Hay of the Mishnah;
• Ben Bag-Bag of the Mishnah;
• Rabbi Akiva, whose father was a convert;
• Rabbi Meir (aka Rabbi Meir Baal Hanes), a grandson of Nero Caesar. (While Nero did not have any official seed, he did father children. According to the Talmud Nero converted. According to general historians, Nero was assassinated by his guard. According to the Talmud, he fled [perhaps he had staged his “assassination”] and converted to Judaism. At any rate, the Talmud states that Rabbi Meir was a descendant of Nero. Rabbi Meir of Rothenburg [d: 1293] was a descendant and was the foremost rabbi of the German states in the 13th century.)
• Aqilas (known to Jews as Unkalos) nephew of Hadrian, author of the prime Aramaic translation of the Torah.
• Queen Helena of Adiabene , together with her sons. She and they are mentioned many times in the Talmud. It is likely that many of her subjects converted too. It is perhaps interesting that the Kurds are genetic relatives to both Ashkenazic and Sephardic Jews.
• Flavius Clemens, a Roman Senator, and nephew of the Emperor Domitinan.
• Fulvia, the wife of a Roman Senator, Saturninus. It is likely that Saturninus also converted.
• Rachel, the mother of Rav Abba Mauri an Amora of the Talmud. The latter was converted while he was a fetus and was born a Jew.
• Bishop Bodo, confessor to Louis the Pius (son of Charlemagne). He moved to Moslem Spain in order to convert. Died 876.
• Andreas, Archbishop of Bari (late 11th Century)
• Obadiah the Convert (12th Century) a former priest whose original name was Johannes. He was born in Normandy.
• Obadiah the Convert (13th Century) to whom the Rambam (Maimonides) wrote a famous letter and primarily for him wrote The Guide to the Perplexed.
• Robert de Reddinge, an English nobleman of the 13th century, also a preaching friar. His conversion eventually led to the expulsion of Jews from England. He was burned at the stake.
• Abraham of Augsburg martyred 1265.
• Catherine Weigel, burned at the stake for converting, 1539.
• Diego de Asumpcao, burned at the stake for converting, 1603.
• Conrad Victor, a professor of classical languages at the University of Marburg. He moved to the Ottoman Empire and became Moses Prado.
• Nicolas Antoine. While he was not able to convert to Judaism, he was burned at the stake in Geneva, Switzerland in 1632 for seeking to convert to Judaism.
• Francisco de Silva burned at the stake in Lima, 1639.
• Don Lope de Vera burned at the stake, 1644.
• Johann Peter Spate, a German priest, d: 1697.
• Valentine, Count Potocki (Avraham ben Avraham, the Ger Zedek of Vilna) burned at the stake by the Catholic Church in Poland, 1749. His ashes and a single finger that had not been burned were interned next to the Vilna Gaon, the most eminent sage of the 18th century.
• Boruch ben Avraham (Zaremba). A Lithuanian nobleman who converted with Count Potocki who wisely moved to Israel upon his conversion.
• Lord George Gordon (d: November 1, 1793). While the British did not kill him outright, he was arrested and kept in prison until he sickened and died. In the 1800s, conversion to Judaism was no longer considered a capital crime in most Christian countries.
• Abraham Graanboom, a Swedish aristocrat who converted and relocated to Amsterdam with his family. (d: 1807)
• Setzuso Kotsuji , a Japanese aristocrat (d: 1974).
• Dr. Kenny Trabert (d: 2008) who had been part of the Princeton Think Tank and then joined the Lakewood Yeshiva.
• Asher Wade (former Methodist minister, now rabbi )
• Ole Brunell, former Finnish Lutheran Minister .
• Natan Gamedze, African prince, now rabbi .
• Julius Lester, a black American convert to Judaism famous for remarking, “The black assumption is that Jews are white people. And blacks don't understand that most Jews don't see themselves as white ."
• Ahuvah Grey, black American who was once a Protestant Minster and is now an Orthodox Jewess.
• Rabbi Dr. Aharon Shear Yashuv, who was Wolfgang Schmidt, a German Protestant. His father had been an SS officer. He studied for the ministry, and then decided to convert to Judaism. He converted under Reform and subsequently under Orthodox auspices. He became the Rav of the Technion University in Haifa and a lecturer at Bar Ilan University.

Rabbi Eliyahu Menachem Chalfon

Italian Talmudist and physician; son of the astronomer Abba Mari and son-in-law of Kalonymus ben David (Maestro Calo); flourished at Venice in the middle of the sixteenth century. In a collection of responsa compiled by Joseph Graziano of Modena, Rabbi Chalfon gives his opinion on the question whether a Jew may instruct Christians in Hebrew. Citing numerous passages from the Talmud, Rabbi Chalfon shows that elementary instruction may certainly be given, if only for the purpose of enabling non-Jews to comply with the seven laws given to Noah. Moses Isserles' collection of responsa, No. 56, ed. Cracow

Need to write this page.

The following is an attempt to review the Freemasonry as a potential Noachide faith as interpreted by Rabbinic Tradition. Following a description and brief summary of the religion, an attempt is made to identify which parts of that faith are incompatible with the Seven Laws of Noach. There are two goals in this effort: First, for believers who are currently belong to these faiths to become aware of what the Noachide Laws require of all humanity. Second, to try to isolate, identify and retain the national character of the faith so that a Noachide is left with a deep and fulfilling expression of his faith.

See here

Maimonides, Mishneh Torah, Melachim 10:9, The principle is, one is not permitted to make innovations in religion or to create new commandments. He has the privilege to become a true proselyte by accepting the whole Law.

Roman Catholicism, Orthodox Christianity, as well as many other denominations consider themselves to be Apostolic, meaning they believe that they are based on the teachings and traditions that Jesus gave his Twelve Apostles (for example the Great Commission), and which they say they then handed down to the next generation of Christians.

The label Primitive and Apostolic, in terms of Christianity, are used by such authors as Alan Knight, Primitive Christianity in Crisis, and Roderick Meredith, Restoring Apostolic Christianity, to describe Christians, who are sometimes called Jewish Christians, although the term is not completely descriptive of all who follow Primitive Apostolic Christian doctrine.

Some Christian sects today view these "Primitive Apostolic teachings" and observances as the proper form of Christianity. The collection of non-biblical, pre-Nicene writings is called by some the Ante-Nicene Fathers. These groups often see the verses in Acts 15:19-21 as a directive from the first Council of Jerusalem, also called the Apostolic Decree, to observe the basic understanding of the Noahide Laws in order to be considered righteous Gentiles, and not be required to live completely as Torah-observant Jews. This settled a dispute among the first Christians, which began as a sect of first century Judaism, as to whether the new Gentile converts were required to become circumcised and live completely under the dictates of Judaism (Acts 15:5,24). The Noahide Law was based on the understanding that some ordinances were in effect at least since the time of Noah, and some had been given in the Garden of Eden to Adam and Eve, thus given to all mankind.

Judaism has continued to observe Gentiles, even when they become proselytes, as not being under the same scrutiny of the ordinances of Judaism. They may have a part in salvation and in the world to come just by observing the Noahide Law according to Maimonides, who was a Jewish scholar of the thirteenth century. There is much speculation, and some disagreement as to what is part of the Noahide Law, even among Jewish scholars (see Noahide Laws for more information on the Jewish perspective).

Some groups consider themselves unique in current observation of Primitive Apostolic Christianity. These include most Sabbatarian Church of God, and some Noahide Nazarenes. The doctrines vary slightly from each group, but usually include the teaching that the Sabbath was one of the observances given to Adam and Eve, as well as the Sacred Calendar, in order to count the years, seasons, weeks and days. They claim that there is evidence that events such as Abraham's offering of his son Isaac, occurred at the time of the Passover, therefore the High Sabbaths are included in the covenant that Noah is said to have observed. Also related is Quartodecimanism. Clean and unclean animals were also understood in the time of Noah, as can be seen in Genesis 7:2. These precepts are viewed to be included in the Noahide Law, and along with the Ten Commandments given to Moses, to be observed by true Christians. The Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) is also specific regarding Antinomianism, which is the rejection of biblical teachings concerning observance of the Law.

Mormons also consider themselves unique in current observation of Primitive Apostolic Christianity, but with current revelation given priority. That is, the "latter-day" saints' teachings are primary for understanding. They believe that Christianity lost its priesthood authority sometime before the Council of Nicaea in 325, but that it was restored to Joseph Smith, founder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The primitive observances are relegated to secondary status in observance of progressive revelation, much as mainstream Christianity is said-to-have changed the appointed times such as fourth commandment obedience.

The Sabaeans were an ancient people speaking a South Semitic language who lived in what is today Yemen and in northern Ethiopia and Eritrea. Their Ancient Sabaean Kingdom lasted from the early 1st millennium to the 1st century BC. In the 1st century BC it was conquered by the Himyarites, but after the disintegration of the 1st Himyarite empire of the Kings of Saba' and dhu-Raydan the Middle Sabaean Kingdom reappeared in the early 2nd century CE. It was finally conquered by the Himyarites in the late 3rd century CE. Its capital was Marib and was along the strip of desert that was called Sayhad by medieval Arab geographers and that is called now Ramlat al-Sab`atayn.

The Sabaean people were one of four ancient Yemeni groups (Greek ethnos) classified by Eratosthenes. The others were the Minaean, Himyarite, Habashat and Qatabanian people. Each of these had regional kingdoms in ancient Yemen, though the Minaean Kingdom held dominance from approximately 1200 BC until 650 BC, and the Sabaeans after them.

The Sabaeans, as were the other Arabian and Yemenite kingdoms of the same period, were involved in the extremely lucrative spice trade, especially frankincense and myrrh.http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0108153.html

Most archaeologists now believe them to be the same nation as the Biblical kingdom of Sheba. They left behind many inscriptions in the monumental Musnad (Old South Arabian) alphabet, as well as numerous documents in the cursive Zabur script.

They were polytheistic, and should not be confused with the Sabians mentioned in the Qur'an, whose name is written with the Arabic letter sad rather than sin.

Due to their hegemony of the Red Sea some Sabaeans lived in northern Ethiopia and Eritrea during the Sabaean-influenced kingdom of D`mt. Most modern historians consider this civilization to be indigenous,<sup>[1]</sup>, but some still view, as in the past, D`mt as the result of a mixture of "culturally superior" Sabaeans and indigenous peoples;^[2] a very small minority even views the kingdom as wholly Sabaean and Ethiopians as the descendents of ancient Sabaean immigrants, but with little evidence.^[3]

Bibliography

• Bafaqīh, M. ‛A., L'unification du Yémen antique. La lutte entre Saba’, Himyar et le Hadramawt de Ier au IIIème siècle de l'ère chrétienne. Paris, 1990 (Bibliothèque de Raydan, 1).
• Ryckmans, J., Müller, W. W., and ‛Abdallah, Yu., Textes du Yémen Antique inscrits sur bois. Louvain-la-Neuve, 1994 (Publications de l'Institut Orientaliste de Louvain, 43).

See also

• Yemen
• Minaean Kingdom

References

• Info Please
• Article at Encyclopedia Britannica

External link

• S. Arabian "Inscription of Abraha" in the Sabaean language, at Smithsonian/NMNH website

Maimonides writes that Abraham was a 'Sabian' before he came to a belief in the One God. Maimonides proposed that Sabaeanism evolved into Abrahamic monotheism which then evolved into Mosaic teaching. Maimonides uses the term Sabaean to depicts typical “pagan” culture would have existed before Abraham brought the message of the one god. He writes that the Sabians believed in a form of Adam. The description he recounts in Guide to the Perplexed is a typical Harranian creation in which Adam is brought into the worship of Sin. He writes that the idolaters pray to the morning sun in the east. It is for this reason that Abraham initiated the notion of facing west in all prayers. Maimonides wrote that that the Sabaeans held great respect for all animal life in particular the bull. Maimonides wrote concerning the notion that blood is unclean yet they partake of it.^[1]

Why does he use the Sabaeans as this general term denoting all “pagan” worshippers? There could be several reasons for this. One would be the fact that the term “Sabians” as indicated in the Qu’ran had already degraded into being a generalized term for all religions, other than Islam, Jewish, and Christianity, that fit into generalized descriptions of a qualified religion under Islamic law. ^[2]

Quotes from Maimonides on Sabians

• These are remnants of the Sabeans, who once filled the earth. ... In a succeeding chapter I shall explain why the Sabeans had their religious doctrines ...^[3]

• The following words of the Sabeans are quoted there: "All ancient wise men advised, ... These are the words of the Sabeans. When these ideas spread, ...^[4]

• This Law alone is called divine; other laws, such as the political legislations among the Greeks, or the follies of the Sabeans, are the works of human ...^[5]

• When you read the books which I mentioned to you. you will find that witchcraft, which will be described to you, is part of the customs of the Sabeans, ...^[6]

• The Sabeans, in their ignorance of the existence of God, believed that the spheres with their stars were beings without beginning and without end, ...^[7]

• Some sects among the Sabeans worshipped demons, and imagined that these assumed the form of ... Although blood was very unclean in the eyes of the Sabeans, ... ^[8]

• But the practice of the Sabeans, even at present general in the East, among the few still left of the Magi, was to keep a menstruous woman in a house by ...^[9]

• If the religious rules of the Sabeans and the events of those days were known to us, we should be able to see plainly the reason for most of the things ...^[10]

• You know how widespread were in those days the opinions of the Sabeans: all men, except a few individuals, were idolaters, that is to say, they believed in ...^[11]

• expression would have implied that God occupies a place or is a power in the sphere, as was in fact believed by the Sabeans, who held that God was the soul ...^[12]

References

Most rishonim considered Christianity to be avodah zarah. A notable exception were the Tosafists. They felt that the trinity is shutfus (assigning partners to G-d). That the Father is the Creater, and identiable with the Jewish G-d, and the other persons of the trinity are minor deities that mediate. The practical distinction is that while Jews are prohibited from believing in shutfus, it is permitted to non-Jews under the covenant of Noah.

The Tosafists are a major force in Ashkenazic ruling. On their ruling, many Orthodox Jews who work in jewelery sell crosses and crucafixes. A necessary factor is the assumption that the overwhelming majority of customers will be people who aren't ethnically Jewish. Others do not rule like the Tosafists.

Another issue is whether the Tosafists' statement about the Catholicism of their day applies to any / some / most of the plurality of Christianities that exist today.

The status of Christianity in terms of the halachic category "avodah zarah" is unclear, as there is a dispute among both the rishonim and the acharonim as to whether Christianity is halachically allowed for non-Jews. But certainly most commentators, rishonim and acharonim alike, agree that Christianity is certainly avodah zarah for Jews, with the argument being only to non-Jews.

The Rambam ruled in three places that Christianity is idolatry and thus forbidden to gentiles. Mishneh Torah, Hilchos Ma'achalos Asuros 11:7 Mishneh Torah, Hilchos Avodas Kochavim 9:4; Peirush HaMishnayos?, Avodah Zarah 1:3 and implies the same in a fourth place (Hilchos Melachim 11:4) But most of these texts are missing from the the standard Vilna edition of these works.

Quote: Christians are idolaters and Sunday is their holy day (Mishneh Torah, Avodah Kochavim 9:4).

Quote: 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. (commentary on Mishnah, Avodah Zarah 1.3)

The Rambam also implied this in his Epistles to Yemen, but he also says Christianity has a role to play in G-d's plan by "preparing the way for the Messiah's coming and the improvement of the entire world..." (Mishneh Torah, Hilchos Melachim U'Milchamoteihem) However, in the Moreh Nevuchim (1:50) he writes that Christianity has a mistaken understanding of G-d, similar to those who assign attributes to Him. This would imply that Christianity is a min (deviant sect), which is perhaps a step up from idolatry.

Rabbenu Tam and his fellow Tosafists did not condemn Christianity as idolatry. "The fact that most people do business with the non-Jews on their holy days is problematic... It would seem that the reason for this permissiveness is that the non-Jews among whom we live are not to be considered idolaters..". Rabbenu Tam was of the opinion that the prohibition of doing business with idolaters before and during their holy days was only meant to apply to items that they might use in their worship, and did not apply to buying from them... (Tosafot to Avodah Zarah 2a).

When a certain rabbi in Europe prohibited all contact with Christians on their holy days (which was more often than not when the great fairs were held) Rabbenu Gershom objects, "But in the Land of Israel it is already customary to barter with non-Jews on their holy days, and we should not forbid this. It is better that the Jews contravene the law in ignorance than that they should do so knowingly, which they will inevitably do since their livelihood depends on their wares and most days of the year are Christian holy days."

The position of the Tosafists is complex. It is generally held that the Tosafists, particularly the Ri and possibly also Rabbeinu Tam, considered Christian belief to be "the partnering of the Name of Heaven with something else", and that as Noachides (i.e. non-Jews) are not forbidden to engage in such partnering; Christian belief and worship is permitted for non-Jews, and it is permitted for Jews to cause them to actively express that belief or engage in such worship. However, this judgement is not followed through in other areas. It seems from the words of Tosafot to Bechorot 2a and Sanhedrin 63b that their comments are limited to the case of oathtaking, i.e. partnering the Name of Heaven with something else while taking an oath. The halachic context would not be the prohibitions against idolatrous worship but rather the prohibition "Let them not be heard as a result of you", which would be understood as "let them not be heard as the exclusive guarantors of an oath as a result of you. Several great acharonim, including Shaar Efraim, Noda B'Yehudah, Meil Tzedakah, Olat Tamid, and Chazon Ish, understood Tosafot in this fashion. Some of them also interpreted Ramo, who cites Tosafot, the same way. But there are also those, including Shach and Seder Mishnah, who read Tosafot broadly, as referring to all prohibitions associated with Christian faith. But according to either reading of Tosafot, Jews holding Christian beliefs are violating avodah zarah prohibitions. Even Meiri, who assigns Noachides "bound by the ways of religion" (which presumptively includes Christians) a status equivalent to Jews for several legal purposes, probably believes that they are nonetheless worshipers of avodah zarah

Even if you conclude that Christianity is Avodah Zarah for non-Jews, it is not clear that most non-Jews are deeply attached to their avodah zarah beliefs, and further more there are Christian groups whose beliefs differ greatly in areas touching the halachic definition of Avodah Zarah. See Rav Henkin's citation in Bnei Banim 35 of Rabbeinu Yerucham's description of the non-Jews of his time as "not deeply attached to Avodah Zarah", and the Raavan spoke about this as well, and Rav Henkin sees in him grounds for distinguishing among the various churches.

On another matter, the Rambam was of the opinion that Islam is not idolatry. A certain Ovadyah converted from Islam to Judaism. As part of his learning his teacher told him that Moslems were idolaters. Ovadyah wrote to Rambam asking which of them was correct. Here is part of Rambam's responsum: "Your teacher reacted inappropriately when he caused you distress...Even if he had been right and you wrong he should have spoken to you politely and softly; how much more is this the case when it is you who was correct and he was the one who was mistaken"