As I have said many times on this blog, I owe a very great debt to Rabbi Meir Kahane of blessed memory, Hashem should avenge his blood! You see, I've been learning Rabbi Kahane since 1997. I have all of his books (save one or two recently published ones) and have read them more than once. I use Or HaRa'ayon regularly as a reference book. You'll find hundreds, if not thousands, of his words reproduced throughout these blog posts.
I did not just one day a couple of weeks ago flip through one chapter over the course of 18 hours of flight time. Plus, I learned directly from Rabbi Binyamin Ze'ev Kahane, ztz"l Hy'd in Jerusalem. Therefore, I have Rabbi Kahane to thank for my solid foundation in Torah Truth and my identity as a Jew. That is a very great debt indeed. And it is for this reason that I make these attempts to set the record straight on what he taught, because there are those who would misrepresent those pure and perfect words of Torah for their own benefit. Whether through deceit or delusion, I know not.
The following comes from a Youtube video published yesterday...
"...we are to do Meir Kahane's shita and in Or HaRa'ayon of Rav Kahane you will see that he credits the entire ideology that he holds by is Kol HaTor ideology which is Vilna Gaon works of Tzionit Gra'it. It is in the book Or HaRa'ayon, several chapters worth of references to Kol HaTor, ok, Kol HaTor. ...The point is we see that Meir Kahane obviously knew by being in the Kol HaTor it means to be what? A Light to the Nations. That his ideology came from the GR"A and Kol HaTor therefore, he would have read this and would have known that is the definition of Ohr LeGoyim."Anyone who reads Rabbi Meir Kahane for himself, by the way, it is written to be accessible to anyone regardless of knowledge level or background, will notice one thing right away. Rabbi Kahane brought nothing new or innovative and barely used his own words. He quoted broadly and extensively and based his teachings exclusively on the Torah and Mesorah handed down from our Sages.
In the back of Or HaRa'ayon, which is considered his main work, there is a list of all the sources used in its writing. I've reproduced it here. Based on that, YOU be the judge of the accuracy of the statements made above.
OR HARA'AYON SOURCE INDEX
BIBLE
The Five Books of Torah
Books of the Prophets
The Writings
MISHNA
Peah, Maaser Sheni, Bikurim, Makot, Eduyot, Avot, Kelim, Taharot, Yadayim, Oktzin
TOSEFTA
Sotah, Sanhedin, Shavuot, Avodah Zarah
SMALL TRACTATES
Avot DeRabbi Natan, Derech Eretz Zuta, Tractate Kallah, Semachot - Avel Rabbati
JERUSALEM TALMUD
Berachot, Peah, Sheviit, Bikurim, Shabbat, Pesachim, Yoma, Taanit, Chagigah, Yevamot, Nedarim, Sotah, Kiddushin, Sanhedrin
BABYLONIAN TALMUD
Berachot, Shabbat, Eruvin, Pesachim, Rosh Hashanah, Yoma, Succah, Betza, Taanit, Megillah, Moed Kattan, Chagigah, Yevamot, Ketuvot, Nedarim, Nazir, Sotah, Gittin, Kiddushin, Bava Kamma, Bava Metzia, Bava Batra, Sanhedrin, Shavuot, Makot, Avodah Zarah, Horiot, Zevachim, Menachot, Chulin, Arachin, Keritut, Me'ilah
MIDRASH HALACHA
Mechilta deRabbi Yishmael, Mechilta deRabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, Torat Kohanim - Sifra, Sifri
MIDRASH RABBAH
Bereshit Rabbah, Shemot Rabbah, Vayikra Rabbah, Bamidbar Rabbah, Devarim Rabbah, Shir HaShirim Rabbah, Ruth Rabbah, Echah Rabbah, Kohelet Rabbah, Esther Rabbah
OTHER MIDRASHIM
Beit HaMidrash, Eliyahu Rabbah, Eliyahu Zuta, Lekach Tov - Pesikta Zutrati, Midrash Chadash, Midrash HaGadol, Midrash Tehillim - Shochar, Mishnat R. Eliezer, Pesikta DeRav Kahana, Pesikta Rabbati, Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer, Sechel Tov, Sefer HaYashar, Tanchuma, Tanchuma Yashan, Tanna Devei Eliyahu, Yalkut Shimoni, Zohar
OTHER BOOKS
Aruch HaShulchan HeAtid, Chatam Sofer - Responsa, Torah Shebal Peh, Chovot Levavot, Emunot VeDe'ot, HaChinuch, Kad HaKemach, Kol HaTor (8 references total in 1000 pages), Kitvei Maharitz Chayyot, Kuzari, Maharit - Responsa, Messilat Yesharim, Minchat Chinuch, Netzach Yisrael, Prayer, Rambam, Seder Olam Zuta, Semag, Shaarei Teshuva, Shulchan Aruch, Siddur Bet Yaakov, Trumat HaDeshen, Yalkut Ha-Urim
I would urge everyone to read Rabbi Kahane for himself and not to rely on anyone else to tell him what he said.
Our light is only the light of Torah. A Mitzvah is a candle and Torah light. By learning Torah from the above quoted sources, with fear of Hashem (yes fear, not love at the beginning), we add and enlarge our neshama and transform the "matter" of our body to sth., that emits light. I saw this myself by true tzaddikim, that they emit a bright light. If we achive this, we are a light for the world. And believe no one on this matreiga looks for jewish-christian/islamic/goyish unionship, or whatever they call the transforming and adapting of the torah to goyish values. The goyim by themselves change through this light and rid themselves from their falsehood and get humbeld by it and want to be an helper to the klal and to Hashems targets. Tbis is th concept to be a light to the nations. First be a light yourself, than see the influence on the nations... and not first attach or go actively to the nations without anything to bring to them. How can you carry light? If not by being the light!
ReplyDeleteAs commented over there...
ReplyDeleteGo ahead and preach "The Gospel of the Ger" to the ignorant and the gullible, but do not pretend that Rabbi Kahane has anything at all to do with it.
Or HaRa'ayon, chapter 9, quoting directly:
"...(Here is the proof that "ger" in the Torah refers to a proselyte and not a ger toshav, the non-Jew keeping the seven Noahide laws, as we shall see more elaborately later on [Ch. 20].)
It says, "If you sell something to your neighbor, do not wrong one another" (Lev. 25:14). The Talmud (Ibid.) comments that this is referring to monetary fraud, whereas "Do not wrong your fellow man" (Lev. 25:17) refers to verbal abuse (and it is forbidden regarding a proselyte as well. See Mechilta, Mishpatim, Parashah 18)."
There is no "ger toshav" outside the Land of Israel quite simply because by definition it means RESIDENT Noahide, i.e., the Noahide who RESIDES in the Land of Israel.
haKiruv, you don't have a clue what you are talking about. Anyone can cherry-pick sources, especially when they name them without actually quoting them, and make a case for anything they want. We have a false religion followed by a billion people that got started this way.
ReplyDeleteRabbi Kahane wrote many, many books and articles in English. One of them was Uncomfortable Questions For Comfortable Jews. In Pt 4, Ch 10, pg. 174 of that book, he wrote the following...
ReplyDelete[On the comment] "But the Bible tells us to love the stranger. The Bible declares that there should be one law for you and the stranger."
"...even if it were true that the Hebrew word in the Bible - ger - which is wrongly translated "stranger," means the non-Jewish foreigner, of course it would mean that one should not oppress or persecute that non-Jew who is allowed to live in Israel as a ger-toshav, resident stranger. That one must help him and feed him and heal him and treat him with decency and mercy and respect. It does not mean that he must be given the right to be equal politically, a citizen, one who has a say in the character and running of the state."
"But, more than that, the rabbis make it clear that the general use of the word ger in the Bible refers to what they term a ger tzedek, a gentile who has converted and become a Jew. The warning is not to offend him or treat him in any way differently from the one who was born Jewish. And this is what is expressly stated in the Chinuch (Commandment 63).... (See also Torat Kohanim, Leviticus 19)"
Now, you are can interpret the law however you want (even if it's wrong) and people are free to choose whether to believe it or not. BUT! You are not allowed to claim that Rabbi Kahane agrees with this take on the subject when VERY CLEARLY, HE DOES NOT. And you can't use the excuse that people just don't understand his Hebrew.