Whatever This Is, It Isn't Torah

28 Tishrei 5778

We are admonished not to base our actions and decisions upon our own thinking...

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not rely upon your understanding. Know Him in all your ways, and He will direct your paths. Do not be wise in your own sight; fear the Lord and turn away from evil."  (Mishlei 3:5-7)

Rivkah Adler has explained many times in interviews that her goal with the Ephraimite book is to bring Jews into relationship with Christians. She expresses a belief that both Jews and Christians are part of one family and the Torah belongs to all. She admits her goal is to "build bridges" between the two faith groups.

And what sources does she bring to back her up? - "I'd like to think" and "to my mind." 



She often refers to her lack of familiarity with the Tanakh, so maybe she never read the caution in Mishlei that I've quoted up above.

Seemingly as deluded as her Christian friends, Rivkah Adler seems to honestly believe that what she is doing and what she is attempting to do is "from God." But, how can that possibly be when it goes completely against Torah and halachah? 

Out of the 613 mitzvot, not one commands us to be a "light to the nations" or to "teach Torah to the nations" or even share Torah with the nations. But, out of the 613 mitzvot, there are no less than 18 which directly address idolatry by name - one of the three sins for which a Jew must die rather than commit.

From The Concise Book of Mitzvoth complied by the Chafetz Chaim:

• To entertain no thought that there is any other god except the blessed God.
• To make no idol to worship.
• Not to make any idol to be worshiped [by himself or by anyone else], even for a heathen.
• Not to bow down and prostrate oneself to an idol.
• Not to worship an idol in any way that it is usually venerated.
• Not to swear in the name of an idol.
• Not to lead a town in Israel astray to worship in idolatry.
• To eat or drink nothing from an offering to an idol.
• Not to turn one's attention to idolatry.
• To have no benefit from any decoration of an idol or from its ornaments.
• To have no benefit from an idol, from its offering or its attendants, or anything done on its behalf. [Considering that this is the basis upon which Hayovel offers its services to Israeli farmers, that means no Jew may have benefit from the grapes they pick or the wine that comes from them.]
• Not to intermarry with a non-Jewish person. [Interesting juxtaposition by the Chafetz Chaim.]
• To have no mercy on idol-worshipers.
• Not to pay any heed to a person prophesying in the name of an idol.
• To entice no one in Jewry to worship an idol. [Enticing Jews to form loving relationships with idolaters is so close as to be right on the edge!]
• For the enticed person not to relinquish his hatred for the enticer*.
• Not to rescue the enticer if one sees him in danger of death.
• Not to prophesy in the name of an idol.
• Not to settle idol-worshipers in our holy land. [Har Brachah???]

Call this whatever you want, but don't call it "Orthodox Judaism." Orthodox do not pick and choose what mitzvot they will adhere to and do not throw parts of the Torah out because we are suddenly announced to be in a "new era."

This is a very, very serious subject, but it is being given very short shrift by Jews ignorant of the real Torah.

RELATED: 'LIBERAL ORTHODOX ARE FAKE JEWS, A THREAT TO ALL OF ISRAEL'

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* מסית - Enticement to idolatry in Judaism is a capital offence under the Law of Moses. The Talmud distinguishes two types of enticers to idolatry - a mesit (Hebrew: מסית‎‎) is a Jew who seduces an individual to idolatry, while a maddiah is someone who publicly entices many into idolatry. An enticer to idolatry may be both.

The Law of Moses likewise takes a strong and non-compassionate approach to the enticer due to the offensive service of idolatry to which the enticer seeks to draw worshipers. The crime of the enticer to idolatry was so serious and dangerous that in some cases some legal (halakhic) requirements of due process could be relaxed in order to entrap the enticer.

In the Mishneh Torah of Maimonides the prohibition "Not to love an enticer" is listed as a negative commandment. (Source)