A Dastardly Deed

17 Tishrei 5779
2nd Day Chol Hamoed Sukkot
Moadim l'simchah!

Besides being "turned on" to prophecy by the Christians, the Jews involved with them are picking up other bad Christian habits - like taking verses out of context to use as "proof texts" for their version of the Torah.

If adding to or taking from words of Torah are forbidden by HKB"H, how much more so the misrepresentation of God's words! This is the same dastardly deed that was carried out by the serpent in Gan Eden!

On the ICEJ's official "Feast" website, they boldly claim...

Does the verse cited as "proof" of their contention speak about Sukkot? No!

Devarim 31:12 – In context, it speaks of Hakhel, when every seven years, the king would read the Torah to all the people. Included among the Jews were the gerei toshav, the non-Jews who were living in Eretz Yisrael under very specific conditions.

Even in the case of Hakhel, the "nations" were not "invited."

There is no way, except through willful deception, to make this into an invitation for idolatrous nations to bring their avodah zarah into Eretz Yisrael and plop it down in the midst of our Sukkot celebration.
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And your stranger, i.e. a non-Jew who observes the Noahide laws. Although he is not bound by the commandments of the Torah, he should attend Hakhel and perhaps he will be inspired to convert (Ibn Ezra).

Although the word גר, [ger], often refers to a convert to Judaism, Rabbi Yaakov Kamenetsky shows that in this case Rambam and probably Ramban agree with Ibn Ezra’s interpretation that non-Jews should participate in Hakhel. He comments that this is clearly not a commandment on the gentile, for if it were, there would be eight Noahide laws, not seven. Rather, it is a commandment on Jews to encourage resident gentiles [ger toshav] to attend (Emes l’Yaakov)….

--- Commentary to the Stone Edition Chumash

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Ok? So, what about their other example taken from King Solomon's prayer at the dedication of the Temple?

II Chronicles 6:32-33 says…

And also to the stranger [nochri], who is not of Your people Israel, but will come from a distant land because of Your great name, Your strong hand, and Your outstretched arm, and they will come and pray toward this House.

You shall hear from heaven, from Your dwelling place, and You shall do whatever the stranger calls upon You, that all peoples of the earth may know Your name, to fear You, as [do] Your people Israel, and that they may know that Your name is called upon this House, which I have built.

[Rashi] and You shall do whatever the stranger calls upon You: Concerning an Israelite, I pray to give him according to his ways, but concerning a heathen, according to all the stranger calls upon You, because Israelites recognize the Holy One, blessed be He, and they know that He has the ability to do, and if his prayer is not heard, he assigns the cause to himself, to his sins, and he searches his deeds, but the heathen will complain of injustice and say, “I heard His fame throughout the world, and I toiled on many roads until I came and prayed in this place, and I did not find reality in Him any more than the other deities.” Therefore, You shall do whatever the stranger calls upon You.

Again, this has nothing to do with Sukkot or any appointed Jewish holiday. It applies at any and all times that a gentile who is searching for the truth will come to the source of truth to investigate. Nochri is a term that describes a gentile who has not accepted the Sheva Mitzvot and may even worship false gods.

This is as good a place as any to also point out that even righteous gentiles were not allowed into the actual Temple precincts which is probably why King Solomon specifically said "pray toward this house" - similar to how Jews pray towards the Temple Mount even now. It is a way of directing your prayer very specifically to the God of Israel [as opposed to any other god] since this is the place where He chose for His Presence to reside.

"Archeologists have found markers around the boundary of the Temple grounds bearing this inscription: ‘Any foreigner [non-Jew] who ignores the warning and goes beyond this point shall have no one but himself to blame for the death which shall be his penalty.’"

I think when people hear the phrase "house of prayer for all nations" they form an image of Jews and non-Jews filing into a synagogue-or-church-like structure and sitting down side-by-side in earnest prayer.

That's not what the phrase means at all. Surprisingly, the well-worn phrase "house of prayer for all nations" comes from the mouth of JC in the Greek Testament. The Hebrew original found in Yeshayahu 56 says amim and is more commonly translated in the Tanakh as "peoples."

ISAIAH 56:6-8 speaks of converts:

And the foreigners [bnei hanechar] who join with the Lord to serve Him and to love the name of the Lord, to be His servants, everyone who observes the Sabbath from profaning it and who holds fast to My covenant.

I will bring them to My holy mount, and I will cause them to rejoice in My house of prayer, their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be acceptable upon My altar, for My house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples [amim].

[Rashi] for all peoples: Not only for Israel, but also for the proselytes.

So says the Lord God, Who gathers in the dispersed of Israel, I will yet gather others to him, together with his gathered ones.

[Rashi] I will yet gather: of the heathens ([Mss. and K’li Paz:] of the nations) who will convert and join them.

The Yalkut Me'am Lo'ez says...

[On Isaiah 56:6-7] And those whose conversion to Judaism is with the sincere intent of serving God and not for any ulterior motives, attested to by their observance of the Sabbath and the covenant, shown by their "coming close to God" while the Jewish people are still downtrodden, those are the proselytes who God will bring to His Temple, His "House of prayer for all peoples," and grant them the joy of seeing their offerings accepted. But more than their material offerings are acceptable to God, the offerings and sacrifices of their hearts and spirits shall be desirable to Him. 

NOT!!!

In short, under no circumstances can any words of Torah or the Prophets or Writings be used to prove the inclusion of those who engage in avodah zarah without willfully corrupting, twisting and misrepresenting their true meaning - a thoroughly dastardly deed!!