A quick glance at a news outlet shows a grim future: Iran preparing for a nuclear showdown with the civilized world; Arab Spring turns to Arab Fall with civil wars in Egypt, Syria and Libya; Violence across the USA in "Occupy" movements and across Europe as "austerity" measures are approved ● But there is a non-violent solution for the current world crisis: Educate the world about the Seven Noahide Laws ● Beis Moshiach Magazine presents a interview with the leading activists in this field ● Read More
We all know about the Sheva Mitzvos for the B’nei Noach; we can all list them. But these Sheva Mitzvos are actually a broader foundation for the way Hashem wants the Non-Jews to live. Big questions underlie the broad strokes of these seven precepts. What about end of life issues? Birth control methods? Is it permitted to download pirated music from the Internet? We must be ready to answer these and many more questions if we are really serious about encouraging Non-Jews to take on observance of a Torah-based Sheva Mitzvos lifestyle.
To fill in the details, a work of groundbreaking scholarship on the fundamental principles and practical applications of the Noachide precepts has been published over the span of the past few years: Sheva Mitzvos Hashem, by Rabbi Moshe Weiner, who is a Lubavitcher Rav in Jerusalem. The three-volume set is published by the Sheva Mitzvos outreach organization Ask Noah International, and to date, volumes I and II are distributed through Kehos and several Judaica bookstores in the U.S., Canada and Israel. The English translation of this series is titled The Divine Code, which is also available on amazon.com.
The following is our interview with Dr. Michoel Schulman , a former industrial physicist now living in Pittsburgh, PA, who serves as Executive Director of the Ask Noah International (A.N.I.) organization. Chaim Reisner , also of Pittsburgh, is the Founder and Co-director. In this interview, Dr. Schulman clarifies many details of their work on this mivtza, which the Rebbe spoke about on numerous occasions including during the Kinus HaShluchim of 5752 (1991).
BEIS MOSHIACH: WHEN AND WHY DID YOU DECIDE TO START WORKING ON THIS PROJECT?
MS: The organization was founded by my dear friend Chaim Reisner , also of Pittsburgh. It started with a few simple web pages, an email address, and an on-line guestbook. That’s how I first got involved in 1999, when I volunteered to be the web-master. It was a natural evolution from my enthusiasm for the Rebbe’s Moshiach campaign. I was working then as an advanced product development engineer, but by the time I was ready for a change of employment in 2006, I was already putting in full-time hours “on the side” as Ask Noah’s director. So I decided to devote myself to work full time on the Sheva Mitzvos outreach, while doing a little teaching and tutoring in physics and math on the side. With Hashem’s help, asknoah.org has become a major resource for worldwide Sheva Mitzvos outreach and learning on-line.
The core of the matter is that in the 1980s, the Rebbe said the time had come for his devoted followers and all Jews in relevant situations to publicize the Sheva Mitzvos to Non-Jews, because it was no longer a danger for Jews to do so. This signaled the renewed opportunity for Jews to teach the Sheva Mitzvos and Torah-based morality, openly and broadly, for the first time since the days of the Second Temple, and even back to the days of Avraham Avinu and Sara Imeinu. When I got involved in this outreach and I discovered that there were already some groups established that were taking the Sheva Mitzvos away from the derech of Torah, and teaching disinformation, it really pushed me to get more involved than I had originally planned.
BEIS MOSHIACH: WHAT HAVE BEEN SOME OF A.N.I.’S MAJOR CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE LITERATURE ON THE SHEVA MITZVOS?
MS: When Chaim Reisner and I found out that the Rebbe had instructed that there should be a “Shulchan Aruch” for the Sheva Mitzvos, it was immediately obvious to us that it had to be a primary goal for A.N.I. After a fitful start, our efforts to recruit an international team of scholars for the project converged to Rabbi Immanuel Schochet, Rabbi Eliyahu Touger, Rabbi Shimon Cowen, and Rabbi Moshe Weiner whom Rabbi Touger brought on board. At a high-level meeting in Jerusalem, we all decided that the work on the project should be put in the capable hands of Rabbi Weiner, to produce a “Shulchan Aruch” in the style of the Beis Yosef, and that the main haskama would be requested from the Gaon HaRav Zalman Nechemia Goldberg of Jerusalem. Rabbi Weiner naively estimated that he would be able to complete the project in less than a year, but as it turned out, it has taken five years of his dedicated work, supported by a modest stipend from A.N.I., to cover all the Sheva Mitzvos and the yesodei emuna (principles of faith) for B’nei Noach. A.N.I. published his Sheva Mitzvot Hashem Volume I in 2008 and Volume II at the end of 2009, and Volume III on dinim – the last mitzvah to be covered – has just been completed.
In between, we published The Divine Code Volume I as the English translation, which now covers the first two Hebrew volumes. To make the English seifer more useful for a general audience, we shortened the length of the more technical footnotes, and we added introductions to each section, including contributions from some important experts in the respective areas. Using the chapter on Prayer, which Rabbi Immanuel Schochet significantly contributed to, we also produced a pocketsize booklet called Prayers, Blessings, Principles of Faith, and Divine Service for Noahides, which has thus far been published in English and Russian. It is very popular with Noachides, and as soon as the funds become available, we have plans for an edition in Spanish. We also asked Rabbi Weiner to write a Seifer Mada – a book of fundamental spiritual knowledge specifically for Non-Jews – which would be inspired by Rambam’s Seifer Mada that is the beginning of the Mishneh Torah. This has been written in Hebrew and translated, and we are now editing it for publication.
Another unique resource is the very extensive Question-and-Answer forum on asknoah.org. With Noahides sending in questions about the issues they face on the front lines of switching to a Noachide faith and lifestyle in the midst of the deepest spiritual galus, a lot of details get attention that haven’t yet been addressed from a halachic perspective in any other place. Beyond that, I spend a great deal of time answering questions by email, and generally filling the role of mashpia and networking assistant for Noachide individuals and communities around the world. We also have a section of recommended books and selected sichos posted with permission from Sichos in English.
BEIS MOSHIACH: WOW! THIS IS FASCINATING. WHERE DOES THE TORAH DISCUSS ALL THE HUNDREDS OF HALACHOS OF THE NOACHIDE CODE THAT RABBI WIENER HAS CODIFIED?
MS: In the Rebbe’s sichos over the years, he discussed many detailed points about the Sheva Mitzvos, including some very foundational principles that impact on the whole understanding of the subject. Rabbi Weiner thoroughly studied those sichos and the sources on which they were based, and he identified the guiding principles of the Halacha for Non-Jews. He searched out an immense number of references in the Talmud and the writings of the Rishonim and Acharonim that relate to the Torah-based Noachide Code. He worked long and hard over five years, in consultation with some world-renown Torah scholars, to identify and codify the practical modern Halacha from all those sources and different opinions.
In order to determine the Torah Law for Gentiles more comprehensively than had been done in the past, Rabbi Weiner used the rulings in Rambam’s Mishneh Torah as the main foundation, since Rambam is the principle Torah-law authority in this area – as stressed by the Rebbe in a number of sichos. Rambam is nearly the only Rishon who took responsibility for a broad range of authoritative teachings in this area. There are of course exceptions that can be found, and in Sheva Mitzvot Hashem, Rabbi Weiner has extensively reviewed and explained the broad spectrum of rabbinical sources. In the cases where a majority of the other Rishon authorities and the Shulchan Aruch differ from Rambam, Rabbi Weiner identified that the Torah Law follows their teachings, and not the opinion of Rambam. All of this was a great step forward, because the few books on the Sheva Mitzvot that were published earlier were overviews that did not consider many important but lesser-studied sources.
BEIS MOSHIACH: WHO GAVE HASKAMOS ON THE FINISHED HEBREW SEIFER?
MS: Because of the highly sensitive nature of a project to codify the Torah Law for Non-Jews, Ask Noah and Rabbi Weiner approached several high-level rabbanim for their haskama and endorsement. Rav Zalman Nechemia Goldberg, a renowned Gaon and a member of the Supreme Rabbinical Court of Israel, reviewed the work in detail and had numerous halachic discussions with Rabbi Wiener. The text includes many haaros that he provided along with his haskama. The other halachic authorities who were approached, and who also gave enthusiastic haskamos, were Israel’s Chief Rabbis – Rav Yona Metzger and Rav Shlomo Moshe Amar – and Rav Yaakov Y. Eliezrov (Av Beis Din in Yerushalayim) and Rav Gedalya Dov Schwartz (Av Beis Din of the Chicago Rabbinical Council and the Rabbinical Council of America). Obviously, we sought and received very broad acceptance.
BEIS MOSHIACH: TO WHAT DEGREE HAS THE SEIFER BEEN ACCEPTED BY THE GREATER ORTHODOX JEWISH COMMUNITY?
MS: The word is getting out, including to key rabbanim, and most importantly, it has had a definite positive impact on the worldwide Noachide movement. One challenge we are facing is how to bring the seifer to the attention of Orthodox Jewry world wide, because our funds are very limited, and the extensive advertising that’s needed hasn’t yet been possible. Baruch Hashem, it has been consistently very well accepted by the Orthodox rabbis and laypersons who have read it.
It’s important for the Chabad community to know about a significant difficulty we ran into, that we weren’t expecting at all. In the spring of 2008, Rabbi Weiner was satisfied that he had finished the first volume of Sheva Mitzvot Hashem, and we thought it was ready for publication. I had been in contact from time to time with Rabbi J. David Bleich, who is a leading scholar at Yeshiva University, the Cordoza School of Law, and the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary. He has published extensively on challenging issues in modern Halacha, including timely aspects of the Sheva Mitzvos. I sent the manuscript to him to review, and the response we got back was a shock, to say the least. He had a lot of praise for the work that was done, but he raised some absolutely fundamental questions. How do we know that Non-Jews have any obligation to keep the Sheva Mitzvos as commandments from Hashem, since the only source is from the Jewish Torah? Why do Jews have any obligation to teach those mitzvos to Non-Jews? Why do Non-Jews have any obligation to accept what the Orthodox rabbis’ pasken about the Sheva Mitzvos? Rabbi Bleich wasn’t disputing those things, but he advised Rabbi Weiner that if those questions could not be convincingly answered for the overall Orthodox rabbinical community, the seifer would just be looked at as a theoretical academic exercise.
This really surprised us. From our perspective as Lubavitcher Chassidim immersed in the Rebbe’s Sheva Mitzvos campaign, it never occurred to us that it wasn’t obvious to all Orthodox rabbis outside of Lubavitch that the Sheva Mitzvos discussed in Torah Sh’b’al Peh actually represented a real halachic obligation – for Jews to teach and Non-Jews to follow. Rabbi Weiner took up this challenge, and for that entire summer he worked on the explanation of these issues, drawing heavily on the landmark sicha of Likkutei Sichos Cheilek 26, Yisro sicha 3, and the sources it was based on. This additional work was then added into the seifer as the “Mavo” section.
Beyond that, a few rabbis have had difficulty accepting, or aren’t willing to accept, one thing that’s explained in detail in Volume I – that the majority opinion of the Rishonim, and hence the halacha, holds that the doctrine of a so-called “trinity” is an idolatrous concept, and that even if a person also believes in Hashem, he commits a type of avoda zara if he does an act of worshiping any imagined power other than Hashem Himself. It’s very telling that the Noahides I’ve corresponded with who left that upbringing, and accepted the truth of Hashem Echad, are 100% in agreement with that assessment.
BEIS MOSHIACH: HOW IS A HEBREW SEIFER USEFUL TO THE NON-JEWS?
MS: The Hebrew series, Sheva Mitzvos Hashem, is provided as the foundation from which to move forward. It is being used by rabbis, including many shluchim, who have Gentiles coming to them, wanting to learn and asking questions about how to do the right things in the eyes of Hashem. It is also there for anyone who knows how to learn and wants to delve into this fascinating, and long neglected, dimension of Hashem’s Torah.
Nevertheless, the main goal all along was to have this translated into English, so it could be learned and put to use by the B’nei Noach themselves. My older son, Rabbi Yosef Schulman, took on the immense task of producing the basic translation, which Rabbi Weiner and I painstakingly edited for The Divine Code. It says in the Gemara that a Noachide who becomes a Talmud-Chacham in his Sheva Mitzvos is worthy of as much respect as a Cohen Gadol who served in the Beis HaMikdash. The Rebbe explained that a Noachide who pursues in-depth study of the Noachide Code – lishma – earns the distinction of Kesser Torah. The book The Divine Code makes that accessible for the Noachides of our time and future generations.
BEIS MOSHIACH: WHAT IS THE NOACHIDE MOVEMENT LIKE ACROSS THE WORLD? TELL US ABOUT SOME OF THE PLACES WHERE NOACHIDES LIVE WHO ARE IN CONTACT WITH YOU. DESCRIBE THE DYNAMICS OF AN AUTHENTIC NOACHIDE COMMUNITY.
MS: Noachides from all parts of the world have contacted A.N.I. The movement is growing, and it’s becoming more widely recognized and accepted. There are some local Noachide learning groups that have been solidly established for a few decades, mostly with guidance and teaching from shluchim. To facilitate that trend, we have posted a list of worldwide rabbis, mostly shluchim, who have agreed to be available as local contacts, with Sheva Mitzvos Hashem as a primary resource for answering questions from Noachides.
In places where it’s available and they have the ability, it seems that most of the Noachides go to the Internet for learning and for connecting with other Noachides. Still, A.N.I. puts a lot of emphasis on getting Noachides connected locally with each other, so they can start meeting and learning together. Once I was contacted by a Noachide woman who lived alone in a cabin in a very isolated little village in Alaska. When she told me where she lived, I was shocked when I realized that I had corresponded some time earlier with another Noachide woman from the same little village. So I introduced them to each other, and they were thrilled, because neither one had imagined that they would ever meet another Noachide in person.
In a few countries, such as the Philippines, Noachides have been successful in building large, well-organized communities. Those that have affiliated with A.N.I. look to Rabbi Weiner and Rabbi Schochet for advice and consulting, and they are learning and following the halachos and principles in The Divine Code. Ask Noah provides some short courses by email for their local study groups. It has been fascinating to help these Noachides to develop life-cycle and community resources, including marriage contracts, wedding ceremonies, baby naming ceremonies, and weekly prayer services. Another shining success is The Noachide Society of Great Britain, which has a large monthly shiur in London, led by Rabbi Yitzchok Sufrin. Members of the community in England are making progress toward establishing a Noachide day school for children. Another rabbi who we’ve consulted closely with is Rabbi Nachman Bernhard in Johannesburg, South Africa. I’m not going to mention all the local Noachide groups around the world that have affiliated with Ask Noah or who are making use of our books and other resources, but to give an idea and show some inspiring photos, we have featured some of these groups on asknoah.org.
BEIS MOSHIACH: DO NON-JEWS WANT TO CONVERT AFTER BEING EXPOSED TO THE TRUTH OF TORAH?
MS: While some Noachides aspire to eventually convert, and a few do, most are focusing on living as righteous Non-Jews. Of course we don’t encourage conversion, and we stress that non-Orthodox “conversions” should not be considered at all.
BEIS MOSHIACH: IN TERMS OF HOW A NOACHIDE CONDUCTS HIS LIFE, WHAT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT QUESTION THAT HAS BEEN ANSWERED?
MS: I think that one of the most significant impacts on our understanding of what a Noachide may or may not observe has been Rabbi Weiner’s clarification of halacha 10:10 in Rambam’s Laws of Kings, which says, “If a Ben Noach desires to perform one of the Torah’s other mitzvos in order to receive s’char, we do not prevent him from doing so in the manner of halacha.” It had been assumed by many in the Noachide movement that this meant that if a Ben Noach has in mind that he wants to get a “spiritual reward” from Hashem, it would be permitted for him to perform almost any of the ritual Jewish Mitzvos – for example, keeping a strictly kosher diet, affixing a mezuzah, wearing a tallis, or waving a lulav and esrog – with the exception of a few specially designated Mitzvos that are in the general categories of writing a mezuzah scroll, putting on t’fillin, holding back from doing any m’lacha on Shabbos, or delving deeply into Torah study.
About this misunderstanding, Rabbi Weiner clarified that beyond the Sheva Mitzvos, if a Non-Jew observes any of the 613 Mitzvos that represent a purely religious/spiritual obligation (which applies for all the Chukim and Eidus Mitzvos), this is forbidden based on the prohibition of adding a commandment, and a Non-Jew derives no spiritual reward from observing them. Rather, a Noachide is permitted to perform any Jewish commandment for which one understands that the person, or his family, or the general society will have a logical reason and a logical benefit – and that practical benefit received is the s’char that Rambam is referring to.
BEIS MOSHIACH: DO NOACHIDES HAVE HOLIDAYS?
MS: Non-Jews are definitely permitted to celebrate and commemorate secular holidays and historical events. Two examples in the U.S. would be the national Independence Day on July 4th, and Memorial Day at the end of May to honor the fallen soldiers. It’s also permissible for them to have days that are set aside by their nation for strengthening their logically incumbent precepts, such as remembering to give thanks to Hashem on Thanksgiving, or honoring parents on Mothers Day and Fathers Day, or national days for doing acts of goodness and kindness. But halachically, they should not religiously observe any “Yom Tov” for themselves, in the sense of turning its observance into their own “mitzvah” that they would have to keep, because that would violate the prohibition against adding to or subtracting from Hashem’s mitzvos that were given at Har Sinai. For Noachides, that is the prohibition against making a “chiddush das.”
So in regard to the connection that Noachides could have with the Jewish Yomim Tovim, it needed to be clarified. They aren’t allowed to dedicate a “Shabbos” type of rest day, or observe the Jewish ritual mitzvos that don’t bring them any logical, practical benefit. It’s a challenge to give over that message, because when a Non-Jew realizes on his own that the Torah is Hashem’s eternal Truth and the other religions are false, his first reaction may be to open the Chumash and start trying to do whatever he sees commanded there – starting with the Yomim Tovim, because he has abandoned the holidays of the false religions, and that leaves a void in his life and certainly in the lives of his children. So the person may start doing things like observing a Seder on the first night of Pesach, or building a sukka to dwell in during Sukkos.
Rabbi Shochet has provided a lot of guidance in that area. He explained that Noachides can choose from positive activities of their regular lives, and enhance those in honor of Shabbos or a Jewish Yom Tov. So for example, it’s permitted for them to make a nice dinner on Friday night, and light candles on the table at the start of the meal to enhance the atmosphere, and take that time to learn and discuss the weekly parsha. In terms of any connection to the Yomim Tovim, the Rebbe stressed that Rosh HaShana is the annual Day of Judgment for all mankind, so during Elul and on Rosh HaShana, Noachides also need to make a cheshbon ha’nefesh, do t’shuva, accept Hashem as their King, and pray that Hashem will give them life and provide for their needs in the coming year. Shavuos is also significant for them, because the Sheva Mitzvot were commanded at Har Sinai. It’s also logical that a Noachide can be involved with publicizing knowledge of G-d, which includes His open miracles, and an auspicious time for doing that is during Chanukah. Putting Chanukah candles in public view to publicize the miracle doesn’t have to be restricted to Jews only, but of course a Noachide shouldn’t make a bracha on lighting a menorah, because he’s not commanded to do so.
BEIS MOSHIACH: TELL US ABOUT HOW NOACHIDES CAN CELEBRATE LIFE EVENTS.
MS: Ask Noah welcomes questions pertaining to a Noachide lifestyle, and how they can honor milestones in their lives, and in their families and communities – while staying clear of traditions and ceremonies from a false religion. There is a lot of latitude there that Noachides can develop for themselves, as long as they don’t go to the other extreme and create ceremonies that are just like the Jewish tradition, or turn a particular ceremony they innovate into a new fixed religious precept. We have helped Noachides with ideas for ceremonies of naming new babies and conducting weddings. Rabbi Prof. Michael Broyde of Emory University School of Law approved our legal Living Will for Noachides, and the Rebbe explained that according to the way of the world and human nature, it’s very appropriate for Non-Jews to observe a seven-day period of mourning for their dearly departed relatives and friends, as the generation of the mabul mourned for Mesushelach. Since Noahides have an obligation to advance the awareness and observance of the Sheva Mitzvos in their societies, they can very appropriately honor a life event or a departed loved one by making a donation to support Torah-based Sheva Mitzvos outreach.
BEIS MOSHIACH: HOW HAS ASK NOAH CONTRIBUTED TO THE GROWING PHENOMENA OF NOACHIDE WEDDINGS?
MS: Early on after I started working on asknoah.org, I received a request from a young Noachide couple to help them make a Noachide wedding in Buffalo, NY. For this I turned to our North American overseeing rabbi, Rabbi Immanuel Schochet. He set down the guidelines, which you can find on the Noachide Wedding page on asknoah.org. There is no kiddushin for Non-Jews, so a rabbi who officiates should only do so as an authorized agent of the secular government, to certify the marriage in accordance with the requirements of the secular law. Beyond that, the rabbi can infuse messages into the ceremony about the religious significance of marriage, homemaking and fidelity, in the context of the Noachide Code. It seems that Rabbi Hershel Greenberg in Buffalo was the first rabbi to officiate a Noachide wedding in accordance with those guidelines. After that, Rabbi Yisroel Miller of Poale Tzedek Congregation agreed to officiate at Noachide weddings in the Pittsburgh area, and I know of at least one that he officiated at before he relocated to Canada. Since then, I’ve consulted at one level or another for a number of Noachide weddings around the world.
Another very important thing that Rabbi Schochet contributed was a text for a Noachide wedding contract. That is posted on asknoah.org, and printed in The Divine Code. A requirement is that the language of the contract needs to be verified as acceptable and binding according the secular law of the land in the place where the couple will live.
BEIS MOSHIACH: DO YOU INTRODUCE THE REBBE AND MOSHIACH, AND IF YES, HOW? HOW DO NOACHIDES REACT TO THE CONCEPTS OF A REBBE AND MOSHIACH?
MS: Those who come to the Noachide path should recognize that it was the Lubavitcher Rebbe who initiated the modern Sheva Mitzvos campaign. With thanks to Jewish Educational Media for their helpful cooperation, some key videos of the Rebbe’s sichos on the Sheva Mitzvos are linked to in the video section of asknoah.org. Non-Jews generally have great respect for the concept of a holy person, and when they learn about the Rebbe and see his pictures and videos, they see and feel that real holiness.
The Rebbe said that the obligation of educating Non-Jews in the Sheva Mitzvos now includes teaching them about Moshiach ben Dovid and that the Geula that is coming soon. The concept of a Messiah was always in the Torah, and with the Jews going back to Avraham, Yitzchok and Yaakov. Any other religions that have some concept of a Messiah or a Messianic Era took that from the Jews, and reformulated it in some different way. That’s an opening for explaining the actual Torah-based concepts about the Messiah.
BEIS MOSHIACH: CAN YOU TELL US ANY SPECIAL HASHGACHA PRATIS OR MIRACLE STORIES THAT YOU HAVE ENCOUNTERED IN YOUR WORK, OR PERHAPS STORIES ABOUT THE REBBE AND NOACHIDES?
MS: From time to time, someone writes in who has lived their whole life as a Non-Jew, practicing whatever faith they were raised in, and they have just discovered that their mother was really a Jew. In most of those cases, the person relates that all along they had an unexplained interest in Torah or anything Jewish, and maybe as a result they were drawn to the Sheva Mitzvos. Of course when this happens, we answer the person’s questions, and do what we can to encourage and help the person to get connected with his or her Yiddishkait.
Over the years with Ask Noah, I have corresponded with many hundreds of Non-Jews, including many devout Noachides. I have encountered a few Non-Jews whom the Rebbe has visited in a dream. In some cases the person had no idea who the dream-visitor was, because he or she had never seen or heard of the Rebbe. When I show these people a photo of the Rebbe, it is really a shock (to them) that this is the “Rabbi” who appeared in the dream. That strengthens my understanding of the Rebbe as the Nasi Ha’dor not just for the Jewish people, but for the whole world.
I have heard stories of Non-Jews who have shared with a shliach about some difficult personal issue or trouble, and the shliach opened an Igros to give them the Rebbe’s answer. Some very clear and successful answers were delivered that way. And likewise for those who were persuaded to send in a letter to the Ohel – some have been answered with the hoped-for change in their situation, almost immediately.
Non-Jews are encouraged to give proper charity, and a good way for them to do that is by having a pushka and putting in coins every day. If the person needs something in his or her life, like a shidduch or parnasa or help with a problem child, etc., advise them to move in the direction of the Sheva Mitzvot, and to put coins for proper charity into a pushka every day, along with a prayer to Hashem for what they need. There have been Non-Jews who have done this and seen miracles in their lives.
BEIS MOSHIACH: WHAT ARE SOME WAYS THAT SHLUCHIM AND LAY READERS CAN IMPLEMENT OUTREACH TO THE NON-JEWS IN A PRACTICAL MANNER?
MS: Obviously one can hand out or post information, but it’s a good idea to first consult on the content with those who are established and endorsed for Sheva Mitzvos outreach, or make use of the resources they provide. People are very sensitive to first impressions, and it’s possible that something in a card or a flyer could make an unintended bad impression or get taken negatively out of context, despite all of the good intentions. In all probability, the Non-Jew one meets has no prior education to look with a Torah-based perspective at the scanty information that’s being handed to him. The important thing is to make it acceptable and even appealing, to stir the person’s interest, and include an easily accessible source for more information. That’s where asknoah.org comes in.
The Rebbe advised that when you are introducing the Sheva Mitzvos to a Non-Jew, don’t start by confronting him about what he is doing wrong. Rather, let the person know that he is already doing numerous good things in his life, but these are his Seven Commandments from G-d that will never be changed or nullified, and if he adds them on to what he is doing, he will develop a more personal relationship with his Creator. As the person goes on from there to learn more, the Truth of Torah and the Noachide path will probably become obvious.
If shluchim or your readers in general want to make a shiur in the Sheva Mitzvos, the level of the material that’s taught should be appropriate for the level of the students. And of course the instructor needs to have a good understanding of the material. It’s important that the tznius and general propriety of the shiur should be kept at a high standard. If someone wants to make a shiur but doesn’t know of any interested Noachides within commuting distance, by all means, contact A.N.I. It’s quite possible that I’ve been in contact with some Noachides in your area.
One should not forget how much the Rebbe stressed that everyone, Jews and Non-Jews should be doing more acts of goodness and kindness as we get closer and closer to the Geula. Shluchim can approach the administrators of public schools, and give them the idea to make programs for students in all the grades to get involved in doing acts of goodness and kindness in their communities. These types of programs have shown great success. Children get very inspired by contests, and the school can ensure that it’s educational by awarding prizes for essays that the children submit about their “goodness and kindness” projects.
BEIS MOSHIACH: HOW DO YOU SEE THE FUTURE OF ASK NOAH? WHAT ARE FUTURE PLANS OR PROJECTS FOR THE ORGANIZATION?
MS: In the short term, we are inviting sponsorships for printing, shipping and distribution of our Noachide outreach brochures in different languages – including distribution at the Kosel! There are many thousands of Non-Jews from all over the world who pass through the Kosel each year as tourists to Israel, and almost all of them are feeling a rush of spiritual inspiration when they visit that holy site where the Sh’china resides. So it’s a great opportunity to present them with present-day information on the authentic Biblical Noachide faith that Non-Jews were taught about at that very same place, over two thousand years ago, when they came to worship Hashem by the First and the Second Battei HaMikdash.
Another important direction for Noachide outreach that is limited only by our available manpower and resources is outreach to Non-Jews in prison. I try to keep up with answering letters from inmates who have heard about Ask Noah. Most of them are searching for spiritual truth, and want to try taking on Judaism, but of course that’s neither possible nor appropriate in their situation. So either they have been referred to the Noachide Laws, or I introduce that to them. This truth often resonates with them very strongly, and certainly so if they are able to obtain a copy of The Divine Code. Rest assured that as a result, there are a good number of inmates who are now planning their future lives as law-abiding observant Noachides after they are released. I think it will greatly reduce recidivism if resources can be developed to bring this into the prisons on a larger scale.
Without giving away too much information, I’ll share in closing that we are working on the continuing upgrade and expansion of our Internet-based capabilities, and this includes moving toward pre-recorded and live video shiurim. But in our vision for Ask Noah International, we can’t be only Internet based, so the number of local Noachide classes that we facilitate is continuing to grow. All of these Noachide education activities are within the branch of our work that’s designated as United Noachide Academies®.
BEIS MOSHIACH: THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR TIME. WHERE CAN SOMEONE WHO WANTS MORE INFORMATION REACH YOU?
MS: The email address for Ask Noah International is Sevenlaws@asknoah.org.
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