One in Messiah Congregation
What happened to the 10 Commandments?
Why are we following Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, leader of the Lubavitch movement who does not believe in Yeshua / Jesus???
The U.S. Congress officially recognized the Noahide Laws in legislation
which was passed by both houses. Congress and the President of the United States,
George Bush, indicated in Public Law 102-14, 102nd Congress, that the United
States of America was founded upon the Seven Universal Laws of Noah, and that
these Laws have been the bedrock of society from the dawn of civilization.
They also acknowledged that the Seven Laws of Noah are the foundation upon
which civilization stands and that recent weakening of these principles threaten
the fabric of civilized society, and that justified preoccupation in educating
the Citizens of the United States of America and future generations is needed.
For this purpose, this Public Law designated March 26, 1991 as Education Day,U.S.A. Public Law 102-14
102d CONGRESS, 1st Session
H. J. RES. 104
JOINT RESOLUTION
To designate March 26, 1991, as Education Day, U.S.A.
Whereas Congress recognizes the historical tradition of ethical values and principles which are the basis of civilized society and upon which our great Nation was founded;
Whereas these ethical values and principles have been the bedrock of society from the dawn of civilization, when they were known as the Seven Noahide Laws;
Whereas without these ethical values and principles the edifice of civilization stands in serious peril of returning to chaos;
Whereas society is profoundly concerned with the recent weakening of these principles that has resulted in crises that beleaguer and threaten the fabric of civilized society;
Whereas the justified preoccupation with these crises must not let the citizens of this Nation lose sight of their responsibility to transmit these historical ethical values from our distinguished past to the generations of the future;
Whereas the Lubavitch movement has fostered and promoted these ethical values and principles throughout the world;
Whereas Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, leader of the Lubavitch movement, is universally respected and revered and his eighty-ninth birthday falls on March 26, 1991;
Whereas in tribute to this great spiritual leader, `the rebbe,' this, his ninetieth year will be seen as one of `education and giving,' the year in which we turn to education and charity to return the world to the moral and ethical values contained in the Seven Noahide Laws; and
Whereas this will be reflected in an international scroll of honor signed by the President of the United States and other heads of state: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That March 26, 1991, the start of the ninetieth year of Rabbi Menachem Schneerson, leader of the worldwide Lubavitch movement, is designated as `Education Day, U.S.A. '. The President is requested to issue a proclamation calling upon the people of the United States to observe such day with appropriate ceremonies and activities.
Approved March 20, 1991. Signed by George Bush, President of the United States of America
April 7, 1998
Nissan 11, 5758
The 7 Noahide Laws
Idolatry is forbidden. Man is commanded to believe in the One G-d
alone and worship only Him.
Incestuous and adulterous relations are forbidden. Human beings are
not sexual objects, nor is pleasure the ultimate goal of life.
Murder is forbidden. The life of a human being, formed in G-d's image,
is sacred.
Cursing the name of G-d is forbidden. Besides honoring and respecting
G-d, we learn from this precept that our speech must be sanctified, as that
is the distinctive sign which separated man from the animals.
Theft is forbidden. The world is not ours to do with as we please.
Eating the flesh of a living animal is forbidden. This teaches us
to be sensitive to cruelty to animals. (This was commanded to Noah for the
first time along with the permission of eating meat. The rest were already
given to Adam in the Garden of Eden.)
Mankind is commanded to establish courts of justice and a just social
order to enforce the first six laws and enact any other useful laws or customs.
Do we follow the Talmud? Here is some Talmud..
Talmud - Mas. Sanhedrin 56a
THE WHOLE DAY [OF THE TRIAL] THE WITNESSES ARE EXAMINED BY
MEANS OF A SUBSTITUTE FOR THE DIVINE NAME, THUS, MAY JOSE SMITE JOSE.1
WHEN THE TRIAL WAS FINISHED, THE ACCUSED WAS NOT EXECUTED ON THIS EVIDENCE,
BUT ALL PERSONS WERE REMOVED [FROM COURT], AND THE CHIEF WITNESS WAS TOLD,
STATE LITERALLY WHAT YOU HEARD. THEREUPON HE DID SO, [USING THE DIVINE NAME].
THE JUDGES THEN AROSE AND RENT THEIR GARMENTS, WHICH RENT WAS NOT TO BE RESEWN.
THE SECOND WITNESS STATED; I TOO HAVE HEARD THUS [BUT NOT UTTERING THE DIVINE
NAME], AND THE THIRD SAYS: I TOO HEARD THUS.
GEMARA. It has been taught: [The blasphemer is not punished]
unless he blesses the Name, by the Name2 . Whence do we know this? Samuel
said: The Writ sayeth, And he that blasphemeth [nokeb] the name of the Lord
. . . when he blasphemeth the name of the Lord, shall be put to death.3 How
do you know that the word nokeb
4 [used in the Hebrew] means a blessing?
From the verse, How shall I curse [Ekkob]5 whom
God hath not cursed;6 whilst the formal prohibition is contained in the verse,
thou shalt not revile God.7 But perhaps it means to pierce,8 as it is written,
[So Jehoiada the priest took a chest,] and bored [wa-yikkob]9 a hole in the
lid of it,10 the formal injunction against this being the verses, Ye shall
destroy the names of them [idols] out of that place. Ye shall not do so unto
the Lord your God?11 The Name must be blessed by the Name, which is
absent here. But perhaps the text refers to the putting of two slips of parchment,
each bearing the Divine Name, together, and piercing them both? In that
case one Name is pierced after the other.12 But perhaps it prohibits the engraving
of the Divine Name on the Point of a knife and piercing therewith [the Divine
Name written on a slip of parchment]? In that case, the point of the knife
pierces, not the Divine Name. But perhaps it refers to the pronunciation of
the ineffable Name, as it is written, And Moses and Aaron took these men which
are expressed [nikkebu]13 by their names;14 the formal prohibition being contained
in the verse, Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God?15 Firstly, the Name must
be blessed by the Name, which is absent here; and secondly, it is a prohibition
in the form of a positive command, which is not deemed to be a prohibition
at all.16 An alternative answer is this: The Writ saith, [And the Israelitish
woman's son] blasphemed wa-yikkob
17 [
and cursed],18 proving that blasphemy
[nokeb] denotes cursing. But perhaps it teaches that both offences must be
perpetrated?19 You cannot think so, because it is written, Bring forth him
that hath cursed,20 and not him that hath blasphemed and cursed, proving
that one offence only is alluded to.
Our Rabbis taught: [Any man that curseth his God, shall
bear his sin.21 It would have been sufficient to say], A man, etc: What
is taught by the expression any man?22 The inclusion of heathens, to whom blasphemy
is prohibited just as to Israelites, and they are executed by
decapitation; for every death penalty
decreed for the sons of Noah
is only by decapitation.23
Now, is [the prohibition of blasphemy to heathens] deduced
from this verse? But it is deduced from another, viz., The Lord, referring
to the blessing of the Divine Name.24 R. Isaac the smith25 replied;
This phrase [any man] is necessary only as teaching the inclusion of substitutes
of God's name26 , and the Baraitha is taught in accordance with R. Meir's views
For it has been taught: Any man that curseth his God shall bear his sin.27
Why is this written? Has it not already been stated, And he that blasphemeth
the name of the Lord, he shall surely be put to death?28 Because it is stated,
And he that blasphemeth the name of the Lord shall surely be put to death,
I might think that death is meted out only when the ineffable Name is employed.
Whence do I know that all substitutes [of the ineffable Name] are included
[in this law]? From the verse, Any man that curseth his God-shewing culpability
for any manner of blasphemy [even without uttering the Name, since the Name
is not mentioned in this sentence]: this is the view of R. Meir. But the Sages
maintain: [Blasphemy] with use of the ineffable Name, is punishable by death:
with the employment of substitutes, it is the object of an injunction. [but
not punishable by death].
This view [of R. Isaac the smith] conflicts with that
of R. Miyasha; for R. Miyasha said: If a heathen [son
of Noah] blasphemed, employing substitutes of the ineffable
Name, he is in the opinion of the Sages punishable by death. Why so? Because
it is written, as well the stranger, as he that is born in the land [when he
blasphemeth the name of the Lord, shall be put to death].29
This teaches that only the stranger [i.e.. a proselyte], and
the native [i.e., a natural born Israelite] must utter the ineffable Name;
but the heathen is punishable even for a substitute only
. But how does R. Meir interpret the verse, as well the stranger,
as he that is born in the land? It teaches that
the stranger and citizen are stoned, but a heathen is decapitated
. For I would think, since they are included [in the prohibition],
they are included [in the manner of execution too]: hence we are taught otherwise.
Now how does R. Isaac the smith interpret the verse, as well the stranger,
as he that is born in the land, on the view of the Rabbis?30 It teaches
that only a stranger and a native must revile the Name by the Name, but for
a heathen this is unnecessary. Why does the Torah state any man?31 The Torah
employed normal human speech.32
Our Rabbis taught: seven precepts were the sons of
Noah commanded: social laws;33 to refrain from blasphemy, idolatry; adultery;
bloodshed; robbery; and eating flesh cut from a living animal.34
____________________
(1) The witnesses, in giving testimony, do not state that they
heard the accused say, May He slay himself, uttering the actual divine
name, but use the word Jose as a substitute for the divine name. Jose
is chosen as a substitute, because it contains four letters, like the actual
Tetragrammaton, which must have been used by the blasphemer for him to be punished.
Moreover, the numerical value of Jose is the same as of Elohim (81). According
to Levy, s.v. hubhf, the first Jose hxuh stands for Jesus (**, son), and the
second is an abbreviation of ;xuh, Joseph, the Father, by which, however, God
was to be understood. The witnesses were accordingly asked whether the accused
in his blasphemy had set Jesus above God. (R. Joshua b. Karha, the author of
this saying, lived at a time when Judeo-Christians ascribed more power to Jesus
than to God.)
(2) As in the Mishnah, Jose strike Jose. Bless is here
a euphemism for curse, and is so in the whole of the ensuing discussion.
(3) Lev. XXIV, 16. The repetition shows that the Divine Name
must be cursed by the Divine Name.
(4) ceb
(5) cet
(6) Num. XXIII, 8.
(7) Ex. XXII, 27.
(8) I.e., it is a capital offence to pierce the Divine Name,
written on a slip of parchment, and thus destroy it.
(9) cehu
(10) II Kings XII, 10.
(11) Deut. XII, 3f. The interpretation is based on the juxtaposition
of the two verses; v. Mak. 22a.
(12) The knife passes successively from one slip to the other,
but one Name does not pierce the other.
(13) uceb
(14) Num. 1, 17.
(15) Deut. VI, 13, which is interpreted as a prohibition against
the unnecessary utterance of His Name.
(16) The statement, Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God, though
implying abstention from something, is nevertheless given as a positive command,
but punishment is imposed for the violation only of a direct negative precept.
(17) cehu
(18) Lev. XXIV, 11.
(19) I.e., only he who both blasphemes, that is, utters the
ineffable Name, and curses it, is executed.
(20) Ibid. XXIV, 14.
(21) Ibid. XXIV, 15.
(22) Lit., A man, a man, heb.ish ish, aht aht
(23) The only place where death is explicitly decreed for non-Israelites
is in Gen. IX, 6: Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed.
It is a general law, applicable to all, having been given in the pre-Abrahamic
era; his blood shall be shed must refer to the sword, the only death whereby
blood is shed.
(24) V. infra 56b. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying,
of every tree of the garden, thou mayest freely eat. Gen. II, 16.
Every word or phrase in this verse is separately interpreted,
the Lord teaching the prohibition of blasphemy to a Noachide.
(25) In the Talmudic period the Rabbi was an honorary official;
consequently, he had to have a private occupation e.g., R. Joshua, who came
into conflict with R. Gamaliel, was a blacksmith, (Ber. 28a.) others translate,
charcoal-burner.
(26) I.e., even if only a substitute was employed in blasphemy,
the death penalty is incurred.
(27) Lev. XXIV, 15
(28) Ibid. 16.
(29) Ibid.
(30) That a heathen too must use the ineffable Name for incurring
punishment.
(31) This is a difficulty For R. Isaac and R. Miyasha, as they
explain the opinions of the Sages. They both maintain that the culpability
of a heathen is deduced from And the Lord (God commanded etc.) When employing
substitutes, his culpability, in the view of R. Miyasha is deduced from as
well the stranger etc.; Whilst R. Isaac denies that it is punishable at all.
Hence the difficulty, why the repetition ish ish, a man, a man?
(32) I.e., no particular significance attaches to the repetition,
it being the usual idiom.
(33) I.e., to establish courts of justice, or, perhaps, to
observe social justice (Nahmanides on Gen. XXXIV, 13): Hast. Dict. (s.v.
Noachian precepts) translates
obedience to authority.
(34) These commandments may be regarded as the foundations
of all human and moral progress.
Judaism has both a national and a universal outlook in life.
In the former sense it is particularistic, setting up a people distinct and
separate from others by its peculiar religious law.
But in the latter, it recognises that moral progress and
its concomitant Divine love and approval are the privilege and obligation of
all mankind.
And hence the Talmud lays down the seven
Noachian precepts, by the observance of which all
mankind may attain spiritual perfection, and without which moral death must
inevitably ensue.
That perhaps is the idea underlying the assertion (passim)
that a heathen is liable to death for the neglect of
any of these.
The last mentioned is particularly instructive as showing the
great importance attached to the humane treatment of animals; so much so, that
it is declared to be fundamental to human righteousness.
The Jew was given 613 commandments (mitzvot), according
Another article
to the Talmud, which contain 248 positive commands and 365 negative
ones