By: Rabbi Moshe Ben-Chaim
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
JewishPress
Maimonides (Rambam), one of the world’s greatest minds, was more accomplished in Torah thought and codification than any rabbi alive today. It is no wonder that Rabbi Yosef Caro based much of the Shulchan Aruch on Rambam’s positions.
Maimonides praised Aristotle as reaching the height of intellectual perfection. He did not offer this praise about a Jew. So we wonder: Do some Jews have it wrong if they consider gentiles “second-rate humans”? Was Maimonides correct in his praise of a gentile?
Too often we hear the term “Jewish soul” used as an expression of baseless Jewish arrogance. Others accept the belief that God literally blew a “piece” of Himself into man, derived from such verses as “He breathed into his nostrils a living soul” (Gen. 2:7) and “…God created man in His image; in the form of God He create him [man]…” (ibid, 1:27).
Certainly Maimonides, Ramban, Rashi, Unkelos and virtually all other leading rabbis considered such anthropomorphisms to be false and heretical, and so we must therefore fully understand why these geniuses reinterpreted those verses – and then we must adopt these truths for ourselves.
Maimonides teaches that since God is not physical, He possesses no physical qualities (13 Principles; Principle III; Yesodei HaTorah 1:7) All rabbis agree – God has no “parts”; thus, metaphors like the “tzelem Elokim” (“form of God”) placed in man must be understood as simply indicating the higher status humans enjoy over all other creations.
God attached His name to the phrase “tzelem Elokim” to underscore the great potential of our souls. For only with our souls can we learn about God. But in no way can God have parts, and, therefore, man’s attempt to abandon responsibility by feeling God is “inside” him is a fallacy. (This pantheistic view has led Jews to believe that God existed even inside sin, as well as other absurdities.)
Ironically, Jews claiming Jewish “superior” souls contradict themselves, since they derive this view from the verses cited above – which address the “gentile” Adam Harishon.
God’s selection of the convert Ruth as the forerunner of our future Messiah and of Kings David and Solomon clearly teaches us that God finds no favorite in the Jew. In fact, God created man only once, and all humans are direct descendants of that first gentile couple. God never recreated man or the soul, giving the Jew some kind of new and improved model.
We all share the exact same design and potential. It was only due to mankind’s idolatrous sins and Abraham’s monotheistic lifestyle that God selected Abraham and his children to receive and guard the Torah…for all mankind. God’s plan was, and remains, that “All sons of flesh call His name.” (Alenu prayer) Further, since God planned to give His Torah to descendants of gentiles, this means that gentiles are fully capable of practicing Judaism and obtaining Torah perfection. The born Jew has no advantage.
It is not the receipt of Torah that perfects humans, but our adherence to its commands – and this applies to Jew and gentile alike. Human perfection is not a Jewish birthright, but a human accomplishment, available to all God’s creatures.
If a gentile is wise, he will love the Torah as does a knowledgeable Jew, and he will take on more than his mere seven Noachide laws. He will see that God’s commands perfect a human, and he will wish to share in that lot. Gentile converts throughout history showed themselves as the wisest members of their cultures – and ours – with many becoming great Jewish leaders.
Those seven commands are not a limit for the gentile or, as some say, “their” system. The Noachide laws are the bare essentials that entitle a human being to retain his right to life. Noachide laws are a starting point rather than an exalted destination. Since the gentile is no different from the Jew, he too benefits equally by adhering to the Torah’s commands, as the Torah teaches: “One Torah and one statute you shall have for yourselves, and the convert who dwells among you.” (Numb. 15:16, Exod. 12:49) This proves all humans share the identical design and potential.
The view that converts always had some Jewish “spark” is equally arrogant and baseless. All the Talmud means by “future Jews and future converts are also part of the covenant” (Shavuos 39a) is that any person who sees the truth of Torah is “as if” he or she witnessed Revelation, which proves Torah beyond all doubt. Just as those witnessing Sinai lost all doubt of God’s existence and the Divine nature of Judaism, those today who realize this truth are “as if” they too stood at Sinai. Equally true: a Jew today who abandons Torah is “as if” he was not at Sinai.
Abraham was no more Jewish than Sodom’s sinful inhabitants who were annihilated by God. But Abraham’s difference was in his use of his tzelem Elokim, extricating himself through reason alone from an idolatrous youth and discovering and teaching monotheism to his fellow man. He viewed all humans as equal expressions of God’s will. All men are created equal.
Abraham was a prophet, and more perfected than anyone alive today, Jews – even rabbis – included. He was not born Jewish, yet God loved him. The Talmud (Sanhedrin 59a states: “A gentile who studies Torah is akin to a High Priest.” And the prophet Isaiah 2:2 teaches that in messianic times gentiles will literally stream to Jerusalem to learn Torah.
But gentiles cannot simply wake up one day and desire Torah – and therefore Moshiach cannot arrive – if Jews hide the Torah from gentiles by voicing acceptance of other religions. No, that deludes gentiles into believing we view their religions on par with Torah.
The Torah teaches, “From a false matter distance yourself” (Exodus 23:7). Hence we must be honest and clear: Judaism views all other religions as imposters, since no other religion was God-given.
This explains why others preach faith, not proof as does Judaism. Our core tenet is that Judaism alone is divine, proven by the mass witnesses at Sinai – the same manner in which all history is proven. Mass revelation is absent in literally all other religions, and that is why we do not accept their baseless claims.
If we recognize any other religion, we violate God’s words: “Do not add to it [Torah] and do not subtract from it” (Deuteronomy 13:1). All other religions defy this fundamental directive of God in their addition to or subtraction of Torah law.
Again, God said, “One Torah…for yourselves, and the convert.” This means no other laws are acceptable, for any people.
One other popular misquotation used to support Jewish superiority stems from a gross misreading of Job 31:1,2: “A treaty have I made with my eyes; for what shall I gaze at a virgin? And what portion of God above shall I have, and an inheritance of God on high?” Job rightfully defends himself, claiming that he never gazed at a woman for any reason other than examining her qualities to determine if she was a fit bride for his sons. For by gazing longer, it would be out of lust, and he would forfeit his share of God’s reward.
But many misquote this verse, isolating the words “portion of God above” (“chelek Elokim mima’al”) to mean that God placed a “part of Himself” into man: truly an inexcusable corruption of Torah. This is also an outright denial of our greatest rabbis, who state such beliefs forfeit our olam haba, our afterlife.
And this all in the name of feeling that as Jews, we are better? Since when does illiteracy and denial of God’s Torah and rabbis elevate one’s soul over the gentile?
It was Ruth’s humility that attracted Boaz. In truth, Jewish arrogance is the exact opposite trait of that which Ruth the convert expressed and which earned her the selected role as ancestor of our great kings David and Solomon, and of the Messiah.
Think about that – our daily prayers (Psalms), our greatest kings, and our soon-to-be Messiah are all due to the gentile Ruth. God does not favor a person simply because his or her parents are Jews, for this is no merit to a sinful person. And God has no disdain for the gentile, as we see in God’s selection of Ruth, and in Maimonides’s praise of Aristotle.
God did not create gentile and Jew; He simply created “man and woman.” The “Jew” was not a new creation, but simply a new designation, affixed to the same original design. Each human being possesses equal potential to achieve perfection and God’s love.
May we abandon false ideas of Jewish superiority and ego gratification, and replace them with the humble truth that God created every human with a soul for a reason – and that He loves all His creations equally.
“One Torah…for yourselves, and the convert.”
Rabbi Moshe Ben-Chaim is founder of Mesorah.org.
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