Tag Archives: Anti-Zionism

Gentiles Becoming Jews

The Haftarah for this week’s parasha, Beha’alotkha, is a passage from the prophet Zechariah in which we read that in the End of Days, “many nations will attach themselves to Hashem and become [part of] My people, and I shall dwell among you…” (2:15) This is reminiscent of a more famous verse later in Zechariah: “In those days, ten people from nations of every tongue will take hold—they will take hold of every Jew by a corner of their cloak and say, ‘Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.’” (8:23) What we find in these verses is that in the lead-up to the Messianic Age, many nations will start to realize the truth of Hashem and His Torah and wish to learn with the Jewish people and even become Jews themselves. Today, we are living the fulfilment of this prophecy and witnessing mass-conversions and similar “Judafying” trends all over the world.

Semei Kakungulu

One of the first such notable cases was that of Semei Kakungulu of the Baganda tribe in Africa about a century ago. Kakungulu had converted to Christianity in his youth, before becoming a powerful British-backed chief and warlord. Later in life, Kakungulu took a deep dive into the Bible and started to find inconsistencies and errors in the New Testament. According to legend, he isolated himself in a room and emerged some time later having thrown out the New Testament and declaring only the “Old” to be true. He then circumcised himself and his son and started to live according to Torah law. In 1925, a group of Orthodox Jews passed by Kakungulu’s village, and ended up staying to teach the locals proper Jewish laws and practices, including shechitah and prayer services. By the end of his life, Kakungulu had inspired 8,000 Africans to join him and built a network of 36 synagogues. Despite challenges and persecutions over the subsequent decades, today there are still some 2,000 of them in Uganda (called Abayudaya), and the community is recovering and growing.

A more recent case is that of Segundo Villaneuva of Peru. Like Kakungulu, he found many inconsistencies in the New Testament, and ultimately ended up immersing in Torah. He started his own community, called Bnei Moshe, which soon grew to over 500 people. In 1989, Villaneuva and 160 others completed Orthodox conversions, and the following year made aliyah. Two more waves of conversions and aliyahs followed. Villaneuva’s story inspired many more Latin American communities to embrace Judaism, and it is estimated that there are now 60 such communities across 14 countries in the region.

Parallel to this are many Christian communities that are not abandoning their core beliefs, but still choosing to transition towards traditional Torah observance. This isn’t new, and groups like Seventh-Day Adventists (currently numbered at 21 million around the world) long ago switched to a kosher-style diet and Sabbath observance on Saturday. The Evangelical “Living Church of God”—with 400 congregations around the world and over 10,000 members—commemorate Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, along with the three regalim, and have embraced other Jewish practices. Similar to them are the 8,000 or so Brazilians that are Pentecostal Christians but keep a host of Orthodox Jewish laws, down to circumcision, going to the mikveh, covering their hair, and eating kosher. While these communities still retain their wayward Christian beliefs, they are nonetheless starting to wake up to the truth and shifting in the right direction. Even the Pope said (in a 2018 interview) that more people should keep Shabbat like Jews do! I believe all of this, too, is a fulfilment of Zechariah’s vision.

Of course, mention must be made of the rapidly growing Noahide movement. The Bnei Noach are righteous people who choose to abide by the Torah’s Noahide Laws, without converting to Judaism. It is estimated that there are between 20,000 and 50,000 Noahides around the world today, and the unofficial number could be much higher. The Lubavitcher Rebbe played a key role in launching the Noahide movement, and was particularly adamant about educating non-Jews about the Noahide Laws. He hoped to make the Noahide Laws the backbone of all societies and legal systems, and famously corresponded with President Reagan on this matter.

Rethinking Conversion

Today there are converts to Judaism from all over the globe, from hundreds of different ethnicities and cultures. This includes Palestinians from Gaza, even a former Hamas terrorist, and the famous case of Abraham Sinai, a one-time Shia Hezbollah terrorist who ended up becoming a rabbi! Many African-Americans are converting to Judaism, including the well-known cases of NBA superstar Amar’e Stoudemire (now Yehoshafat) and musician Nissim Black.

This ties right back to our parasha, in which the Torah tells us that Moses married a Cushite woman. While there are certainly numerous differing interpretations of what exactly happened there, the simple pshat seems to be that Moses married a black woman and Miriam apparently had a problem with this. In turn, measure-for-measure, God punished Miriam by making her skin “snow-white” (Numbers 12:10). Perhaps God was sending Miriam a message: you’re not so white yourself! We should remember the words of the prophet Amos (9:7) in which God declares: “Are you children of Israel not like the children of Cush to Me?” (הֲלוֹא כִבְנֵי כֻשִׁיִּים אַתֶּם לִי בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל נְאֻם־יְהֹוָה) We must not forget that all human beings were made in the image of God, and every person is precious in Hashem’s eyes. Indeed, the Midrash states in several places:

I bring Heaven and Earth to witness that the Divine Spirit may rest upon a non-Jew as well as a Jew, upon a woman as well as a man, upon a maidservant as well as a manservant—all depends on the deeds of the particular individual. (Yalkut Shimoni II, 42; Eliyahu Rabbah 9)

מעיד אני עלי את השמים ואת הארץ, בין גוי בין ישראל, בין איש בין אשה, בין עבד בין שפחה,
הכל לפי מעשיו של אדם רוח הקדש שורה עליו

Just about everyone agrees that we are in the Ikvot haMashiach, on the doorstep of the Messianic Age, and our dear prophets told us long ago to expect in these days that many people will wish to join Israel. We are living this time now, and we must do everything possible to welcome more people into the Jewish fold. The Orthodox world urgently needs to rethink how conversions are carried out: to simplify and soften the process, to remove the unnecessary roadblocks and red tape, and to make it easier (and more pleasant) for people to become Jewish—in fulfilment of prophecy. Let’s not forget what our Sages said in the Talmud that “Israel was exiled among the nations only to draw converts” (Pesachim 87b). Indeed, the actual laws of conversion according to the Talmud, Mishneh Torah, and other ancient halakhic sources is very simple and straight-forward, and could even be done in a single day! If Hillel could famously convert a man “while standing on one foot” (Shabbat 31a), there’s no reason why we can’t.

Some worry about the consequences of such an approach, namely that it will result in inauthentic or “fake” Jews. The truth is, as our Sages state in multiple places, all you need to be considered a bona fide “Jew” is to reject idolatry! In Megillah 13a it says “anyone who spurns idolatry is called a Yehudi” (שֶׁכׇּל הַכּוֹפֵר בַּעֲבוֹדָה זָרָה נִקְרָא ״יְהוּדִי״) while Nedarim 25a says “so grave is idolatry that anyone who rejects it is considered to have acknowledged the entire Torah” (חֲמוּרָה עֲבוֹדָה זָרָה, שֶׁכׇּל הַכּוֹפֵר בָּהּ — כְּאִילּוּ מוֹדֶה בַּתּוֹרָה כּוּלָּהּ). Others pose a similar argument that loosening conversion standards will “dilute” Judaism and result in more secularism and less Torah observance. The reality is that some 90% of the Jewish world is already secular anyway, so what difference does it really make? On the contrary, in absolute terms you will have more potential for Torah observance and Torah learning, plus a larger number of people overall keeping mitzvot and doing good, going to shuls, giving tzedakah, supporting Israel, and so on.

In short, the positives far outweigh the potential negatives. And at the very least, it will lessen the scourge of antisemitism, and will serve to strengthen our nation through sheer numbers. At the moment, Jewish people are easy to pick on because there are very few of us. For instance, we are outnumbered about 100 to 1 by Muslims, and this is one reason why Muslims have little fear in abusing Jews around the world, and why many Jews fear their far-more-numerous Muslim neighbours. In recent months, Jews have sadly been taking down their mezuzot and hiding their Star of David necklaces. This wouldn’t be the case if we weren’t so terribly outnumbered. If every other house in the world had a mezuzah, there would be no fear in displaying one. If half the university was made up of Jewish students, there would be no fear of going to class (nor would there be such flagrant, raging anti-Israel protestors shutting down the campus).

Judaism has never really been a missionary religion, but perhaps it’s time to change that. After all, Moshe Rabbeinu told us that when the nations of the world hear Torah, they will be inspired and say “Surely, this great nation must be a wise and discerning people!” (Deuteronomy 4:6) And Isaiah predicted that in the End of Days, we will no longer be a small people serving God, but shall become a “light unto the nations, so that My salvation should reach the ends of the Earth.” (Isaiah 49:6) The verses are clear and unambiguous: it’s time to spread Torah openly and outwardly, to all the nations, to every corner of the planet. The world is thirsty for it, and needs it now more than ever.

Rav Yitzchak Ginsburgh, too, argues that now is the time for the “Fourth Revolution in Torah Learning”: The first revolution was putting the Oral Law into written form—which had previously been forbidden. Nearly two thousand years ago, the Sages decided it was time to break that taboo and record the Oral Torah. The result, of course, was entirely positive, and resulted in an explosion of Torah learning. The second revolution was allowing Torah to become “one’s trade”, and have full-time Torah scholars and rabbis. This was originally unheard of, and Torah scholars in previous generations all had jobs and businesses of their own. However, changes in society necessitated having dedicated people who are full-time facilitators of Torah and mitzvot for the community. We wouldn’t be able to have the beautiful Jewish communities we have today without full-time rabbis. The third revolution came in the late 1800s, when advanced Torah study was finally opened up for women. Now, Rav Ginsburgh says, we are on the cusp of the fourth revolution, to teach Torah to the non-Jewish world, and this is the key for bringing about the Final Redemption.

Coming back to this week’s parasha, we read that “when a stranger who resides with you offers a Passover sacrifice to God, it must be offered in accordance with the rules and rites of the Passover offering. There shall be one law for you, for the stranger, and the citizen of the land.” (Numbers 9:14) The Torah says that even foreigners and those non-Jews dwelling among us could participate in Passover. Meanwhile, Zechariah describes that following the final war of Gog u’Magog, which will see a coalition of nations from around the world seek to destroy Israel, those same nations will be required to “pilgrimage to Jerusalem from year to year to bow to the King, God of Hosts, and celebrate the holiday of Sukkot.” (14:16) The Torah is inviting the nations of the world to join the Jews. Let’s extend that invitation, welcome with open arms all those who seek Hashem, and bring the whole world one step closer to Geulah.

The Truth About Jewish-Muslim History

It is often said today that Muslim-Jewish relations were always good before Zionism and the State of Israel, and that Jews and Muslims historically lived in peace. Is this notion true? Find out in this class, as we dive into an eye-opening letter written by the Rambam to the Jews of Yemen in the 12th century, uncover what Islam really preaches about Jews, and conclude with an incredible prophecy from the Zohar that has come true right before our eyes in recent years.

For a previous class on ‘Judaism vs. Islam’, see here.
For more on Saddam Hussein and ‘The Significance of Babylon in Judaism’, see here.

Understanding Chabad and 770

770 Eastern Parkway, global headquarters of Chabad

At the start of this week’s parasha, Vayetze, Jacob sees a vision of a Heavenly Ladder and receives a blessing from God. He is told: “you shall break out [u’faratzta] westward and eastward and northward and southward; and through you shall be blessed all the families of the Earth and through your seed.” (Genesis 28:14) The term u’faratzta, translated as “break out” or “gain strength” or “spread out”, is something of a slogan and rallying cry among Chabad Hasidim, who’ve made it their mission to bring Judaism to every corner of the globe, “westward, eastward, northward, southward”. It has further significance for Chabad because the verb faratzta (פרצת) has a numerical value of 770, as if alluding to Chabad headquarters at 770 Eastern Parkway in Brooklyn. It was the seventh and last Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson (1902-1994), who transformed Chabad from a small Hasidic group into an international phenomenon. What was his vision? Why did he want to put a “Chabad House” within reach of every Jew around the globe? And what does it really have to do with bringing Mashiach and the Final Redemption?

The sixth and seventh Lubavitcher Rebbes.

In 1940, the previous Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn (1880-1950) arrived in New York City, having fled Warsaw following the Nazi invasion. As the Rebbe was in a wheelchair, he needed an accessible home. A former medical office at 770 Eastern Parkway was the perfect choice, and was purchased for him to live in and to serve as the Chabad main office. His son-in-law (who would become the next Rebbe in 1951) arrived the following year, was put in charge of Chabad’s educational arm, Merkos L’Inyonei Chinuch, and got some office space on the first floor, too. He would take over the movement in those critical years following the Holocaust and the founding of the State of Israel. While his predecessors were officially “anti-Zionist”, the new Lubavitcher Rebbe took a different approach, engaging closely with the State and advising its leaders regularly. While he never visited Israel, he actually never left New York at all from the time he became Rebbe. The groundbreaking events that took place in the years before he took on Chabad leadership had an indelible impact on his vision and philosophy. He was convinced that the time for Redemption had arrived, and he made it clear in his very first discourse, Basi l’Gani.

The Rebbe explained that the seventh generation of Chabad had begun, as he was the seventh rebbe since the Alter Rebbe, Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi (1745-1812), the founder of Chabad. This was comparable to Moses, the seventh generation from Abraham. It was that seventh generation of Moses, the “First Redeemer”, that merited the divine revelation at Mount Sinai. So, too, the Rebbe said, this seventh generation of Chabad would live to see the final divine revelation with Mashiach, the “Final Redeemer”. In his first discourse, the Rebbe made clear that “The spiritual task of the seventh generation is to draw down the Shekhinah truly below…” The Divine Presence must be made manifest in this material world. How is this to be done? The Rebbe said we must remember that “the quality of the seventh of a series is merely that he is seventh to the first” so we must look to the initial mission of the first generation, and finish the job now in the seventh. We must be like the first generation, “like Abraham: arriving in places where nothing was known of Godliness, nothing was known of Judaism, nothing was even known of the alef beit, and while there setting oneself completely aside [to call in God’s Name, as Abraham did].” Torah, mitzvot, and knowledge of God has to be spread as far and wide as possible, u’faratzta!

The Rebbe saw the events of the previous years as being a fulfilment of ancient prophecies about the End of Days, and thus the time was ripe for Redemption. He concluded his discourse like this: “Since we have already experienced all these things, everything now depends only on us—the seventh generation.” Henceforth, his entire mission was centered around bringing that Redemption. A decade later, however, no Redemption had arrived. The Rebbe understood that we must not be doing enough, and need to double down our efforts. In a discourse on Lag b’Omer 1962, the Rebbe explained that we all must be like Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai (“Rashbi”, whose mystical teachings we celebrate on Lag b’Omer):

[Rabbi Shimon] did not wait until he saw a problem, and then set out to correct it. Instead, he sought out problems to correct, asking others: “Is there anything that I could rectify?” And when he was told that there was a place which priests avoided because of a question of ritual impurity, he set out to correct the difficulty. Although the question involved impurity contracted from a human corpse—the most serious form of ritual impurity—Rabbi Shimon was able to make the place suitable even for priests. (Likkutei Sichos, Vol. VIII, pg. 131)

The Rebbe explained that Rashbi was not afraid to go to places of great impurity in order to affect spiritual rectifications. Moreover, the Rebbe continued:

Our Sages also quote Rabbi Shimon as saying: “I can acquit every Jew from the attribute of judgement.” Although there are people who have committed undesirable acts, Rabbi Shimon was able to find grounds for their defense… Rabbi Shimon was willing and able to descend to such a low level because he was among “the superior men who are few in number.”

In other words, Rashbi was one of the first “kiruv rabbis” who went out of his way to reach out to wayward and unobservant Jews. He would see every Jew in a positive light, and find a redeeming quality within them. He would find sinners and help them get back on the right path. He could descend even to the lowest places on Earth without fear of being sullied by the impure surroundings. This has become a fundamental of Chabad philosophy, with Chabad emissaries showing unparalleled ahavat Israel and being widely beloved for their non-judgemental attitude and open arms, along with a willingness to connect with all kinds of Jews on every street corner. Finally, the Rebbe concluded:

… the stories about Rabbi Shimon’s conduct serve as a directive for every Jew in later generations. This has been particularly true ever since the teachings of Pnimiyus haTorah [inner mystical dimensions of Torah], the wisdom of Rabbi Shimon, were revealed. Following Rabbi Shimon’s example, it is necessary for us to “spread the wellsprings outward” to join the two ends of the spiritual spectrum… and spread the “water” to the most extreme peripheries. This will prepare the world for the coming of Mashiach, who will likewise join two extremes… the Redemption will come when the outlook of Rabbi Shimon—who stood above the destruction of the Beit HaMikdash—is spread throughout the world. Rabbi Shimon’s teachings must be spread everywhere, even in places which need correction, even in places which are ritually impure…

The Rebbe here was alluding to a well-known story about the Baal Shem Tov, Rabbi Israel ben Eliezer (1698-1760, founder of Hasidism), who described in a letter how he ascended to Heaven and met Mashiach. When the Baal Shem Tov asked Mashiach when he would come, Mashiach replied that he would come when the Baal Shem Tov’s “wellsprings”, his mystical teachings, would spread worldwide. In this discourse, the Rebbe took things a step further in saying that the wellsprings must spread not only to established Jewish communities around the world or to other receptive audiences, but everywhere, “to the most extreme peripheries”, to the most impure of places.

While the Rebbe had sent emissaries (“shluchim”) to various communities from the very start of his tenure, now he was going to send them even to places of impurity, immorality, and secularism. In 1965, he sent Rabbi Shlomo Cunin to Los Angeles to work specifically with university students, plunging him into the heart of the liberal world at the height of the hippie movement. Four years later, Rabbi Cunin established the first official “Chabad House” at UCLA. In 1972, on his 70th birthday, the Rebbe famously requested a gift from his Hasidim: to open up another 71 Chabad Houses before his 71st birthday! That same year, Rabbi Cunin expanded to UC Berkeley and UC San Diego. The model was quickly replicated around the world, and the rest is history. Today, there are over 5000 Chabad Houses and Chabad institutions in over 100 countries.

While each Chabad institution is really stand-alone and is expected to raise its own funds and manage its own activities, the overall movement is still centrally-run and guided from 770 Eastern Parkway. The headquarters has become something of a shrine and temple of its own. Replicas of the building have been built in other parts of the world, including Jerusalem and Australia. Of course, many within Chabad believe the Rebbe to have been Mashiach (a question we addressed before here), and find proof within the fact that 770 is the value of “Mashiach’s House” (בית משיח), and more support in that the house is in Brooklyn’s Crown Heights neighbourhood. Some within Chabad believe that when Mashiach comes, 770 will be miraculously transported to Jerusalem. A minority fringe has even associated it with the Third Temple itself!

Replicas of 770 in Melbourne, Australia; and in Kfar Chabad and Jerusalem, Israel

Now, there is no doubt that the Lubavitcher Rebbe was a complete tzadik and did more for kiruv in absolute terms than anyone else in history. Nor is there any doubt that no one has done more to bring the Redemption than he did. It is pretty safe to say that while he was alive, he was probably the “presumptive messiah” of the generation, and it is clear from his own teachings that he hoped himself to be as well. Alas, it wasn’t meant to be. The Rebbe delivered a difficult speech in April 1991 where he seemingly “gave up”, and left his Hasidim totally confounded. Elderly and frail, just months before suffering a debilitating stroke that left him unable to speak and partially paralyzed, the tearful Rebbe said:

How is it that the Redemption has not yet been attained? That despite all that has transpired and all that has been done, Mashiach has still not come? What more can I do? I have done all I can to bring the world to truly demand and clamour for the Redemption…The only thing that remains for me to do is to give over the matter to you. Do all that is in your power to achieve this thing—a most sublime and transcendent light that needs to be brought down into our world… I have done all I can. I give it over to you. Do all that you can to bring the righteous redeemer, immediately! I have done my part. From this point on, all is in your hands…

Sadly, the Rebbe passed away three years later. Nonetheless, within Chabad there are still those who believe the Rebbe is somehow Mashiach, despite the fact that he has been gone for nearly three decades. Some go even further and hold him to have some kind of divine status. No one is quite sure how prevalent these beliefs are within Chabad, and whether they are subsiding or actually growing stronger. Some say it is only a vocal tiny minority that continues to believe, while others argue there is definitely a silent majority. This puts Chabad in a precarious position:

On the one hand, Chabad is the most successful Jewish organization of all time, with massive resources and many adherents, with branches all over the world touching just about every Jewish community. (A 2005 survey found that over a million Jews attend a Chabad service at least once a year.) Chabad is an absolute success, and has the potential to become the dominant form of Judaism worldwide.

On the other hand, if the messianic fervour does not dissipate, or if it gets stronger, Chabad risks following in the footsteps of other Jewish messianic sects that ended up splitting into their own religions over time, forever waiting for the “second coming” of their messiah. Much depends on Chabad leadership, and what will happen as the older generation passes on and is replaced by younger idealists. It remains to be seen which of the two possibilities materialize in the coming decades: will Chabad save Judaism, or will it fracture it? As someone who had his bar mitzvah at a Chabad synagogue, was married by a Chabad rabbi (alongside a Bukharian one), prayed with a Chabad minyan for many years, and still occasionally participates in Chabad services, I very much hope that it will be the former.