The need for a Rabbi and related questions

[Director Michael]

I am a UK Noahide, apparently on his own in the sense of "religious" worldview, doing my best to keep the seven laws of Noah as G-d commanded them to Moses. There seems to be no one around me pursuing keeping the Noahide laws. I'm a bit of an oddity in this respect, coming up to 9 years ago (wow, time flies).

If you haven't already, you should join The Noahide Society of Great Britain, which is affiliated with Ask Noah International:

http://noahide.net/Join-Us/join-us.html

If the monthly meetings are too far away for you to attend, you should ask their director to put you in contact with the members who live closest to your location, and perhaps you can make times for local-area meetings that are close enough for you to attend. Also, contact us by email or Private Forum Message to ask about additional local contacts. Beyond that, there are ways to outreach on your own, to find other people who are interested in the Noahide path, or who or will be when they hear about it.

1) Jewish traditions states that one should find a rabbi for oneself. I'm learning mainly on my own. No study buddy. I read the Divine Code, the Chumash, and have read other books on the subject of Noahidism that are being promoted by various other groups, including texts that have been posted on-line - whatever I can get my hands on in order to learn the Torah as it concerns me as a Noahide. But I'm doing this on my own. I'm sure you know of the dangers of being on one's own and learning on one's own. I don't want to sin against G-d. But my knowledge comes from books as opposed to verbal teaching.

From what you wrote, I have the strong impression that you don't yet understand the meaning of "find a rabbi for oneself". It means that you should identify a contemporary, reliable and expert Orthodox Rabbi (in your case as a Noahide, this means expert in the authentic Torah laws for Noahides), whose rulings and teachings you are going to follow when it comes to questions of practical observance. That does not have to be a local Rabbi. It could be a Rabbi in a distant country, as long as you have access to his rulings in matters of Torah Law for Noahides, and you have a way to ask for his ruling when you have a particular question, and you can't find it answered in his approved resources that are available to you.

In your case, for example, you have "The Divine Code" by Rabbi Moshe Weiner of Jerusalem, who is the main overseeing Rabbi for Ask Noah International. If you were to decide that Rabbi Weiner will be the Rabbi whom you will "make for yourself", then you have his teachings and rulings on Torah laws for Noahides at your fingertips, in "The Divine Code", which he has authored for this very purpose. If a question arises for you on a detail of observance and you can't find answered in his book or from his approved on-line resource (asknoah.org), you can send the question to us. If his ruling on that question is already clear, we will send it to you, and if not, we will forward the question to him and get back to you ASAP with his answer.

In contradistinction to this appropriate manner of observing "find a rabbi for oneself", you are also delving into "whatever I can get my hands on in order to learn the Torah as it concerns me as a Noahide", when the real test for reliability of any text is not just that you're able to get your hands on it. Since you are claiming to "learn the Torah as it concerns me as a Noahide" from other sources that include books and/or authors [which you named off-line] that are teaching the exact opposite of the rulings of Rabbi Weiner and other reliable expert Rabbis in numerous areas, it is clear that you have not made any of those off-track authors, nor any particular reliable Rabbi, the "Rabbi whom you have made for yourself". If you would choose one reliable, expert, faithful Rabbi as your overall authority, you would have less questions.

In a way I'm accountable to no one but myself (of course, G-d is my Judge, but speaking on human terms, there's no Noahide or Rabbi to see my actions and correct or encourage me).

Then the advice is to "find a rabbi for yourself", and then envision for yourself that this Rabbi is always watching and judging what you are doing, and you yourself will know if you are following his teachings and rulings in any particular situation that you find yourself. This should motivate you to turn away from bad and do good. I do OF COURSE understand the importance of direct local human contact, and I'm not intending at all to belittle that. Ask Noah will do networking for you to try to find a reliable and helpful local Rabbi whom you can contact, for classes, meetings, or straightforward questions.

I guess part of me fears that if a Rabbi or observant Noahide were to see me, it may make things more difficult for me and my wife and other aspects of my life.

A Rabbi for "baalei teshuva" (those who take on proper observance at some point in their adult life), and/or for aspiring "baalei teshuva", knows how to teach and provide friendly support, without being judgmental. In our day and age, that is the way to help people in their journey toward serving G-d. It is very important to be headed in the right direction, even if you haven't yet gotten there fully, or if you feel that you're constrained from getting there fully by issues that you don't think you can change or improve upon.

But the fact is that even with that fear, I'm doing things on my own. And the main question is, if there is no rabbi near me, is it important that I manage to find myself a rabbi?

Yes, but AS EXPLAINED ABOVE.

How would I know if this person is my rabbi if my only communication with him may turn out to be infrequent emails and less frequent phone calls (if any)?

Again, your "Rabbi" is your Torah-law authority. You only need access to his authentic/reliable Torah-based rulings and teachings, and a channel for getting your questions answered by him, or in accordance with his teachings.

Separate from this is the need to have an observant, knowledgeable, and reliable personal *mentor* ("mashpia" in Hebrew), from whom you can get reliable advice and recommendations about your personal issues and your personal developing levels of observance and faith. This can also be a long-distance relationship, so you are welcome to be in contact with Ask Noah by email.

2) I may get radio time on a radio station where I live that has a month license (it'll only be on air for a month and mostly likely only in my area). If I get that time, what should I use it to do? Am I qualified to speak on the Noahide laws, if it is best for me to speak of them? Are there any ideas?

If you are learning from any unreliable and incorrect sources, and take them at all seriously, you should not speak on the radio or YouTube about particular points of observance or understanding of the Noahide commandments. That is because you might promote some of those incorrect teachings, and as a result, lead unknown numbers of naive people astray in regard to those issues.

3) Someone asked me about something some time ago as an idea for a Youtube video. Again, I question my own qualifications in the Noahide law. Marriage for an observant Noahide: what are the options or choices in a mainly secular (G-dless)/idolatrous culture? Should such a person just look for someone who's willing to just avoid the basic prohibitions of the Noahide law? Marrying an idolator or an atheist (which makes up so much of the culture around us) is not an ideal situation or even that healthy for the Noahide. How would I get the materials to create even a basic video to help those Noahides who may chance upon my Youtube page (no matter how small the likelihood) and be lonely and wanting as deep a relationship as possible in marriage? There was a person on Youtube stating how difficult it is to be an observant Noahide, and one reason he gave was because of the marriage/loneliness issue. Can you help me give a response?

Finding a Noahide spouse can still be a big challenge at this point in time, meaning at this point in the Noahide movement. Definitely it's a test, but just think of the righteous Noahide Joseph, the son of Jacob, who faithfully endured 20 years of adult bachelorhood in the morally corrupt, idolatrous and tempting land of Egypt, before he was joined with a righteous woman for marriage. But in our time there are Noahides (including many Noahide singles) all over the world, and it is a matter of networking to find them. There is a very reasonable chance that there are one or more Noahides right in your immediate area, and you're not aware of each other. But maybe those Noahides are also in contact with Ask Noah. That is how Ask Noah can provide networking services.

If you are looking for materials for a making YouTube video featuring authentic Torah-based advice for Noahides, you can cite teachings from "The Divine Code" by Rabbi Moshe Weiner, and from our web site, https://asknoah.org