<![CDATA[Ask Noah Q&A Forum - Ask The Academy Rabbis]]> https://www.asknoah.org/forum/ Thu, 16 Apr 2026 12:39:02 +0000 MyBB <![CDATA[A reward to Gentiles for not eating pork?]]> https://www.asknoah.org/forum/showthread.php?tid=3389 Sun, 25 Aug 2024 00:03:37 +0000 Director Michael]]> https://www.asknoah.org/forum/showthread.php?tid=3389 fact, people who say that are only looking at the first part of the Midrash, but it doesn't say that at all. And when the complete Midrash is read, one finds that it teaches exactly the opposite! It says that Gentiles will not receive a spiritual reward for refraining from eating pork, and even more so, G-d will reprimand them for expecting to receive such a reward.

See Midrash Kohelet Rabbah 1:9 (quoting from the English translation on Sefaria .org):

Quote:The Rabbis say: In the future, the Holy One blessed be He will dispatch a herald and proclaim and say: 'Anyone who has never eaten pig meat, let him come and collect his reward.' Many of the nations of the world who never ate pig meat will come to collect their reward. At that moment, the Holy One blessed be He will say: 'Shall these be rewarded in two worlds? Is it not enough that they enjoyed this world, but they seek to enjoy the world of My children, too?' At that moment, the Holy One blessed be He will dispatch a herald a second time, and proclaim and say: 'Anyone who has not eaten the meat of animal carcasses [neveilah - not killed by kosher slaughter] and mauled animals [treifah - mortally wounded or contracted a fatal illness], repugnant creatures and creeping [creatures - for example, tiny worms or thrips that cling to or burrow into fruit and vegetables, which can be found only by very close inspection] - if he did not eat of his own, he ate another's.'
]]> fact, people who say that are only looking at the first part of the Midrash, but it doesn't say that at all. And when the complete Midrash is read, one finds that it teaches exactly the opposite! It says that Gentiles will not receive a spiritual reward for refraining from eating pork, and even more so, G-d will reprimand them for expecting to receive such a reward.

See Midrash Kohelet Rabbah 1:9 (quoting from the English translation on Sefaria .org):

Quote:The Rabbis say: In the future, the Holy One blessed be He will dispatch a herald and proclaim and say: 'Anyone who has never eaten pig meat, let him come and collect his reward.' Many of the nations of the world who never ate pig meat will come to collect their reward. At that moment, the Holy One blessed be He will say: 'Shall these be rewarded in two worlds? Is it not enough that they enjoyed this world, but they seek to enjoy the world of My children, too?' At that moment, the Holy One blessed be He will dispatch a herald a second time, and proclaim and say: 'Anyone who has not eaten the meat of animal carcasses [neveilah - not killed by kosher slaughter] and mauled animals [treifah - mortally wounded or contracted a fatal illness], repugnant creatures and creeping [creatures - for example, tiny worms or thrips that cling to or burrow into fruit and vegetables, which can be found only by very close inspection] - if he did not eat of his own, he ate another's.'
]]> <![CDATA[Problems with the so-called Ger movement]]> https://www.asknoah.org/forum/showthread.php?tid=2067 Fri, 20 Oct 2017 05:40:13 +0000 Director Michael]]> https://www.asknoah.org/forum/showthread.php?tid=2067
As Executive Director of the Sheva-Mitzvot outreach organization Ask Noah International, I am supporting the following open letter from Rabbi Moshe Weiner of Jerusalem, whom this organization has been honored to accept as our Overseeing Rav beginning in 2005.

Rabbi Weiner's signed letter is posted on our web site at this address:
https://asknoah.org/wp-content/uploads/O...Weiner.pdf

Dr. Michael Schulman

--------------------------------

An Open Letter Regarding the Teachings of R' DAVID KATZ and R' CHAIM CLORFENE about "GER" and "GER TOSHAV"

R' David Katz and R' Chaim Clorfene have written and lectured on-line and in other forums. However, certain aspects of their teachings are contrary to accepted halakhah (Torah Law), in practice and understanding, as determined by the traditionally accepted Jewish Torah scholars and sages.

Particularly erroneous are their claims about the status and meaning of the Hebrew term Ger Toshav (a term with clear halakhic definition). I am obligated to point out that R' David Katz has made incorrect and misleading attempts to claim support for his teachings from my work in Hebrew titled Sheva Mitzvot HaShem. In his claims he has included statements that are exactly the opposite of what I actually wrote and intended in that work, and in my work The Divine Code.

Additionally, they have made false claims as to definitions of the Hebrew terms ger and Ger Tzedek, in places in the Written and Oral Torah texts. Their claims constitute a chiddush dat (an invented idea). Ger Tzedek only correctly refers to a person who became a Jew through undergoing the halakhic conversion process. The meaning of the term ger in Torah is always to be correctly understood in the context of how it is used, based on the mesorah (the textual meaning of the Hebrew Bible as transmitted in the Oral Tradition) and the accepted halakhah.

It is my halakhic opinion that there are teachings and writings by R’ David Katz and R' Chaim Clorfene on these matters, directed to Non-Jews, that are misrepresentations of both the obligations and nature of the overall Torah-based Noahide Code, as well as misrepresentations of Torah l'Moshe Mi'Sinai (the Torah received by Moses from G-d at Mount Sinai). This especially applies in regard to their misguided advocacy and attempted justification for some Non-Jews to take on religious observance of certain Jewish ritual mitzvot, for example, restrictions on melacha that are commanded for Jews on Shabbat. I therefore strongly repudiate their creation and advocacy of the so-called "Ger" movement, by which they have seriously misled a number of well-meaning Non-Jews.

Rabbi Moshe Weiner
Moreh Hora’ah
Author of Sheva Mitzvot HaShem v. I-III, The Divine Code, and Seven Gates of Righteous Knowledge
Overseeing Rav for Ask Noah International
October 19, 2017 / 29 Tishrei 5778]]>
As Executive Director of the Sheva-Mitzvot outreach organization Ask Noah International, I am supporting the following open letter from Rabbi Moshe Weiner of Jerusalem, whom this organization has been honored to accept as our Overseeing Rav beginning in 2005.

Rabbi Weiner's signed letter is posted on our web site at this address:
https://asknoah.org/wp-content/uploads/O...Weiner.pdf

Dr. Michael Schulman

--------------------------------

An Open Letter Regarding the Teachings of R' DAVID KATZ and R' CHAIM CLORFENE about "GER" and "GER TOSHAV"

R' David Katz and R' Chaim Clorfene have written and lectured on-line and in other forums. However, certain aspects of their teachings are contrary to accepted halakhah (Torah Law), in practice and understanding, as determined by the traditionally accepted Jewish Torah scholars and sages.

Particularly erroneous are their claims about the status and meaning of the Hebrew term Ger Toshav (a term with clear halakhic definition). I am obligated to point out that R' David Katz has made incorrect and misleading attempts to claim support for his teachings from my work in Hebrew titled Sheva Mitzvot HaShem. In his claims he has included statements that are exactly the opposite of what I actually wrote and intended in that work, and in my work The Divine Code.

Additionally, they have made false claims as to definitions of the Hebrew terms ger and Ger Tzedek, in places in the Written and Oral Torah texts. Their claims constitute a chiddush dat (an invented idea). Ger Tzedek only correctly refers to a person who became a Jew through undergoing the halakhic conversion process. The meaning of the term ger in Torah is always to be correctly understood in the context of how it is used, based on the mesorah (the textual meaning of the Hebrew Bible as transmitted in the Oral Tradition) and the accepted halakhah.

It is my halakhic opinion that there are teachings and writings by R’ David Katz and R' Chaim Clorfene on these matters, directed to Non-Jews, that are misrepresentations of both the obligations and nature of the overall Torah-based Noahide Code, as well as misrepresentations of Torah l'Moshe Mi'Sinai (the Torah received by Moses from G-d at Mount Sinai). This especially applies in regard to their misguided advocacy and attempted justification for some Non-Jews to take on religious observance of certain Jewish ritual mitzvot, for example, restrictions on melacha that are commanded for Jews on Shabbat. I therefore strongly repudiate their creation and advocacy of the so-called "Ger" movement, by which they have seriously misled a number of well-meaning Non-Jews.

Rabbi Moshe Weiner
Moreh Hora’ah
Author of Sheva Mitzvot HaShem v. I-III, The Divine Code, and Seven Gates of Righteous Knowledge
Overseeing Rav for Ask Noah International
October 19, 2017 / 29 Tishrei 5778]]> <![CDATA[cloning]]> https://www.asknoah.org/forum/showthread.php?tid=842 Thu, 08 Dec 2011 08:35:56 +0000 brandynpublic]]> https://www.asknoah.org/forum/showthread.php?tid=842 <![CDATA[Is "Kilayim" (planting mixed seeds) prohibited for Gentiles?]]> https://www.asknoah.org/forum/showthread.php?tid=616 Thu, 21 Jul 2011 19:29:16 +0000 nathanbenyosef]]> https://www.asknoah.org/forum/showthread.php?tid=616
I would like to know if the laws of KILAYM are applied to Noahides in a land outside of Israel. I am cultivating vegetables, cereals, peas and fruit trees with the "nendo dango" method (called "seedballs" in english) invented by the japanees farmer Masanobu Fukuoka (do look up for this method to understand what I am talking about, It's incredible!!!). I guess, this method would be problematic for Jews in Israel - for example: sowing different types of vegetables and cereals together in the middle of a load of other plants and trees. What about us?

Nathanael]]>
I would like to know if the laws of KILAYM are applied to Noahides in a land outside of Israel. I am cultivating vegetables, cereals, peas and fruit trees with the "nendo dango" method (called "seedballs" in english) invented by the japanees farmer Masanobu Fukuoka (do look up for this method to understand what I am talking about, It's incredible!!!). I guess, this method would be problematic for Jews in Israel - for example: sowing different types of vegetables and cereals together in the middle of a load of other plants and trees. What about us?

Nathanael]]> <![CDATA[Noahide Declarations]]> https://www.asknoah.org/forum/showthread.php?tid=3388 Mon, 23 May 2011 16:01:05 +0000 djmck]]> https://www.asknoah.org/forum/showthread.php?tid=3388 <![CDATA[Proper Speech]]> https://www.asknoah.org/forum/showthread.php?tid=474 Tue, 28 Sep 2010 12:50:20 +0000 Finch]]> https://www.asknoah.org/forum/showthread.php?tid=474
"A Lesson A Day": https://www.artscroll.com/Books/9780899063218.html

I thought I had seen a link to this on this site, but now I don't see it any longer. I purchased a copy, and it seems directed for a Jewish audience, but appears to be a good book for Noahides as well.

thanks,

JJ]]>
"A Lesson A Day": https://www.artscroll.com/Books/9780899063218.html

I thought I had seen a link to this on this site, but now I don't see it any longer. I purchased a copy, and it seems directed for a Jewish audience, but appears to be a good book for Noahides as well.

thanks,

JJ]]> <![CDATA[Questionable Artwork (Non-idolatrous)]]> https://www.asknoah.org/forum/showthread.php?tid=436 Sun, 21 Mar 2010 22:21:19 +0000 Johnzo]]> https://www.asknoah.org/forum/showthread.php?tid=436
Is it forbidden to paint or draw the nude figure with sexual organs showing, even if it is done in a non-pornographic manner? For instance, if I were to paint Adam and Chava in the garden before they ate of the Tree, would I still be required to place branches or leaves over certain areas of the body, even if the painting itself is innocent in nature?

Or another example would be if I were taking an art class, and a specific project is to paint/draw the nude figure. Is this forbidden?

I ask this because I am an artist with some ideas in mind for paintings... I also plan on going to art school in the near future, and I know nude study is required.]]>
Is it forbidden to paint or draw the nude figure with sexual organs showing, even if it is done in a non-pornographic manner? For instance, if I were to paint Adam and Chava in the garden before they ate of the Tree, would I still be required to place branches or leaves over certain areas of the body, even if the painting itself is innocent in nature?

Or another example would be if I were taking an art class, and a specific project is to paint/draw the nude figure. Is this forbidden?

I ask this because I am an artist with some ideas in mind for paintings... I also plan on going to art school in the near future, and I know nude study is required.]]> <![CDATA[Watching professional spectator sports]]> https://www.asknoah.org/forum/showthread.php?tid=412 Sun, 31 Jan 2010 04:50:31 +0000 Finch]]> https://www.asknoah.org/forum/showthread.php?tid=412
What about other contacts sports like football?]]>
What about other contacts sports like football?]]> <![CDATA[Buying From or Driving a Jew on Shabbat]]> https://www.asknoah.org/forum/showthread.php?tid=253 Tue, 31 Mar 2009 19:23:18 +0000 Teodor]]> https://www.asknoah.org/forum/showthread.php?tid=253
Sh'lom dear Director Michael and Academy Rabbis,
If a Noahide pays another gentile to drive him on the Jewish Shabbat to the Synagogue (where the Noahide is allowed by this congregation to pray with them), is a Jew allowed to sit with them in the car (while car is moving)? The Jew doesn't pay, doesn't drive and is not the initiator of the operation. The whole time, the Noahide who pays is in the car.]]>
Sh'lom dear Director Michael and Academy Rabbis,
If a Noahide pays another gentile to drive him on the Jewish Shabbat to the Synagogue (where the Noahide is allowed by this congregation to pray with them), is a Jew allowed to sit with them in the car (while car is moving)? The Jew doesn't pay, doesn't drive and is not the initiator of the operation. The whole time, the Noahide who pays is in the car.]]> <![CDATA[Taking on a Hebrew name?]]> https://www.asknoah.org/forum/showthread.php?tid=194 Sat, 04 Oct 2008 19:48:52 +0000 Sebastian-]]> https://www.asknoah.org/forum/showthread.php?tid=194
//Sebastian]]>
//Sebastian]]> <![CDATA[Exposing Misinformation about Ger, Ger-Toshav & Ger-Tzedek]]> https://www.asknoah.org/forum/showthread.php?tid=137 Thu, 28 Feb 2008 22:37:46 +0000 Nika]]> https://www.asknoah.org/forum/showthread.php?tid=137
Nika]]>
Nika]]> <![CDATA[Noahide Communities]]> https://www.asknoah.org/forum/showthread.php?tid=115 Wed, 07 Nov 2007 18:57:11 +0000 Ben_Noach_AZ]]> https://www.asknoah.org/forum/showthread.php?tid=115
Thank you for taking the time to answer our questions! Shalom!]]>
Thank you for taking the time to answer our questions! Shalom!]]> <![CDATA[Is Astrology forbidden?]]> https://www.asknoah.org/forum/showthread.php?tid=112 Sun, 21 Oct 2007 16:45:44 +0000 ProudNoachide]]> https://www.asknoah.org/forum/showthread.php?tid=112 Is Astrology forbidden?
Can one research one's and other's astrological signs (ie, scorpico, taurus and so forth) and contemplate possible personality traits and compatibilities?
And are we forbidden to read our "horoscopes" in the newspaper etc.?
I have been avoiding astrology for over 20 years and telling others to do so because I thought it was "pagan".
Thank you, ProudNoachide]]> Is Astrology forbidden?
Can one research one's and other's astrological signs (ie, scorpico, taurus and so forth) and contemplate possible personality traits and compatibilities?
And are we forbidden to read our "horoscopes" in the newspaper etc.?
I have been avoiding astrology for over 20 years and telling others to do so because I thought it was "pagan".
Thank you, ProudNoachide]]> <![CDATA[tobacco and other drug use]]> https://www.asknoah.org/forum/showthread.php?tid=104 Fri, 28 Sep 2007 20:53:38 +0000 bdschuh]]> https://www.asknoah.org/forum/showthread.php?tid=104
Is there any reason why a Noahide should not use tobacco? or to drink to drunkeness and eat gluttonously?

It is easy to say that illegal drugs would violate the seven laws.

But are we Noachides required to follow doctor advice? especially when it comes to mind altering drugs such as alcohol and tobacco?

I read that the Rabbinical Council of America has ruled that to blow smoke in someone's face is equivalent to striking them. So therefore, to take a "hit" off a cigarette would be like striking yourself.

I would love to hear that tobacco is forbidden, then I really would quit. Same with getting drunk.

God bless and happy new year,

Brian D. Schuh]]>
Is there any reason why a Noahide should not use tobacco? or to drink to drunkeness and eat gluttonously?

It is easy to say that illegal drugs would violate the seven laws.

But are we Noachides required to follow doctor advice? especially when it comes to mind altering drugs such as alcohol and tobacco?

I read that the Rabbinical Council of America has ruled that to blow smoke in someone's face is equivalent to striking them. So therefore, to take a "hit" off a cigarette would be like striking yourself.

I would love to hear that tobacco is forbidden, then I really would quit. Same with getting drunk.

God bless and happy new year,

Brian D. Schuh]]> <![CDATA[70 Biblical nations]]> https://www.asknoah.org/forum/showthread.php?tid=70 Sat, 04 Aug 2007 15:57:15 +0000 bdschuh]]> https://www.asknoah.org/forum/showthread.php?tid=70
My last name is Ashkenazic in origin. I am of Germanic descent (my father's side, mostly German). My mother is of unknown descent. And she was adopted. Would I trace my mother's family through her biological or her adoptive parents? (She was adopted at age six.)

How would I determine if a Noahide is a prophet? Are there any criteria to determine this?

I would like to study the path of the 70 paths, that was meant for me.

G-d bless,
Brian]]>
My last name is Ashkenazic in origin. I am of Germanic descent (my father's side, mostly German). My mother is of unknown descent. And she was adopted. Would I trace my mother's family through her biological or her adoptive parents? (She was adopted at age six.)

How would I determine if a Noahide is a prophet? Are there any criteria to determine this?

I would like to study the path of the 70 paths, that was meant for me.

G-d bless,
Brian]]>