I think the following is relevant for everyone, not just parents. It’s relevant for teachers, friends, and even in one’s personal growth with Hashem.

I heard b’shem (in the name of) the heintiger Lubavitcher Rebbe zt”l the following

There is an idol called Ba’al Pe’or,¹ and the way it is worshiped is that the worshiper goes in front of it and defecates.

How is it possible that people — even primitive idol worshipers — would perform such a disgusting mode of worship?

The answer, the Rebbe zt”l replied, is that originally, the worshipers of Ba’al Pe’or would sit for a long time in front of the idol and meditate so deeply that they would lose conscious control of their bodily functions. However, these original idolaters did not explain to their children what they were doing and teach them how to meditate. So, the children only saw the external actions of their parents — that they were relieving themselves in front of the idol, and the children assumed that that was the main essence of worship.

The moral is that we (Jews, and presumably Bnei Noach as well -iHN) need to educate our children by explaining deep concepts to them, not just by having them parrot our external actions. (Ad kan toichen devorov zt”l — That’s the end of the summary of what I heard in the name of the Rebbe zt”l.)

Of course, convincing our children to follow in our footsteps is a tremendous challenge. Giving them unconditional love is a good way to encourage them. But, I can say from personal experience with my own children, that each child is different.

Some of my children ended up being moderately rebellious no matter what I’ve tried, and some have ended up very frum (religious), even though I didn’t provide them with the best model parenting.

However, I have heard of particular Christian groups that do honestly support Israel and the Jews without a hidden agenda to convert Jews.  Is it possible?

Any input on this from iHN readers is appreciated.

(source: Jpost.com)

For some time there has been a controversy about Agriprocessors, the largest kosher meat plant in the United States. The media have raised questions of how workers are treated, workers’ safety and conditions in the plant. The government detained a large number of illegal workers. All of these questions concerned me. So when a mission of national Jewish leaders was organized to inspect the plant, I decided to go.

Rabbis inspect Agriprocessors
Photo: Courtesy

The mission included national leaders of the Orthodox community and the directors of kashrut agencies across the country. It represented the broad spectrum - rabbis from Agudat Yisrael, modern Orthodox, the OU, the Rabbinical Council of America, Chabad and Young Israel. Postville, Iowa is remote, the nearest airport is an hour and half away, and that’s sparsely serviced Dubuque. I had two flights canceled and got home just before Shabbat after driving hours to Chicago.

We were given free reign of the plant. Randomly, we interviewed dozens of employees, selecting them ourselves. We viewed the production lines. We spent hours inside the plant. In no way was the trip choreographed.

THE REALITY we saw was far different from that described in the press. The plant is state of the art,and workers told of us of wages beginning at $10 an hour. Benefits such as full health and dental plans kick in at 90 days. One woman from Chicago spoke of working previously at the Tyson meat plant. There she received a dollar an hour more, but told us “in this plant the work is less rigorous and the training better.”

I was most impressed from the actual kosher slaughter process. I discovered innovations that reflected the highest standards of halachic observance.

The mayor told us that if the plant fails, the local economy will be devastated. The Presbyterian minister said he has never had reports of abuse from his congregation. We questioned plant officials about safety, human resources and compliance. We heard how the plant had recently instituted the E Verification system that coordinates with the federal government to ensure that all employees are legal. Apparently this system checks the Social Security number against government records to insure all employees are who they say they are and that they are not under 18.

Some of our group, including myself, met with leaders of the local church, St. Bridget, that has historically been very critical of the plant. The rabbis suggested that they begin ongoing meetings with the plant management to investigate alleged abuses. We asked them to provide us with documentation of specific cases of worker abuse which we would bring to the attention of the plant management. We still have not heard from them, and they have nor have they responded to our request for regular meetings with the plant. Instead they continue to use the press as their mode of communication.

NONE OF the press reports have been by reporters who have been inside the plant. One JTA reporter who did visit the plant a few days before us filed a report that reaffirmed what we said. Almost all have based their stories on reports from outside sources - the church and the union which is trying to take over the plant and is being sued by Smith Food for racketeering. In Arizona, a grocery chain that has resisted the union is in court accusing it of defamation, extortion and trespass.

Some leftist Jewish organizations interested in immigration issues have joined the bandwagon. A group of non-Orthodox rabbis wants to create a new rabbinical kashrut certification, based on liberal social values instead of Halacha. Claiming to be motivated by ethics, its approach to the issue has been far from ethical - smear campaigns and demonstrations instead of the Jewish way of exploring the issues objectively and seeking solutions. It has created a battle of Jew vs. Jew, creating a show the media relishes.

While I cannot know anything about the past, I did witness myself the reality today, and it’s not what we have read in the media. It could have been that Agriprocessors grew very swiftly and management was not as strong as it could have been. Today the plant is without question state of the art, workers are treated well and there is strong attention to safety and compliance.

The writer is president of the Rabbinical Council of Orange County, California.
rabbi@ocjewish.com

iHeartNoahides.com does an interview with Rachav, who runs the Yahoo! group “Noahides,” which is a wonderful group of people. They have great resources on the Yahoo! group website, such as links and essays pictures and other goodies.

Enjoy!

List of Questions:

1. How did you find out about Bnei Noach?
2. What are the 3 highlights of your life as a Bat Noach?
3. Are there any Bnei Noach in particular that you deeply admire or greatly appreciate?
4. Same question as #3 but Jews?
5. Do you have children? If so, do they follow in your spiritual path?
6. Can you give advice to Bnei Noach parents that read this blog?
7. How many hours a day do you dedicate to running the Noahides Yahoo! group?
8. How many of the Yahoo! group members have you met in person, and how many members are there?
9. What do you think is the next big step for the Bnei Noach movement?
10. How can ordinary observant Jews best support Bnei Noach?
11. How can Bnei Noach best support observant Jews?
12. How do you usually spend your time during Shabbat?
13. When Mashiach comes, do you see yourself moving to Israel? Why or why not?

When I was learning with Reb Moshe Kantor obm (of blessed memory -iHN) he showed me the book Path of the Righteous Gentile, I had been learning with him for a few years when he showed it to me. When I wanted to buy it though, he said that I was way past it and he refused to sell it to me.

I did buy the book a few years later after he had gone to his reward when our very small Noahide group were learning with a rabbi from Chabad, and he thought it should be used as our textbook. We went a few chapters into the book but the rabbi decided that it really wasn’t all that useful.

What are the 3 highlights of your life as a Bat Noach?

That is a very difficult question to answer, nothing in particular comes to mind. It was something which happened so gradually that one day I realized that I was on the right path. There are two kinds of gentiles. Those who make up their minds very quickly and those who take a long time to do so. I am of the latter kind. It took me several years to unpick all the false beliefs I had held. The process was slow because of my rather cautious indecisive nature.

Are there any Bnei Noach in particular that you deeply admire or greatly appreciate?

Those Bnei Noah I most deeply admire and appreciate are those who want to know the truth, show loyalty, and who have a great hunger for learning what G-d wants of them.

Same question as #3 but Jews?

Ditto the same answer as above.

Do you have children? If so, do they follow in your spiritual path?

I have four children and four grandchildren. None of my children has made a conscious decision to follow the 7 Laws, my son who still lives at home keeps them without studying them. He lives a very clean and honest life and does remember very well the things he learned as a child from the wonderful Jewish children’s books I read to my two youngest children. Sometimes I need to quote something from one of those Jewish stories I read to them as children, and my son now 29, can tell which which volume and which author it comes from and will immediately find it for me. My two older children both daughters with teenage children, were raised while I was still in the church something which left them rather cynical about religion and G-d. They were from my first marriage and were quite a few years older than my two younger children a boy and a girl. Tamara my youngest daughter does occasionally ask me questions about Jewish things.

Can you give advice to Bnei Noach parents that read this blog?

The first bit of advice that I can give unreservedly is, talk with your children, I do not believe that children should be seen and not heard, which I was raised with. Listen to what they are saying to you, and know where they are really coming from. I really wish I had done this with my first two daughters, it would have saved us all a lot of grief. Respect your children. And when they are young read to them from those wonderful Jewish children’s books which are both educational and interesting.

How many hours a day do you dedicate to running the Noahides Yahoo! group?

I really cannot quantify how many hours a day I dedicate to moderating the Noahides group at Yahoogroups. I am mostly housebound, so my computer goes on in the morning usually about 9 or 10 am, and stays on until after midnight many nights. I am not at the desk constantly, I leave it running even when I go out or I am busy with other things. Sometimes I will be at the keyboard for about 8 hours a day, and other days a lot less. I put up my website several years ago, but a couple of years ago I lost my access to my original website after someone hacked into my Yahoo account. I eventually got back my yahoogroups, but lost the website, so I put up a mirror site at
http://www.geocities.com/rachav7/

How many of the Yahoo! group members have you met in person, and how many members are there?

I have met in person only one of the members, she now lives in Queensland but we were friends before we finally decided to become b’nei Noah, I made my decision first, she was crushed initially, my timing was terrible but I had to make a decision just prior to the Passover, we had annually observed the christian Lord’s supper, which precedes Passover by one night. And that was when I told her that I couldn’t partake with her. She understood, and we both cried. But our friendship survived anyway. She later had to move to Queensland because of her daughter’s need of her, we are still good friends and she does read the messages on the group, but rarely corresponds there, and we occasionally phone one another, and we are in touch by email.

I do have friendships long distance with a number of the b’nai Noah, and since we have corresponded and chatted live with yahoo internet messenger we know each other very well.

What do you think is the next big step for the Bnei Noach movement?

I really don’t see any next big steps for the Bnei Noah movement, everything has been so gradual up to now, I don’t think that our growth will really happen fast until we reach critical mass which it has not done so far. There are currently 286 members of the group, the majority do not post. That is quite typical of all Yahoogroups, only about 10% of any group ever actually posts messages on any group.
Some people write to me privately from time to time who do not post to the group.

How can ordinary observant Jews best support Bnei Noach?

The best support that observant Jews can give the Bnei Noah is to spread the information among yourselves about our existence, so that if one of these Jews encounters a Noahide they will know who they are dealing with. Mostly we have encountered a lot of suspicion, even after we explain that we are bnai Noah the majority of Jews still think that we still believe in Jesus or worse that we are missionaries in disguise, of course those fears ares not easily put to rest since many missionaries dishonestly represent themselves to Jews. Also Noahides need to be allowed to attend shiurim (Torah classes) where they can learn.

How can Bnei Noach best support observant Jews?

We can defend the Jews when we hear anti-semitism, and do our best to make the truth known about Israel’s important role.

My website has a complete section about Israel and the current problems with the islamic radicals and terrorists.
http://www.geocities.com/rachav7/Israel.html

How do you usually spend your time during Shabbat?

My day is frequently spent on the internet approving email to the group and responding to questions, I regard my role as serving HaShem when I am moderating the group. I also have the opportunity to chat live with other b’nai Noah in IM.

When Mashiach comes, do you see yourself moving to Israel? Why or why not?

I really don’t see myself moving to live in Israel when Mashiach comes, I believe that the b’nai Noah will have their hands full at that time helping the gentiles of our nations to learn about HaShem. Of course if I am still living at that time, I would love to go up to Jerusalem at the Succot Festival, as commanded by HaShem and prophesied in Zechariah 14.

הִגִּיד לְךָ אָדָם, מַה-טּוֹב; וּמָה-יְהוָה דּוֹרֵשׁ מִמְּךָ, כִּי אִם-עֲשׂוֹת מִשְׁפָּט וְאַהֲבַת חֶסֶד, וְהַצְנֵעַ לֶכֶת, עִם-אֱלֹהֶיךָ

It hath been told thee, O man, what is good, and what Hashem doth require of thee: only to do justly, and to love mercy,
and to walk humbly with thy G-d.
(Micah 6:8)

(source: tzniut)
Humility is a paramount ideal within Judaism. Moses is referred to as “exceedingly humble, more than any man in the world” (Numbers 12:3).

The Talmud states that humility is one of the characteristic traits of the Jewish people. (Talmud, Tractate Yevamot 79a.)

Tzniut (modesty) includes a group of laws concerned with modesty, in both dress and behavior. It is first mentioned in this context by the prophet Micah (6:8): “[...] and to walk humbly (hatzne’a leches) with your G-d”.

In the Babylonian Talmud, Rabbi Elazar Bar Tzadok connected this prophetic precept with modesty and discretion in dress and in behavior (Tractate Sukkah 49b).

(Let me know if you share the following dilemma...)

Dilemma

I want to be
        famous
so I can be
        humble
about being
        famous.

What good is my
        humility
when I am
        stuck
in this
        obscurity?

	-- David Budbill

Gotta love the Dry Bones

(source: Alice Johnson
hat tip: Robert)

One of the toughest aspects of becoming religious later in life is coping with how friends and family respond to this big change.

There can be a major disruption in shalom. For a lot of people this is pretty frightening for all of the obvious reasons. I have tons of respect for people who are able to shout their new views to the mountaintops. What guts. I can’t do that a hundred percent of the time without feeling quite chicken. But I’m getting better.

The other night a dear old friend was visiting along with a bunch of other friends and acquaintances. After a delicious summer dinner everyone started talking about the big election in the fall.

I hate talking politics with most people for all the obvious reasons most people hate it. To me it’s a bunch of people who aren’t really experts on anything sitting around probably offending the heck out of each other for no particularly good reason. I mean how many people are seriously going to change their vote because of one of these arguments? Am I being too cynical? Perhaps.

So the topic of Israel comes up. And the fact that I have made it clear that I am a single issue voter. I vote for the person I think will do the least amount of harm to Israel. This is not the most popular viewpoint in this circle of friends.

My dear old friend says something like this: “Are you seriously going to tell me that you believe that God spoke to this one group of people and gave them a specific piece of real estate and all of that craziness! Where is my old Alice? Where did she go?!”

I’m not exactly sure what he meant by that because I have always been a passionate supporter of Israel, which he knows. I guess he meant that there is a religious component now.

Being a hundred percent honest, that comment kind of made me want to cry because I really like this person. I looked at him and thought, “Wow. Is he drawing a line in the sand? I don’t want him to go. I hope this isn’t the end.”

So I said, “X, you have known me for fourteen years. I certainly hope I have evolved and changed as a person over that many years. You have and I love you anyway. You can believe whatever you want. I can believe whatever I want. And if you don’t like it, that’s really just tough. Go ahead and think I’m crazy.” He made it clear he does think I’m way off my rocker and loves me anyway. I think we’re OK.

Ideally, a Torah-loving person loves his fellow man, and by this I mean not just the people it’s easy to love. Ideally the more religious a person becomes the more humble they become, the more in awe of all of God’s creation they become, and the more they see that we need to be really, really exceptionally nice to one another. I love my friends, truly. I really love people in general. And the more spiritual I have become the more I feel this way, by the Grace of God.

I wonder if part of the tension between newly religious people and our friends and family who see things differently stems from fear. Maybe old friends are worried that the old you is dead. Maybe they are worried you are critiquing them. (If we actually are, maybe we should be super careful with that because it can get ugly and hypocritical.) Maybe they are worried that it’s going to get irretrievably awkward at some point. Perhaps they are worried we will try to shove our views down their throat. Maybe they need to be able to share their views with you, no holds barred, or else the friendship will be kind of fake.

Speaking of fake, maybe they are worried that you will only like them, because now you are somehow supposed to, not because you truly appreciate them for the beautiful, unique person they are.

Bnei Noach struggle often because there is very little community for us in the traditional sense of a religious community. There isn’t a building where we can check in with one another once a week to be around like-minded people who are in exactly the same position.

That’s tough for the people who were once Christians or Muslims who are accustomed to having that place and that connection to others. It’s also tough for people who are maybe looking forward to finally having that after spending their whole life without it.

Here’s a flipside to this, as I see it. This lack of community, as it were, has forced me to see the whole world as my community and to see the whole world as my house of worship. I think in many ways this meshes nicely with a Torah-centered view of the universe.

Judaism is not about checking in to a building once a week. Ideally it is in the home with you, at work with you, on the subway with you, at the restaurant with you, and, not to be gross, but with you when you leave the restroom and thank God that your body is working correctly. It is everywhere you are.

Most of my friends see the world in very different ways than I. Nevertheless, they are my community. I am so blessed, gigantically blessed, to know so many unique and fine people. I’m glad God has put me in this position. I really can not find very many people who think like me, because there are so few who do. But that doesn’t mean I don’t have community.

My community consists of people who like and love each other in spite of the fact that we don’t see the world the same way. I think that is true shalom and is a profound and beautiful thing. We are a community because we love each other for who we really are.

Great to hear your voices!

Shabbat Shalom!

If you’re a Ben or Bat Noach, count your blesings.

You are blessed with the knowledge of your heritage.
You are blessed with the knowledge of your responsibilities.
You are blessed with the knowledge of your roles.
You are blessed with the knowledge of your relationship with G-d (may it always grow).

I have Jewish campers, 5 and 6-years old who grab my tzitzit and ask me “Why do you keep wearing these strings every day?” Or “Why do you wear a kipah on your head?” Or “What are mitzvot?”

Hashem! Please bring us back to you b’rachamim, ubimhera! (with compassion and expedience)