Muslims do not pray to the same God that the Jews pray to. Allah is the false god of Islam and not Hashem, the God of the Jewish Bible.
“After Hashem, your God, shall you walk and Him shall you fear, His commandments shall you observe, and to His voice shall you hearken, Him shall you serve, and to Him shall you cleave.” (Deut. 13:5)
“But not new commandments devised by a prophet” (Commentary by rabbinic sage Sforno on Deut. 13:5)
Jews should not believe that Muslims pray to the same god that Jews pray to.
“Allah” is the false god of Islam and not Hashem, the God whom Jews serve.
“Allah” is not the God that the Jews worship. The Torah considers “Allah” as meenoot” (IE intellectual idolatry) according to a senior Hareidi rabbi I consulted.
Belief in the Islamic deity “allah” is belief in a deity that has radically different attributes than Hashem, the God of the Bible.
Islam teaches that “allah” has attributes such as hearing, seeing, and speech, and “allah” claims that the Jews altered and distorted the Torah.
According to Muslims, “allah” rejects the Jewish Torah as having been forged by the Jews, and “allah” calls for the slaughter of Jews. How can “allah” possibly be the God of the Jews?
In fact Islam, as an invented religion, is considered avodah zarah by many Torah authorities.
“Avodah zarah“, translated as FOREIGN worship, is not limited to just worshiping an idol. Avodah zarah includes inventing a new religion.
Non-Jews are not allowed to invent a new religion, especially a new religion that attacks the Torah as false, which Islam certainly does.
The Rambam and many Jews might have been killed if he had spoken honestly about Islam, so he had to remain neutral.
Because Christians accept at least some of the principles of the Jewish Bible, they are actually closer to Judaism than Islam.
Promotion of the deceased Chabad rebbe as a deity.
Are the disputes between the Chabad movement and traditional Orthodox Jewish movements disputes ONLY about whether the Moshiach (Messiah) can come from the dead, as many Chabad activists would have us believe?
In Jewish law, a מִין (min) is a term that refers to a person who maintains an atheist or idolatrous intellectual concept of God. According to Rambam, “minim” have no share in the World to Come.
In the Rambam’s comprehensive Jewish law code, Mishneh Torah, Hilchot Teshuvah, Chapter Three, the Rambam lists five types of Jewish “minim”:
“(1) he who says that there is no God and no Omnipotence;
(2) he who says that there is an Omnipotence but that there are two or more such;
(3) he who says that there is One Lord; but that He is corporeal and has a form;
(4)Likewise one who says that He alone is not the First Cause and Creator of all;
(5) likewise he who worships a star, or planet, or any other as a mediator between him and the Lord of the universe; every one of these five is a min.”
Chabad “Meshichistin” are claiming that the deceased Chabad rebbe IS Moshiach now. The dispute with Chabad is certainly NOT about whether or not Moshiach MIGHT come from the dead. This claim is a “red herring” diversion.
Moshiach is not a god in human form. The authentic Moshiach is a living, human Jewish king in Israel, as the prophets of Israel, the Talmud, and the Rambam explained.
We have been seeing more and more books, websites, and Chabad missionaries that promote the deceased Chabad rebbe as a god-like messiah with supernatural qualities, and/or sites that portray him as an intermediary between Man and God.
This video claims that the deceased Chabad rebbe is “atzmus”, IE the essence of God.
However, the video seems to misquote the Gemara when it refers to “nigleh” (revealed Torah) as being the source that a rebbe can (allegedly) be the essence of God. In fact that quote about Rashbi being the “face of God” seems to come from the Zohar (which is not considered “nigleh”), and it was denounced as blasphemy in the sefer “Mitpachat Seforim” by Rabbi Yaakov Emden zt”l.
2. A prominent Chabad rabbi claims that the Rebbe runs the world:
“The Rebbe runs the world and will save us from exile”
3. Ein Sof and Elokus are terms referring to Hashem.
This “rabbi” claims that the Rebbe is beyond our comprehension, the Rebbe is Ein Sof…the Rebbe is Elokus…:
“Should a Lubavitcher chassid read biographies written about the Rebbe?”
The conflict between Chabad and Orthodox Judaism is really a conflict over the fundamental principles of Judaism, including the 13 Ikkarim (principles of the Rambam).
Using its enormous influence and resources, Chabad promotion of a false moshiach-god threatens the destruction of monotheistic Judaism as we know it.
We must adamantly reject any missionaries, Jews or non-Jews, promoting false theologies.
We must re-assert authentic Torah principles, especially principles currently being blatantly violated:
• Hashem is not matter or energy
• We may not associate Hashem with any entity in this Universe.
• We may only serve, worship and glorify Hashem, not the entities created by Hashem.
• The real Moshiach must be a living Jewish king in Israel. A deceased rabbi cannot be Moshiach.
A few months ago a prominent Torah scholar in Israel told me that the Chabad movement is where Xtianity was 2000 yrs. ago.
This does not mean that every Chabadnik believes that the Chabad Rebbe is the messiah or a supernatural being. However, a non-Chabad Jew must be careful not to attend a Chabad synagogue where the Ikkarim are being violated.
All Jews should know and accept the 13 Ikkarim (principles) of Rambam.
The Torah does Not claim “everything that happens is from Hashem”.
“וְעַתָּ֕ה הִנֵּ֛ה צַעֲקַ֥ת בְּנֵי־יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל בָּ֣אָה אֵלָ֑י וְגַם־רָאִ֙יתִי֙ אֶת־הַלַּ֔חַץ אֲשֶׁ֥ר מִצְרַ֖יִם לֹחֲצִ֥ים אֹתָֽם׃ Now the cry of the Israelites has reached Me; moreover, I have seen how the Egyptians oppress them.” (Exodus 3:9)
“I am very angry with those nations that are at ease; for I was only angry a little, but they overdid the punishment.” (Zechariah 1:15)
On the Exodus verse, Ramban’s commentary explains that the Egyptians are excessively oppressing the Israelites, MORE than Hashem had actually decreed for the Israelites to be oppressed. Therefore Hashem has heard the cries of the Israelites, and Pharaoh and his people will be punished for their oppression of the Israelites. Sforno on that verse also explains that the Egyptians were oppressing the Israelites excessively. Sforno also cites the prophet Zechariah 1:15 that the nations oppressed the Jews excessively, more than Hashem had decreed.
Radak on Zechariah 1:15 explains that Hashem was only angry a little with Israel, and the nations did excessive evil to Israel. Radak also cited Isaiah 47:6 that the nations showed Israel no mercy.
All these citations allow us to respond to some of the deterministic Hareidi “preachers” nowadays that might want us to believe that all evil the Jews suffer is willed by Hashem, and/or the Jews always deserve any punishments meted out to them.
Rather, even when the Jews sin, Hashem did not give the non-Jews a blank check to oppress the Jews to an unlimited extent, so it follows that the nations who oppressed the Jews will be punished.
Since the terrible disaster of the October 7, 2023 terrorist invasion in Israel, we have observed various statements and lectures by Hareidi rabbis who characterize the Hamas savages as some type of shluchim (agents) sent by Hashem, or else claims by the rabbis that somehow the Hamas terrorists are performing the will
Classical Torah vs. Chareidi Torah: Defeating Enemies
Since the terrible disaster of the October 7, 2023 terrorist invasion in Israel, we have observed various statements and lectures by Hareidi rabbis who characterize the Hamas savages as some type of “shluchim” (agents) sent by Hashem, or else claims by the rabbis that somehow the Hamas terrorists are performing the will of Hashem.
Other statements by Hareidi rabbis seem to claim that ONLY learning Torah and Tefillah can defeat the enemies of the Jews.
As I see it, the preceding types of statements by certain Hareidi rabbis represent extreme distortions of classical Torah beliefs:
War of Gog and Magog Ignored: In two Haftorahs during Succot we read about the War of Gog and Magog and the destruction of the evil Gog and his allies predicted by the Jewish prophets. Hareidi spokesmen seem to ignore any discussion of the subject of the War of Gog and Magog. Instead the wars and terrorism being inflicted on Israel are viewed within a lens of some kind of “musar shmooz”.
Pereh Adam Ignored: Hareidi spokesmen ignore any discussion of the evils of Islam and the savage nature of Yishmael, the “pereh adam”. The Rambam in Iggeret Teiman described how Islam claimed that the Torah is false, and that never had such an enemy ever arisen against the Jews. So at the present time Hashem are we to believe that bloodthirsty savages who seek to destroy the Torah are the agents of Hashem sent to punish the Jews?
Laws of War Ignored: Chareidi claims that ONLY Torah and Tefillah will defeat our enemies are blatant denials of Chazal’s words in Sotah 44b and the Rambam:
“In a milchemet mitzvah, the entire nation must go out to war, even a groom from his chamber, and a bride from her pavilion.”
(Mishneh Torah, Kings and Wars 7:4)
The Rambam counts as positive mitzvah no. 188 the mitzvah of erasing Amalek. We cannot simply sweep this mitzvah under the rug and replace it with learning Torah and tefillah.
The Torah portion we just read described how the world became full of “Hamas” so Hashem decided to destroy the world. So at the present time Hashem is sending more Hamas savages as His agents, after which the world is deserving of destruction due to the Hamas agents sent by Hashem?
There is by now abundant evidence that the evil Chinese Communist regime created the Covid19 bio-weapon in one of their laboratories and allowed it to infect millions of people in the world.Senior experts on Communist China claim China intentionally spread the deadly bio-weapon:. https://www.foxnews.com/media/msnbc-don
Blame Evil Men Not Hashem
There is by now abundant evidence that the evil Chinese Communist regime created the Covid-19 bio-weapon in one of their laboratories and allowed it to infect millions of people in the world.
The ancient rabbis who composed the Pesach Hagaddah invoked curses on evil nations instead of claiming those nations were agents of God. The rabbis cited Tehillim 69:25 in the Pesach Hagaddah: “Pour out your wrath upon those nations who do not know you…pour out your wrath upon them and may your rage overtake them.”
The People’s Republic of China (PRC), with its nuclear warheads and massive armies, represents one of the most powerful atheist & totalitarian regimes in world history. All Chinese Communist Party (CCP) members are required to be Marxist atheists. The CCP ruthlessly suppresses any worship of God because, like ancient Pharaoh, the CCP demands we replace God with themselves.
“All (Chinese Communist) Party members should firmly obey the Party Constitution and be Marxist atheists, observe their commitment to not believe in any religion in order to maintain the purity and progressive nature of Party membership, prefecture Party chief Yang Yuanzhong said at the meeting.” http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1086205.shtml
If we consider that much of the world has enabled and empowered that fanatically atheist regime, it doesn’t require a leap of faith to believe that man has caused a condition now of “hester panim” (ie Hashem hiding his face).
Is there a better example of “a nation that does not know Hashem” than the PRC? It would seem that the correct Torah hashkafah (viewpoint) is to pray that God should save us from wicked regimes such as the Chinese Communist regime. “שְׁפָךְ־עֲלֵיהֶ֥ם זַעְמֶ֑ךָ וַחֲר֥וֹן אַ֝פְּךָ֗ יַשִּׂיגֵֽם׃ ”.
Can we know whether or not the COVID pandemic was sent by God.
Evil in the world is caused by man, not by God.
Was the COVID Pandemic Sent by God?
With their advanced weaponry and massive army, the Chinese Communist Party may possibly be the most powerful atheist enemy of Hashem and the Torah in history. The evidence seems to strongly indicate that they are the cause of the COVID-19 bio-weapon now terrorizing the world.
Erroneous, fatalistic beliefs that “everything is caused by God” serve to deflect any blame being attributed to monstrous evils such as the rabidly atheist and very powerful Chinese Communist Party. It is a function of the Jews to be a “light to the nations” and to teach ethical monotheism to the world while aggressively opposing atheist evil such as the Chinese Communist Party.
The current coronavirus pandemic has produced a number of simplistic or erroneous claims that IMHO are not normative Torah viewpoints. I would like to present here some classical Torah sources (CTS) that I believe are more representative of normative Torah viewpoints.
The term “CLAIM” below refers to various claims that I have heard during the Coronavirus pandemic that I consider to be erroneous or simplistic.
CLAIM: “The coronavirus pandemic was caused by God.” RESPONSE: We could only know that the pandemic was caused by God (and not by man) through a prophet who reveals that information to us. Present day rabbis, Torah scholars, and Kabbalists do not qualify as prophets. The Rambam in Moreh Nevuchim II:36 explains – “prophecy was taken away during the time of the exile…prophecy has ceased to function.”. The Rambam cites Amos 8:12: “Men shall wander from sea to sea and from north to east to seek the word of the LORD, but they shall not find it.”.
CLAIM: “God has inflicted the coronavirus on the world as a punishment.” RESPONSE: A more correct viewpoint, based on Rambam, Ramchal, Sforno, and other sources, is that “hester panim”, (i.e. the hiding of God’s face, see Deut. 31:17), means that God allows man’s evil to grow powerful and Jews suffer as a result, but God is not causing that evil Himself. Rather man’s sins cause God to withdraw his protection from the good people in the world. In Moreh Nevuchim 3:10, the Rambam cites a Midrash:
“Nothing that is evil descends from above”.
In Moreh Nevuchim 1:23, the Rambam explains that “I will hide my face from them…”(Deut. 31:17) results in “a privation of providence that leaves one abandoned and a target to all that may happen.”
The Biblical commentator Sforno is a great source for authentic classical Torah beliefs, such as the Sforno’s commentary on Leviticus 13:47 where he teaches that most Jews are subject to the natural order.
Since early 2020, the worldwide disaster of the COVID-19 pandemic continues to dominate the news. Without a prophet, we do not have a right to claim Hashem caused the bio-terrorism of COVID-19. A Torah concept that seems to have been abandoned is the correct understanding of Hashem hiding His face. The great Biblical commentator Sforno explains that Davarim 31:18 (“I will hide my face”) means that Hashem will refrain from saving the Jews from evil nations who abuse and oppress the Jews, it does NOT mean that Hashem causes evil nations to commit evil.
In various sections of his brilliant sefer Daat Tevunot, Ramchal explains that when there is no merit in the world and wickedness abounds, Hashem says “I will hide My presence on that day” (Devarim 32:20). Thus, Hashem is allowing man’s evil to reach its maximum strength but Hashem is not causing man to do evil. Hashem must do this to avoid destroying the world. If Hashem’s intention were strict judgment, man’s sins would already have caused the world to be destroyed. When there is “hester panim”, even good people must endure the suffering that evil causes and the merit of the righteous will not save them from evil. (See Ramchal, Daat Tevunot sections 142, 166 and elsewhere).
If COVID-19 was truly a punishment from God, it would not be possible for many people to have been saved using medicines (such as hydroxychloroquine), masks, distancing, etc. We can conclude from the sources above that man’s sins do cause evil to grow in the world, but the evil is not produced by God, it is produced by man. The “yeshua” (rescue) of decent people who suffer from these evils then depends on God’s actions in the world to rescue the oppressed.
CLAIM: “The Chinese Communists who produced the coronavirus are only the agents or puppets of God in carrying out His will.” RESPONSE: Such a belief is a very dangerous denial of the fundamental Torah belief that all men have free will to do good or evil. Without man having free will, the Torah becomes meaningless.
“Every man was endowed with a free will; if he desires to bend himself toward the good path and to be just it is within the power of his hand to reach out for it, and if he desires to bend himself to a bad path and to be wicked it is within the power of his hand to reach out for it.” (Rambam, Hilchot Teshuvah 5:1)
Many modern forms of avodah zarah (idolatry) still exist. The Torah requires that that all Jews learn to recognize and adamantly reject all forms of avodah zarah.The Rambam ZTL, our greatest rabbi, posek, and Jewish philosopher in the last 1000 years, laid down a very clear foundation of Torah monotheism in his Torah p
Avoiding Idolatry
Many modern forms of avodah zarah (idolatry) still exist. The Torah requires that that all Jews learn to recognize and adamantly reject all forms of avodah zarah. The Rambam Z”TL, our greatest rabbi, posek, and Jewish philosopher in the last 1000 years, laid down a very clear foundation of Torah monotheism in his Torah philosophy sefer “Moreh Nevuchim” (Moreh Nevuchim) and in his halachic compendium the “Mishneh Torah”.
“You know from texts of the Torah figuring in a number of passages that the first intention of the Law as a whole is to put an end to idolatry, to wipe out its traces and all that is bound up with it …everyone who professes idolatry, disbelieves in the Torah in its entirety…” (Moreh Nevuchim III:29)
The Universe Exists and is Not “Godliness”:
” there exists nothing except God, may He be exalted, and this existent world…it necessarily behooves one to consider this existent as it is…” “the foundation of the whole Law is the view that God has brought the world into being out of nothing…” (Moreh Nevuchim I:71)
Hashem has no body or form, and we can only describe Him in terms of His actions, not His essence:
“We have no way of describing Him unless it be through negations…We are only able to apprehend the fact that He is not a body.. every attribute that we predicate of Him is an attribute of action.” (Moreh Nevuchim I:58)
“Five individuals are described as minim (intellectual idolators) … one who accepts that there is one Master, but maintain that He has a body or form…” (Mishneh Torah, Hilchot Teshuvah, 3:7)
The practices of wearing Red Strings are the “ways of idolaters”: An ancient Tosefta in Tractate Shabbos warns Jews about certain idolatrous practices which we still observe today, such as dancing around a bonfire on Lag B’Omer:
“These things are from the ways of the Emorim (i.e., behavior of idolaters): one who cuts his hair koomi (i.e., like the idolaters), and one who makes a plait (locks worn by Roman or Greek youth or upper classes) and offers it to the gods, one who raises her child between the dead, one who ties a cushion to his hip (a superstitious custom), or a red string to his finger, and one who appoints and throws rocks to the sea or the river, these are idolatrous behaviors; one who and claps and dances to the fire, this is idolatrous behavior.” (Tosefta Shabbos, Chapter 7)
The concept of “Negative Theology” seems to be rarely discussed in the current Orthodox world but it is an essential component of Torah theology that was well known to the medieval rabbis.
Negative Theology is a method of describing Hashem’s essence (as opposed to His relationship with the world) using language employing only negative attributes such as “Hashem does not have a body”, “Hashem is not a man”, “Hashem does not occupy space”, etc.
These types of descriptions are necessary because Hashem’s “essence” does not resemble anything in the Universe He created so we have no positive language to describe Him.
Our understanding is limited to Hashem’s relationship with the world, not to Hashem’s essence. For example “aveinu malkeinu” does not mean Hashem is a father as we know it, it means Hashem relates to us as a father does to children. For those who might believe that “Kabbalah” has replaced the medieval concepts of Negative Theology, please see Section 46 of the Ramchal’s Daas Tevunos where he strongly emphasizes the basic concepts of Negative Theology. The Ramchal was certainly a rabbi who was knowledgeable in “Kabbalah”.
By intellectual quagmires, I am especially referring to the severe limitations and internal contradictions present in many Chareidi Jewish philosophic viewpoints. . Much of Hareidi/Chassidic Torah philosophy from the last few hundred years can lead to either an intellectual deadend or else an intellectual quagmire in o
Escaping Modern Torah Intellectual Quagmires
By “intellectual quagmires”, I am especially referring to the severe limitations and internal contradictions present in many “Chareidi” Jewish philosophic viewpoints.
Much of Hareidi/Chassidic Torah philosophy from the last few hundred years can lead to either an intellectual dead-end or else an intellectual quagmire in one’s Torah philosophy.
This seems to primarily result from the abandonment of much of the teachings of the great medieval Torah authorities, such as Rambam, Rabbeinu Bachya, Ran, Akeidat Yitzchak,etc.
The Ran (Rabbeinu Nissim) was a great medieval Torah sage whose derashos (lectures), along with the Torah philosophy of other medieval Torah sages, provides a strong intellectual framework for Torah Judaism that allows one to escape the quagmire of Hareidi/Chassidic Torah philosophy.
Artscroll has done a tremendous service to the Jewish world by translating the Ran’s derashos and providing many annotations and explanations, with many citations from the greatest medieval Torah authorities.
(Note: I do not work for Artscroll nor do I receive any compensation for endorsing these books.)
TORAH METAPHYSICS 