Hard to Believe

      A recent post that I entirely disagree with: It's hard to believe that intelligent, religious Jews can hold like this. I will try to trim the argument as it went on for a while.

He posted this picture and wrote:

     This is what Chabad has been reduced too!! Tefillin on a Buddhist monk ?!?! This is not Judaism! It's x-ristanity in disguise!!

     I have personally seen with my own eyes, Chabad, in South Africa, Australia, openly try to convert non-jews. The Torah Hakodish is not that type of religion!!

     There things in chabad that I don't agree but to put tefillin to non-jew hard for me to believe. I have seen it myself

     The moral of the story is, Judaism does not run around converting people! This puts real converts at risk.

My response:

     Whoa! Wait a minute! Were you there when they put tefillin on the monk? No, you were not. So why are you saying the monk was not a Jew. Most certainly no Chabad outreach worker would ever put tefillin on a goi. He may be a monk, but that is only his current belief. The question is, is his mother Jewish. And I can assure you that his mother is Jewish and that is why they put tefillin on him. You owe those Chabadniks a major apology.

His response:

     While I respect you personally, and we know each other for 30 years, I am sorry Gutman Locks you are incorrect!

My response:

     Incorrect about what? That you did not ask if the monk's mother is a Jew? That we should put tefillin on a Jew no matter what his belief is? That we should try to bring all Jews to Torah no matter what their current religious beliefs are? or What?

     Here is a picture of an Israeli buddhist monk at the Kotel some years ago, and that is my hand at the side of the picture. I put tefillin on him and had him say the Shema. 

His response:

What about the laws? You still have not addressed this:

Not to love the missionary

Not to cease hating the missionary

Not to save the missionary

Not to say anything in his defense

Not to refrain from incriminating him

     Chabad will put Tephilin on anyone. It's known that they will put tefillin on anyone!! We do not convert people like this! This behavior cheapens Judaism.

My response:

     What does the Torah teach? Should we reach out to a buddhist monk and put tefillin on him if his mother is a Jew? And the answer is, ABSOLUTELY! What a Jew's current belief is does not make him a goi even if he is acting like one.

Him:

     you are NOT allowed to reach out to a monk, you are not allowed to love him, you are not allowed to have anything to do with him!

My response:

     Baloney. That rule applies to a goi idol worshipper, not to a Jew! We are to reach out to every Jew we can possibly help, and we are to do it quickly as the Redemption has already started.

Him:

    So, suddenly JC is a goi?

Me:

     yashka (jc) was an evil Jew, but if someone could have helped him that evil would never have happened. The story is that the Baal Shem went down into hell to try to help yashka but the smell was so bad he couldn't get close to him. We see from this story that we are obligated to help everyone we can, especially the Jew, and even the goi, as one of a Jew's main functions in the world is to be a Light unto the Nations.

Him:

     There is still a negative commandment(S) involved here! I.e. Not to save the missionary. A monk is a priest!!!! not a simple person!!

Me:

     No one is saying that we should listen to his idolatry. We are talking about saving a Jew's life. You are obligated to pick up his donkey and all the more so his soul.

     The issue is, are we forbidden or obligated to help a Jew who is currently involved with idolatry? And the answer is, we are obligated to help every Jew we can.

     ----

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