How Should Halachic Judaism Treat Fellow Jews?

Here is an example of how Jews embracing Rabbinic halacha are not to treat less observant or differently believing Jews:

So Rabbi Meir Porush says that Jews who are not religious in his way of being religious are comparable to “pigs.”

This right here is why most Jews reject halachic Judaism in favor of a secularist life. Heredi extremism breeds anti-religion extremism, and hate (othering) spews from the mouths of both. Thankfully, those of us in the middle seek a healthy balance in mind and lifestyle.

This is how I know that Rabbinic Judaism, no matter how dati/religious in halachic nature, must welcome all Jews within their midst. For, by “Orthodox” standards of Jewish ethno-religious life, all Jews who are not shomer halacha, “observant,” are only at worst shomea halacha, “listening,” being tinok she’nishba in the derech of their ancestors. Which means, so says Maimonides, the “Orthodox” are to include them in the community – to “motivate them to repent” and “draw them to the power of the Torah with words of peace.” As Jews, we do not chase away or ignore Jews, only Gentiles with yetzer hara pretending to be Jews to validate their proselytizing idolatry through Jewish religion.

אֲבָל בְּנֵי הַתּוֹעִים הָאֵלֶּה וּבְנֵי בְּנֵיהֶם שֶׁהִדִּיחוּ אוֹתָם אֲבוֹתָם וְנוֹלְדוּ בֵּין הַקָּרָאִים וְגִדְּלוּ אוֹתָם עַל דַּעְתָּם. הֲרֵי הוּא כְּתִינוֹק שֶׁנִּשְׁבָּה בֵּינֵיהֶם וְגִדְּלוּהוּ וְאֵינוֹ זָרִיז לֶאֱחֹז בְּדַרְכֵי הַמִּצְוֹת שֶׁהֲרֵי הוּא כְּאָנוּס וְאַף עַל פִּי שֶׁשָּׁמַע אַחַר כָּךְ [שֶׁהוּא יְהוּדִי וְרָאָה הַיְהוּדִים וְדָתָם הֲרֵי הוּא כְּאָנוּס שֶׁהֲרֵי גִּדְּלוּהוּ עַל טָעוּתָם] כָּךְ אֵלּוּ שֶׁאָמַרְנוּ הָאוֹחֲזִים בְּדַרְכֵי אֲבוֹתָם הַקָּרָאִים שֶׁטָּעוּ. לְפִיכָךְ רָאוּי לְהַחְזִירָן בִּתְשׁוּבָה וּלְמָשְׁכָם בְּדִבְרֵי שָׁלוֹם עַד שֶׁיַּחְזְרוּ לְאֵיתָן הַתּוֹרָה:

“The children of these errant people and their grandchildren whose parents led them away and they were born among these Karaities and raised according to their conception, they are considered as a children captured and raised by them. Such a child may not be eager to follow the path of mitzvot, for it is as if he was compelled not to. Even if later, he hears that he is Jewish and saw Jews and their faith, he is still considered as one who was compelled against observance, for he was raised according to their mistaken path. This applies to those who we mentioned who follow the erroneous Karaite path of their ancestors. Therefore it is appropriate to motivate them to repent and draw them to the power of the Torah with words of peace.” – Mamrim 3:3

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This here is a beautiful example of how all Jews are to be treated:

“As Pride month is winding down, it’s hard to downplay the power of visuals in general and the power of the image below in particular. Pictures have the ability to humanize the “other” in ways that words never can. A picture shows emotion, takes us beyond the abstract, and, most importantly, tells a story. It’s narational rather than didactic.

For me, this image illustrates the triumph of humanity over dogma, lived reality over abstract truths.

Along the lines of the Zohar in parshat Bo, which describes the pride God takes in our telling of the story of our redemption from Egypt, so much so that God invites the entire heavenly court to descend to earth and observe humanity’s celebration of am yisroel’s triumph over Egyptian oppression. It’s highly likely that the same happened here. I suspect that last friday, when the pictured event was taking place, God invited the celestial entourage to descend to earth so that they may celebrate together the triumph of decency and the supremacy of a genuine Torat Chaim that is tethered to a true and unwavering Ahavat Chesed.

Here’s the story this picture tells.

—–God (supposedly)*: homosexuality is an abomination.

——Young Chabad Shaliach: Chas veshalom! Calling another human being an abomination is abominable.

—-God (triumphantly): נצחוני בני, נצחוני בני. I have been defeated by this young kid’s blind and unabiding love to all of God’s creation. Time to rejoice, to celebrate the triumph of ahavat haShem as expressed by an unstinting ahavat adam. ואהבת את ה’ אלוקיך, שיהא שם שמים מתאהב על ידיך, שיהא הבריות אומרים: ראיתם פלוני שלמד תורה, כמה נאים מעשיו ומתוקנים דרכיו.

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*) “Supposedly” because that is how most classical sources understand the pasuk in leviticus. It is not universal though, Others have suggested alternative readings of that painful verse.

(Photo credit: Ðor Algazi)”

– Rabbi Ysoscher Katz

Amen! Torah says in Leviticus 18(/20):
22a You shall not have sex with a male;
כב וְאֶ֨ת־זָכָ֔ר לֹ֥א תִשְׁכַּ֖ב
22b [on] conjugal-bed of wife: this is an abomination.
מִשְׁכְּבֵ֣י אִשָּׁ֑ה תּֽוֹעֵבָ֖ה הִֽוא:

Let’s stop with the defamation of ha’Shem already!

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Perhaps we need as all Jews to be mindful of placing idols before our faces, thus committing chillul ha’Shem! Here is my perspective on what is idolatry:

Idolatry comes in many forms. There is the worshipping of an image of “God.” There is the worshipping of the laws of “God” (adherence without questioning). There is the worshipping of sectarian lifestyle over the Torah mandate to preserve the Jewish people upon the land.

I propose that many dati/religious Jewish folk are engaged in idolatry of some sort. And I propose that Jewish atheists who are anti-religion – even though only *some* religions have a “God”-figure (not all religions!) – are just as immature about “God,” whatever you define this to be, as most religious folk that believe in their (or their religion’s) imagined “God.” In other words:

In order to be an atheist, one must have in mind some imagined perception of “God” (whichever one you believe in, for humans believe in many different “God”s!), and it is *this* that an atheist refuses to believe in. For, without this image, others believing in a “God” (of some sort) and worshipping such just simply doesn’t matter to a mature atheist (there is no harm in simply believing in imaginary beings!).

This is why I appreciate Judaism (Judah-ism!). Our ethno-religion is about continuity of Jewish tradition for the sake of Jewish survival into the future. One does not have to believe in the actual existence of our ancestral YHWH god, in order to appreciate the art of talking in ancestral mythology. You can be kefira and devoutly religious, at the same time!

If there is indeed a “divine” creator Source to this reality that we all participate in, then modern Jews have it right that this “God” is undescribable and unknowable for humans. So, it is very mature of atheists who remain religious (non-theistically) to challenge the very theistic images of “God” within religions that have a “God”-image.

Correctly understood, kefira (a form of religious heresy) is a refusal to embrace a personal perception of “God” (whatever this is!). By doing so, we are combating the many immature notions of “God” (whatever this is!), and a denial of such “God” images is only a refusal to engage in idolatry in one’s life. Don’t take my word for it, study the teachings of Rav Kook!