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In This Issue:Who deserves death? 1, 2Reincarnation 1, 2

o love 1, 3he religious emotion 2arsha: declaration of tithes 3arsha: stones w/ torah inscription 3

Reader: How can it be logical tomurder someone for their false beliefs?Where is the "due process" involvedwhen a religious person murders anothererson due that person "deserving deathecause their ideas are so wrong"? Myeasoning for the belief that Jews were

meant to coexist and act as a beacon of ducation for the Gentile world comesrom TaNaKh, prophets, etc. Why else did

Hashem say to us that we would have totruggle with Gentiles after Joshua failedo drive them from the land? Are we not

Dedicated to Scriptural and Rabbinic Verifof Jewish Beliefs and Pr

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Reader: (IsraelWire-8/6) In his

weekly Saturday night address, RabbiOvadia Yosef, the spiritual leader of theultra-Orthodox Shas Party, stated thesix million Jews killed in the Holocaustwere the reincarnated souls of sinnersbeing cleansed. The rabbi stated thevictims were paying for their previoussins. I would be interested in youropinion concerning his "answer."

Mesora: I will begin by stating thatany valid Torah ideal - by definition -must be based on rationale. As allTorah ideals emanate from God, all Hiswisdom is true, and must followreason. When Saadia Gaon callsreincarnation "absurd", he goes throughan analysis of the theory, and dispels itsfalse foundations. (See his work,"Beliefs and Opinions"). Saadia Gaon -unlike many of today's Jews - did notsay that since a reputable rabbi held aview, I cannot oppose him. Not one of our Sages or Rabbis followed theleader. They followed reason, and asthe Talmud states, a sage once said,"even if Joshua the son of Nun said it, Iwouldn't accept it....". (Talmud Chulin124a, at the very bottom). This teachesthat reputation is of no consequence indeciding truth. We do not follow an"authority", even one who was underthe direct tutelage of Moses, as wasJoshua. What do we follow? Theanswer: "Reason." Therefore, when onefollows a view, let him have wellreasoned arguments for his opinion. If he does not, simply "following theleader" is of no merit to himself, as hismind has been absent in any selectionof his actions.

How would Ovadia Yosef explainGod's accusation of Sodom for theirown wrong doings?

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Who Deserves Death?rabbi moshe ben-chaim

Suggested Readings:see these and other articles at our site

All love that is humanly possible can only exist if one has love of God. Any loverelationship between anyone, the foundation of that love, if it is real love can only be if there islove of God.

Why is love of God the essence of the human relationship? We are commanded to love theLord thy God with all thy heart, all thy soul and all thy might to love your neighbor asyourself? and even to love the stranger. It is difficult to love your neighbor as yourself

and to love the stranger, so on what basis would you love them or anyone else for that matterunless it were based on the love of God? Love for other people is based on the understandingthat they are like you, your neighbor is you and the stranger was you in Egypt. Both created byGod. In one sense its almost easier to have love of God, since we can see that God created theentire world and everyone and everything in it. How can any person not have this recognitionand this great appreciation for all of Gods creation? The world as it exists could not have beencreated by any entity other than God it seems so obvious. The sky, the moon, the sun, theoceans, all plant and animal life did not just happen or evolve as so many foolish peoplebelieve. Everywhere you look in the entire universe is the incredible results of Gods work thattook place on each day of creation. There is no doubt whatsoever to this truth. For thousands of years before we came into existence the world already existed and we are now the benefactors!

Does anyone really believe that there is not a Master of the Universe, a Perfect Creator, aBeing Who planned all human life from beginning to end including our eternal life. When aperson is deceased, the body is attended to with the ultimate care and compassion guided byspecific halachas, laws, the body is then returned to the earth. The body is returned to God, the

Reincarnationrabbi moshe ben-chaim

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The basic foundations which all Jewsmust know as true. We urge you to read them:

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an open letter to the jewish community:

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Maimonides' 13 PRINCIPLES

God's Existence Belief or

Proof? God's Land Without God?

Maimonides' 13 PRINCIPLES

God's Existence Belief or

Proof? God's Land Without God?

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colliding galaxies(Photo above) Located 300 million light-years away in the constellation Coma Berenices, the colliding

galaxies have been nicknamed "The Mice" because of the long tails of stars and gas emanating from each galaxy.Otherwise known as NGC 4676, the pair will eventually merge into a single giant galaxy.

The image shows the most detail and the most stars that have ever been seen in these galaxies. In the galaxyat left, the bright blue patch is resolved into a vigorous cascade of clusters and associations of young, hot bluestars, whose formation has been triggered by the tidal forces of the gravitational interaction. Streams of material

can also be seen flowing between the two galaxies.The clumps of young stars in the long, straight tidal tail [upper right] are separated by fainter regions of material. These dim regions suggest that the clumps of stars have formed from the gravitational collapse of the gasand dust that once occupied those areas. Some of the clumps have luminous masses comparable todwarf galaxies that orbit in the halo of our ownMilky Way Galaxy. Computer simulations byastronomers Josh Barnes (University of Hawaii)and John Hibbard (National Radio AstronomyObservatory, Charlottesville, Va.) show that weare seeing two nearly identical spiral galaxiesapproximately 160 million years after their closestencounter. The long, straight arm is actuallycurved, but appears straight because we see itedge-on. The simulations also show that the pairwill eventually merge, forming a large, nearlyspherical galaxy (known as an elliptical galaxy).The stars, gas, and luminous clumps of stars in thetidal tails will either fall back into the mergedgalaxies or orbit in the halo of the newly formedelliptical galaxy. The Mice presage what mayhappen to our own Milky Way several billionyears from now when it collides with our nearestlarge neighbor, the Andromeda Galaxy (M31).

Image was taken on April 7, 2002.

"Praise Him sun and mpraise Him all bright s

for He commanand they were creat

King David: Psalm 1

"Praise Him sun and mpraise Him all bright s

for He commanand they were creat

King David: Psalm 1Hubble displays to us, what Abraham would never see:See the story below, "Colliding Galaxies" bottom right.Hubble displays to us, what Abraham would never see:See the story below, "Colliding Galaxies" bottom right.

"Twisters" composed of cosmic matter. Each one is a half light year in length, and 5000 light years from Earth.

Captured by the Hubble space telescope.

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meant to educate the world? I feel some fearwhen I read on your website that "someeople are so wrong in their beliefs, that theyeserve death".

Concerned, AaronMesora: Yes, the Jews are to act as a

eacon to the rest of mankind. However, theght source of our tower is not generated

within, by human reasoning. Our beacon of ght - our teachings - are really a reflection of

God's instructions. We mimic the Creator, asHis knowledge is absolute truth. He alonerovides true light.

Many errors arise when man attempts toroject his own, false ideas upon theandscape of morality, previously spread outy God. Such a landscape is governed by

God's objective borders. If we are to arrive athe basis for the death penalty, we mustonsult God's Torah, the only guidebook to

morality.We find that God killed peoples andations for their distortion in practice, and yes,ven for harboring corrupt ideas. Thedolatrous city and Amalek are wiped out,lthough they harm no one physically. Whatoes this teach us? The lesson here is that

God's plan for man is the only plan for man.When people stoop to a level of philosophicaleviance, their existence is worthless,urposeless, and harmful to others. If God

wishes others be not led astray, His wisdomhereby dictates the destruction of all

members of such a people, including babies.We can almost hear the shouts of

ntolerance" and "brutality" at my lastentence, but again, man's reaction does notffect truth. Justice demands that even infantfe born in such cultures be terminated,erhaps for a number of salient reasons,ncluding the inescapable grip their cultureears down on all members. There is in someocieties no possible salvation from theiristorted views and practices. They must alle exterminated.

God's plan is man's achievement of erfection, knowledge of God and theractice of God's morality. Those members of

mankind who reach this objective haveealized man's true purpose, and are worthy of fe, even extended life. Those who have not,ut can, are given about 80 years toccomplish this task. Those who will nevereach this goal, are at times commanded to beut to death - out of the way from otherotentially perfected people, lest the latterumble in their current state of ignorance.Life per se is not a good unless it partakes

f God's guidelines. When man does not lives God desires, he is punished for his crimes.qually true, man is killed as a preemptive

measure, saving others from following theorrupt fools, losing their one chance at a lifef perfection.

Is Sodom sacrificed for the sins of lives inprevious generations too? God's words don'tsay this. God said "their sin is great". And if this is so, that Ovadia Yosef feels people maybe created by God to rectify previous

generations' sins, perhaps the original sinnersthemselves were in reality only reincarnatedsouls of an even more previous generation.Why does Ovadia Yosef assume the previousgeneration for whom the Holocaust victimsdied, were in fact original sinners? You see,this argument ends with the ability to havenumerous generations not living forthemselves, but as second, third, fourth and100th chances for original sinners from time'sbeginning to "make good". This would alsoassume that the Holocaust victims matchedthe exact number of original sinners.

When, and by what rules does OvadiaYosef make such claims? Will he say that

Sodom, the Flood, the Jews in the desert werealso paying for a previous generation's sin?What does the Torah teach? God's words

are, "ish bi-cheto yamus", "a man in his ownsin will be killed". Nothing more need beadded.

Many times we hear something in thename of a great person, but this must not bethe criteria for following a concept. As Jews,we live rational lives and would not evenfollow a command in the Torah if it did notmake sense as stated by Ibn Ezra in parshasYisro. Judaism requires one to have"knowledge" of what one does and believesas true - in all areas. As the Ibn Ezra says inParshas Yisro, "if we had found a commandand after careful study and consulting with theRabbis we saw no reason for it, we wouldabandon it".

I would also suggest that reincarnationposes a serious problem to one of the mostbasic tenets of Judaism - the institution of reward and punishment: If one has the abilityto become another human via reincarnation,he thereby bypasses punishment for his ownactions. As he has another chance, his originalsin isn't necessarily addressed by punishment,if he gets it right in his "next life". So there isno punishment for a sin, he can "try again" asanother soul. But God did not say this. Godsaid there are punishments for corrupt acts.

God did not say you can "try again".Becoming another person poses other

problems, as the believers of reincarnationhold the goal to be self rectification. I ask,"who remembers being another person from aprevious life, in that he would recall previoussins so as to rectify them?" No one wouldadmit to such an absurdity. One may also ask,"How many times may one be reincarnated?"If limitless times, there is no future world, noreward, and no punishment, clearly againstthe Torah.

There will be disputes in many areas of

Jewish thought. To determine your position,one cannot follow the man with thereputation. Perhaps after accepting anopinion, a person will read of another who isyet greater, and disagrees with the first. Do wenow abandon the first view in favor of asecond, more prominent rabbi? This methodof following the reputable, is contrary tofollowing truth. Nor does such a methodincorporate the use of reason given to us byGod for the very purpose of engagement.

Such a position of constantly swapping one'saccepted authority by reputation is a reactionto fear of being wrong. But if you do notselect a view based on your own reasoning,you can never be wrong or right. It is acontradiction.

For our choices to truly be ours, to be amerit of our own free will, we must choosephilosophical positions based on our reasonedprinciples, not via reputation.

How sublime: Man has no other choicethan to actually choose!

Reader: In a number of articles on yourwebsite, you make reference to the fact thatreligious life should be entirely an exercise inrational thought and proofs. Your proof forthis position is that since the differencebetween man and animal is abstract,conceptual thought, then clearly it is exactlythat difference that man is to use in service of God. My only problem with this is that youmake it sound like that is the *only*difference between man and animal, whenthat is clearly not the case. For example, manis also capable of ecstatic religiousexperiences, as opposed to animals. Based onyour reasoning, why should man be anabstract, academic philosopher and not acarlbach chassid when both personalities areusing faculties that animals don't seem topossess, at least to the same degree.Remember, animals do have someintelligence too, and in some cases are in factcapable of rudimentary abstract thought.

Mesora: Your claims have no support inreality. No animal will ever "ponder God". Itsso called intelligence is merely an ability tomimic. In some species, this is their uniquemethod of survival. Chameleons change hueto obscure visibility from the predators,

parrots recreate predators' sounds therebycamouflaging themselves, or attracting mates,and others simply hide. Animals have no soul,they have no intelligence.

'Religious experiences' not governed byhalacha, tend to move towards theCarlbachian free for all. The emotionallyfeverous and imagined 'closeness to God'. Thesame is seen by those gathering to singHebrew music composed of Biblical verses.Such a practice is prohibited by the Talmud,by Rav Moshe Feinstein, but yet, suchprohibition does not deter those emotionally

riveted individuals from violation. approaches are fallacy, and dangerousopen the floodgates of emotion undfabricated auspices of "religiosity", tcondoning all that a person wishes to eand feel. He thinks himself religious,sorely misguided. He desires our Suintelligent God, but in actuality, liveworld of sense stimulation, full of psychunfounded visions. He indulges in wthinks to be Kabbalah, assumin

understands metaphors as literal, and down into a life only Judaic by name.The Torah outlined our every a

even the prohibition on the unlearned dat the Simchas Baais haShoavah durSuccah holiday. Why is this? I believe very reason. The Torah does not celebratory acts by any other than thotruly understand the concepts celebrated. Simple dancing bereft oTorah insights is prohibited. Thereforthe wise men were allowed to Otherwise, it is religious emotion wreligion. To the shock of the unleJudaism bans such empty activity.

activity guided by intelligence is tolerJudaism. So, let the ignorant stop danciopen a gemara.

Thought is the only vehicle for approthe Prime Intelligence - God. God involved in religious emotion, that semotion would be an approach to Him.

Study the Talmud and the philosophers as a starting poinunderstanding the Torah's criteriapproaching God.

Reader: Man is unique only sophistication of his thought. Similarly, unique in the sophistication of his emfaculties - you never see a cat hareligious experience like, say, a cachassid would have. Based on all ofwould say that since you cannot apGod completely through any one aveexpression (intellect included), we hutilize all the faculties available to uswhich are more sophisticated than thanimals. Based on the above, I fail to premium you place on rational proofexpense of the religious experienceneither a) can take you all the way to Gb) is completely unique to homo sapien

Mesora: You try to "prove" that rationot the only method of approachingResorting to a similitude of reacontradicts your very statements, whe

preach emotional experience. The Toformulas, and you are introducing thatis alien to Torah.

Maimonides teaches the purposending away the mother bird is to avanguish. Seeing her offspring taken awdifficult for animals, as it is for manstatement that man's emotionsdifferentiate him from the animal kingdalso false.

Emotions have a place, God gave tus. See my article: The Purpose Emotions

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Who Deserves Death? Reincarnation

The Religious Emotionrabbi moshe ben-chaim

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ul is returned to God. The will of Godsen in death, proclaims profound love foris created being, the selem elokim, thegnificant human entity that God brought

to the world. This love is given to usrough Gods Torah knowledge. His lawsll us how we should live mostneficially and incredibly how we are tocared for even at death, so that are not

ghtened by death. We arent reduced to ar of ashes; that is frightening!hristianity completely distorted the ideaat man returns to the dust, by creatinghorrendous act against the physical body.is our maker we are returned to, not anister.God demanded that there be greatnsitivity for human life even as wepart from this world. This is also lover His created beings. He created each of with a purpose, the same purpose, to

ve our lives according to His Torah thatstructs us to preserve each others welling and each others lives. Thisstruction assists us in love of God and isso love from God as His creations. Sincee created us, He knows better what wee and how we should live. Isnt it logicalat the entire system of Torah was set upith our true nature in mind, and withinur capabilities? That through that systemch of us could thrive and reach ouraximum potential by internalizing thatstem? That is also love for His createdings. The more we are immersed in Hisstem through thought and deeds theore love a person has for God. This is atural result.He provided us with the means tohieve happiness in this world by giving

the means to sustain ourselveshysically. Simultaneously He gave us theueprint, the plans, the map, the directionat is all contained in all of thetraordinary ideas of the Torah. Didnte also implant within our nature thepacity for love, so that it permeates our

ves, in all of our relationships withhers? We should become more aware of ho God wants us to be, the Klal and

hat God wants us to be for those outsidethe Klal, the light.How can a person not have love of

od? I say it is impossible. How can arson not love one who has love of God?

hat is also impossible. In the Shemonehrei, we recite the blessing of peace, Sim

halom: Establish peace, goodness,essing, life, graciousness, kindness andmpassion upon us and upon all of Yourople Israel. Bless us, our Father, all of usone, with the light of Your countenance,r with the light of Your countenance,

You gave us, Hashem, our God, the Torahof life and a love of kindness,righteousness, blessing, compassion, life,and peace. And may it be good in Youreyes to bless us and to bless all of Yourpeople Israel, in every season and in everyhour with Your peace (with abundantstrength and peace).

What purpose is there for the Torahcommand to verbally declare ourfulfillment of our third year tithes?

It is strange that of all the mitzvos, onlytwo, mentioned in KiTavo, first fruits andthird year tithes - are commanded for us tomake declarations, and the latter, that wefulfilled the law exactly. Why does theTorah command us to make suchstatements? Is not the act of tithing thegoal? And why is declaration required inthis specific matter of apportioning ourproduce to others?

Rashi says that by making suchdeclarations, we are telling God that "wehave done what You commanded us, nowYou do what is upon You to do".(Referring to Bechukosai, where Godpromised to deliver rain in due season as aresult of our adherence to His laws).

A Rabbi taught that any topic taught inNavi and Ksuvim (Prophets and Writings),cannot be entirely new, but must find itsroot in the Five Books of Moses, theChumash. The Chumash contains allconcepts of Judaism, even those seeminglynew in the Prophets and Writings. If this isso, I wondered where in the Chumash wewould find the concept taught in Malachiwhere we are requested to test God bygiving our tenth of our produce, as we seestated openly in Malachi.

It seems clear that this area in KiTavo iswhere Malachi is based, and Rashi pointsthis out. The Torah is teaching us that thedeclaration subsequent to man's tithing isdone to invoke a response from God. Onlya verbalization can qualify a subsequent

bounty of produce as a "response" fromGod. This is also why the pasukim in bothareas dealing with first fruits and third yeartithes state that man must make hisdeclaration "lifnay Hashem", "beforeGod". Meaning, we declare to God ourexact fulfillment of His word, therebyawaiting a Heavenly response in the formof plenty. Therefore, verbal declaration ismade to render our bounty a response fromGod, and not mere happenstance.

One may ask why the Torah saw this asso important, that man deserves a

response. We must recognize that themonetary concerns of man outweigh allothers, as the Talmud teaches, "the moneyof man stands him upon his feet". Man'ssecurity stems from his estimation of hissuccess, and his worries from theconverse. The Torah sees fit that man issecured in his wealth, specifically when heis bidden by the Torah to part with up 20%of all profits during his life. This is asizable portion of his earnings, and man

justifiably worries when he must part withsuch a quantity. God recognizes this andwould not require man to do that whichopposes his psychological needs. Godtherefore tells us that we may test God tosee if "He will open the storehouses of heaven, and empty a blessing for us whichis more than enough", as stated in Chapter3 of Malachi. But this concession for manto actually test God is made in this areaonly, as man would otherwise not part withsuch portion without a Divine guarantee.As self sustenance is our prime instinct,against which, we cannot oppose, Godrequests us to give - in order to becomericher. This is the guarantee which wemust realize is within God's capacity, andthat it is God's will.

We should all take a strong lesson fromthe words of Malachi. We should not feelthat our success is due to our long hours of toil, when the Rabbis themselves taught,"one should minimize his labor, andmaximize his learning". Also, "all is in thehand of heaven, except the fear of heaven". This teaches us that oursustenance depends on God, not ourselves.If we follow His laws, give our tithes andtzedaka, He has many messengers to makeus wealthy. We should not view givingtzedaka as a diminution of our wealth, butrather, as a 100% secure insurance policyof our success.

God created the entire world, thebillions of stars - far larger than our sun,and the perfect laws governing them.Therefore, the ability to enrich man iscertainly within God's reach.

What purpose was achieved by writing

the Torah in 70 languages, and inscribedon three sets of 12 stones (36 stones total)?According to Talmud Sota, 35b, whichopposes Rashi on the Chumash, one setwas erected in Moav, one in Gilgal, andthe third set in the Jordan itself. What is tobe learned from these three sets of stonesand their placement?

I believe a significant idea is borne outof this one-time enactment.

God promised Abraham He would givethe Land to his descendants. Question: AreAbraham's "descendants" defined

biologically? Is the "biological" definiall that God's meant by, "I would giveland to your (Abraham's) seed?" Meanif the Jews would abandon the Towould God still give Israel to them sthey descended from Abraham? I dthink so.

To demonstrate that 1) God fulfilledpromise, and that 2) these were in Abraham's true descendants, i.e., thwho follow Abraham's teachings, it

necessary that the recipients of Gpromise to Abraham demonstrate that tdo in fact follow the same ideologyAbraham. Being a descendant wasguarantee of receiving Israel. Shagenes is insufficient. Abraham's chiland grandchildren are defined as thwho hold fast to Abraham's teachiTheir writing of the Torah on these stoprior to their entrance to Israel displatheir entitlement.

But why have such testimonial sterected at three separate locations: Onein Gilgal (Trans-Jordan), one set in Ison Mt. Eval, and one set in the Jorriver?

These three sets, I believe, prove God was solely responsible for brinthe Jews into Israel. By erecting 'rsigns' on both sides of the Jordan rshows from where the Jews journeand where they arrived. Placing one mset in the Jordan river itself, we discohow the Jews entered the land, through a miraculous event of the splitof the Jordan. It would be impossibleanyone to erect and cement such hstones while immersed in the river. stones therefore delineate the starpoint, the end point, and the path. Supath of entrance is only possible vmiracle, and therefore enacted by God Himself. God thereby eliminatepossible explanations of the Jews entethe land bereft of His divine interventGod fulfilled His promise. I believe thibe the reasoning behind the miracuconquest of Jericho as well. indisputable proof of God's esseinvolvement.

The fact that the Torah is written inlanguages upon these stones is to tthat the Torah is ultimately formankind. As we say in Alenu each "...and all children of flesh will call YName".

These three sets of stones teach fugenerations of the miracles of the entrainto Israel - God entered the Jews intoland in accordance with His oath. For ancient generation, it was a demonstrathat they truly followed Abrahteachings, and his Torah taught to himGod. As God stated in Genesis, "Wkeep hidden from Abraham what I sdo (to Sodom)?" "And I know himorder that he will command his son his household after him, and they keep God's path."

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Declaration of Fulfilling Tithes

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Stone Sets withTorah Inscriptions