... the center ... has hosted educational classes on Noahide Laws, the seven basic moral imperatives for all mankind given to Noah, according to the Talmud.
A Temple Not Just For Jews
Buyer envisions Masonic hall as city cultural center
Nancy Madsen - Watertown Daily Times
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
The executive director of the Adirondack Jewish Center Inc. envisions Watertown's Masonic Temple as a cultural resource for the entire community.
Yaakov M. Getz, who has a doctorate in psychology, and his wife, Golda Y., both observant Jews, started the Adirondack Jewish Center in 2003. They opened a location in J.B. Wise Place in December 2004 and stayed a few years until the building changed ownership.
"We want it very much to be a community-oriented facility," said Mr. Getz, who has rabbinical training and functions as a rabbi in kosher food certification and the center's classes.
Last week, a state Supreme Court judge approved the sale of the downtown landmark by the Masonic Hall Association of Watertown to the center for $128,500. The purchase will transfer the property from one nonprofit group to another. The association has been trying to sell the neoclassical hall at 242 Washington St. since November 2003, with an initial asking price of $499,000.
Mr. Getz said he was first interested in the building several years ago.
"It is a magnificent building," he said. "I fell in love with it immediately."
The center is working toward a contract with an engineering firm. The first goal is to stabilize the exterior as quickly as possible. Mr. Getz expects the building costs to total over $1 million. The work would be supported through fundraising and any grants and economic development agency funding the center could qualify for, he said.
Like the first center, the Masonic Temple will house a community center and place of worship. But it likely also will host art exhibits, speakers, concerts and community events, Mr. Getz said. And the center will have a program of certifying products from local businesses as kosher.
"The emphasis will be on small businesses — getting them started in certification for a modest cost," he said. "We can act as a support and guidance for them, introducing them to potential customers and distributors. We can act like a matchmaker and open up opportunities for marketing their products."
Mr. Getz said that program will encourage sales and job growth for local businesses, draw more observant Jews to the area and offer some support for the center's programs.
The Getzes have spent most of the last 20 years in the north country. Mr. Getz certifies as kosher dairy products from about 15 sources.
"The religious programming is a relatively small portion of what we do," he said. "We will focus more on the community and development issues and get that rolling."
The nonprofit center is starting a newsletter to connect Jews from Watertown to Plattsburgh, Mr. Getz said.
"One of our goals is to revitalize Jewish life in the north country," he said.
Since the center's last location closed, it has hosted educational classes on Noahide Laws, the seven basic moral imperatives for all mankind given to Noah, according to the Talmud.
The Getzes have volunteered as chaplains at Samaritan Medical Center and in the state prison system.
They also want to restart a children's day camp and host programs for military service members through Fort Drum. The Getzes already host holiday meals and other events for soldiers.
"Jewish service members, as a group, are quite small and extraordinarily isolated," Mr. Getz said. "We try to provide a home away from home."
http://www.watertowndailytimes.com/article/20101027/NEWS03/310279974/-1/NEWS
Biden meets with Chabad group
June 17, 2010
WASHINGTON (JTA) -- Chabad emissaries convening in Washington met with Vice President Joe Biden.
Biden met the emissaries, who came from around the world and the United States, during their meetings Thursday with administration officials.
The U.S. leader reviewed Chabad teachings he had acquired over the years, including the necessity of combing "wisdom, knowledge and understanding," and explained how these could be applied to statecraft.
The two-day emissaries' conference, organized by American Friends of Lubavitch, also featured meetings with 20 members of both houses of the Congress, including the majority and minority leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives, a dinner featuring a speech by Nobel Peace laureate and Holocaust memoirist Elie Wiesel, and a lunch with ambassadors from countries where Chabad emissaries serve.
Jack Lew, a deputy secretary of state, shared stories about having to build a busy schedule around his Shabbat observance.
Top Turkish diplomats attended the lunch and the dinner with Wiesel, part of a bid to reassure American Jews that Turkey's Jewish community remains safe despite recent Turkey-Israel tensions.
http://www.jta.org/news/article/2010/06/17/2739664/biden-meets-with-chabad-group
The Australian Catholic University today conferred a major award on Rabbi Raymond Apple, the former spiritual leader of Sydney’s Great Synagogue [and Past Grand Chaplain of the United Grand Lodge of New South Wales].
Especially in English-speaking countries, [Freemasonry] has always had a high proportion of eminent Jewish members, including leading rabbis. Among present day Australian rabbis, high masonic office is held by Rabbi Shalom Coleman of Perth, Rabbi Chaim Gutnick of Melbourne and myself in Sydney. Other rabbis and ministers are past masters of their lodges. ("Freemasonry and Judaism are Compatible," Bro. Rabbi Dr Raymond Apple, AO RFD PJGW Past Grand Chaplain of the United Grand Lodge of New South Wales)
Tamuz 5769 (July 2009), “Hakel” Year
VERDICT
In accordance with the writings of the Torah, which was given by the HOLY SUPREME KING OF KINGS, BLESSED BE HE, and which obligates all the Creation:
THE ENTIRE LAND OF ISRAEL WAS GIVEN
EXCLUSIVELY TO THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL
All humankind must fulfill the prohibitory ban of “DO NOT STEAL”, one of the SEVEN NOAHIDE LAWS.
All leaders or nations that deny the right of The People of Israel to his Land or that try by words or deeds to prevent The People of Israel to settle and build any part of his entire Land, transgress on the above ban and thus delete the very essence from their right to existence.
The purpose of the nations of the world is to help The People of Israel in the accomplishment of its destiny, as expressed by the Prophet Isaiah (49, 23): “And kings shall be your foster fathers and their queens their nursing mothers”.
And this is precisely how they too will attain the merit to the true and complete Redemption by Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson Shlita, the Rebbe King Moshiach, now immediately “MAMASH”.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF WE HAVE APPENDED OUR SIGNATURES:
TRIBUNAL OF TEN FROM ISRAEL
_________________ ________________ ________________
_________________ ________________ ________________
_________________ ________________ _________________
_________________
PLEASE ASK TEN FROM ISRAEL TO SIGN THIS VERDICT
AND DISTRIBUTE BY ALL POSSIBLE MEANS
ADDITIONAL COPIES TO BE SIGNED
Please send the duly signed copies to:
CHABAD HOUSE OF BAT YAM,
By Fax: 972-3-657-3816
Alternatively, please mail to:
P.O.Box 3084,
59130 Bat-Yam, Israel
YECHI ADONEINU MOREINU VERABEINU MELECH HAMOSHIACH LEOLAM VAED
http://www.hageula.com/news/moshiach/1465.html
Out of a sense of collective responsibility for world peace and for all humanity we have found it timely to call to the World and exclaim that there is a way out for all peoples. It is etched in a call to all humanity: We are all the sons of one father, the descendants of Adam, and all humanity is but a single family. Peace among Nations will be achieved through building the House of G-d, where all peoples will serve as foreseen by King Solomon in his prayers at the dedication of the First Holy Temple. Come let us love and respect one another, and love and honor and hold our heavenly Father in awe. Let us establish a house of prayer in His name in order to worship and serve Him together, for the sake of His great compassion. He surely does not want the blood of His creations spilled, but prefers love and peace among all mankind. We pray to the Almighty Creator, that you harken to our Call. Together - each according to his or her ability - we shall work towards the building of the House of Prayer for All Nations on the Temple Mount in peace and mutual understanding.
... Applicants are required to attend the orientation sessions to learn about the work requirements, safety information and their rights under the law and Compact of Free Association.
Orientation training will include an introduction to the universal principles of morality known as the Seven Noachide Laws which the US Congress has encouraged the whole world to study and observe as the bedrock foundations of civilization since the ancient days.
Workers must be prepared to leave for Iowa immediately after orientation ...
'My personal Atlantis'
By Goel Pinto
Haaretz
Janusz Makuch is visibly moved when he talks about the opening show he is planning for next year's Festival of Jewish Culture, to be held in Krakow. He fantasizes and gesticulates like a performer acting out a play, and his English is peppered with Yiddish and Hebrew words. He repeats the phrase "with God's help" in a thick Polish accent and with a frequency typical of traditional Jewish Israelis.
For next year's festival, he envisions two enormous stages: One in Jerusalem on a slope adjoining the Old City walls, and another in the central square in Kazimierz, Krakow's old Jewish quarter. Giant screens will facilitate communication between both stages. The evening will open with the sounds of three cantors and a choir in Jerusalem singing to Krakow. Singers and cantors in Poland will respond.
"The entire evening will be a message to the world," he says. "The whole world will be able to view the dialogue, the bridge that will open between Poland and Israel, between Jew and non-Jew. It's a crazy concept, I know, but I will do it" ...
"In my opinion, the seminars and lectures are the most important feature of the festival," he says. "Imagine a week-long workshop in an ancient synagogue in which two Jewish women from Warsaw teach 50 Polish children and their Catholic, Polish mothers about Passover, Rosh Hashanah and even Shavuot. As far as I am concerned, that is the goal: To teach children to maintain an open approach to the world in general and the Jewish world in particular in the hope that they will become pluralistic citizens when they grow up" ...
When Makuch speaks of "we," the Jews, as opposed to "them," the non-Jews, and employs the Hebrew word for soul, neshama, to express his real connection to Jewish culture, one might mistakenly assume that he is Jewish. But he comes from a Catholic family and is married to a Catholic who serves as the chief editor of a major publishing house in Poland ...
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/897586.html
Clearly the Jews are equally a target of New Age planners along with Christians -- Catholic and Protestant, and even Moslems. A key strategy is to pit target groups off against each other. One only has to read the Alice Bailey books to see that Jews are the most despised of all the New Age targets. I have made clear links between the Historical Revisionist Movement and the New Age Movement, between Eustace Mullins, Ezra Pound etc and the New Age Movement. The New Agers label the "rainbow" as "antahkarana" or "rainbow bridge between the personality and oversoul.
I do not know you, but your site looks disturbingly like anti-Jewish propaganda to me. Please do not imply that I endorse such. I do not.
CONSTANCE E. CUMBEY
It is essential that the sufferings of Jews ... become worse ... this will assist in realization of our plans ... I have an excellent idea ... I shall induce anti-semites to liquidate Jewish wealth ... The anti-semites will assist us thereby in that they will strengthen the persecution and oppression of Jews. The anti-semites shall be our best friends. (Diaries of Theodore Herzl, Part I, p. 16)
Everything depends upon our propelling force. And what is our propelling force? The misery of the Jews. (Theodore Herzl, A Jewish State, p. 8)
"To achieve their goal of statehood the Zionists have always deliberately provoked anti-Semitism ... Their interest was not to save Jews, on the contrary, more spilling of Jewish blood would strengthen their demand of the nations for the creation of their state." (New York Times, May 18, 1993)
"It is our duty to force all mankind to accept the seven Noahide laws, and if not—they will be killed." (Rabbi Yitzhak Ginsburg, Ma'ariv, October 6, 2004)
http://www.peacenow.org/mepr.asp?rid=&cid=141
The Seven Noachide laws are general commandments with many details. Transgressing any one of them is considered such a breach in the natural order that the offender incurs the death penalty. Apart from a few exceptions, the death sentence for a Ben Noach is Sayif, death by the sword / decapitation, the least painful of the four modes of execution of criminals (see the Rambam's Hilchos Melachim 9:14). (The four methods of capital punishment in Torah are: S’kilah - Stoning; S’rifah - Burning; Hereg - Decapitation; Henek - Strangulation.) The many formalities of procedure essential when the accused is an Israelite need not be observed in the case of the Noachite. The latter may be convicted on the testimony of one witness, even on that of relatives, but not on that of a woman. He need have had no warning from the witnesses; and a single judge may pass sentence on him (Sanhedrin 57a, b; Rambam, Hilchos Melakim 9:14).
http://www.noahide.org/article.asp?Level=173&Parent=166
"A non-Jew is put to death on the basis of a decision given by one judge [no jury], and on the basis of testimony given by a single witness, and even if he was not given a proper warning prior to the commission of his offense. He is put to death on the basis of testimony and a decision given by a man but not on the basis of testimony and a decision given by a woman, and the man who testified or decided against him can even be a relative.
"A Jew can only be put to death by a court of twenty-three judges, and on the basis of the testimony of two male witnesses who are not disqualified from testifying on account of kinship, and after being properly warned against committing the transgression. But none of these rules apply in the case of a non-Jew." (Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin 57b, Steinsaltz edition, vol.18, page 110)
"... violation of any one of the seven laws subjects the Noachide to capital punishment by decapitation (Sanh. 57a)."(Encyclopaedia Judaica, "Noahide Laws")
"The Christians are idolaters, and Sunday is their holiday..." (Maimonides, Mishneh Torah, Avodah Zorah, 9;4)
"... a gentile who worships false gods is liable, [for the death penalty] provided he worships them in the accepted manner. A gentile is executed for every type of foreign worship which a Jewish court would consider worthy of capital punishment." (Maimonides, Mishneh Torah, Hilchot Melachim 11)
Jewish-Catholic Commission Meeting Report
"Moral Relativism Poses a Serious Threat to Humanity"
ROME, MARCH 20, 2007 (Zenit.org).- Here is the text of the conclusions from the bilateral commission meeting of the Catholic and Jewish delegations dedicated to improving relations between the two religions.
* * *
The Delegation of the Holy See's Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews and the Chief Rabbinate of Israel's Delegation for Relations with the Catholic Church -- Bilateral Commission Meeting,
Jerusalem, March 11-13, 2007; Adar 21-23, 5767
1. At the seventh meeting of the above commission, held in Jerusalem, the chairmen Cardinal Jorge Mejía and Chief Rabbi Shear Yashuv Cohen noted the significance of the number seven within the biblical tradition as indicating fullness and maturity. They expressed the hope that the fullness of the relationship between the Catholic and the Jewish members of this commission will be a source of blessing to both faith communities and the world at large.
Cardinal Mejía also noted the recent passing of Cardinal Johannes Willebrands former president of the Holy See's Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews and a central figure in the historic transformation in Catholic-Jewish relations. May his memory always be for us a blessing.
2. The subject of the meeting was the "Freedom of Religion and Conscience and its Limits." The human capacity to choose is a manifestation of the divine image in which all people are created (cf. Gen 1:26-27) and is foundational for the biblical concept of human responsibility and divine justice (cf. Deut 30:19).
3. God has created the human person as a social being which, by definition, places limits on individual human freedom. Moreover freedom of choice is derived from God and therefore is not absolute, but must reflect divine will and law. Accordingly human beings are called to freely obey the divine will as manifested in Creation and in his revealed word.
Jewish tradition emphasizes the Noachide Covenant (cf. Gen 9:9-12) as containing the universal moral code which is incumbent on all humanity. This idea is reflected in Christian scripture in the book of Acts 15:28-29.
4. Accordingly the idea of moral relativism is antithetical to this religious worldview and poses a serious threat to humanity. Even though the Enlightenment helped bring about a purification from the abuse of religion, secular society still requires religious foundations to sustain lasting moral values. Critical among these is the principal of the sanctity of human life and dignity. Ethical monotheism affirms these as inviolable human rights and therefore can provide inspiration in this regard for society at large.
5. While on principle the state should not at all limit freedom of religion for individuals and communities nor of moral conscience, it has the responsibility to guarantee the wellbeing and security of society. Accordingly it is obliged to intervene wherever and whenever a threat is posed by the promotion, teaching or exercise of violence and specifically terrorism and psychological manipulation in the name of religion.
6. In addition to respecting the freedom of religious choices, the integrity of faith communities should also be guaranteed. Accordingly it is legitimate for a society with a predominant religious identity to preserve its character, as long as this does not limit the freedom of minority communities and individuals to profess their alternative religious commitments, nor to limit their full civil rights and status as citizens, individuals and communities. This obliges us all to safeguard the integrity and dignity of holy sites, places of worship and cemeteries of all religious communities.
7. In the course of history, religious communities have not always been faithful to these values. Therefore there is a special obligation upon religious leaders and communities to prevent the improper use of religion and to educate towards respect for diversity which is essential in order to ensure a healthy, stable and peaceful society.
In this regard, there is a special role for families, schools and the authorities of state and society as well as the media to impart these values to future generations.
In conclusion the bilateral commission having met in the Holy City of Jerusalem, expressed the prayer that the Almighty would bless and inspire both religious and political leaders in the region and beyond, to work determinedly to promote peace, dignity, security and tranquility in the Holy Land for all its peoples and for the world as a whole.
Jerusalem,
March 13, 2007 -- Adar 23, 5767
Chief Rabbi Shear Yashuv Cohen
(Chairman of the Jewish Delegation)
Chief Rabbi Ratson Arussi
Chief Rabbi Yossef Azran
Chief Rabbi David Brodman
Chief Rabbi David Rosen
Mr. Oded Wiener
Jorge Cardinal Mejía
(Chairman of the Catholic Delegation)
Cardinal Georges Cottier
Archbishop Antonio Ortega Franco
Archbishop Elias Chacour
Bishop Giacinto-Boulos Marcuzzo
Monsignor Pier Francesco Fumagalli
Father Norbert J. Hofmann S.D.B.
http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/chrstuni/relations-jews-docs/rc_pc_chrstuni_doc_20070313_commissione-bilaterale_en.html
[The Sanhedrin] hopes to impose Jewish law on the Jewish people and the seven "Noahide" laws -- prohibitions on theft, murder, blasphemy and others, based on Jewish teaching -- on Gentile nations.
http://www.beliefnet.com/story/214/story_21456_1.html
A ... goal of the ... Sanhedrin's efforts in regard to the Noahide community, is to "transform the Noahide movement from a religious phenomenon - a curiosity many have not heard of - into a powerful international movement that can successfully compete with, and with G-d's help bring about the fall of, any (other) religious movement ..."
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/90646
NOACHIDE LAWS, the seven laws considered by rabbinic tradition as the minimal moral duties enjoined by the Bible on all men (Sanh. 56–60; Yad, Melakhim, 8:10, 10:12) ...
The seven Noachide laws as traditionally enumerated are: the prohibitions of idolatry, blasphemy, bloodshed, sexual sins, theft, and eating from a living animal, as well as the injunction to establish a legal system (Tosef., Av. Zar. 8:4; Sanh. 56a). Except for the last, all are negative, and the last itself is usually interpreted as commanding the enforcement of the others (Maim. Yad, Melakhim, 9:1). (Encyclopaedia Judaica, "Noahide Laws")
"The Christians are idolaters, and Sunday is their holiday..." (Maimonides, Mishneh Torah, Avoda Zorah 9;4)
A non-Jew is put to death on the basis of a decision given by one judge [no jury], and on the basis of testimony given by a single witness, and even if he was not given a proper warning prior to the commission of his offense. He is put to death on the basis of testimony and a decision given by a man but not on the basis of testimony and a decision given by a woman, and the man who testified or decided against him can even be a relative.
A Jew can only be put to death by a court of twenty-three judges, and on the basis of the testimony of two male witnesses who are not disqualified from testifying on account of kinship, and after being properly warned against committing the transgression. But none of these rules apply in the case of a non-Jew. (Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin 57b, Steinsaltz edition, vol.18, page 110)
... violation of any one of the seven laws subjects the Noachide to capital punishment by decapitation (Sanh. 57a).(Encyclopaedia Judaica, "Noahide Laws")
