Q&A: The Bahá’í Gardens
The Bahá’í Gardens
Question
Hello Rabbi,
I wanted to ask about visiting the Bahá’í Gardens in Haifa and Acre. Is there any prohibition involved because of idolatry, or is there no concern as long as one does not enter the building itself, especially when it is clear to everyone that the visitor simply wants to enjoy the greenery and has no intention whatsoever relating to idol worship.
Also, since this year is a Sabbatical year, is there any prohibition on visiting because gardening work is done there?
Thank you very much
Answer
As far as I understand, the Bahá’ís are not idol worshippers, but rather a kind of moderate and universalist Islam. Therefore there is no halakhic prohibition against benefiting from their gardens, even if they have a ritual dimension. The gardening work is done by non-Jews, so I do not see any problem with that either, even if you were to think there is a problem with benefiting from gardening done in violation of Jewish law.
Discussion on Answer
As far as I know, they themselves work in the gardens. But beyond that, the land belongs to them, and a non-Jew’s ownership can remove the land from those restrictions, and even if there were a transgression here, we have not found any prohibition against deriving benefit from it.
Thank you, Rabbi.
I want to return to the issue of idol worship. Following what you wrote, I looked at the Wikipedia entry on the Bahá’í religion, where it says about the movement’s second leader that “Bahá’u’lláh claimed to be not only a prophet, ‘he whom God shall make manifest,’ but also the embodiment of God.”
Isn’t this something that defines the movement as idolatry?
These are theoretical nuances that are hard to build on. Chabad too defines the Rebbe as an embodiment of the Holy One, blessed be He, and Kabbalah also says that the Holy One, Israel, and the Torah are one. So in my opinion, theoretical theological statements do not turn a faith into idolatry.
How do you know the gardening is done by non-Jews?