Q&A: Learning from the Hebrew Bible about association for gentiles
Learning from the Hebrew Bible about association for gentiles
Question
What does the Rabbi think about this post?
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1948292812022621&id=100005257627694&m_entstream_source=feed_mobile
Both regarding deriving the law directly from the Hebrew Bible and regarding his conclusion.
Answer
I understand that you’re bringing this up בעקבות my remarks that nothing can be learned from the Hebrew Bible.
But even in my view there is no problem deriving Jewish law from the Hebrew Bible. After all, the prohibitions of meat cooked with milk and of pork are also learned from the Hebrew Bible. My claim is that deriving values or non-halakhic principles from there (even historical ones, in many cases) cannot be done.
As for the actual derivation, I’m not sure one can learn from there that this is permitted for Noahides. After all, the Holy One, blessed be He, instructed them not to worship through association. The reason they were not punished is that they were under compulsion, because they truly believed in association (see my next comment).
I’ll just say that the whole discussion of whether gentiles are warned against association seems very puzzling to me. After all, association is false (there is no other god together with the Holy One, blessed be He). So gentiles are allowed to be mistaken? And we are forbidden to be mistaken? There is no prohibition against making a mistake. Only if we are talking about worship through association, and not belief in association, can I maybe understand the prohibition. Belief in association depends on the question of truth and falsehood, not of permitted and forbidden, but worship of two gods in association is forbidden. Of course, if he truly believes in association then he is under compulsion, and if he does not believe and worships only because of his evil inclination, then perhaps there is a prohibition in this. And indeed, in that chapter the discussion is really about actual worship.