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Ken Layne's FOX News column (via Howard Fienberg) has a couple of serious errors in it -- errors so serious as to destroy its entire argument. First, of course, is the line:
Ariel, your nation can rebuild the ruins of the temple. which shows a complete lack of understanding of Torah. The Bet haMikdash (Temple) cannot be built anywhere save Mt. Moriah, as it would not then be "in the place that [God has] shown you". (Note that the Temple serves to glorify the altar; it would actually be possible to dedicate the altar without rebuilding the Temple, although all authorities agree that Messiah will do both.) We might suppose, though, that Layne is merely being hyperbolic in so saying. However, another line shows his true lack of understanding:
You think God cares about what chunk of dirt you call home? Sure, the Torah says otherwise, but the Torah also says you should sacrifice your son if a voice in your head gets too loud. Jesus Christ lived and died around one little piece of ground in modern-day Israel, yet the Catholic Church is based in Italy. Now, I don't know what Layne's religion is. However, Yoshke haNetzor (whom he miscalls "Christ") has absolutely no relevance in Torah matters, nor does the fact that the Bishop of Rome heads the Catholic Church. It's also to be noted that, contrary to Layne's apparently jocular view, Torah absolutely forbids human sacrifice. Speaking of it, the prophet Jeremiah declares that the Holy One blessed be He abominates, saying of it "which I did not command, and I did not speak, and did not come into My heart" (Jer. 19:5). The last of these three clauses is understood in the Talmud (Ta'anit 4a) to refer specifically to case of Abraham and Isaac (Gen. 22:1-19). Although Layne has certainly garnered his misunderstanding elsewhere, it is interesting that the reference he provides is to a website that, although apparently academic in nature, shows a similar, apparently religiously-based misunderstanding of Torah. It states:
Above these laws tower the laws given by Yahweh directly to his people: the Decalogue or ten commandments. This is the only part of the Hebrew scriptures that purports to be the direct speech of Yahweh written down on the spot . The decalogue forms the center of all the rules and laws developed out of them. This is a total misunderstanding, probably inspired by Christianity. The entire written Torah, not just the Decalogue, is understood to have been dictated to Moses, when he was aware, by the Holy One blessed be He (that website does correctly differentiate between the Torah and the rest of the Tanakh (Old Testament), but does not mention the Oral Law). Nor, of course, are the Decalogue considered to be more important than the other 603 mitzvot (commandments) in the Torah. I fear that Ken Layne, as well-written and knowledgeable about secular matters as he is, does not have sufficient Torah knowledge to write about Halakhic (religious legal) matters. (DISCLAIMER: I don't have semikhah (authority to judge or teach) either. For a final determination of this dispute, CYLOR (Consult Your Local Appropriat Rabbi)). John "Akatsukami" Braue Thursday, April 04, 2002 |
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