GER/VENDYL JONES

Noahide Nations Position Statement

Subject : Ger/Vendyl Jones

From the Board of Directors of Noahide Nations:

This position statement is being issued to state Noahide Nations’ official position as to the “Ger Movement” and to address the Ger Movement’s attempt to misrepresent and co-opt the good name of Vendyl Jones.

For the purpose of this position statement, the “Ger Movement” refers to the teachings and writings of, and associated with, Rabbis David Katz and Chaim Clorfene including “The World of the Ger,” Get Soul Strong and David Katz’ blog, Soul Mazal as well as their designated leaders.

Rejection and Renunciation of the Ger Movement

Noahide Nations stands with the Orthodox Rabbinic Community in its rejection and renunciation of the Ger Movement. Noahide Nations considers the Ger Movement and its teachings a violation of Torah. The Ger Movement operates outside the laws of the Torah and creates a new religion. However, Noahides, like the Jews, are prohibited from starting their own religion.

Attached are copies of letters signed by a number of righteous and prominent orthodox Rabbis. These letters explain in detail the problems and issues with the Ger Movement.

The open letter dated October 20, 2017 and signed by eight prominent Rabbis states, in part, “Rabbis Katz and Clorefene have developed a renegade halakhic theory of non-Jewish/Noahide identity that is cleverly marketed as ‘Ger.’ This theory is becoming attractive to non-Jews because it promises them an identity that is claimed to be more legitimate than Bnei Noach or ‘Noahides’ and somehow ‘frees’ non-Jews from idolatry. Among their most strident claims is that all other rabbis teaching the traditional Noahide Path of the Seven Laws are keeping their students ‘in idolatry’ by not accepting ‘Ger’ according to their definition of this term. However, their attractive packaging and self-righteous vitriol cannot cover up the truth: that it is a contrived, maverick re-definition of codified Torah concepts that neither they, nor any rabbinical body in our time for that matter, have any authority, right, or reason to alter.”

In another open letter dated October 19, 2017, Rabbi Moshe Wiener writes, in part, “It is my halakhic opinion that there are teachings and writings by R’ David Katz and R' Chaim Clorfene on these matters, directed to Non-Jews, that are misrepresentations of both the obligations and nature of the overall Torah-based Noahide Code, as well as misrepresentations of Torah l'Moshe Mi'Sinai (the Torah received by Moses from G-d at Mount Sinai). This especially applies in regard to their misguided advocacy and attempted justification for some Non-Jews to take on religious observance of certain Jewish ritual mitzvot, for example, restrictions on melacha that are commanded for Jews on Shabbat. I therefore strongly repudiate their creation and advocacy of the so-called ‘Ger’ movement, by which they have seriously misled a number of well-meaning Non-Jews.”

Finally, Rabbi Yoel Schwartz who wrote a note of approbation for the “The World of the Ger” has since come out against the Ger Movement. In a statement dated October 17, 2017, Rabbi Yoel Schwartz wrote, “All that R. David Katz is doing using my name is incorrect, and in my opinion, what he is doing is against halacha.”

Rabbi Yoel Schwartz’ note of approbation is further addressed in the October 20, 2017 open letter, stating, “Accordingly, it was deeply painful, though a relief, to learn from Rabbi Yoel Schwartz himself that the note of approbation that Katz has obtained from him for ‘The World of the Ger’ was deviously contrived: The aged ultra-orthodox rabbi, a non-English speaker, issue Katz a short, general standard note of approbation, such as he regularly gives to new books, without knowing all the detail of the work. He did so from a place of trust, in the hope of motivating and strengthening the hand of rabbis reaching out to build Noahide observance. When he was made aware of the full picture of Katz’s ideas and motives, how his trust was abused, and how his original note was later lengthened and blown up to be categorical support for all of R. Katz’s ideology, it brought deep angst to the senior rabbi.”

To be clear, Noahide Nations does not endorse any teachings by Rabbis David Katz and Chaim Clorfene including “The World of the Ger,” Get Soul Strong and David Katz’ blog, Soul Mazal. The Ger Movement is halachally incorrect and in direct conflict with the true Torah given to the Jews at Mt. Sinai.

For more information on the truth of the “Ger” go HERE.

Righteous Noahide Vendyl Jones

In an attempt to advance the Ger Movement’s credibility, it is attempting to co-opt the name and good reputation of Vendyl Jones, a righteous Noahide who is regarded by many Noahides and Rabbis as the father of the modern-day Noahide movement.

Vendyl Jones, through immense self-sacrifice, dedicated decades of his life to re-discovering the Noahide as he exists within Orthodox Judaism, discovering where the non-Jew fits within G-d’s Torah. During that time, Vendyl Jones gained the respect of many in the Orthodox community and is seen as a seminal figure in the modern-day Noahide movement. In fact, in 2008, Noahide Nations awarded Vendyl Jones the first, and thus far, the only Noahide Nations Lifetime Achievement Award for his work with Noahides.

Vendyl Jones’ influence had substantial impact on the formation of Noahide Nations. Prior to the Noahide Nations formation in 2005, its founder, Ray Pettersen and his wife were close friends with Vendyl Jones and attended many teachings and conferences put on by the Vendyl Jones Research Institute. During those teachings and conferences neither Vendyl Jones, nor any of the Rabbis or Noahides who were teaching used the term “Ger” in the fashion being used today by the Ger Movement.

In fact, Vendyl Jones lectured at The Noahide Nations World Conferences in 2008 and 2011. Not once during the video recorded teachings does Vendyl Jones use the term “Ger”. Moreover, not once during the five hours of his recorded sessions for the Noahide Nations Academy of Shem does Vendyl Jones use the term “Ger”.

As discussed above, the Orthodox community has come out strongly against the Ger Movement. Because Vendyl Jones is seen as an integral part of the Noahide Movement, the more the Ger Movement is able to use Vendyl Jones’ name unchecked, the more risk there is of creating distrust and division between righteous Noahides and the Orthodox Jewish community.

It is the position of Noahide Nations that Vendyl Jones would not have supported the Ger Movement. Rather, Vendyl Jones would have stood with the Orthodox Jewish community in its renunciation of the Ger Movement.

[1] These Rabbis include, Rabbi Moshe Weiner, overseeing Rabbi for Ask Noah International and author of “Sheva Mitvot HaShem” v. I-III, “The Divine Code” and “Seven Gates of Righteous Knowledge”; Rabbi Chaim Richman, International Director of the Temple Institute; Rabbi Avraham Sutton, a teacher of Torah, kabbalah, Talmud, chassidut and more for over 30 years who has translated, edited and/or authored over 20 major Torah works in English; Rabbi Avraham Chaim Bloomenstiel, “Moreh Horaah & Rosh Chabura Choshen Mishpat,” Yeshiva Keter HaTorah and author of the “Pirchei Shoshanim Noahide Laws Project”; Rabbi Michael Shelomo Bar-Ron, founder and head of Beth Midrash Ohel Moshe, Beit Shemesh, Isreal and author of “Guide for the Noahide,” “Oral Torah from Sinai” and “Song of the Creator”; Rabbi Chaim Coffman, for many years, he has worked with Noahides and those in the process of conversion to Judaism, teaching and guiding them under the auspices of HaRav HaGoen Moshe Shternburch; Rabbi Moshe Perets, the Executive Director of The Noahide Academy of Jerusalem; and Rabbi Moshe Shulman – Executuve Director of Judaism’s Answer.

[2] Overseeing Rabbi for Ask Noah International and author of “Sheva Mitvot HaShem” v. I-III, “The Divine Code” and “Seven Gates of Righteous Knowledge”.

[3] Rabbi Yoel Shwartz is a noted Torah scholar and prolific writer. He has published over 200 books. He is a product of the great Yeshivot Poneviz and Mir and merited to study with the famous Rosh Yeshivah of Yeshivat Mir, Rabbi Chaim Shmuelevitch zt"l.

LETTER FROM RABBI YOEL SCHWARTZ

Statement from HaRav Yoel Schwartz
Regarding R' David Katz
Released October 17, 2017

Translation:

With the Help of HaShem:

27 Tishrei, 5778 [October 17, 2017] To the Attention of the Public:

All that R. David Katz is doing using my name is incorrect, and in my opinion, what he is doing is against halacha.

Yoel Schwartz

[Rabbi Yoel Schwartz is an eminent, senior authority on Jewish Law in Israel. A graduate of Ponevezh yeshiva in Bnei Brak and Mirrer Yeshiva in Jerusalem, he has been the senior lecturer at Yeshiva Dvar Yerushalayim in Jerusalem for decades. He is also one of the most published rabbis of the generation, having authored over 200 books on Judaism, including the foundational work on Noahide law, "The Noahide Commandments". He is one of the founding rabbis of Nachal Charedi, the Orthodox Jewish Brigade of the IDF, and a recipient of the Moskowitz Prize for Zionism.]

LETTER FROM MULTIPLE RABBIS

An Open Letter Concerning the Teachings of Rabbis David Katz & Chaim Clorfene

October 20, 2017

For Public Dissemination

It is with deep concern and sorrow that we, the undersigned, feel compelled to make this public statement regarding the teachings of Rabbis David Katz, Chaim Clorefene, and the pseudo-"Ger" movement that has grown from these teachings. We do so not as close associates or members of a common organization, but as trained rabbis serving the Noahide public from across a spectrum of Torah traditions and perspectives, unified in this hour of need. Finally, we do so only after having consulted Rabbi Yoel Schwartz א"שלט, who has unreservedly retracted any support of

Katz or his teachings. (See his Rabbi Schwartz statement attached.)

Rabbis Katz and Clorefene have developed a renegade halakhic theory of non-Jewish/Noahide identity that is cleverly marketed as “Ger.” This theory is becoming attractive to non-Jews because it promises them an identity that is claimed to be more legitimate than Bnei Noach or “Noahides” and somehow “frees” non-Jews from idolatry. Among their most strident claims is that all other rabbis teaching the traditional Noahide Path of the Seven Laws are keeping their students “in idolatry” (!) by not accepting “Ger” according to their definition of this term. However, their attractive packaging and self-righteous vitriol cannot cover up the truth: that it is a contrived, maverick re-definition of codified Torah concepts that neither they, nor any rabbinical body in our time for that matter, have any authority, right, or reason to alter.

None of the sources that Rabbis Katz or Clorefene have quoted or claimed as the basis of their “ger” concept (i.e., the Raavad or the writings of Rav Aharon Soloveichik, etc.) are new or unknown to the rabbinical community. Many are standard rabbinical sources. However, the theory they have built around these sources is bizarre, misleading, and contrary to halakhah. Accordingly, it was deeply painful, though a relief, to learn from Rabbi Yoel Schwartz himself that the note of approbation that Katz had obtained from him for “The World of the Ger” was deviously contrived: The aged ultra-orthodox rabbi, a non-English speaker, issued Katz a short, general standard note of approbation, such as he regularly gives to new books, without knowing all the details of the work. He did so from a place of trust, in the hope of motivating and strengthening the hand of rabbis reaching out to build Noahide observance. When he was made aware of the full picture of Katz’s ideas and motives, how his trust was abused, and how his original note was later lengthened and blown up to be a categorical support for all of R. Katz’s ideology, it brought deep angst to the senior rabbi.

What makes Katz’s and Clorefene’s teachings particularly dangerous is that they involve deeply complicated issues that require extensive background to grasp. Rabbi Katz is aware that many of his students lack the sufficient mastery of the texts and issues involved—mastery required to understand why his teachings are so problematic. When deflecting legitimate criticism of his teachings, he preys on that ignorance. Knowing that his followers cannot independently verify the accuracy of what he is saying, he resorts to rhetorical tactics such as these:

When R. Katz’s followers are asked to check his mistranslations using outside sources, he deflects this challenge by telling them that existing translations are unreliable. When presented with sources that contradict him, he simply accuses other rabbonim of “not knowing how to learn,” or responds with ideas that are unintelligible and thereby impossible to refute because they are impossible to understand. When we have asked his followers to verify his teachings with a neutral third party, R. Katz again resorted to the claim that “that person (the third party) is unreliable” or “doesn’t know how to learn.” R. Katz's responses often sound authoritative to his followers because they quote rabbinical sources and use Hebrew. When experienced rabbis then explain why Rabbi Katz’s answers do not make sense, he responds, “See, my opponents don’t know how to learn.” When they do gain familiarity with the Torah sources, even educated Noahides can discern blatant fallacies of logic in Katz’s and Clorefene’s rhetoric: argument from repetition, moving the goal-posts, argument from authority, red-herring fallacy, appeal to emotion, and ad hominem attacks, to name a few. Whatever a challenge this can pose to veteran Noahides, no one suffers more from all this than those who are new to Torah.

This statement of ours must not be misunderstood as a personal, ad hominem attack of our own, Heaven forbid. It is painfully difficult for us to speak negatively about the work of any scholar earnestly trying to teach Torah. For years we held on to hope that Rabbis Katz and Clorefene would start giving their listeners a balanced perspective and, in the very least, commit to expressing themselves responsibly. Accordingly, several of us have each, to varying degrees, attempted to engage Katz privately to discuss these issues in a civil, respectful fashion (the blatant denial of this fact on his part is deceitful). Sadly, he quickly turned these private discussions into public spectacles, sharing our communications publicly, and childishly mocking his fellow rabbis who had approached him in good faith. He and Clorefene have engaged their followers in publicly disdaining and ridiculing respected teachers of Torah. Masking the cult-like aspect of the following he and Katz have created, Rabbi Clorefene ironically paints all the rest of the Noahide movement and its teachers as a “cult.” The Noahide organizations that they and their pseudo-“Ger” followers discredit have worked closely with the rabbinical community for years, with the common goal of shining the light of truth on the Gentile relationship with HaShem. Just as Judaism is taught with rabbinical sources, Noahism too can only be taught with those same rabbinical sources; they are both parts of one and the same tradition. These organizations provide the necessary platforms for this truth to be disseminated to the Gentile world.

While Katz and Clorefene may initially attract the love and loyalty of their listeners, this hostility ultimately distances those innocent souls from Torah and the Jewish People, undermining centuries of Jewish teaching in their eyes. When their followers see their role-models spurning and belittling the counsel of their peers and great rabbis of the generation, they learn to hold traditional Torah scholarship in suspicion and even contempt. What they would see, if their eyes were opened, however, are two scholars, utterly alone in their views, who will not engage in normal rabbinical discourse – all on account of a revisionist theory that contradicts foundational halakhah. It is akin to a marital conflict in which an unfaithful husband spurns the counsel of his professional, deeply-caring peers. Feeling cornered on account of his vices, he instead resorts to turning his child against the mother.

Although David Katz’s teachings contain some truth, they are mixed with complicated, difficult distortions, and tainted with egotism and hostile rhetoric. Rather than working to strengthen the bridges built over decades of work by numerous rabbis and teachers – bridges between noble non-Jewish souls and the Torah community – Rabbis Katz and Clorefene have chosen to burn those bridges with hostile and divisive rhetoric. As such, the teachings of these two men have become “a stumbling block before the blind.” Therefore, we strongly urge every G-d fearing person and lover of Torah truth to distance him or herself from the pseudo- “Ger” movement, David Katz and Chaim Clorefene, and their teachings.

Signed:

Rabbi Moshe Weiner
Jerusalem, Israel
Author of Sheva Mitzvot HaShem and The Divine Code

Rabbi Chaim Richman
International Director of The Temple Institute
Author of A House of Prayer for All Nations: The Holy Temple of Jerusalem and The Holy Temple of Jerusalem

Rabbi Avraham Sutton
Kiryat Ye`arim, Israel
A teacher of Torah, kabbalah, Talmud, chassidut and more for over 30 years. He has translated, edited and/or authored over 20 major Torah works in English.

Rabbi Avraham Chaim Bloomenstiel
Moreh Horaah & Rosh Chabura Choshen Mishpat, Yeshiva Keter HaTorah
Author of the Pirchei Shoshanim Noahide Laws Project

Rabbi Michael Shelomo Bar-Ron
Beit Shemesh, Israel
Founder and Head of Beth Midrash Ohel Moshe, Beit Shemesh, Israel
Author of Guide For The Noahide, Oral Torah From Sinai, and Song Of The Creator

Rabbi Chaim Coffman Beitar Illit, Israel
For many years, Rabbi Coffman has been working with both Noahides and those in the process of conversion to Judaism, teaching and guiding them under the auspices of HaRav HaGaon Moshe Shternbuch.

Rabbi Moshe Perets
Executive Director
The Noahide Academy of Jerusalem Jerusalem, Israel

LETTER FROM RABBI MOSHE WEINER

B'Syata D'Shmaya

As Executive Director of the Sheva-Mitzvot outreach organization Ask Noah International, I am supporting the following open letter from Rabbi Moshe Weiner of Jerusalem, whom this organization has been honored to accept as our Overseeing Rav beginning in 2005.

Dr. Michael Schulman
October 19, 2017

An Open Letter Regarding the Teachings of R' DAVID KATZ and
R' CHAIM CLORFENE about “GER” and “GER TOSHAV”

R' David Katz and R' Chaim Clorfene have written and lectured on-line and in other forums. However, certain aspects of their teachings are contrary to accepted halakhah (Torah Law), in practice and understanding, as determined by the traditionally accepted Jewish Torah scholars and sages.

Particularly erroneous are their claims about the status and meaning of the Hebrew term Ger Toshav (a term with clear halakhic definition). I am obligated to point out that R' David Katz has made incorrect and misleading attempts to claim support for his teachings from my work in Hebrew titled Sheva Mitzvot HaShem. In his claims he has included statements that are exactly the opposite of what I actually wrote and intended in that work, and in my work The Divine Code.

Additionally, they have made false claims as to definitions of the Hebrew terms ger and Ger Tzedek, in places in the Written and Oral Torah texts. Their claims constitute a chiddush dat (an invented idea). Ger Tzedek only correctly refers to a person who became a Jew through undergoing the halakhic conversion process. The meaning of the term ger in Torah is always to be correctly understood in the context of how it is used, based on the mesorah (the textual meaning of the Hebrew Bible as transmitted in the Oral Tradition) and the accepted halakhah.

It is my halakhic opinion that there are teachings and writings by R’ David Katz and R' Chaim Clorfene on these matters, directed to Non-Jews, that are misrepresentations of both the obligations and nature of the overall Torah-based Noahide Code, as well as misrepresentations of Torah l'Moshe Mi'Sinai (the Torah received by Moses from G-d at Mount Sinai). This especially applies in regard to their misguided advocacy and attempted justification for some Non-Jews to take on religious observance of certain Jewish ritual mitzvot, for example, restrictions on melacha that are commanded for Jews on Shabbat. I therefore strongly repudiate their creation and advocacy of the so-called "Ger" movement, by which they have seriously misled a number of well-meaning Non-Jews.

Rabbi Moshe Weiner
Moreh Hora’ah
Author of Sheva Mitzvot HaShem v. I-III, The Divine Code, and Seven Gates of Righteous Knowledge
Overseeing Rav for Ask Noah International
October 19, 2017 / 29 Tishrei 5778