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In an unredeemed world, every good book and true idea will encounter fierce resistance from those who feel threatened by the message. Rainbow Covenant is no exception.
Here, we start with the short response to a (fairly typical) attack on Rainbow Covenant:
Rabbi Michael Katz's response (June 26, 2008) to the denuciation/condemnation of Rainbow Covenant below:
I have looked over every one of Rabbi Shochat's complaints and they are unwarranted. He might not like Dallen's conclusions but they were not sucked out of his thumb. They are legitimate opinions. In fact, I should point out to you that his criticism of Dallen's treatement of the Sabbath would apply equally to the suggested Noahide practice as proposed by Rabbi [Yoel] Schwartz. Had Dallen done two things, Shochat would have had no problem with the book: those two things are, avoid any criticism, implied or explicit, of Chabad and pass himself off as a huge fan of the late Lubavitcher Rebbe. In fact, had this book been written by a Lubavitcher and obviously left out the criticism of Chabad on page 339, Shochat would have been endorsing it and not condemning it. RMK (Miami, Florida)
Denunciation by Emmanuel Schochat:
Date: Sun, 22 Jun 2008 18:12:46 -0400
From: Yehoishophot Oliver <rabbioliver @ gmail. com>
Reply-To: Yehoishophot Oliver <rabbioliver @ gmail. com>
Subject: book review of The Rainbow Covenant
BS"D
Upon your request I perused the book "The Rainbow Covenant - Torah and the
Seven Universal Laws" by one Michael Ellias Dallen. It is my considered
Halachic opinion that this book is Halachically unacceptable. It must be
condemned and repudiated in the strongest terms. It misrepresents,
misinterprets, distorts and violates Torah-laws and Torah-perspective. It
leads astray gentiles who seek to learn their duties and obligations
dictated by the Noachide Code.
The fundamental premise of this book, i.e., that "one doesn't need to be a
rabbi, or know all that a rabbi must know, to elucidate the Noahide
Commandments" - (claiming that it is better to be done by one who is not
"encumbered" by Torah-knowledge!) and that "the best qualifications for that
... are just a)common sense; b)general experience, especially if it's
supported by some acquaintance with history and law...", (see there p. xv,
and also pp. 80-82 and 197) stands in direct contradiction to Halachah. The
Noachide Code is a strictly Halachic concept, thus exclusively determined
and defined by the rulings of authoritative Halachah. More specifically, it
violates the explicit and uncontested ruling by Maimonides in Hilchot
Melachim 8:11 that the sole religious and moral validity of the Naochide
Code is contingent upon it being commanded by G-d in the Torah and made
known through Moses. This ruling itself is derived from the Rabbinic text
Mishnat R. Eliezer, as stated by Maimonides in one of his responsa.
As the author builds on his own "common sense" it is then not surprising
that he commits numerous, serious errors. For example, on p. 46 he crudely
distorts Deuteronomy 18:15 by giving it a notorious Christological
interpretation, counter to the universal Jewish meaning of this verse. On p.
101 he misinterprets Exodus 22:30. His often weird rationalizations for
dietary and sexual laws of the Torah lead him to extract false practical
implications. Likewise with regard top his statements on p. 235f. re the
condemnation of idols and idolatry. With unbelievable arrogance, he
misleads gentiles about Sabbath-observance (pp. 76 and 128) counter to the
normative rulings of the Torah.
No less serious are his astounding comments on p. 339, ridiculing the
mystical tradition of Judaism: "once people begin occupying themselves with
mysticism, anything is possible; the first things to go can be intellect,
reason, and observation." This is an implicit critique and condemnation of a
majority of the foremost Halachic authorities among the rishonim and
acharonim (the earlier - mediaeval- and later authorities), who occupied
themselves with the mystical tradition and proclaimed it to be an integral
and essential component of the Torah. These include R. Joseph Karo, author
of the authoritative code the Shulchan Aruch, the Vilna Gaon (who even
stated that one is unable to truly understand the plain sense of the
exoteric Torah - peshat and Halachah - without knowledge of the esoteric
dimension thereof), and R. Shneur Zalman of Liadi, author of the celebrated
updated version of the Shulchan Aruch, not to mention the foremost
Kabbalistic authority R. Isaac Luria whose teachings influenced many
Halachic rulings incumbent upon all Jews. In the same highlighted box the author also denies
the unique nature of the Jewish people, as distinguished from all other
nations, notwithstanding the fact that this is already an explicit principle
of the Torah of Moses and the teachings of the prophets.
There is hardly any need for me to mention the unwarranted references to,
and citations from, alien religious texts such as the New Testament and the
Koran as credible sources for Torah-values, or the unqualified acceptance of
the theories of evolution and the age of the world to be billions of years
etc. Passages like these, aside of the Halachic impropriety for most of
them, may fit in some polemical text, but are unacceptable in a book that
claims to portray Torah values and to provide guidance to gentiles with
regard to their religious obligations as revealed in the Torah.
In short, this book has no religious value and validity and must be
condemned in the strongest terms.
Rabbi Emanuel Shochet
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