But when I came across it more recently (a couple of years ago), it felt liberating.
So let's read it with an open mind.
Here it is:
Rav Avigdor Miller on Are You a Descendant of Avraham Avinu?
Q: When you have people today who are not loyal to our traditions, does this prove that they are not from the זרע אברהם, from the seed of Avraham?
A:
The Rambam says that.
Now, I’m not going to be able to tell you a definite answer about any individual today, because many of these people will change later in life.
Today there are so many people with big beards who I knew personally once upon a time, and they wouldn’t have even dreamed of a wearing a beard. I remember them from years ago.
But they changed, they changed. So it could be that many will eventually come back to the Torah.
However, it could be that those who will never come back are not מזרע אברהם.
It could be. I’m not able to tell you clearly.
I once said this in the presence of a chasidishe Rav, and he was angry at me.
Because I was saying all the people who go lost don’t belong to us anyhow.
And he didn’t agree with me.
So I wouldn’t be stubborn as to tell you definitely.
There may be some exceptions to the rule.
But according to the pashtus, that’s what the Rambam says.
I told him that the Rambam said that, but he wasn’t happy.
TAPE # E-115
https://torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-are-you-a-descendant-of-avraham-avinu/
In Iggeret Teiman (A Letter to Yemen), which appears here in Hebrew, then below in English:
וְאַתֶּם, אַחֵינוּ, חִזְקוּ וְאִמְצוּ וְהִשָׁעַנּוּ עַל הַפְּסוּקִים הָאֵלֶּה הָאֲמִתִּיִּים, וְאַל יַבְהִילוּ אֶתְכֶם הַשְׁמָדוֹת אִם תָּכְפוּ אֶתְכֶם וְאַל יַפְחִיד אֶתְכֶם תֹּקֶף יַד הָאוֹיֵב עֲלֵיכֶם וַחֲלִישׁוּת אֻמָּתֵנוּ, שֶׁכָּל הָעִנְיָן הַזֶּה אֵינוֹ רַק נִסָּיוֹן וּבְחִינָה לְהַרְאוֹת אֱמוּנַתְכֶם וְחִבַּתְכֶם בָּעוֹלָם וְשֶׁלֹּא יַחֲזִיקוּ בְּדַת הָאֱמֶת בְּעִתּוֹת כָּאֵלּוּ אֶלָּא הַחֲכָמִים יִרְאֵי ה' מִזֶּרַע יַעֲקֹב הַזֶּרַע הַטָּהוֹר וְהַנָּקִי שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר עֲלֵיהֶם (יוֹאֵל ג ה) "וּבַשְּׂרִידִים אֲשֶׁר ה' קֹרֵא"; בֵּאֵר שֶׁהֵם יְחִידִים וְהֵם הָאֲנָשִׁים שֶׁעָמְדוּ אֲבוֹתָם עַל הַר סִינַי וְשָׁמְעוּ הַדִּבּוּר מִפִּי הַגְּבוּרָה וְשָׁלְחוּ יְדֵיהֶם וֶאֱמוּנָתָם לִבְרִית וְקִבְּלוּ עַל עַצְמָם הַמַּעֲשֶׂה וְהַקַּבָּלָה וְאָמְרוּ "כֹּל אֲשֶׁר דִּבֶּר ה' נַעֲשֶׂה וְנִשְׁמָע" וְחִיְּבוּ דָּבָר זֶה עֲלֵיהֶם וְעַל הַבָּאִים אַחֲרֵיהֶם, שֶׁכֵּן כָּתוּב (דְּבָרִים כט כֹח) "לָנוּ וּלְבָנֵינוּ עַד עוֹלָם". וּכְבָר הִבְטִיחָנוּ הַבּוֹרֵא יִתְבָּרַךְ, כְּאָדָם הַנִּכְנָס עָרֵב לַחֲבֵרוֹ וְדַי לָנוּ בְּעַרְבוּתוֹ, וְהוֹדִיעָנוּ שֶׁכָּל מִי שֶׁעָמַד עַל הַר סִינַי שֶׁהֵם מַאֲמִינִים בִּנְבוּאַת מֹשֶׁה רַבֵּנוּ בְּכָל מָה שֶׁבָּא עַל יָדוֹ הֵם וּבְנֵיהֶם וּבְנֵי בְנֵיהֶם עַד עוֹלָם שֶׁכֵּן אָמַר הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא יִתְבָּרַךְ (שְׁמוֹת יט ט) "הִנֵּה אָנֹכִי בָּא אֵלֶיךָ בְּעַב הֶעָנָן בַּעֲבוּר יִשְׁמַע הָעָם בְּדַבְּרִי עִמָּךְ וְגַם בְּךָ יַאֲמִינוּ לְעוֹלָם". לְפִיכָךְ יֵשׁ לָדַעַת שֶׁכָּל מִי שֶׁנָּטָה מִדֶּרֶךְ הַדָּת הַנְּתוּנָה בַּמַּעֲמָד הַהוּא, שֶׁאֵינוֹ מִזֶּרַע הָאֲנָשִׁים הַהֵם. וְכֵן אָמְרוּ רַבּוֹתֵינוּ זִכְרוֹנָם לִבְרָכָה עַל כָּל הַמִּסְתַּפֵּק בַּנְּבוּאָה: לֹא עָמְדוּ אֲבוֹתָיו עַל הַר סִינַי. הַמָּקוֹם יַצִּילֵנוּ וְיַצִּילְכֶם מִן הַסָּפֵק וְיַרְחִיק מִמֶּנּוּ וּמִכֶּם הַמַּחְשָׁבוֹת הַמְּבִיאוֹת לִידֵי סָפֵק וְלִידֵי מִכְשׁוֹל.
https://he.wikisource.org/wiki/איגרת_תימן_-_מנוקד
וְהָיָ֗ה כֹּ֧ל אֲשֶׁר־יִקְרָ֛א בְּשֵׁ֥ם יְהֹוָ֖ה יִמָּלֵ֑ט כִּ֠י בְּהַר־צִיּ֨וֹן וּבִירֽוּשָׁלִַ֜ם תִּֽהְיֶ֣ה פְלֵיטָ֗ה כַּֽאֲשֶׁר֙ אָמַ֣ר יְהֹוָ֔ה וּבַ֨שְּׂרִידִ֔ים אֲשֶׁ֥ר יְהֹוָ֖ה קֹרֵֽא
And it shall come to pass that whoever shall call in the name of the Lord shall be delivered, for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be a deliverance, as the Lord said, and among the survivors whom the Lord invites.
Rashi:
And it shall come to pass that whoever shall call etc. as… said: And where did He say it? (Deut. 28:10), “And all the peoples of the earth shall see that the Name of the Lord is called on you.” [from Mechilta, Ex. 12: 25]
and among the survivors: And in the remnant that will remain.
whom the Lord invites: Heb. קֹרֵא, an expression of those invited to a banquet or to the service of the king, an expression of invitation.
www.chabad.org/library/bible_cdo/aid/16171/showrashi/true
And you, our brothers, be strengthened and girded with courage and rely on these true verses!
And be not dismayed at the series of persecutions or the enemy's ascendency over us, or the weakness of our people.
These trials are designed to test and purify us so that only the God-fearing wise ones of the pure and undefiled lineage of Yaakov will adhere to our religion and remain within the fold, as it is written, "And among the remnant are those whom the Lord shall call." (Yoel 3:5).
This verse makes it clear that they are not numerous, being the ones whose forefathers stood at Mount Sinai, and heard the speaking of the Almighty and, with their faithful belief, they entered into the covenant of God, and undertook to do and obey as is signified in their saying, "we will do, and obey." (Shemot/Exodus 24:7).
They obligated not only themselves but also their descendants, as it is written, "to us and to our children forever." (Devarim/Deuteronomy 29:28).
We have been given Divine assurance that all the persons who stood at Mount Sinai are the ma'aminim [believers] in the Prophecy of Moshe Rabbeinu and all that comes about by its means — they, and their children, and their children's children, until the end of time.
As it is written, "Behold, I come to you in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with you, and may also believe you forever." (Shemot/Exodus 19:9).
Consequently, one must know that every person who turned from the path of the religion [Judaism] given at that Revelation [at Mount Sinai], that he is not from the seed of those people [i.e., he does not descend from those who witnessed it].
For our Sages of blessed memory have insisted that everyone who doubts that Divine Message – his ancestors did not stand at Mount Sinai.
May God save us and rescue you all from doubt, and distance from us and from all of you the thoughts that lead to doubt and to a stumbling block.
The Rambam's 5 Points regarding Authentic Yisrael Ancestry
- The Revelation at Sinai transformed the Yisrael spiritual DNA to ensure that every descendant of those who stood at Har Sinai would maintain their belief in and adherence to Judaism.
- This belief and adherence to Torah is eternal as stated in the Torah itself (Shemot 19:9 & Devarim 29:28).
- People who left the path of Torah Judaism are not descended from Am Yisrael, which stood at Har Sinai.
- People who doubt the Revelation of Har Sinai are not descended from Am Yisrael, which stood at Har Sinai.
- This phenomenon of Jews leaving the path of Torah and expressing disbelief in the Revelation at Har Sinai is a natural outcome of them not being real Jews anyway.
Especially the people who hold more fondness for those they call "tinok sheh nishba," to the extent they defend these tinokot sheh nishba much more than they defend Torah-observant Jews, and give them the benefit of the doubt much more than they do for Torah-observant Jews.
And yes, the above becomes harder to accept when someone you love fits this description. What if the person who refuses to believe is your child? Your best friend or favorite relative? What if that person is a parent or a spouse?
Probably most of us have someone we care about very much who fits the above points.
So what's going on?
How We See the Rambam's Words in Real Time
We see this today.
But we also see this return represents a minority of Jews.
Despite all the exciting stories of gerim and baalei teshuvah, the vast majority of the world's 14 million Jews are NOT returning, nor do they have any desire to.
Now, the kiruv organization operate on the belief that these Jews simply lack knowledge and opportunity.
And we see they are partly correct because a great many secular Jews, once shown the knowledge and opportunity, make a complete return to embrace a Torah life.
However, the majority of the Jews NEVER return.
Even when given ample opportunity and knowledge, they never return.
(Please see here for some examples of that: Is This Really Tinok Sheh Nishba?)
Growing up in a non-Orthodox community and non-Orthodox place of worship, I knew a great many nice but fake converts (usually women) married to Jewish men from Brooklyn.
Contrary to the popular presentation of Jewish immigrants as fully frum, half my family came to the USA as maskilim and half as not-very-knowledgeable observant Jews.
Furthermore, with many of these guys second-generation Jews in America, they were raised secular-traditional.
Did these guys ever keep Shabbos even once in their lives?
It could be that while attending an Orthodox summer camp in the 1940s or a Bnei Akiva Shabbaton back in the 1950s, they might have. Maybe.
But they never did so as adults.
And they intermarried (even if they didn't really mean to, as indicated by them insisted on their non-Jewish fiancée's fake conversion).
And if you asked them, then no, they did not believe in a Divine Revelation at Mount Sinai. They believed that Moshe Rabbeinu carved some nifty laws into clay tablets, then somehow (with the help of his bro, Aharon) created some kind of really cool sound 'n' light show.
And because so many of them have died by now, I can say with confidence that they never kept mitzvot their entire lives.
And that's because they WEREN'T the real deal.
It is a sifting process.
That's just a couple of examples.
(And again, please note how the Rambam derives this from the basic text of the Chumash itself.)
Why the Rambam's Position Benefits Us So Much
After having banged my head against the wall for decades and turned repeated somersaults in desperate attempts at outreach and kiddush Hashem and making myself approachable to assimilated family members and friends (including hosting them for lovely Shabbos experiences), it's a relief to just drop all the spiritual and emotional acrobatics which, anyway, had absolutely no effect on any of them.
Yes, we should keep our arms open for any who wish to return.
Yes, we should make widely accessible and available programs to teach secular Jews the proofs of Judaism and how to return to Judaism.
Yes, we should!
But it seems we should stop running after them or twisting things around to make them sound more appealing.
And we should stop working so hard on loving secular anti-Torah Leftists; instead focusing our attempts on loving Jews much closer to home, such as:
- our frum family members (including the disappointing ones)
- our frum neighbors (including the annoying ones)
- our fellow shul members (including the blowhard who dominates the kiddush and the lady who sits right behind you and insists on singing in a somewhat falsetto-sounding operatic voice right near your ear — hey, it happened to me a couple of times)
- Jews who belong to a perfectly frum group whose hashkafah we don't personally follow
After all, if the person refuses to return and refuses to even believe in the Divine Revelation at Har Sinai, then maybe they aren't who they seem or believe themselves to be.
We see from the Rambam's masterpiece on teshuvah that Jews can sin badly and believe badly without it indicating a lack of Yisrael soul.
The Iggeret Teiman clearly refers to the commitment to overall assimilation and core disbelief.
And as the Rambam states, this birur (sifting process) is MEANT to happen.
We needn't mourn it.
It simply separates the fake Jews from the authentic Jews.
So we needn't interfere with this ultimately beneficial process — other than making resources available to any Jew ready to return to the fold.
How to Follow the Rambam's Position Practically
Of course, we should be really nice and respectful to all human beings, whether they're Jewish or not and whether they are frum or not.
But massive efforts and finances should probably be directed into the frum community and invested in Jews who actually keep Torah and are part of the community speeding up the Geula and the coming of Mashiach, may it happen soon b'rachamim.
(Having said all that, if you personally feel a terrific passion to engage in kiruv and you are actually good at it, it likely means Hashem WANTS you to do that. He put that desire in you. So here's wishing you lots of hatzlacha with that! I mean that sincerely. However, general resources should likely be channeled into Torah institutions and communities. Obviously, we all see the need.)
What Could be Another Legitimate POV on the Issue?
First of all, the fact that Rav Miller referred to him as "a rav" indicates to me that this chassidish rav is someone Rav Miller respects, else he probably would've referred to him as "a chassidish fellow" or something like that.
And on what basis could the chassidish rav disagreed so vehemently with Rav Miller (and the Rambam) on this topic?
First of all, one could do a "that was then, this is now" kind of thing. After all, in the Rambam's time, everyone was religious, even if it was a false religion.
Everyone believed in some kind of god.
So it would've been really weird for even an ignorant or lowlife Jew to completely reject Ma'amad Har Sinai and to complete assimilate.
Also, basic religious Torah observances were both well-known and popularly observed. It would've been radically shocking for any Jew (or non-Jew, even) then to behave like secular Jews and non-Jews behave and dress today.
Furthermore, there's the concept of gilgulim.
A fallen Jew in one life may get another chance in a later life. And there are stories to back this up.
For example, Rav Yehudah Petayah rectified deceased souls who'd been really awful in not just one past life, but several.
As bad as they were, I think most them did not deny ma'amad Har Sinai; they just totally ignored it.
You can read about Rav Petayah's experiences here:
myrtlerising.weebly.com/blog/minchat-yehudah-part-i-teshuvah-and-what-happens-after-you-die
And also these address the topic:
myrtlerising.weebly.com/blog/2-fascinating-links-to-enhance-your-life-during-this-time
Sure, it's not impossible and it seems that some do and will receive that chance.
But for most of us, it seems like this is it. (Rav Miller also claimed this.)
We've had LOTS of chances, due to Hashem's Great Compassion for us.
He has brought us into the world again and again in various incarnations and situations, in the loving effort to help us finally get it right and receive the best eternity possible.
And finally, this is beyond the scope of this post, but it seems that while some seemingly Jewish people are actually not biologically Jewish at all due to a non-Jewish ancestor hidden in their maternal line, other seem born to legitimate Jews but without a Yisrael soul.
Likewise, we see completely assimilated families — even sometimes generations of assimilated seemingly Jewish families — who produce a Yisrael soul, which returns to Torah.
But that's all beyond the scope of this post.
This post hyper-focuses on the opinion of the Rambam and what it means for us.
So based on all that, as Rav Miller concluded in the above Q&A, we can't know for sure that an assimilated non-believing (some secular Jews DO believe, but are lazy or unaware or captive in their yetzer hara) Jew is actually not a Jew.
But we should keep this fact in mind, as per the Rambam, and channel our energies and resources into relatively certain Jews.
As many of you already know, the non-Yisrael Erev Rav souls also exist among seemingly frum Jews.
In fact, Bilvavi produced an entire booklet from the words of Rav Itamar Schwartz on the topic. Likewise, this blog and many others also covered the topic:
https://bilvavi.net/sugya/erev.rav
But this post specifically focused on the words of the Rambam and Rav Miller, and how they can help us today.
Finally, I can't remember the source or details, but while the Erev Rav accompanied Am Yisrael out of Egypt, they did not actually stand to receive the Torah at Har Sinai. Only Am Yisrael enjoyed that privilege.