A guest post from Baruch Pelta
There's a new kiruv website out there called sellmeyourjewishsoul.com . Authored by a talmid of Rabbi Yossi Mizrachi (remember these classics?) by the name of Eliyakum Cohen, the concept is rather unique. Eliyakum posts some videos about how Judaism must be true and he is so sure that you'll be convinced that your previous positions are false that -- and I quote, in his words -- "if you get nothing out of these video lectures and are 100% convinced that there is no G-d, no Torah, no afterworld, then [he'll] buy your pathetic soul and all the good deeds that you have done in your life." He doesn't give an estimate of how much he's willing to pay. The site itself is fascinating and full of interesting tidbits about our beautiful religion, like "If you're not Torah Observant then, YOU'RE LIVING LIFE WRONG, YOURE GOING TO GEHINNOM (Jewish Hell)."
In any event, here's what I find interesting about this website: there's a Facebook group surrounding it. Not only does the Facebook group have nearly 600 members, but it has administrators, officers, and hosts an active discussion (largely by frum people) surrounding Eliyakum's website and its content. I think most frum Jews who've heard about this probably don't think this is a good idea, but the fact that the Facebook group is as active as it is this early on is interesting, at least.
I met Eliyakum at a Shabbos table once where we were both mutual guests of a rabbi. Before the meal, he talked about the special powers of the autistics and a story from Rabbi Mizrachi where an autistic "said" something to Rabbi Mizrachi that nobody could've known. What disturbed me as we sat down to eat was that ideas that I've espoused in the past (and al achas kama vikama the ideas people like, say, Rabbi Slifkin have publicized!) are seen as more controversial than what he was saying. His take on the autistics has haskamas.
It will be interesting to see if Eliyakum can get his kiruv site off the ground and perhaps even -- so crazy it might just happen -- get haskamas and be considered somewhat mainstream. Probably not, but it's something to keep an eye out for; I wouldn't be shocked if it happened.
Baruch Pelta
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6 comments:
If i sell someone my soul, it's a מקח טעות because it doesn't belong to me (it belongs to God)... so if this guy is buying people's souls, what's that? Lifney ‘Iveir on causing them to take the money thinking that it's a valid transaction? Although i guess if he knows it's invalid, and gives the money anyway, it wouldn't be stealing...
I've heard that before; I'm guessing when his rabbi informs him he can't buy a soul, he'll buy the merits instead. I suppose that's what he's really after.
Wow, is he misguided...
Re: his claim that if you're not observant you're going straight to hell:
That may be true for someone who knows about Judaism (MAY BE true, I don't know for sure, and I'm not God's accountant), and knows what he should be doing. However, the majority of non-observant Jews fall under the category of tinok shenishba. They have their own rules. Yes, we should try and draw them closer, but they're not judged the same as someone who knows what's right and chooses not to follow it anyway.
Proud MO- I would tend to agree with you. However, there are rishonim and definitely achronim that hold if you are Jewish and you are not doing the right thing, no heaven for you. Like, according to Rambam, how woul these people go to heaven? Rambam holds that the immortality of the soul is the acquired intellect, so how does someone who never acquires any torah or mitzvos go to heaven?
If you don't make it to Rambam's heaven, you simply don't make it to heaven... you don't go to Hell either.
Well, what is non-existence?
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