Quote of the day—Robert J. Avrech

Rabbi Moshe ben Nachman, the towering medieval scholar, writes with refreshing clarity:

“The sword is not the cause of murder, and there is no sin upon him who made it.”

In other words, a weapon, be it a sword or a gun, is neutral. It can be used for good or evil. Thus to label a gun as “bad” makes no sense, for a gun can be used in self-defense which the Torah sees as an obligation.

Robert J. Avrech
September 19, 2016
Jews and Guns
[I have nothing to add.—Joe]

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7 thoughts on “Quote of the day—Robert J. Avrech

  1. joe:

    probably the talmud.–

    but, people have been smart for a long time. and, people have been dumb for a long time. malcom muggeridge once said, that the value of a good education was to know when the other fellow was talking rot. rabbi ben nachman was smart. “gun control” people are not dumb, they know just exactly what they want, and that is to render those deplorables who oppose them powerless, … , those deplorables who support them will stay armed, you can count on that.

    the “gun control” people are not against guns, they are against us having guns. “gun control” has nothing to do with guns, it has to do w/ “people control,” or, if you will, “just & righteous anger control.”

    the elites fear chaos more than anything, “chaos” being anything that jeopardizes their position in the world, and their control of it. simple is that.

    john jay

    p.s. it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure this out. only a moment or two of non-delusional perception of the world, as it is.

    • The Mishnah is considered Torah she-be-‘al peh, “Torah that is spoken” and the gemaras as discussions as to how to apply it; the Talmuds (there are two) are as normative as the books of Moshe Rabbeinru (Torah she-bi-khtav, “Torah that is written”).

      • What are some good English translations of these books? I have been studying ethics as expressed in Christian interpretations of the Bible and other writings, and want to expand into areas where I only got second hand exposure, particularly Jewish writings.

        • halakhah,com has complete Kindle and PDF versions, and partial HTML versions, of the Soncino translation of the Babylonian Talmud; even footnoted, though, they can be a bit confusing to tackle on one’s own (I forget who said that every tractate of the Talmud seems to assume that you already know the rest of the Talmud). Dead tree editions are available through Amazon.

          R, Adin Steinsaltz has edited a complete (and controversial) edition of the Babylonian Talmud; Random House released a partial edition in English translation in the 1990s. IMHO it’s the best edition for anyone who doesn’t read Hebrew and Aramaic, but it’s out of print now; you can find individual volumes (often at a very high price) on Amazon and eBay. Koren is putting out a new, complete translation, but I don’t think it’s expected to be complete until 2020.

          I don’t know of any English translations of the Jerusalem Talmud (which doesn’t mean that there aren’t any; I’m only a mediocre talmid hakhamim).

  2. Yes, well, again; it is the gun’s potential application for good which has the authoritarians afraid and angered. They can get along with evil just fine. Evil is their partner, it poses no threat to their system, but good is a mortal danger to their schemes.

    “He who hath not a sword, let him sell his garment and buy one.” — Jesus of Nazareth

    The latter is a curious quote, and it has been re-interpreted and twisted into knots many times, by various interests. Jesus himself though explains it clearly in the same conversation. As he was getting ready to leave them, and be taken as a political prisoner and killed, he told the disciples to carry swords by way of fulfilling an earlier prophecy which said, “He shall be reckoned among the transgressors.”

    And so it is that we, today, should be reckoned among the transgressors, and just as before, and all along, it is the authoritarian system which is doing that reckoning. We pose the only real threat to that system, that is, if we’re on the side of truth, justice, and the American Way, “with firm reliance on the protection of divine providence”. Anyone who stands out as a strong advocate for truth is going to be targeted in some way, “reckoned among the transgressors” for political purposes.

    If the Progressives, communists, socialists, Fascists, jihadists, the Republican Party, Democrats and the press (but I repeat myself) aren’t targeting you, afraid of you, trying to slander you, impede you, steal from you, frame you as a criminal, etc., then you should probably question whether you’re doing your part for good.

    There’s a catch to that statement though. I’ve had several who count themselves among the pro freedom mindset tell me that, if the leftists are already calling us criminals, we might just as well oblige them– we have nothing to lose. The problem there is that, first, what? Why would you want to? Second, once you cross that line, you’ve joined them. That’s exactly what they’re trying to accomplish. Like the schoolyard bully, the game is to convert you into their system via pressure, shock, intimidation, irritation, judgement, fear, anger and torment, just as was done to them.

    That’s how the disease spreads, and we need strong immune systems to overcome it.

    • So yeah; we pose a serious threat to the authoritarians, but it’s a very specific threat. It’s the one they fear most; the truth. And someone who speaks truth AND goes about armed? As an agent for truth, love and understanding? Holy shit, they hate you, but it all goes against them.

      • It is that same truth of what pols are really doing and saying that has them so terrified of the whole WikiLeaks and Project Veritas deal. It’s threatening to pull back the curtain, blow the smoke from people’s eyes, and lay bare the power and contempt of the State for the people. The left loves them some mob violence… but only when it’s lefties and mentally ill people being directed by them against the highly self-disciplined self-restraint of the good people in the political middle and right. They justly fear it being turned on them in righteous anger.

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