Has the time come to start teaching the Arabs the 7 mitzvos of Noach?

At the beginning of the spring, during Chol Hamoed Pesach, my family went on an outing to Chevron. Because of the holiday, we were privileged to (besides praying at the graves of the Patriarchs and Matriarchs ), go on an escorted tour of the Arab shuk in Chevron, the Kasba. So escorted by around 25 guys with machine guns, we began our shopping adventure.

Everything in the Arab shuk was much cheaper than you would find in other places. We got a wooden flute for one of my kids for 5 shekel and brand name sneakers were on sale for 50 shekel (Maybe they were left over from the humanitarian aid in Gaza, Ha Ha).

Shortly before we left, I had received some cards written in Arabic that enumerated the 7 universal commandments that Hashem commanded to Noach for all of mankind.At some point I was hoping to ‘drop them off’ somewhere in the shuk.

Well, as we were perusing in the shoe store, my wife -who has a lot more courage than I do-when up to the owner’s wife, who was sitting at the front of the store, and gave her one of the cards. With a perplexed look on her face, she took the card and started reading it intently.

Ok, a nice small story. However, I recently heard another story on this theme that had a remarkable ending. But first, some intro.

The late Rabbi Yoel Schwartz was one of the greatest rabbis of our generation. He wrote over 300 books on a very broad gamut of Torah topics. One of the books that he wrote is called “Ohe Leamim” (lit: “A light onto the nations”) – a book that describes in detail the 7 mitzvos of Noach that were given to all of mankind. Well, one day he was sitting with his kids in a park in Ramat Eshkol on a park bench when suddenly he realized that the guy sitting next to him is an Arab who is learning Mishnayot! Stunned, he started a conversation and it turns out that this Arab is a professor at Hebrew University where he is working on translating the Mishna into Arabic. Listening with great surprise, Reb Yoel then told him that he has a better project for him to work on. He told him that he had written a book about the 7 mitzvos of Noach and asked him if he could translate it into Arabic. The professor agreed and the book was translated into Arabic. They found a distributor and the book was distributed in the Arab community.

Sometime later, Rav Yoel got a call from the distributor who told him that I have an amazing story to tell you. Two Arab mothers came up to him and told him that this book saved their sons lives! Apparently, their sons were about to go on a suicide mission when suddenly they saw one of these books on the 7 mitzvos of Noach lying around. They began to peruse it and as they read through they began to learn that there is a way to get close to God through life and not only through death. They recanted on their mission and their mother told the distributor that this book saved their lives.

After hearing this story, Reb Yoel went to the IDF, told them the story and suggested that they start learning these ideas with Arab prisoners. His proposal, sadly, was rejected as the IDF said that they are not involved in things like this. Too bad. (This story was published in the bi monthly ‘alon’ Kedusahs Tzion which expresses the Charedi Zionist ideology that was so dear to Rav Yoel).

In the past few months, the great teacher of Kabbalah and Chassidus, Harav Yitzchak Ginzberg has also begun spreading the 7 mitzvos amongst the Arab population. He has started a social media site called Kol Yehudi to teach the Arabs Torah in Arabic. And he recently gave a special shiur to his Arab heart doctor that was published in his weekly alon called ‘Niflaot”.

As crazy as this all sounds, we have to remember that most of the Arabs are very religious people. Moreover, even though they have distorted many parts of the Tanach, they still recognize many of the key figures and events of the Bible. Moshe Rabenu (or as they call him Musa) is quoted more than 100 hundred times in the Koran-even though not always accurately. Of the 25 prophets listed in the Koran, 19 are from the Bible. Two years ago, when I was coming home from Yerushalayim on Shushan Purim, I got into a conversation with  an Arab bus driver about religion. One thing I remember him saying is that ” your kings (David and Solomon) are our prophets.”

It is brought down in the Chassidishe sefarim, that there are two ways to fight our enemies (physical and spiritual). 1.) “Escafya” or submission is when we overpower our enemies. In this type of victory one has overpowered their foe but not changed their essential nature. This is kind of like what is going on in Gaza now. 2.) The second type of way to fight evil is called “Ishapcha”-transformation. This form is much more difficult than the first type. However, when the enemy has been transformed you have not only overpowered him but you have changed his essence. This is a much greater and lasting victory.

These ideas may seem lofty but we have been given by Hashem more powers than we realize. Entrusted by the Creator to be a “light onto the nations” this means that we have the potential to transform the world. May we be zoche!

Here is a link from my friend Rav Yehuda Taub that brings information about the 7 mitzvos of Noach in Arabic and many other languages

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1VuRZ2N24jnthIZ18mMp0HbGJVW67KuNM?usp=drive_link