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Turning to Torah: The Emerging Noachide Movement

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Whether you are a Christian, disillusioned Christian, or thinking about converting to Judaism Hanke's book raises some perturbing issues. Her journey is very interesting from her involvment with fundamentalist Christianity to orthodox Judaism to a comfortable niche as a Noahide. According to orthodox Jewry G-d gave Noach seven commandments for all of humanity to follow after the flood. These seven coincide with the seven colors of the rainbow. The Jewish nation was chosen by G-d to keep 613 laws and "be a light unto the nations."

Hanke devotes much of her book to pointing out that Jesus never intended do away with the 613 and that the original convenant with Abraham is still valid, i.e. G-d didn't change His mind. This is where my confusion begins to set in. If you go to the website www.noahide.org you will find some examples of New Testament scripture in which Jesus did claim to invalidate the laws of the Torah. In contrast to her gentle treatment here he is viewed as a false prophet. It does actually say in the Torah after many of the commands "this is a law for all times", but one could argue that there seem to be instances in the Torah of G-d changing His mind, e.g. when he was angry and wanted to destroy the Israelites and start a new nation with Moses. Hanke never actually answers the burning question of at the end of her journey as to whether or not she has concluded, based on her decade of evidence gathering, that Jesus is or is not the promised messiah. Does Hanke believe that the convenant with Abraham is still valid, but that G-d sent Jesus for the rest of humanity? If this is the case then it would invalidate the Noahide movement. This book also needs to be updated. I recommend www.asknoah.org and www.askmoses.org if you have any questions.

In "Turning to Torah," Kimberly Hanke describes her troubled odyssey from teenage atheist to fundamentalist Christian to Torah-loving Noachide. For those unfamiliar with the latter term, it refers to a non-Jew who follows the seven moral precepts prescribed for Gentiles by the ancient rabbis. (In their most general form, these precepts prohibit idolatry, blasphemy, homicide, sexual immorality, theft, and taking meat from a living animal; there is one positive requirement, i.e., to form courts of law to enforce the other precepts and maintain social order.)

The book is clearly written and a quick read, but leaves crucial questions unanswered. What is Hanke's current understanding of Jesus? If Jesus and his early followers did indeed remain committed Jews, what was Jesus's central message and why did it attract followers willing to die for it? Does that message still have relevance today, and can a Noachide remain a follower of a Jesus understood as a Jewish prophet rather than as God incarnate? Does modern scholarship support Hanke's uncritical attitude towards the scriptural exegesis of Orthodox Judaism? Perhaps a second book from Hanke's competent pen could answer these questions.

There is far too much blabbering about the role of Jesus in the movement toward the Laws of Noah. Christian hang-ups can be resolved only with a deep study of the Torah, pure and simple. To accept the Seven Laws, one accepts Torah and this helps in moving away from Jesus the False Messiah. In study, one easily learns that HaMeshiach will come as a HUMAN to do specific things: clarify the Torah for all people; eliminate the enemies of the Jews and Righteous Gentiles; re-establish the Kingdom of Israel; allow G-d's Peace to fill the world, and this world we have now will pass away. When did Jesus do all these things, exactly? I wish doubters like this author would take time to study and learn, then make a decision about where their relationship with G-d really stands.