<\/p>\n
Oh G-d no. Not another Bible codes book. Surely I as an orthodox Jew ought to <\/p>\n First, there is the fact that you can Next, associated with the codes there is <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n What makes an even greater mockery of the <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n But none of this has stopped a few Jewish <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n But my personal objection to the codes is <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n We are living in an age that desperately <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n This is why the Bible is more relevant <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n But religion as pious sorcery threatens <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n So let me be clear. I couldn’t give a <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n If you want a vulgar forgery of faith <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Oh G-d no. Not another Bible codes book. And this one launched in a full page ad in The New York Times highlighting how in May 2008 Oprah Winfrey sent a Bible code to Barack Obama that he would become President. Surely I as an orthodox Jew ought to applaud a book that proves that…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":203,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,2,4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-80","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-culture","category-politics","category-religion-and-spirituality","category-values"],"yoast_head":"\n
<\/font><\/p>\n
\nAnd this one launched in a full page ad in The New York Times highlighting how
\nin May 2008 Oprah Winfrey sent a Bible code to Barack Obama that he would
\nbecome President.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
\napplaud a book that proves that the Torah has encoded prophecy, thereby proving
\nits authenticity. But aside from the question of whether President Obama is
\nG-d’s anointed, I have serious objections to the Bible codes.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
\n<\/p>\n
\ntake nearly any lengthy book, put it through a computer, and pull out prophecy.
\nProf Brendan McKay of Australian National University found 13 predicted
\nassassinations of public figures encoded in Moby Dick, including several
\npresidents and Prime Ministers. McKay also found an encoded phrase in Moby Dick
\nthat predicted “Drosnin (the author of the codes series) will be murdered by
\nEli Rips (the Israeli scholar who first discovered the codes) in Athens.” Other
\nscholars found results that were as statistically impressive as Rips in a
\nHebrew copy of War and Peace.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
\nthe usual apocalyptic bunkum that has so tarnished religion. The codes
\napparently predicted an atomic Holocaust in 1986 and, if that didn’t happen,
\nthat the world would end again in 2006. (It’s worth noting my cardinal rule
\nabout the difference between a real religion and a cult: religion teaches you
\nto revere life while a cult teaches you to fear death). The codes predicted a
\nworld war in the year 2000 and that Israel would be destroyed in a global
\ncataclysm (let’s hope Ahmedenijad isn’t reading the book). The book
\nfurther predicted a comet would strike earth and obliterate much of it in 2006.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
\ncodes is that the Torah today is somewhat imprecise in that some of the letters
\nof the Hebrew alphabet can be replaced by vowels and we are not certain whether
\nthe vowel, or the letter itself, should be in certain passages. Insert a few of
\nthese missing letters and the codes become gibberish.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
\noutreach organizations, most notably Aish HaTorah, from employing the codes as
\na principal tool by which to attract young Jews to their tradition. Little do
\nthey realize that Christian missionaries are now putting the New Testament
\nthrough computers to demonstrate, through their own codes, that Jesus is the
\nforetold Messiah.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
\nsomething else entirely and has to do with the rise of Judaism as magic and
\nRabbis as soothsayers. Over the past twenty years we have witnessed a slew of
\nmostly fraudulent Cabbalists and questionable mystics running around the world
\nand telling gullible Jews their future. Many are Rabbis who even claim
\nillustrious pedigrees. The majority employ a classic ‘cold reading’ – where
\nwithout even realizing it, you end up supplying the information to the ‘seer’
\nwho can really only see your wallet – and are about as capable of telling the
\nfuture as I am of playing in the NBA. You receive a private audience with these
\nmuch sought-after Rabbis and they immediately wish you a speedy recovery for
\nyour ailing back. They tell you they know you’re having tension with one of
\nyour children and that your dead mother has forgiven you for the time you
\nforgot her birthday. They offer sop and comfort, but ask them anything truly
\nuseful, like when will the next bomb go off in Jerusalem so as to save
\ninnocents from dying – and they stealthily change the subject. But that hasn’t
\nstopped wealthy, educated, and sophisticated Jews all over America from lining
\nup around the block to line these charlatans pockets and get business and
\npersonal advice.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
\nneeds religion. Modernity is only a blessing so long as its technological
\nadvances are governed by values. Wealth in the West has ended poverty but has
\nbrought in its wake soullessness and materialism. Putting the professional
\nbefore the personal has lead to the decimation of romantic relationships and
\nthe neglect family and children.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
\nthan ever before. Western men and women need to read of a wealthy nobleman
\nnamed Abraham who personally sat outside his tent to welcome wayfarers.
\nPoliticians who eviscerate each other in attack ads need to read of Moses who
\nbrought Pharaoh to his knees yet remained ‘the most humble man who walked the
\nearth.’ Brothers and sisters who haven’t spoken in years need to read of Joseph
\nwho became the most powerful man alive but forgave his siblings their attempt
\nat fratricide. Men who cheat on their wives must read of King David who engaged
\nin the most severe penance after his affair with Bathsheba.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
\nto undermine its moral dimension. The Bible codes and mystical, magical Judaism
\ntell us it’s not the inspirational guidance and wisdom for life which makes the
\nBible special but it’s hidden numerology and nascent predictions. You turn to
\nthe Bible not to learn how to be close to G-d but to predict the next property
\nsurge.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
\ndamn if the Bible can predict the next President and I don’t need the Torah to
\nforewarn me that I’m about to become nuclear melba toast. Rather, I turn to
\nJudaism to discover the values by which I should lead my life and maximize my
\nhuman potential. I seek not to discern the future but master the here-and-now. Religion
\nis a roadmap not to some underlying codes hidden in the Bible but my underlying
\nG-dly nature that sits beneath my ambition, selfishness, and egocentrism and
\nstrives to come out.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
\nthere are any number of religious charlatans who, for a couple of bucks,
\nare ready to read your palm. But if you’re an adult then you’re ready for
\nreligion as something that attunes you to G-d and humanity’s needs rather than
\nfocusing exclusively on your own.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n