[continued from previous message]   
      
   'Before I even begin to address our subject, there is something I feel I need   
   to say.  Something important I need to say.  Its about life, and about what,   
   in the way I see it, is the heart of the Torah.  The heart of God.  Its not   
   that this is right and    
   that is wrong.  Its not that she is lawful and she is liberal.  Its not that   
   they are holy and they are worldly.  Its not that at all.  Its that us - we -   
   humans - people.  Are family.  Are one, big, family of Noah.  And families are   
   meant to care for    
   each other.  In all the pogroms against Israel throughout the generations, in   
   all the racisms against negroes and all the bigotries against Kurds and all   
   the slurs and all the prides and all the prejudices, there has been one thing   
   that was absent.  Love.   
     And while the most venomous of serpents might kill in the name of his caste,   
   even he loves his mother.  Even Adolph had a mum.  When we really know what it   
   means to be a Noahide - when it goes beyond just the formal title of our   
   religious observation -    
   when it goes beyond being affiliated with this or that congregation, or   
   joining this or that synagogue or fellowship - when it gets to the point when   
   our faith is true, and we really do believe that ALL mankind are children of   
   Noah, one big, giant,    
   family, we start to realize that the person we want to hate, or the person we   
   want to be at war with, or the Jew we want to kill or the Adulteress we want   
   to stone or the Faggot we want to bash - or the witch we want to dunk - we   
   start to realize that    
   they, like us, have a mother.  And that, going right back, their mother was   
   the wife of Noah, presumably Titea or Naamah or some other name, and that, in   
   the end, it is our own family that we are discriminating agaginst.  And when   
   we know, as sure as the    
   Rainbow appears everlastingly so, that it is our own flesh and blood we want   
   to hate in the name of religious zealotry, that we might, we just might, stop   
   and think and ask ourselves, do we really, really want to hurt this person.    
   Do I really want to    
   kill this person who might just be a few generations away from being my very   
   own blood kin.  Witchcraft, in the end, is supposed to be a sin.  And as Torah   
   says, tolerate not a sorceress.  But when that sorceress is your own child,   
   your own flesh and    
   blood, your very own offspring, I ask you this question:  Will you be the   
   first person to cast the first stone?  Will you?  In our discussion on   
   witchcraft I want to remind the reader of the most important lesson of all.    
   That Law, simply for its own    
   sake, not tempered by all the relevant facts of the situation, not tempered by   
   due concerns for the persons affected, not tempered by mercy, not tempered by   
   love,only leaves a cold hard shell were the self righteous soul can say 'At   
   least I obey', but in    
   which the joys of mercy and forgiveness are things not really known or   
   understood.  Without love there is not much joy in life, and the heart of   
   God's justice is to forgive and accept.  And that judgement, which, in the end   
   must come if absolutely    
   necessary, ever be tempered by a firm resolve that the person is such that he,   
   or she, is truly guilty of evil, and that the dark choices which have lead   
   them astray into the darkest kinds of magic or of serious enough intent that,   
   to the heart of a    
   caring person, who loves his family, who loves God, and who has mercy, the   
   resolute actions which follow are done, in the end, for due concern for the   
   wellbeing, health - and LIFE - of those whose lives would otherwise be put at   
   peril.'   
      
   'Gosh,' she said.   
   'Do you like?' he asked her.   
   'Oh, very much Daniel.  Very, very much.'   
   'It's yours,' he said.   
   'Oh, know.  I couldn't possibly.'   
   'Don't worry.  I have another copy in Canberra.'   
   She looked at the volume.  A rare copy of a book, of a rare enough world   
   Karaite Noahide library of books, anyway.  On Witchcraft!  How blessed.   
   'I'll treasure it forever, Daniel.'   
   'No worries.'   
   She was so happy, she came next to him, and kissed him on the cheek.   
   'I didn't expect that,' he said.   
   'You deserve it.'   
      
   And so, for the next few weeks, Lucy read, and while it talked of similar   
   ideas she had already known, it gave her understanding, it gave her insight,   
   it gave her knowledge and wisdom on the subject so very dear to her own heart,   
   and, more than that, it    
   gave her mercy, that she never quite forgot Daniel's beautiful gift.  And she   
   was forever grateful because of it.   
      
   For the rest of the story visit   
      
   http://noahidebooks.angelfire.com   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)