Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel

Q. I am doing my PhD. in the field of Jewish Studies. In this connection I am interested in the history of Jews in Masonic lodges. According to my knowledge, there is at least in the higher degrees of the Scottish Rite quite a lot of Christian symbolism, I wonder, if there is any halachic ruling concerning the membership of Jews in Masonic lodges. Could you help me here?

A. Good question. Until now, I never really researched the significance of Freemasonry, but I must confess that my father was a Mason and so were many of his Jewish friends. Even more remarkable is the existence of an Orthodox Synagogue in Winchester named Rosh Pina, whose membership consists of Jewish masons. Masonic lodges tended to help support the local businesses, and this was probably one of the main reasons these fraternities were so popular. The name Rosh Pina is based on the biblical verse, “The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone” (Psalms 118:22).

Despite the popularity of this international fraternity, there is no official or formal definition regarding what is a Freemason. Much of its history is shrouded in legend and ambiguity. Many of its members trace back its symbolism to the original builders of the Egyptian pyramids or for that matter, Solomon’s Temple. According to Masonic legend, King Hiram I of the Phoenician city of Tyre (980-947 B.C.E.) the master-builder of Solomon’s Temple, was murdered because he would not reveal the secrets of his Masonic group. Needless to say, there is no historicity supporting this folk story, but it does reveal something about the medieval groups that kept their own traditions secretive. According to historians, the Freemasonry lodge did not begin in ancient Judea, or in Egypt, but in England sometime in the 14^th century! [1]

At any rate, Masonic traditions are pretty benign. The working tools of the Masons became a system of symbols for personal morality and initiation.

Most folks know the Masons are a charitable organization which has secret rites and symbols. In religious terms, their behavior and traditions strikes one as an American civil religion. The fraternity believes in rendering homage to the Creator, which they regard as the duty of each of its members. Although Freemasonry only began as an institution in the seventeenth century, it has generated a mythology, or legendary history, according to which its followers claims dates back to the biblical reign of Solomon and the building of the Temple.

Many of this country’s founding fathers were Masons. In this country and in Europe, Freemasonry was linked to various programs of political and religious reform, programs that emphasized freedom of thought, worship, association, and the press and contributed considerably to the French and American revolutions.

Some Masonic lodges found it hard to give up their old prejudices with respect to the Jews. In Germany and Austria, Masonic lodges barred Jews from belonging. There is also another dark history to masonry. In the 19^th century, American Freemasons, along with others of like mind, created the Know‑Nothing party in the 1850s, the Ku Klux Klan after the Civil War and again from 1915 onward, and the American Protective Association in the latter 1880s and early 1890s. All were even more anti‑Catholic than they were antiblack or xenophobic, in addition to being anti-Semitic. In defense of the Masonic movement, these splinter groups did not reflect the values of the Masonic philosophy.

At any rate, Jews found the Masonic lodges to be open in a time when discrimination was rampant in Western society. The Masonic constitution held that any good or honest person, regardless of his denomination or persuasion, was admitted. The constitution obliged the member only to hold “to that religion in which all men agree, leaving their particular opinions to themselves,” a declaration of religious tolerance based on the current Deist trend, which postulated a Supreme Being who could be conceived of by any rational being. It remains a mystery whether Jews may have influenced the wording of the Masonic constitution, but its liberal doctrines made it easy for Jews to belong. A Jewish lodge, the Lodge of Israel, was established in London in 1793, and the Knights of Aphesis to this day, is a Jewish lodge in the Masonic movement. Indeed, I am told that there are many Jewish Masonic lodges all around the world. One gets the impression that the religious ideation of the lodge will vary from community to community.

Concerning Masonic lodges in the land of Israel had as many as 64 lodges with over 3500 active members consisting of Jews, Muslims, Christians, and Druze. The activities of the Grand Lodge and its several lodges include: a mutual insurance fund; the Masonic old age home at Nahariyyah; Masonic temples all over the country; and a museum and library (Encyclopedia Judaica) . Israeli Masonic Lodges show the kind of healing power Freemasonry can produce in a society that is religiously divided.

With respect to the rest of your questions, I would like to briefly examine some of the Masonic teachings and rituals.

Curiously, many of its rituals and symbolism draw its roots from the Kabbalah. In the Kabbalah, the interest in a knowledge of sounds, written letters, and words was intensified. Each sign was given a magical value that had a religious meaning and a numerical relationship. For example, the Hebrew letter alef became the symbol of mankind and the abstract principle of material objects.

Most importantly, Freemasonry taught that they are building a spiritual temple in heaven. Each member regardless of his religion must fashion himself into a perfect living stone to fit into the spiritual temple of God. Indeed, this idea bears considerable similarity to the Tikkun Olam “Repairing the world” which the Kabbalists stress, is every human being’s duty. This concept is referred to as the “Common Gavel.” The common gavel serves as a metaphor for the breaking off the rough and superfluous parts of the stone, so as to be fit for the Supreme Architect’s use. Accepted Masons, are taught to make use of it for the more noble and glorious purpose of divesting their hearts and consciences of all the vices and superfluities of life: thereby fitting the Mason’s minds as living stones for that spiritual building. The Mason thus, makes himself fit for heaven by bettering himself through eliminating unwanted qualities. This spiritual lesson holds true for any Mason, regardless of his god or religious persuasion. The Kabbalists also refer to this same process as “etcafiyah” – bending the material impulses to the service of the Divine.

Another one of the building instruments Masons use involves a trowel, which they use to spread cement. Here too, the symbolism represents spreading the cement of brotherly love and affection; that cement which unites people into one sacred band or society of friends and brothers, among whom no contention should exist, so that all people may work and exist in perfect harmony. Continue Reading

Hello everyone!

Here is a wonderful article I would encourage all of you to read and make your comments known to your representatives and congressmen. This year, it behooves every synagogue to make a grand celebration of Jerusalem. I would only add that after Israel liberated the holy city, King Hussein of Jordan sent the keys to Hadassah Hospital to its rightful owners-the Jews. In addition, Hadassah Hospital has always had a long tradition of serving both Israelis and Palestinians since the time of its inception.

What I find most disturbing is the fact that the Jewish members of the Obama cabinet have so little to say about our celebration of Jerusalem Day.

In case many of you have not noticed, the Obama Administration is making a clandestine effort to win the Jews over again since Obama has revealed his animus toward Israel. Prominent Jews like Elie Wiesel have been invited for dinner-but NOT Netanyahu! Now, another Jew is on the Supreme Court-Elana Kagan. In my opinion, this is yet another feeble attempt to win over more Jews to the next Obama run at the presidency. I pray we are not so foolish as to let ourselves get bribed by these calculated gestures of political expediency. Frankly, if I were an Asian American, I would be outraged that no Asian American has been chosen to serve on the Supreme Court.

CONTENTIONS

Barack Obama vs. Jerusalem Day
Jonathan Tobin - 05.12.2010

This was no ordinary Jerusalem Day celebrated in Israel today. This date on the Jewish calendar notes the anniversary of the unification of the city in 1967, when Israeli troops routed the Jordanian occupiers of the eastern, northern, and southern parts of the town, and of the Old City. In June 1967, the barriers that had divided Jerusalem since the 1949 armistice were torn down, and the Jewish people were reunited with their holiest places, from which they had been barred during that period. But while today’s ceremonies, displays, and parties were the usual mix of historic remembrance and recognition of contemporary achievements, there can be no denying the fact that a shadow hung over the festivities there as well as over the observances of the date elsewhere.

The problem is the knowledge that this is the first Jerusalem Day since President Barack Obama made it clear that a repartition of the city has become one of America’s priorities in the Middle East. Though no American government ever recognized Israel’s unification of Jerusalem or, indeed, even the fact that the city has been the country’s capital since 1949, Obama’s is the first administration to state explicitly that the Jewish presence in the parts of the city that the Jordanian occupiers vacated in 1967 is illegal and to actively oppose the building of Jewish housing even in existing Jewish neighborhoods in the city.

Though more than 200,000 Jews live in the eastern, northern, and southern sections of the city, which the media routinely incorrectly labels “East Jerusalem,” those Jewish neighborhoods there are, according to this administration, a violation of international law and an “insult” to America. U.S. diplomats have made it clear to the Israelis that any building that goes on in these neighborhoods of the capital is a “provocation” that is not only anathema to the United States but also a legitimate excuse for the Palestinian Authority to boycott the so-called proximity talks now going on (so named because Palestinian representatives will only allow themselves to communicate indirectly with Israeli negotiators rather than sit and speak directly with them). And though the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has asserted that Israel will not be deterred from continuing to build the Jewish presence in the city, it is not exactly a secret that all such projects have been put on hold, in order to avoid escalating the tensions that are already apparent in the relationship with the White House. Continue Reading