[Avodah] Can a Sefer Torah Be Donated or Lent to a Reform Temple?

[Micha Berger]

On Mon, Jan 31, 2011 at 11:35:23PM +1100, SBA wrote:
: What it be any different if the borrower was a catholic church or a Buddhist
: temple?

Catholicism and Buddhism don't claim to keep its members within the
Jewish community. R does.

This difference is recognized in minhag (halakhah?). Someone whose
mother converted to Catholicism r"l, or himself fell prey to j4j r"l,
who then does teshuvah is obligated at least lekhatchilah to go to the
miqvah in what we (mis-)call "geirus lechumerah". There are questions
about whether we would count him for a minyan without tevillah.

Anyone see this asked of a BT from an R home?

That said, the typical Catholic believes that the words in the Torah were
dictated by God to Moses in the Sinai. (The Catholic Encyc discusses
the machloqes in BB "15e" about the last 8 pesuqim of Devarim.) Their
beliefs about any Torah scroll someone would lend them are MORE similar
to ours than what most R Jews are taught. Again, r"l.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             For a mitzvah is a lamp,
micha at aishdas.org        And the Torah, its light.
http://www.aishdas.org                   - based on Mishlei 6:2
Fax: (270) 514-1507