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<DIV><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" face=Arial color=#000000
size=2>From: "Michael Makovi" <A
href="mailto:mikewinddale@gmail.com">mikewinddale@gmail.com</A><BR><BR>>>Hashem
blessed the Shabbat and declared it holy, long before Am<BR>Yisrael existed.
Furthermore, Shabbat testifies to the creation of the<BR>world - should not
gentiles acknowledge this too?<BR><BR>There is no problem understanding our
obligation to keep Shabbat and<BR>the gentiles' (hypothetical) exemption. What I
cannot understand is<BR>their (in reality) prohibition.<BR><BR>It is thus all
the more surprising when Rav Hirsch (somewhere around<BR>the end of chapter one
of Bereshit or the beginning of two) and Rav J.<BR>H. Hertz (in his essay at the
end of Sefer Bereshit) both say that<BR>Shabbat applies to all of humanity. This
fits very well with logic<BR>that Shabbat's testifying to God's creation applies
to all of<BR>humanity, but it doesn't fit well with the
Gemara.<<<BR><BR>Mikha'el Makovi<BR><BR>>>>>></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" face=Arial color=#000000
size=2>I think the generally accepted psak is that goyim /can/ keep Shabbos if
they want to, or at any rate can keep Saturday as a day of rest, but they cannot
keep it exactly the same way that Jews do, because the laws of Shabbos as given
to Jews are between Him and us. Thus they have to do IIRC one melacha
de'oraisa on Shabbos (pull out two hairs). </FONT></DIV><FONT
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<DIV>As for believing in Hashem, that is one of the Sheva mitzvos bnai
Noach, but there is no specific observance that goyim are enjoined to do in
order to demonstrate that belief. (The belief that He created the world
and the corollary, that He rested on the seventh day, is part of believing in
Hashem.) Technically I think their mitzva to believe in Hashem is couched
as a lo sa'aseh -- they are forbidden to worship other gods.</DIV>
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<DIV>Parenthetically I always thank my non-Jewish cleaning lady and always tell
my kids that the cleaning lady has a zechus working for Jews, because she helps
us make Shabbos.<BR></DIV></FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT lang=0 face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF"
PTSIZE="10"><BR><B>--Toby
Katz<BR>=============</B></FONT></DIV></FONT><BR><BR><BR><DIV><FONT style="color: black; font: normal 10pt ARIAL, SAN-SERIF;"><HR style="MARGIN-TOP: 10px">See AOL's <A title="http://food.aol.com/top-rated-recipes?NCID=aoltop00030000000004" href="http://food.aol.com/top-rated-recipes?NCID=aoltop00030000000004" target="_blank">top rated recipes</A> and <A title="http://body.aol.com/fitness/winter-exercise?NCID=aoltop00030000000003" href="http://body.aol.com/fitness/winter-exercise?NCID=aoltop00030000000003" target="_blank">easy ways to stay in shape</A> for winter.</FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>