"Which American terrorist group pioneered the lethal, anti-personnel form of sabotage known as 'tree-spiking'?" The correct answer, Earth First!, comes from GE of southern California.

Founded in 1980, Earth First! became the first eco-terrorist organization operating in America. As has since been revealed by defectors from the environmentalist movement, the new group was secretly financed by so-called "moderate" groups, the Sierra Club and the Wilderness Society, who aimed to create a radicalized terrorist wing of environmentalism without themselves becoming the target of law enforcement investigations.

Eager to recruit white, middle class Americans, Earth First! tried for a decade to claim it had no Marxist or Communist affiliations, although it hinted otherwise with its use of a Communist clenched-fist salute as its official symbol. By the 1990s, however, the mask was dropping and Marxist rhetoric began surfacing more openly.

One of its five founders, Mike Roselle, was, in fact, an overt Marxist-Leninist previously involved in the Communist-controlled Youth International Party (YIP). And the other founders not only worked closely with him, but implicitly approved of the revolutionary Marxism of Roselle and many other Earth First! members.

Earth First! carefully radicalized its members step by step, leading them first to sabotage of property (such as logging equipment), then to the deadly "tree-spiking" booby traps — driving large metal or concrete spikes into standing trees, so that while being cut later in a lumber mill, the tree's hidden spike would shatter the high-speed cutting blades, sending shrapnel in all directions. While Earth First! has not yet succeeded in murdering anyone with this method, they have come close; in at least one case, a lumber mill worker's carotid artery was cut and he nearly bled to death.

By 1990, the eco-terrorists were ready to move to bombings. Earth First! member Darryl Cherney publicly declared his willingness to be a suicide bomber, and that summer he and fellow member Judi Bari were transporting an anti-personnel pipe bomb — wrapped with nails for maximum killing effect in a crowded area — in their car when Divine Providence intervened to ruin their plans. The bomb went off in the car, wounding Cherney and Bari and drawing an extended investigation by FBI and police. Cherney and Bari themselves became their only victims, and Earth First! was forced to back away from its murderous plans.

To try to revive the terror campaign, Earth First! co-founder Roselle in 1992 helped found the Earth Liberation Front (ELF), which has gone on to carry out a growing campaign of arson and destruction, and to support violent assaults and bombings by its allied groups, the Animal Liberation Front and the Revolutionary Cells. The ELF is even more explicit than its parent group (and close ally) Earth First! in its Marxist agenda, and is growing bolder in its violence.

And now for this week's contest question:

Be sure to e-mail your name and answer to [address withheld]newsletter@noahide.com by Sunday, July 3, 2005, 12pm PST.

This week's example: Rabbi Yaacov Schwei, Crown Heights Beis Din, Brooklyn, NY

Days ago, we re-contacted some of the Jewish leaders who have so far not signed the proclamation (calling on all Jews to participate in the campaign to defund the PLO). We are happy to announce that one Chabad rabbi has already switched sides and declared his endorsement of the proclamation (details to follow in a future issue, G-d willing). So while we wait a few more days to see if others are ready to join him, we've decided to jump ahead to one of the New York rabbis who has refused to sign.

Rabbi Schwei was presented a copy of our proclamation in person on March 11. One week later, on March 18, our volunteer returned to get his signature, but it turns out Rabbi Schwei preferred to duck out. Having no basis to refuse (he clearly saw the correctness of the halachic rules stated therein), Schwei nervously tried to act as if it weren't his responsibility, and insisted that we instead contact Rabbi Osdoba, a fellow member of the Crown Heights Beis Din (Jewish court). Rabbi Schwei's game of "passing the buck" and hoping to avoid taking any position at all, either for or against, is nothing but a blatant refusal.

As a member of the official Jewish court of the Brooklyn Lubavitch community, Rabbi Schwei is precisely the kind of person the Torah insists must lead the way in any matter of saving lives. And as he himself could not dispute, defunding terrorists is obviously a major way to do so. For his utter spinelessness and unwillingness to face his minimum responsibilities, Rabbi Schwei disqualifies himself as any kind of Jewish leader and earns a big "Shame on you!" And, of course, he blatantly rebels against the clear instructions of the Lubavitcher Rebbe (whom Schwei claims to follow) on such matters.

As a reminder of our obligations to save lives, here's the next halacha from the proclamation:

Proclamation Rule No. 6
A Jew who fulfills his duty to save a life is considered as if he has saved the entire world. [Additional comment: The Torah ranks saving lives as virtually the highest priority for a Jew, superceding almost every other religious or secular activity. Everything else must be set aside, if necessary, to save someone from danger. And therefore anyone who makes himself "busy" with other "religious" activities when it's time to save lives is not truly religious at all.]

…AND THE HALL OF FAME
Some Chabad Shluchim Are Helping the JAHG-USA Campaign

This week's example: Rabbi Moshe Schwartz, United Lubavitcher Yeshivos, Brooklyn, NY

On May 24, Rabbi Schwartz was likewise presented a copy of the proclamation, and having read it, he signed it on the spot. He certainly has a respectable position as a teacher at the Lubavitch Yeshiva, but it is not nearly as prominent a leadership position as that held by Rabbi Schwei. So Rabbi Schwartz's willingness to endorse puts even greater shame to Rabbi Schwei's apparent fear of possibly controversy, and he earns our gratitude for taking at least a first solid step toward defeating the PLO terrorists.

What do you think about Jewish leadership on PLO defunding? Send us your comments at [address withheld].

For a complete listing of all rabbis who have received our proclamation, and the up-to-date status of their responses, visit ATTAC Report at http://www.attacreport.com/plo/.

This Week on ATTAC Report

This week's edition of our sister site, ATTAC Report, presents: How the CIA was duped by bogus Soviet "defectors"; how the Roman empire became the battleground for Israel vs. Amalek; over 300 concentration camps, death camps, and prisons in Petersburg and northern Russia today.

"...There are... Talmudic references that get more specific about some rabbis not considering Christians to be idolaters which say that even though Christians believe in a trinity, it is not idolatry because they believe G-d is one...." — RH.

Our response: Based on his name and various references in this letter, its writer appears to be one of the many gentile Christians involved in the so-called "Jews for Jesus" movement or some associated group. He quotes secondary sources that misquote or quote out of context certain Torah sources, construing them to permit Christianity for gentiles.

This same myth of the Christian missionaries is rife amongst many orthodox rabbis in our generation. It is largely rooted in a bad misunderstanding of certain statements made by the Tosafos commentators of the 12th century on such Talmudic passages as Bechhoros 2b and Sandhedrin 63b; in discussing whether a Jew may cause a Christian to take an oath in the name of the trinity, the Tosafos mentions that Christians do not consider themselves idolaters and are not prohibited in "this." What exactly does he mean by "this"? Some recent rabbis have assumed "this" refers to Christian belief in trinity, but those are not the words of the Tosafos. Earlier sages had a better understanding; they stated explicitly the Tosafos meant "oaths" by the word "this." In other words, gentiles do not have a separate commandment forbidding them to mention false gods in oaths, and thus a Christian, who is certainly an idolater but who is confused and doesn't realize it, is not committing an act of idolatry by making such an oath, and is thus not liable.

Many authorities, from the Rambam (Maimonides) to the Lubavitcher Rebbe, have clearly stated that Christian belief is idolatrous and forbidden to gentiles. And no leading authority of earlier times, including the Tosafos, ever disagrees. Christians are only different from other idolaters in that they don't realize their belief is a worship of false gods, and in certain cases — such as the taking of oaths in the name of trinity — they are not committing a separate violation of the Law.

Thus, as the Lubavitcher Rebbe has publicly taught, we have the responsibility to teach Christians the truth about the One G-d, the falsehood of trinity and other Christian beliefs and practices, and to bring them to observe the Law binding on all gentiles.

"...Here in the Philippines we are more than 3000 Noachides but I puzzle very much why we are in the lowest class of the people, where poverty is very rampant to our brethren; that's why I wonder, I don't know in America or in Europe how their way of life [is] going on. Maybe we have no exact teacher or the Seven Laws we follow is wrong...." — RF [letter partly edited for grammar].

Our response: We can't really comment on your situation there, since we have never met or corresponded with your group. And, of course, it's important to remember that things like poverty aren't solved overnight.

But if these 3,000 people are truly interested in learning the Truth of Torah, it's very important that they receive proper Torah teaching (and any other possible assistance). However, we here at JAHG-USA are struggling to make ends meet on a shoestring (we mean that literally; our resources are fewer than those of virtually any of our readers and subscribers).

We'd like to help in any way we can. At this point, that would be limited mostly to internet and e-mail support. But perhaps this is an opportunity to ask our readers to help out; we need substantially larger sums of money for our PLO-defunding campaign, as well as to provide teaching to Noachides in places as far away as the Philippines. Donations can be made by PayPal or by mailing us a check or money order; click here to find out how you can help.

And Ruel, please let us know what we can do to help you.

Send your letter to the editor to [address withheld].

Be sure to visit our Web site, Noahide.com.