Seven Laws of Noah

Among religious branches of Judaism, the Seven Laws of Noah(Hebrew: ├Ä┬«├Ä├ª├Ä├│ ├Ä├ù├Ä┬¬├Ä├▓├Ä├▓├Ä┬¼ ├Ä├ª├Ä├í├Ä├û ├Ä├í├Ä├╣├ö├ç├ä ShevamitzvotB’neiNoach), or the Noahide Laws, are a set of moral imperatives that, according to the Talmud, were given by God[1] as a binding set of laws for the “children of Noah” ├ö├ç├┤ that is, all of humanity.[2][3]

Accordingly, any non-Jew who adheres to these laws is regarded as arighteous gentile, and is assured of a place in the world to come (Hebrew:├Ä├│├Ä├▓├Ä┬ú├Ä├ÿ ├Ä├Â├Ä├ª├Ä├ë├ö├ç├ä OlamHaba), the final reward of the righteous.[4][5]

The seven laws listed by the Tosefta (dated to 220 CE) and theBabylonian Talmud (dated to 300 CE) are:[6]

According to Rabbinic tradition,[7] the Noahide laws are derived exegetically from the six commandments which were given to Adam in the Garden of Eden, Gen 2:16,[8] and a seventh precept, which was added after the Flood of Noah. According to Judaism, the 613 commandments given in the written Torah, as well as their explanations and applications discussed in the oral Torah, are applicable to the Jews only, and non-Jews are bound only to observe the seven Noahide laws.

Origins[edit]

Hebrew Torah[edit]

According to the Genesis flood narrative, a deluge covered the whole world, killing every surface-dwelling creature except Noah, his wife, his sons and their wives, and the animals taken aboard Noah’s Ark. According to this all modern humans are descendants of Noah, thus the name Noahide Laws in reference to laws that apply to all of humanity. After the flood, God sealed acovenant with Noah with the following admonitions (Genesis 9):

Book of Jubilees[edit]

An early reference to Noachide Law may appear in the Book of Jubilees 7:20ÔÇô28, which is generally dated to the 2nd century BCE:

“And in the twenty-eighth jubilee Noah began to enjoin upon his sons’ sons the ordinances and commandments, and all the judgments that he knew, and he exhorted his sons to observe righteousness, and to cover the shame of their flesh, and to bless their Creator, and honour father and mother, and love their neighbour, and guard their souls from fornication and uncleanness and alliniquity. For owing to these three things came the flood upon the earth … For whoso sheddeth man’s blood, and whoso eateth the blood of any flesh, shall all be destroyed from the earth.”[9][10]

Acts 15[edit]

Main article: Council of Jerusalem

The Jewish Encyclopedia article on Saul of Tarsus states:

“According to Acts, Paul began working along the traditional Jewish line of proselytizing in the various synagogues where the proselytes of the gate [e.g., Exodus 20:9] and the Jews met; and only because he failed to win the Jews to his views, encountering strong opposition and persecution from them, did he turn to the Gentile world after he had agreed at a convention with the apostles at Jerusalem to admit the Gentiles into the Church only as proselytes of the gate, that is, after their acceptance of the Noachian laws (Acts 15:1├ö├ç├┤31)”.[11]

The article “New Testament” states:

“For great as was the success of Barnabas and Paul in the heathen world, the authorities in Jerusalem insisted upon circumcision as the condition of admission of members into the church, until, on the initiative of Peter, and of James, the head of the Jerusalem church, it was agreed that acceptance of the Noachian Laws – namely, regarding avoidance of idolatry, fornication, and the eating of flesh cut from a living animal – should be demanded of the heathen desirous of entering the Church.”[12]

The Apostolic Decree of the Council of Jerusalem resolved this early Christian dispute by commending that gentilesobeyNoahide law (Acts 15:19ÔÇô21) rather than to live under the same dictates as Torah-observant Jews and becircumcised (cf. Acts 15:5, Acts 15:24).

Talmud[edit]

According to Judaism, as expressed in the Talmud, the Noachide Laws apply to all humanity through humankind’s descent from one paternal ancestor, the head of the only family to survive The Flood, who in Hebrew tradition is calledNoah. In Judaism, ├Ä├ª├Ä├í├Ä├û├Ä├í├Ä├╣ B’nei Noah (Hebrew, “Descendants of Noah”, “Children of Noah”) refers to all of humankind.[13]The Talmud also states: “Righteous people of all nations have a share in the world to come” (Sanhedrin 105a). Any non-Jew who lives according to these laws is regarded as one of “the righteous among the gentiles”.

The Talmud states that the instruction not to eat “flesh with the life” was given to Noah, and that Adam and Eve had already received six other commandments. Adam and Eve were not enjoined from eating from a living animal; they were forbidden to eat any animal. The remaining six are exegetically derived from the sentence “And the Lord God commanded the man saying, of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat.” in Gen 2:16.[14]

Historically, some rabbinic opinions consider non-Jews not only not obliged to adhere to all the remaining laws of the Torah, but actually forbidden to observe them.[15] The Noachide Laws are regarded as the way through which non-Jews can have a direct and meaningful relationship with God, or at least comply with the minimal requisites of civilization and of divine law.[citation needed]

Noachide law differs radically from Roman law for gentiles (Jus Gentium), if only because the latter was enforceable judicial policy. Rabbinic Judaism has never adjudicated any cases under Noachide law (per Novak, 1983:28ff.), although scholars disagree about whether Noachide law is a functional part of Halakha (“Jewish law”) (cf. Bleich).

In recent years, the term “Noahide” has come to refer to non-Jews who strive to live in accord with the seven Noachide Laws; the terms “observant Noahide” or “Torah-centeredNoahides” would be more precise but are infrequently used. Support for the use of Noahide in this sense can be found with the Ritva, who uses the term Son of Noah to refer to a Gentile who keeps the seven laws, but is not a Ger Toshav.[16] The rainbow, referring to the Noachide or First Covenant (Genesis 9), is the symbol of many organized Noahide groups, following Genesis 9:12├ö├ç├┤17. A non-Jew of any ethnicity or religion is referred to as a bat (“daughter”) or ben (“son”) of Noah. However, most organizations that call themselves ├Ä├ª├Ä├í├Ä├û├Ä├í├Ä├╣ (b’neinoach, “Sons of Noah”) are composed of gentiles who are keeping the Noachide Laws.[citation needed]

Maimonides[edit]

The Jewish scholar Maimonides (13th century) held that gentiles may have a part in the world to come just by observing Noahide law. He writes in his book of laws:”[17]

Anyone who accepts upon himself and carefully observes the Seven Commandments is of the Righteous of the Nations of the World and has a portion in the World to Come. This is as long as he accepts and performs them because (he truly believes that) it was the Holy One, Blessed Be He, Who commanded them in the Torah, and that is was through Moses our Teacher we were informed that the Sons of Noah had already been commanded to observe them. But if he observes them because he convinced himself, then he is not considered a Resident Convert and is not of the Righteous of the Nations of the World, but merely one of their wise.[18]

Some later editions of the Mishnah Torah differ by one letter and read "Nor one of their wise men." The later reading is narrower. Spinoza read Maimonides as using nor and accused him of being narrow and particularistic. Other philosophers such as Hermann Cohen and Moses Mendelssohn have used more inclusive interpretations of the passage by Maimonides.[19] In either reading Maimonides appears to exclude philosophical Noahides from being Righteous Gentiles. Thus Maimonides wants to emphasis that a truly Righteous Gentile follows the seven laws because they are divinely revealed and thus are followed out of obedience to God.[19][20]

Subdividing the Seven Laws[edit]

Various rabbinic sources have different positions on the way the seven laws are to be subdivided in categories. Maimonides[21] lists other additional Noahide commandments, including the coupling of different kinds of animals and the grafting of different species (as defined by Jewish law) of trees. Rabbi David ben Solomon ibn Abi Zimra (Radbaz), a contemporary commentator on Maimonides, expressed surprise that he left out castration and sorcery which were listed in the Talmud.[22]

The 10th-century Rabbi SaadiaGaon added tithes and levirate marriage. The 11th-century Rav NissimGaon included “listening to God’s Voice”, “knowing God” and “serving God” besides going on to say that all religious acts which can be understood through human reasoning are obligatory upon Jew and Gentile alike. The 14th-century Rabbi Nissimben Reuben Gerondi added the commandment of charity.

The 16th-century work AsarahMaamarot by Rabbi MenahemAzariah of Fano (Rema mi-Fano) enumerates thirty commandments, listing the latter twenty-three as extensions of the original seven, which includes prohibitions on various forms of sorcery, as well as incest and bestiality. Another commentator, Rabbi Zvi Hirsch Chajes (KolHidusheiMaharitzChayess I, end Ch. 10) suggests these are not related to the first seven, nor based on Scripture, but were passed down by oral tradition. The number thirty derives from the statement of the Talmudic sage Ulla in tractate Hullin 92a, though he lists only three other rules in addition to the original seven, consisting of details of the prohibitions against homosexuality and cannibalism, as well as the imperative to honor the Torah.

Talmud commentator Rashi remarks on this that he does not know the other Commandments that are referred to. Though the authorities seem to take it for granted that Ulla’s thirty commandments included the original seven, an additional thirty laws is also possible from the reading[citation needed].

The 10th century ShmuelbenHophniGaon lists thirty Noahide Commandments based on Ulla’s Talmudic statement, though the text is problematic.[23] He includes the prohibitions against suicide and false oaths, as well as the imperatives related to prayer, sacrifices and honoring one’s parents.

The contemporary Rabbi Aaron Lichtenstein counts 66 instructions[citation needed] but Rabbi Harvey Falk has suggested that much work remains to be done in order to properly identify all of the Noahide Commandments, their divisions and subdivisions.[citation needed]

Theft, robbery and stealing covers the appropriate understanding of other persons, their property and their rights. The establishment of courts of justice promotes the value of the responsibility of a corporate society of people to enforce these laws and define these terms. The refusal to engage in unnecessary lust or cruelty demonstrates respect for thecreation itself as renewed after the Flood. The prohibition against committing murder includes a prohibition againsthuman sacrifice.[citation needed]

Maimonides, in his Mishnah Torah, interpreted the prohibition against homicide as including a prohibition againstabortion.[24]

Ger toshav (resident alien)[edit]

Main article: Ger toshav

In earlier times, a Gentile living in the Land of Israel who accepted the Seven Laws in front of a rabbinical court was known as a Ger toshav (literally stranger/resident) or “resident alien”. Jewish law recognizes a Biblical obligation to help a Ger toshav in time of need (as opposed to the rabbinic obligation help all Gentiles who live among Jews). The regulations regarding Jewish-Gentile relations are modified in the case of a Ger toshav.[25]

Jewish law only allows the official acceptance of a Ger Toshav as a resident in the Land of Israel during a time when the Year of Jubilee (yovel) is in effect. There is discussion in the sources as to whether some of the laws that apply to a Ger Toshav may be applied to some modern Gentiles, particularly Muslims.[25]

A Ger Toshav should not be confused with a Ger Tzedek, who is a person who prefers to proceed to total conversion to Judaism, a procedure that is traditionally only allowed to take place after much thought and deliberation over converting.

Punishment[edit]

The Talmud laid down the statutory punishment for transgressing any one of the Seven Laws of Noah (but not other parts of the Noahide code) as capital punishment[26] by decapitation, which is considered one of the lightest[27] of the four modes of execution of criminals. According to some opinions, punishment is the same whether the individual transgresses with knowledge of the law or is ignorant of the law.[28]

Christianity and the NoahideLaws[edit]

Acts 15 is commonly seen as a parallel to Noahide Law,[citation needed] however, some modern Jewish and Christian scholars dispute the connection between Acts 15 and Noahide law,[29] the content of Noahide law, the historical reliability of the Acts of the Apostles, and the nature of Biblical law in Christianity.

The only Noahide law that is not part of the standard moral teaching of mainstream Christianity is the prohibition against eating the flesh of an animal while it is still alive. Many interpret Acts and the Pauline Epistles as making void the dietary laws found in the Torah and known by Noah (Genesis 7:2ÔÇô3 and Genesis 8:20). This claim is disputed by many Christians, including the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, the Seventh-day Adventist Church, the Church of God (Seventh Day). The Apostolic Decree which is recorded in Acts 15 and still observed by the Orthodoxincludes some food restrictions[30] and is commonly seen as a parallel to the Noahide Laws.

The 18th-century rabbi Jacob Emden proposed that Jesus, and Paul after him, intended to convert the gentiles to the Noahide laws while allowing the Jews to follow the full Law of Moses.[31] This approach is generally considered to bedual-covenant theology.

Modern views[edit]

Some modern views hold that penalties are a detail of the Noahide Laws and that Noahides themselves must determine the details of their own laws for themselves. According to this school of thought ├ö├ç├┤ see N. Rakover, Law and the Noahides (1998); M. Dallen, The Rainbow Covenant (2003) ├ö├ç├┤ the Noahide Laws offer mankind a set of absolute values and a framework for righteousness and justice, while the detailed laws that are currently on the books of the world’s states and nations are presumptively valid.

SeferShevaMitzvotHashem: A ShulchanAruch for Gentiles[edit]

After the Rebbe of Chabad Lubavitch, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, started his Noahide Campaign in the 1980s, the number of Gentiles willing to keep the Seven Laws of Noah as described in the Torah increased.[citation needed] A codification of the exact obligations of the Gentiles in the spirit of the classical ShulchanAruch was needed. In 2005 the scholar Rabbi Moshe Weiner of Jerusalem accepted to produce an in-depth codification of the Noahide precepts.[32] The work is called SeferShevaMitzvotHaShem, (The Book of Seven Divine Commandments) published 2008/2009. As it is approved by both Chief Rabbis of Israel, Rabbi Shlomo Moshe Amarand Rabbi Yonah Metzger, as well as other Hasidic– and non-Hasidic halachic authorities like Rabbi ZalmanNechemia Goldberg, Rabbi GedaliaDov Schwartz and Rabbi Jacob Immanuel Schochet, it can claim an authoritative character and is referred as a “ShulchanAruch“[33] for Gentiles at many places.

Public endorsement[edit]

United States Congress[edit]

The Seven Laws of Noah were recognized by the United States Congress in the preamble to the 1991 bill that established Education Day in honor of the birthday of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the leader of the Chabadmovement:

Whereas Congress recognizes the historical tradition of ethical values and principles which are the basis of civilized society and upon which our great Nation was founded; Whereas these ethical values and principles have been the bedrock of society from the dawn of civilization, when they were known as the Seven Noahide Laws.[34]

Israeli Druze[edit]

In January 2004, Sheikh Mowafak Tarif the spiritual leader of Israeli Druze signed a declaration, which called on non-Jews living in the land of Israel to observe the Noahide Laws. He was joined by the mayor of Shefa-‘Amr.[35]