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Noahidism or B’nai —sons of Noah—refers to, arguably, a family of watered–down versions of Orthodox . A majority of Orthodox , and most members of the broad spectrum of Jewish movements overall, do not proselytize or, borrowing Christian terminology, “evangelize” or “witness.” In the U.S., an even larger number of Jews, as with this writer’s own family of orientation or origin, never affiliated with any Jewish movement. Noahidism may have given some groups of Orthodox Jews a method, arguably an excuse, to bypass the custom of nonconversion. Those Orthodox Jews are, in any event, simply breaking with convention, not with a scriptural ordinance. Although Noahidism is based ,MP3], Tạləmūḏ]תַּלְמּוד ,upon the (Hebrew “instruction”), not the , the text itself does not explicitly call for a Noahidism per se.

Numerous commandments supposedly mandated for the sons of Noah or heathen are considered within the context of a rabbinical conversation. Two only partially overlapping enumerations of seven “precepts” are provided. Furthermore, additional precepts, not incorporated into either list, are mentioned. The frequently referenced “seven laws of the sons of Noah” are, therefore, misleading and, indeed, arithmetically incorrect. By my count, precisely a dozen are specified. Although I, honestly, fail to understand why individuals would self–identify with a faith which labels them as “heathen,” that is their business, not mine. The translations will follow a series of quotations pertinent to this monotheistic and ,MP3], tạləmūḏiy]תַּלְמּודִ י ,talmudic (Hebrew “instructive”) new religious movement (NRM). Indeed, the first passage quoted below was excerpted from the translated source text for Noahidism:

Our taught: [Any man that curseth his , shall bear his sin. It would have been sufficient to say], “A man, etc:” What is taught by the expression any man? The inclusion of heathens, to whom blasphemy is prohibited just as to , and they are executed by decapitation; for every death penalty decreed for the sons of Noah is only by decapitation. Now, is [the prohibition of blasphemy to heathens] deduced from this verse? But it is deduced from another, viz., The Lord, referring to the ‘blessing’ of the Divine Name. — R. the smith replied; This phrase [“any man”] is necessary only as teaching the inclusion of substitutes of God’s name, and the Baraitha is taught in accordance with R. Meir’s views For it has been taught: Any man that curseth his God shall bear his sin. Why is this written? Has it not already been stated, And he that blasphemeth the name of the Lord, he shall surely be to death? Because it is stated, And he that blasphemeth the name of the Lord shall surely be put to death, I might think that death is meted out only when the ineffable Name is employed. Whence do I know that all substitutes [of the ineffable Name] are included [in this law]? From the verse, Any man that curseth his God-shewing culpability for any manner of blasphemy [even without uttering the Name, since the Name is not mentioned in this sentence]: this is the view of R. Meir. But the Sages maintain: [Blasphemy] with use of the ineffable Name, is punishable by death: with the employment of substitutes, it is the object of an injunction. [but not punishable by death].

This view [of R. Isaac the smith] conflicts with that of R. Miyasha; for R. Miyasha said: If a heathen [son of Noah] blasphemed, employing substitutes of the ineffable Name, he is in the opinion of the Sages punishable by death. Why so? — Because it is written, as well the stranger, as he that is born in the land [when he blasphemeth the name of the Lord, shall be put to death]. This teaches that only the stranger [i.e.. a proselyte], and the native [i.e., a natural born Israelite] must utter the ineffable Name; but the heathen is punishable even for a substitute only. But how does R. Meir interpret the verse, “as well the stranger, as he that is born in the land”? — It teaches that the stranger and citizen are stoned, but a heathen is decapitated. For I would think, since they are included [in the prohibition], they are included [in the manner of execution too]: hence we are taught otherwise. Now how does R. Isaac the smith interpret the verse, “as well the stranger, as he that is born in the land”, on the view of the Rabbis? — It teaches that only a stranger and a native must revile the Name by the Name, but for a heathen this is unnecessary. Why does the state any man? — The Torah employed normal human speech.

Our Rabbis taught: seven precepts were the sons of Noah commanded: social laws; to refrain from blasphemy, idolatry; adultery; bloodshed; robbery; and eating flesh cut from a living animal.

R. Hanania b. Gamaliel said: Also not to partake of the blood drawn from a living animal. R. Hidka added emasculation. R. added sorcery. R. Jose said: The heathens were prohibited everything that is mentioned in the section on sorcery. viz., There shall not be found among you any one, that maketh his son or daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. For all that do these things are an abomination unto the Lord: and because of these abominations the Lord thy God doth drive them [sc. the heathens in Canaan] out from before thee. Now, [the Almighty] does not punish without first prohibiting. R. Eleazar added the forbidden mixture [in plants and animals]: now, they are permitted to wear garments of mixed fabrics [of wool and linen] and sow diverse seeds together; they are forbidden only to hybridize heterogeneous animals and graft trees of different kinds.…

Surely it has been taught: Just as the Israelites were ordered to set up law courts in every district and town, so were the sons of Noah likewise enjoined to set up law courts in every district and town! — But Raba answered thus: The author of this Baraitha [which states that social laws were added at Marah] is a Tanna of the School of Manasseh, who omitted social laws and blasphemy [from the list of Noachian precepts] and substituted emasculation and the forbidden mixture [in plants, ploughing. etc.]. For a Tanna of the School of Manasseh taught: The sons of Noah were given seven precepts. viz., [prohibition of] idolatry, adultery, murder, robbery, flesh cut from a living animal, emasculation and forbidden mixtures. 〜 Multiple authors. “ Tractate of the Talmud— Chapters 56a and 56b.” Hebrew–English edition of the Babylonian Talmud. Isidore Epstein, translator. Volume 20. London: Soncino Press. 1969. Pages 306–385.

Noahide commandments, whose number is well known and appears in the Talmud, for they are in truth broad categories, each containing many particulars.

〜 Reb Moshe Steinerman. Newly Born : Noahides and . , : The Library of Jewish Law, 1998. Page 11. The Seven Noahide Laws are: 1. Avodah Zarah: Prohibition on idolatry. 2. Birchat HaShem: Prohibition on blasphemy and cursing the Name of God. 3. Shefichat Damim: Prohibition on murder. 4. Gezel: Prohibition on robbery and theft. 5. Gilui Arayot: Prohibition on immorality and forbidden sexual relations. 6. Ever Min HaChay: Prohibition on removing and eating a limb from a live animal. 7. Dinim: Requirement to establish a justice system and courts of law to enforce the other six laws.

〜 Steve Cohen. What about the Noahide Laws? Brentwood, Tennessee: The Apple of His Eye Mission Society, Inc. 2015. Pages 2–3. To the who were not prepared to enter the fold of Judaism, a moral code, known as the seven commandments of the sons of Noah, was offered. It consisted of the precepts: “The practice of equity, prohibitions against blaspheming the Name, idolatry, immorality, bloodshed, robbery, and devouring a limb torn from a live animal” (Sanh. [Sanhedrin tractate of the Talmud] 56a). By righteous conduct, based upon these fundamental laws, they would earn the divine approval. 〜 A. Cohen. Everyman’s Talmud. London: J. M. Dent & Sons Ltd. or New York: E. P. Dutton & Co. Inc. 1949. Page 65. Practically speaking, there are no normal people that convert to Judaism. Therefore, it has to be some sort of internal calling, a spark that can’t be explained logically. This calling, if unanswered can be emotionally painful, filled with loneliness, confusion and grief. Therefore, you must address this yearning seriously. People who are seeking to better understand this calling, usually start out inside the B’nei Noach, Noahide movement, fulfilling the Torah commandments for gentiles. Many might even find themselves in the false messianic Judaism movement which is mostly just a Christian cult used to convert Jews to . Anything that even has a trace of Judaism seems to spark the interest of the searching non–Jew. G–d protect those lost in such a false movement as Messianic Judaism which believe in Jesus as they secretly call him. Thousands of Jews have been trapped by the snare of these pretend to be Jews. It is quite common for spiritually searching people to get caught up in spiritually fulfilling eastern religions only to latter find them to be lacking any real substance. 〜 Rakover. Law and the Noahides: Law as a Universal Value. Rachel Steinerman, editor. Safed, Israel: Ilovetorah Network. 2019. Page 19. Over many centuries, the long and bitter conditions of exile — including the great social, philosophical, and spiritual revolutions that swept the world — not only had a marked effect on the way Torah is practiced and taught, but on what is practiced and taught. Some obligations were all but forgotten, particularly national obligations on the Jewish People as a whole. One such obligation was the spread of the observance of the Seven Noahide Laws. 〜 Shelomo Bar–Ron. Guide for the Noahide: A Complete Guide to the Laws of the Noahide Covenant and Key Torah Values for All Mankind. Second edition. Springdale, Arkansas: Lightcatcher Books. 2010. Kindle edition. The Jewish people had been instructed at Mount Sinai to teach the laws to the non–Jewish nations, but not at peril to their lives. In those exilic days, if a Jew were to tell Christians or Moslems that their knowledge of God was lacking, the response would have been an attack upon the Jewish community. So the Jew was silent in exile and the Noahide Doctrine became virtually extinct. With the exception of the Khazars during the seventh through the eleventh centuries C.E., there is hardly a word mentioned about Gentiles embracing the Jewish view of spiritual matters. 〜 Chain Clorfene and Yakov Rogalsky. The Path of the Righteous : A Practical Guide to the Seven Laws of Noah. North Charleston, South Carolina: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform. 2016. Kindle edition. Israel’s rabbis, the devout Orthodox scholars of our own generation, are the guardians and judges of the Torah. They “sit in ’ seat” as the teachers of the Revolution. As such, their first duty, naturally, is to Israel. They have the right and the obligation to prescribe God’s laws to Israel. While they also have an obligation to others, their duty, as they have seen it, is less one of prescribing the details of God’s Noahide laws than of simply describing matters of Torah to B’nai Noah — and usually even then, only upon being asked. Indeed, some rabbis would go further, saying that Israel should point the nations to Truth — to freedom and the blessings of the good life — solely by means of Israel’s silent example, rather than by teaching the nations any specific precepts of Torah. 〜 Michael Ellias Dallen. The Rainbow Covenant: Torah and the Universal Laws. Springdale, Arkansas: Lightcatcher Books. 2003. Kindle edition. 1. Nôḥiydūṯ ʾô Šẹḇạʿ Miṣəwōṯ/Miṣəvōṯ Bənēy Nōḥ⇄ạ ,([MP3] נֹוחִ יּדּות אֹו שֶׁבַּ עמִצְ וֹות בְ נֵי נֹחַּ ,Hebrew) “Noahidism/Noachidism or Noahide movement (‘Noahidism or seven laws of sons of Noah’)” 2. Nʾọʾạhiydiysạm ʾọdẹʿr Ziybẹn Gẹʿzẹʿṣẹn p̄ ūn dēʿr נאָאַּהִ יּדִ יסַּם אָּדֶׁ ער זִיבֶׁן ,Qiynədẹʿr p̄ ūn Nʾọʾạh ( ,([MP3] גֶׁעזֶׁעצֶׁן ֿפּון ּדֵ ער קִינְדער ֿפּון נאָאַּה “Noahidism/Noachidism or Noahide movement (‘Noahidism or seven laws of the children of Noah’)” 3. Noahidismus oder sieben Gesetzen von der Kinder von Noah (German [MP3]), “Noahidism/Noachidism or Noahide movement (‘Noahidism or seven laws of the children of Noah’)” 4. Nūḥiyyaẗ ⫯aw Sab°ʿaẗ Qawānīn ⫯Ab°nāˁ Nūḥ ,([MP3] نُو ِحيَّة أَو َس ْبعَة َق َوانِين أَ ْب َناء نُوح ,Arabic) “Noahidism/Noachidism or Noahide movement (‘Noahidism/Noahideness or seven laws of sons of Noah’)” 5. Nūḥ°garāýí ýā Qawānín•i Haf°t°gānah•i Ḱūdaḱān•i نُو ْح َگ َرایِی ی َا َق َوانِي ِن َه ْف ْت; َگا َن ِه ُکو َد َکا ِن نُوح ,Nūḥ (Persian [MP3]), “Noahidism/Noachidism or Noahide movement (‘Noahidism or sevenfold laws of children/sons of Noah’)” 6. Nuhgaroī yo Qavonin•i Haftgona•i Kudakon•i Nuh (Tajik, Нуҳгароӣ ё Қавонини Ҳафтгонаи Кудакони Нуҳ [MP3]), “Noahidism/Noachidism or Noahide movement (‘Noahidism or sevenfold laws of children/sons of Noah’)” دَ ,da Zāman da Nūḥ ʾAw°wah Qawānīn (Pashto .7 MP3]), “Noahidism/Noachidism] َزا َمن َد ن ُوح ا ْو َوه َق َوانِين or Noahide movement (‘the sons of Noah seven laws’)”

ُ ونح ےَک ,Nūḥa ḱē Bēṭōṉ mēṉ sē Sāta Qānūnōṉ (Urdu .8 ٹ MP3]), “Noahidism/Noachidism or] ے ی وبں ی َم ےَس ےسا ےت ے اق ُنوونں seven laws through sons of‘) ےNoahide movement Noah’)”

9. Nūha ke Beṭoṃ meṃ se Sāta Kānūnoṃ (Hindi, नूह के बेटⴂ मᴂ से सात कानूनⴂ [MP3]), “Noahidism/Noachidism or Noahide movement (‘seven laws through sons of Noah’)” 10. Nūha dē Putarāṁ dē Sata Kānūnāṁ (Guramukhi Punjabi, ਨੂਹ ਦੇ ਪੁਤਰ拓 ਦੇ ਸਤ ਕਾਨੂਨ拓 [MP3]), “Noahidism/Noachidism or Noahide movement (‘seven laws of sons of Noah’)” 11. Nūḥa dē Putarāṉ dē Sata Qānūnāṉ (Shahmukhi

ُ ُ ,([MP3]نو ےح ےدے ُ ےپرےاں ےدے ے ےس ے اق ون ےنا ں ,Punjabi “Noahidism/Noachidism or Noahide movement (‘seven laws of sons of Noah’)” نُوح جو پُٽون ,Nūḥ ǧō Puʈōn ǧō Sat Qānūnōn (Sindhi .12 MP3]), “Noahidism/Noachidism or]جو َست َقانُونون Noahide movement (‘seven laws of sons of Noah’)” 13. Nōhēra Putra gulō ēra Sātaṭi Āꞌina gulō (Bengali, ননোহের পুত্র 巁হ ো এর সোত綿 আইন 巁হ োMP3 [ ]), “Noahidism/Noachidism or Noahide movement (‘seven laws of sons of Noah’)” 14. Nuhilik, Noahidizm, Nuhilik Akımı, Yedi Kanunlar Nuh Oğullarına, Nuh Yedi Kanunları, Nuhꞌun Oğulları, Nuhꞌun Evrensel Yasaları ve Nuh Kanunları (Turkish [MP3]), “Noahidism/Noachidism or Noahide movement (‘Noahidism, Noahidism, Noahide movement, seven laws given to the sons of Noah, seven laws of Noah, Noah’s laws, Noah’s universal laws, and sons of Noah’)”

Noahidism Noahidism (/ˈnoʊə.haɪd.ɪsm/) or Noachidism (/ˈnoʊə.xaɪd.ɪsm/) is a monotheistic branch of Judaism based on the Seven Laws of Noah,[1][2] and their traditional interpretations within .[2][3] According to the Jewish law, non-Jews (Gentiles) are not obligated to convert to Judaism, but they are required to observe the Seven Laws of Noah to be assured of a place in the World to Come (Olam Ha- The rainbow is a modern symbol of Ba), the final reward of the righteous.[1][2][3][4][5] The divinely Noahidism, representing God's ordained penalty for violating any of these Noahide Laws is promise to Noah to never again flood discussed in the Talmud,[3] but in practical terms it is subject to the earth and destroy humanity. the working legal system which is established by the society at large.[3] Those who subscribe to the observance of the Noahic Children of Noah") or Noahides" ,בני נח :Covenant are referred to as B'nei Noach (Hebrew (/ˈnoʊ.ə.haɪdɪs/).[1][2] Supporting organizations have been established around the world over the past decades by either Noahides or Orthodox Jews.

Historically, the Hebrew term B'nei Noach has applied to all non-Jews as descendants of Noah.[1][3] However, nowadays it's primarily used to refer specifically to those non-Jews who observe the Seven Laws of Noah.[1][2]

According to a Noahide source in 2018, there are over 20,000 official Noahides, and the country with the greatest number is the Philippines.[6]

Contents The Seven Laws of Noah Historical movements Modern Noahidism High Council of B’nei Noah Rabbinical Council for the Noahide Movement Acknowledgment See also References External links

The Seven Laws of Noah The seven laws listed by the in Sanhedrin 56a are:

1. Do not worship idols. 2. Do not blaspheme God. 3. Do not murder. 4. Do not practice sexual immorality. 5. Do not steal. 6. Do not eat flesh from a living animal. 7. Establish Courts of Justice to build upon these laws.[7]

Historical movements The Sebomenoi or God-fearers are an early example of non-Jews being included within the Jewish community.[8]: 30–32

Modern Noahidism There are two different concepts of Noahidism in Judaism:

1. The B'nei Noah movement whose members observe the Seven Commandments or Laws[9] only and hold that the remaining commandments do not apply to them. This is the view of -Lubavitch and a few other movements. This means that Noahides may not observe the Sabbath, study Torah (except for the Seven Laws), etc. 2. The B'nei Noah movement whose members hold that they can adhere completely to Judaism in order to learn from the Jews and together promote the World to Come (Olam Ha-Ba) but without becoming a part of the Jewish people (i.e. without performing a giyur). After B'nei Noah accept the obligatory seven commandments, they can, if they so desire, carry out the rest of the Jewish commandments, including studying the Torah, observing the Sabbath, celebrating , etc. This view is held, for example, by Yoel Schwartz and Oury Cherki. According to the first approach, the answer to the question "Can a non-Jew observe the Sabbath and study the Torah?" is negative, and according to the second one, it is affirmative.

In one place in his books, writes,[10] "The gentile must not observe the Sabbath and study the Torah," while in another place he says,[11] "If a Noahide wants to observe additional commandments besides the seven basic ones of B'nei Noah, he receives a reward from Heaven, and we (the Jews) must support him in this." Cherki explains this apparent contradiction in Maimonides by saying that the goy and B'nei Noah are different halakhic concepts. A goy is a gentile who has not yet accepted the commandments of B'nei Noah. However, if he has already accepted Seven Laws, he ceases to be a goy and became a B'nei Noah, and as such can follow additional commandments, including keeping the Sabbath and teaching the Torah.[12]

High Council of B’nei Noah A High Council of B’nei Noah, set up to represent B'nei Noah communities around the world, was endorsed by a group that claimed to be the new Sanhedrin.[13][14]

Rabbinical Council for the Noahide Movement The Rabbinical Council for the Noahide Movement is composed of the rabbis of the Noahide Academy of Jerusalem (http://www.noahide-academy.com/) which include Rabbi Moshe Weiner, author of the Divine Code, the complete compilation of the Noahide Code of Law, Rabbi Moshe Perets, Executive Director of the Noahide Academy of Jerusalem, Dr Michael Schulman, Rabbi Shimon Cowen, Rabbi Ytshock Dubovick, Rabbi Assaf Studnitz, Rabbi Zalman Notik, and Rabbi Assi Harel.[15] Acknowledgment Meir Kahane and Shlomo Carlebach organized one of the first Noahide conferences in the 1980s.[16] In 1990, Kahane was the keynote speaker at the First International Conference of the Descendants of Noah in Fort Worth, Texas.

The Chabad-Lubavitch movement has been the most active in Noahide outreach, believing that there is spiritual and societal value for non-Jews in at least simply acknowledging the seven laws, and even more so if they accept or observe them. In 1991, they had a reference to these laws enshrined in a Congressional proclamation: Presidential Proclamation 5956,[17] signed by then-President George H. W. Bush. Recalling Joint House Resolution 173, and recalling that the ethical and moral principles of all civilizations come in part from the Seven Noahide Laws, it proclaimed March 26, 1991 as "Education Day, USA" Subsequently, Public Law 102-14 formally designated the Lubavitcher 's 90th birthday as "Education Day, USA," with Congress recalling that "without these ethical values and principles, the edifice of civilization stands in serious peril of returning to chaos," and that "society is profoundly concerned with the recent weakening of these principles, that has resulted in crises that beleaguer and threaten the fabric of civilized society."[18]

In April, 2006, the spiritual leader of the Druze community in Israel, Sheikh Mowafak Tarif, met with a representative of Chabad-Lubavitch to sign a declaration calling on all non-Jews in Israel to observe the Noahide Laws as laid down in the Bible and expounded upon in Jewish tradition. The mayor of the Galilean city of Shefa-'Amr (Shfaram) — where Muslim, Christian and Druze communities live side-by- side — also signed the document.[19]

In March, 2007, Chabad-Lubavitch gathered ambassadors from six countries to take part in a gathering to declare, in the name of the states they represent, their support of the universal teachings of Noahide Laws. They represented , , Mexico, Panama, Ghana, and Japan. They were part of a special program organized by Harav Boaz Kali.[20]

In April, Abu Gosh mayor Salim Jaber accepted the seven Noahide laws as part of a rally by Chabad at the Bloomfield Stadium in Tel Aviv. In May, the newly elected president of France, Nicolas Sarkozy, met with a Chabad-Lubavitch rabbi, Dovid Zaoui, who presented him with literature on the universal teachings of the Noahide Laws.[21]

In 2016 Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef taught that Jewish law requires that the only non-Jews allowed to live in Israel are Noahides: “According to Jewish law, it’s forbidden for a non-Jew to live in the – unless he has accepted the seven Noahide laws.” The Anti-Defamation League issued a strong denunciation of Yosef’s comments, and called on him to retract them.[22]

In October, 2019 Oury Amos Cherki released the first ever book for Noahides.

See also toshav Judaizers Proselyte Righteous among the Nations Righteous gentiles Sons of Noah Shituf Subbotniks

References 1. "The 7 Noahide Laws: Universal Morality" (https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/62 221/jewish/The-7-Noahide-Laws-Universal-Morality.htm). Chabad.org. Chabad-Lubavitch. 2018. 2. Kress, Michael (2018). "The Modern Noahide Movement" (https://www.myjewishlearning.co m/article/the-modern-noahide-movement/). My Jewish Learning. 3. Singer, Isidore; Greenstone, Julius H. (1906). "Noachian Laws" (http://jewishencyclopedia.c om/articles/9679-laws-noachian). Jewish Encyclopedia. Kopelman Foundation. 4. , Hilkhot M'lakhim 8:14. 5. (Hebrew ed., Israel, 5741/1981, entry Ben Noah, end of article); note the variant reading of Maimonides and the references in the footnote. 6. Ilany, Ofri (12 September 2018). "The Messianic Zionist Religion Whose Believers Worship Judaism (But Can't Practice It)" (https://www.haaretz.com/jewish/.premium-the-messianic-zi onist-religion-that-wants-to-recruit-7-billion-members-1.6455144). Haaretz. Retrieved 27 October 2018. 7. "Sanhedrin 56" (http://www.halakhah.com/sanhedrin/sanhedrin_56.html). Babylonian Talmud. Halakhah. 8. Martin Goodman (2007). Judaism in the Roman World: Collected Essays (https://books.goo gle.com/books?id=YVI2a9jc4pMC&pg=PA30&dq=Tosefta+Avodah+Zarah+9:4&hl=en&sa=X &ei=k3LuVPeUC_WIsQTQ0oBo&ved=0CD4Q6AEwBg#v=onepage&q=%20Avoda h%20Zarah%209%3A4&f=false). BRILL. Retrieved 17 January 2014. 9. Seven Commandments (http://noahideworldcenter.org/wp_en/7-commandments) 10. Maimonides, Mishneh Torah, Laws of Kings 10:9. 11. Maimonides, Mishneh Torah, Laws of Kings 10:10. 12. The meaning of the chosen people and what is a goy (http://noahideworldcenter.org/wp_en/ the-meaning-of-the-chosen-people-and-what-is-a-goy) 13. "Sanhedrin Moves to Establish Council For Noahides" (http://www.israelnationalnews.com/n ews.php3?id=90646). Israel National News. 14. "- Israel National News" (http://www.israelnationalnews.com/news.php3?id=96347). Israel National News. 15. http://www.noahide-academy.com/about-us/ 16. Halevi, Ezra (January 10, 2006). "Sanhedrin Recognizes Council to Teach Humanity ´Laws of Noah" (http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/96347). Arutz 7 News. 17. "Presidency" (http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=23514). UCSB. Retrieved February 25, 2017. 18. "Thomas" (http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c102:H.J.RES.104.ENR:). LoC. Retrieved February 25, 2017. 19. "Druze Religious Leader Commits to Noachide "Seven Laws" " (http://www.israelnationalne ws.com/News/News.aspx/56379). Israel national news. 2004-01-18. Retrieved 2014-01-18. 20. Ambassadors Sign 7 Mitzvos Declaration (http://chabadjapan.org/blog_e/?p=3), Chabad Japan; accessed February 25, 2017. 21. French President Sarkozy Discusses Sheva Mitzvos (http://www.chabad.info/index.php?url= article_en&id=8980), Chabad; accessed February 25, 2017. 22. "Non-Jews in Israel must keep Noahide laws, chief rabbi says" (http://www.jpost.com/Israel- News/Non-Jews-are-forbidden-by-Jewish-law-to-live-in-Israel-chief-rabbi-says-449395), The Jerusalem Post, March 28, 2016

External links

Brit Olam movement (http://www.en.noahideworldcenter.org/)

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Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization. Seven Laws of Noah שבע מצוות בני נח :The Seven Laws of Noah (Hebrew Sheva Mitzvot B'nei Noach), also referred to as the Noahide Laws or the Noachide Laws (from the Hebrew pronunciation of "Noah"), are a set of imperatives which, according to the Talmud, were given by God[1] as a binding set of laws for the "children of Noah" – that is, all of humanity.[2][3]

According to Jewish tradition, non-Jews who adhere to these laws because they were given by Moses[4] are said to be followers of Noahidism and regarded as righteous עולם) gentiles, who are assured of a place in Olam Haba the world to come), the final reward of the ,הבא [5][6] righteous. The rainbow is the unofficial symbol of Noahidism, recalling the Genesis flood The Seven Laws of Noah include prohibitions against narrative in which a rainbow appears to worshipping idols, cursing God, murder, adultery and Noah after the Great Flood, indicating that sexual immorality, theft, eating flesh torn from a living God would not flood the planet and destroy animal, as well as the obligation to establish courts of all life again. justice.

Contents The Seven Laws Origin Torah sources Book of Jubilees Acts 15 Modern scholarship In Talmud Punishment Subdivisions Ger toshav (resident alien) Contemporary status Maimonides Christianity Chabad movement Sefer Sheva Mitzvot Hashem Public recognition Israeli Druze See also References Further reading External links

The Seven Laws The seven Noahide laws as traditionally enumerated are the following:[7][8]

1. Not to worship idols. 2. Not to curse God. 3. To establish courts of justice. 4. Not to commit murder. 5. Not to commit adultery, bestiality, or sexual immorality. 6. Not to steal. 7. Not to eat flesh torn from a living animal. According to the Talmud,[7] the rabbis agree that the seven laws were given to the sons of Noah. However, they disagree on precisely which laws were given to and Eve. Six of the seven laws are exegetically derived from passages in Genesis,[9] with the seventh being the establishing of courts.

The earliest complete rabbinic version of the seven laws can be found in the Tosefta:[10]

Seven commandments were commanded of the sons of Noah: “ 1. concerning adjudication (dinim) 2. concerning idolatry (avodah zarah) 3. concerning blasphemy (qilelat ha-) 4. concerning sexual immorality (gilui arayot) 5. concerning blood-shed (shefikhut damim) 6. concerning robbery (gezel) 7. concerning a limb torn from a living animal (ever min ha-hay) ”

Origin

Torah sources 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 is referred to the laws that apply to all of humanity. After the flood, God sealed a covenant with Noah with the following admonitions (Genesis 9 (https://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt0109.htm#1)):

Flesh of a living animal: "However, flesh with its life-blood [in it], you shall not eat." (9:4) Murder and courts: "Furthermore, I will demand your blood, for [the taking of] your lives, I shall demand it [even] from any wild animal. From man too, I will demand of each person's brother the blood of man. He who spills the blood of man, by man his blood shall be spilt; for in the image of God He made man." (9:5–6)

Book of Jubilees The Book of Jubilees, generally dated to the 2nd century BCE,[11] may include an early reference to Noahide Law at verses 7:20–28:

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 from fornication and uncleanness and all iniquity. 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.[12][13]

Acts 15 article on Saul of Tarsus states:

According to Acts, Paul began working along the traditional Jewish line of proselytizing in the various where the proselytes of the gate [e.g., Exodus 20:9 (https://www.me chon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt0220.htm#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 15:1–31)".[14]

The article "New Testament" states:

For great as was the success of 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.[15]

Modern scholarship Novak presents a range of theories regarding the origin of the Noachide laws, including the Bible, Hittite law, the Maccabean period, and the Roman period.[16]

In Halakha Talmud B'nei Noah בני נח ,According to the Talmud, the Noahide Laws apply to all humanity. In Judaism (Hebrew, "Descendants of Noah", "Children of Noah") refers to all of humankind.[17] The Talmud also states: "Righteous people of all nations have a share in the world to come".[18] Any non-Jew who lives according to these laws is regarded as one of "the righteous among the gentiles".

The rabbis agree that the seven laws were given to the sons of Noah. However, they disagree on precisely which laws were given to Adam and Eve. Six of the seven laws are exegetically derived from passages in Genesis. The Talmud adds extra laws beyond the seven listed in the Tosefta which are attributed to different rabbis, such as the grafting of trees and sorcery among others,[19]:30–31[20] Ulla going so far as to make a list of 30 laws.[21] The Talmud expands the scope of the seven laws to cover about 100 of the 613 mitzvoth.[22]:18

Punishment In practice Jewish law makes it very difficult to apply the death penalty.[23] No record exists of a gentile having been put to death for violating the seven laws.[24] Some of the categories of capital punishment recorded in the Talmud are recorded as having never been carried out. It is thought that the rabbis included discussion of them in anticipation of the coming messianic age.[23]

The Talmud lists the punishment for blaspheming the Ineffable Name of God as death. The sons of Noah are to be executed by decapitation for most crimes,[25] considered one of the lightest capital punishments,[26] by stoning if he has intercourse with a Jewish betrothed woman,[27] or by strangulation if the Jewish woman has completed the marriage ceremonies, but had not yet consummated the marriage.[27] In Jewish law the only form of blasphemy which is punishable by death is blaspheming the Ineffable Name (Leviticus 24:16 (https://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt0324.htm#16)).[28] Some Talmudic rabbis held that only those offences for which a Jew would be executed, are forbidden to gentiles.[29] The Talmudic rabbis discuss which offences and sub-offences are capital offences and which are merely forbidden.[30]

Maimonides states that anyone who does not accept the seven laws is to be executed, as God compelled the world to follow these laws.[31] However, for the other prohibitions such as the grafting of trees and bestiality he holds that the sons of Noah are not to be executed.[32] Maimonides adds a lacking from earlier Jewish sources.[22]:18 The Talmud differs from Maimonides in that it considers the seven laws enforceable by Jewish authorities on non-Jews living within a Jewish nation.[22]:18 Nahmanides disagrees with Maimonides' reasoning. He limits the obligation of enforcing the seven laws to non-Jewish authorities taking the matter out of Jewish hands. The Tosafot seems to agree with Nahmanides reasoning.[33]:39 According to some opinions, punishment is the same whether the individual transgresses with knowledge of the law or is ignorant of the law.[34]

Subdivisions Various rabbinic sources have different positions on the way the seven laws are to be subdivided in categories. Maimonides', in his Mishneh Torah, included the grafting of trees.[32] Like the Talmud, he interpreted the prohibition against homicide as including a prohibition against abortion.[35][36] David ben ibn Abi Zimra, a commentator on Maimonides, expressed surprise that he left out castration and sorcery which were also listed in the Talmud.[37] The Talmudist Ulla said that here are 30 laws which the sons of Noah took upon themselves. However he only lists three, namely the three that the Gentiles follow: not to create a Ketubah between males, not to sell carrion or human flesh in the market and to respect the Torah. The rest of the laws are not listed.[38] 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. Two different lists of the 30 laws exist. Both lists include an additional twenty-three mitzvot which are subdivisions or extensions of the seven laws. One from the 16th-century work Asarah Maamarot by Rabbi Menahem Azariah da Fano and a second from the 10th century ben Hofni which was recently published from his Judeo-Arabic writings after having been found in the Cairo Geniza.[39][40] Rabbi Zvi Hirsch Chajes suggests Menahem Azariah of Fano enumerated commandments are not related to the first seven, nor based on Scripture, but instead were passed down by oral tradition.[41]

Ger toshav (resident alien) 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).[42] The regulations regarding Jewish-Gentile relations are modified in the case of a ger toshav.[43]

Contemporary status 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.[44][45]

Noahide 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 Noahide law,[24] Jewish scholars disagree about whether Noahide law is a functional part of Halakha ("Jewish law").[46]

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 – see N. Rakover, Law and the Noahides (1998); M. Dallen, The Rainbow Covenant (2003) – 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.

In recent years, the term "Noahide" has come to refer to non-Jews who strive to live in accord with the seven Noahide Laws; the terms "observant Noahide" or "Torah-centered Noahides" would be more precise but these 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.[47] The rainbow, referring to the Noahide or First Covenant (Genesis 9), is the symbol of many organized Noahide groups, following Genesis 9:12–17 (https://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt0109.htm #12).[48]

To various modern theologians the Noahide laws represent the inclusive nature of Judaism because they affirm the equality of Jews and non-Jews. To other intellectuals these seven laws represent natural law which are accessible to all through intellect and do not require . According to Robert Eisen the second stream of thought ignores how a non-Jew could access these laws without the Jewish . To Eisen, these set of laws impose a Jewish understanding of morality upon non-Jews. To Eisen, the Noahide laws represent more of a barrier between Jews and non-Jews, because non-Jews are forbidden to observe Jewish laws.[8] Maimonides The Jewish scholar Maimonides (12th century) held that Gentiles may have a part in the world to come just by observing Noahide law and accepting it as given by Moses. Such children of Noah become the status of Chasidei Umot HaOlam—Pious People of the World, and are different from children of Noah who only keep the seven laws out of moral/ethical reasoning alone. He writes in his book of laws:"[49]

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 it 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.[50]

Some later editions of the Mishneh 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.[51]

In either reading, Maimonides appears to exclude philosophical Noahides from being Righteous Gentiles. Thus Maimonides emphasizes that a truly Righteous Gentile follows the seven laws because they are divinely revealed and thus are followed out of obedience to God.[51][52] According to Steven Schwarzschild, this position has its source in Maimonides' adoption of 's skeptical attitude towards the ability of reason to arrive at moral truths,[53] and "many of the most outstanding spokesmen of Judaism themselves dissented sharply from" this position, which is "individual and certainly somewhat eccentric" in comparison to other Jewish thinkers.[54] Authorities who condition non-Jews' World to Come on their actions, without mentioning Maimonides' further condition, include Judah haNasi,[55] Menachem Meiri,[56] Albo,[57] and Israel Lipschitz.[58]

Christianity The Apostolic Decree recorded in Acts 15 is commonly seen as a parallel to Noahide Law;[59] however, some modern scholars dispute the connection between Acts 15 and Noahide Law,[60] the content of Noahide Law, the historical reliability of the Acts of the Apostles, and the nature of biblical law in Christianity. The Apostolic Decree is still observed by Eastern Orthodoxy and includes some food restrictions.[61]

The 18th-century rabbi Emden proposed that Jesus, and Paul after him, intended to convert the gentiles to the Noahide laws while calling on the Jews to keep the full .[62]

Chabad movement Maimonides stated that God commanded Moses to compel the world to accept these seven commandments. In 1983 Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson urged his followers to actively engage in activities to inform non-Jews about these seven commandments, which had not been done in previous generations.[63] Sefer Sheva Mitzvot Hashem After Rabbi Schneerson started his Noahide Campaign in the 1980s, a codification of the exact obligations of the Gentiles in the spirit of the classical was needed. In 2005, Rabbi Moshe Weiner of Jerusalem accepted to produce an in- depth codification of the Noahide precepts.[64] The work is called Sefer Sheva Mitzvot HaShem, (The Book of Seven Divine Commandments) published 2008/2009. As it was approved by both of the then presiding chief rabbis of Israel (Rabbi Shlomo Moshe Amar and Rabbi Yonah Metzger) as well as by other Hasidic and non-Hasidic halachic authorities, it can claim an authoritative character and is referred as a Shulchan Aruch[65] for Gentiles at many places.

Public recognition James the Just, whose judgment was adopted in the Apostolic Decree of Acts 15:20: "but we should write to United States them [Gentiles] to abstain only from In 1987 President Ronald Reagan signed a proclamation speaking things polluted by idols and from of "the historical tradition of ethical values and principles, which fornication and from whatever has have been the bedrock of society from the dawn of civilization been strangled and from blood." (NRSV) when they were known as the Seven Noahide Laws, transmitted through God to Moses on Mount Sinai",[66] and in 1991, Congress stated in the preamble to the 1991 bill that established Education Day in honor of the birthday of Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the leader of the Chabad movement:

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 [...][67]

Israeli Druze In January 2004, Sheikh Mowafak Tarif, the spiritual leader of Israeli Druze, signed a declaration, which called on non-Jews living in Israel to observe the Noahide Laws. He was joined by the mayor of Shefa- 'Amr.[68]

See also

Code of Hammurabi List of ancient legal codes Natural law Shituf

References 1. According to Encyclopedia Talmudit (Hebrew edition, Israel, 5741/1981, Entry Ben Noah, page 349), most medieval authorities consider that all seven commandments were given to Adam, although Maimonides (Mishneh Torah, Hilkhot M'lakhim 9:1) considers the dietary law to have been given to Noah. 2. Encyclopedia Talmudit (Hebrew edition, Israel, 5741/1981, entry Ben Noah, introduction) states that after the giving of the Torah, the Jewish people were no longer in the category of the sons of Noah; however, Maimonides (Mishneh Torah, Hilkhot M'lakhim 9:1) indicates that the seven laws are also part of the Torah, and the Talmud (Bavli, Sanhedrin 59a, see also Tosafot ad. loc.) states that Jews are obligated in all things that Gentiles are obligated in, albeit with some differences in the details. 3. Compare Genesis 9:4–6 (https://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt0109.htm#4). 4. "Melachim uMilchamot 8:11" (http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/1188353/jewish/ Melachim-uMilchamot-Chapter-8.htm). www.chabad.org. last two sentences of the three. Retrieved 2015-06-24. 5. Mishneh Torah, Hilkhot M'lakhim 8:14 6. Encyclopedia Talmudit (Hebrew edition, Israel, 5741/1981, entry Ben Noah, end of article); note the variant reading of Maimonides and the references in the footnote 7. "Shared values: The Noahide Laws" (https://web.archive.org/web/20171008130536/http://je wsforjudaism.org/knowledge/articles/shared-values-noahide-laws/). . Archived from the original (http://jewsforjudaism.org/knowledge/articles/shared-values-noahi de-laws/) on 8 October 2017. Retrieved 8 November 2014. 8. Josef Meri (23 June 2016). The Routledge Handbook of Muslim-Jewish Relations (https://bo oks.google.com/books?id=OXF9DAAAQBAJ&pg=PT191). Taylor & Francis. pp. 191–. ISBN 978-1-317-38320-8. 9. Rabbinical authorities disputed whether there was only one or several commandments given to Adam: see Sanhedrin 56a/b (http://www.halakhah.com/sanhedrin/sanhedrin_56.ht ml) 10. Lewis Ray Rambo, Charles E. Farhadian, eds. (2014). The Oxford Handbook of Religious Conversion (https://books.google.com/?id=UEzgAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA591&dq=Tosefta+Avod ah+Zarah+noah#v=onepage&q=Tosefta%20Avodah%20Zarah%20noah&f=false). Oxford University Press. p. 591. ISBN 978-0-19-533852-2. 11. James C. VanderKam. The Book of Jubilees (Guides to Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha). Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 2001. ISBN 978-1-85075-767-2. pp. 17–21. 12. Jubilees at wesley.nnu.edu (http://wesley.nnu.edu/biblical_studies/noncanon/ot/pseudo/jubil ee.htm), This is R. H. Charles' 1913 translation from the Koine Greek, but Jubilees is also extant in Geez and multiple texts found at which are still being examined. 13. "Jewish Encyclopedia: Jubilees, Book of: The Noachian Laws" (http://jewishEncyclopedia.c om/view.jsp?artid=582&letter=J&search=jubilees#1948). Jewishencyclopedia.com. Retrieved 8 November 2014. 14. "Saul of Tarsus" (http://jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=283&letter=S&search=Sau l%20of%20Tarsus). Jewish Encyclopedia. Retrieved 8 November 2014. 15. "New Testament — Spirit of Jewish Proselytism in Christianity" (http://jewishEncyclopedia.c om/view.jsp?artid=245&letter=N&search=New%20Testament#717). Jewish Encyclopedia. Retrieved 8 November 2014. 16. The Image of the Non-Jew in Judaism: A historical and constructive study of the Noahide Laws New York: E. Mellen Press. 1983. Chapter 1 17. Encyclopedia Talmudit, Hebrew edition, Israel, 5741/1981, entry Ben Noah, introduction 18. Sanhedrin 105a 19. Martin Goodman (2007). Judaism in the Roman World: Collected Essays (https://books.goo gle.com/?id=YVI2a9jc4pMC&pg=PA30&dq=Tosefta+Avodah+Zarah+9:4#v=onepage&q=To sefta%20Avodah%20Zarah%209%3A4&f=false). BRILL. ISBN 978-90-04-15309-7. Retrieved 17 January 2014. 20. Sanhedrin 56a/b (http://www.halakhah.com/sanhedrin/sanhedrin_56.html), quoting Tosefta Avodah Zarah 9:4; see also Rashi on Genesis 9:4 21. Chullin 92a-b 22. Lurie Grishaver, Rabbi Stuart Kelman, eds. (1996). Learn Torah With 1994-1995 Torah Annual: A Collection of the Year's Best Torah (https://books.google.com/?id=8pxv3NpOLdE C&pg=PA18&dq=maimonides+seven+laws+differ+from+the++talmud#v=onepage&q=maim onides%20seven%20laws%20differ%20from%20the%20%20talmud&f=false). Torah Aura Productions. ISBN 978-1-881283-13-3. 23. Jewishvirtuallibrary.org (https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/judaica/ejud_0002_0004 _0_03929.html) 24. per Novak, 1983:28ff. 25. "Sanhedrin" (http://halakhah.com/pdf/nezikin/Sanhedrin.pdf) (PDF). Halakhah.com 56a. Retrieved 25 February 2015. 26. Maimonides, Mishneh Torah, Judges, Laws of Sanhedrin, chapter 14, law 4 27. "Melachim uMilchamot 9:7" (http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/1188354/jewish/M elachim-uMilchamot-Chapter-9.htm). www.chabad.org. Retrieved 2015-06-24. 28. Jewishencyclopedia.com (http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/3354-blasphemy) 29. "Sanhedrin" (http://halakhah.com/pdf/nezikin/Sanhedrin.pdf) (PDF). Halakhah.com 56b. Retrieved 25 February 2015. 30. "Sanhedrin" (http://halakhah.com/pdf/nezikin/Sanhedrin.pdf) (PDF). Halakhah.com 57a-b. Retrieved 25 February 2015. 31. "Mishneh Torah Shoftim, Laws of Kings and their wars: 8.13" (http://halakhah.com/rst/kingsa ndwars.pdf) (PDF). Halakhah.com. Retrieved 25 February 2015. 32. "Mishneh Torah Shoftim, Laws of Kings and their wars: 10:8" (http://halakhah.com/rst/kingsa ndwars.pdf) (PDF). Halakhah.com. Retrieved 25 February 2015. 33. Lawrence H. Schiffman, Joel B. Wolowelsky, eds. (2007). War and Peace in the Jewish Tradition (https://books.google.com/books?id=L4YpnaFxUrYC&pg=PA39). KTAV Publishing House, Inc. ISBN 978-0-88125-945-2. 34. Babylonian Talmud, Makkot 9a, commentary of Rashi 35. "Mishneh Torah Shoftim, Laws of Kings and their wars: 9:6" (http://halakhah.com/rst/kingsan dwars.pdf) (PDF). Halakhah.com. Retrieved 25 February 2015. 36. "Sanhedrin" (http://halakhah.com/pdf/nezikin/Sanhedrin.pdf) (PDF). Halakhah.com 57b. Retrieved 25 February 2015. 37. Sanhedrin 56b. 38. Chullin 92a, and see Rashi. 39. Mossad HaRav Kook edition of the Gaon's commentary to Genesis 40. "The Thirty Mitzvot of the Bnei Noach" (http://www.noachide.org.uk/html/30_commandment s.html). noachide.org.uk. Retrieved 15 November 2014. 41. Kol Hidushei Maharitz Chayess I, end Ch. 10 42. In order to find a precedent the rabbis went so far as to assume that proselytes of this order were recognized in Biblical law, applying to them the term "toshab" ("sojourner," "aborigine," referring to the Canaanites; see Maimonides' explanation in "Yad," Issure Biah, xiv. 7; see Grätz, l.c. p. 15), in connection with "ger" (see Ex. xxv. 47, where the better reading would be "we-toshab"). Another name for one of this class was "proselyte of the gate" ("ger ha-sha'ar," that is, one under Jewish civil jurisdiction; comp. Deut. v. 14, xiv. 21, referring to the stranger who had legal claims upon the generosity and protection of his Jewish neighbors). In order to be recognized as one of these the neophyte had publicly to assume, before three "ḥaberim," or men of authority, the solemn obligation not to worship idols, an obligation which involved the recognition of the seven Noachian injunctions as binding ('Ab. Zarah 64b; "Yad," Issure Biah, xiv. 7). [...] The more rigorous seem to have been inclined to insist upon such converts observing the entire Law, with the exception of the reservations and modifications explicitly made in their behalf. The more lenient were ready to accord them full equality with Jews as soon as they had solemnly forsworn idolatry. The "via media" was taken by those that regarded public adherence to the seven Noachian precepts as the indispensable prerequisite (Gerim iii.; 'Ab. Zarah 64b; Yer. Yeb. 8d; Grätz, l.c. pp. 19–20). The outward sign of this adherence to Judaism was the observance of the Sabbath (Grätz, l.c. pp. 20 et seq.; but comp. Ker. 8b).

— "Proselyte (http://jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/12391-proselyte#ancho r4)", Jewish Encyclopedia (1906).

43. Encyclopedia Talmudit, Hebrew edition, 5739/1979, entry Ger Toshav 44. "Gentiles May Not Be Taught the Torah." (http://jewishEncyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=142 &letter=G#543). Jewishencyclopedia.com. Retrieved 8 November 2014. 45. "Sanhedrin" (http://halakhah.com/pdf/nezikin/Sanhedrin.pdf) (PDF). Halakhah.com 59a-b. Retrieved 25 February 2015. 46. cf. Bleich 47. Encyclopedia Talmudit, Hebrew edition, 5741/1981, Appendix, entry Ben Noah, introduction 48. "Noahide Laws or Noachide Laws" (http://setterfield.org/Noahide_Laws.html). 49. Mishneh Torah, Shoftim, Laws of Kings and their wars 8:14 or 8:11 50. Reuven Brauner (2012). "TRANSLATION OF THE FINAL CHAPTER OF THE RAMBAM'S MISHNEH TORAH" (http://halakhah.com/rst/kingsandwars.pdf) (PDF). Halakhah.com. Retrieved 26 May 2014. 51. T. M. Rudavsky (2009). Maimonides (https://books.google.com/?id=8OISKHHuUIkC&pg=PA 179&dq=nor+of+'the+pious+among+the+gentiles,'+nor+of+their+wise+men#v=onepage&q= nor%20of%20'the%20pious%20among%20the%20gentiles%2C'%20nor%20of%20their%2 0wise%20men&f=false). John Wiley & Sons. pp. 178–179. ISBN 978-1-4443-1802-9. Retrieved 26 May 2014. 52. Moshe Halbertal (2013). Maimonides: Life and Thought (https://books.google.com/?id=UY2 GAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA253&dq=Maimonides+laws+of+kings+wise+men#v=onepage&q=Mai monides%20laws%20of%20kings%20wise%20men&f=false). Princeton University Press. p. 253. ISBN 978-1-4008-4847-8. Retrieved 26 May 2014. 53. Steven S. Schwarzschild, "Do Noachite Have to Believe in Revelation?", Jewish Quarterly Review Vol. 53, No. 1 (Jul., 1962), pp.44-45: "the basic philosophical reason which compelled Maimonides to take this restrictive position toward the Noachides was the fact that he had learned from his teacher Aristotle and was ready also for religious reasons to believe that ethics are not a purely rational, philosophic or scientific discipline. Only the barest outline of general ethical principles can be defined by logical methods. The substance of the matter which resides in its details can be obtained only through positive statutes, traditions, or divine commands, none of which are produced by conscious, rational processes" 54. Steven S. Schwarzschild, "Do Noachite Have to Believe in Revelation?", Jewish Quarterly Review Vol. 53, No. 1 (Jul., 1962), pp.46, 47 55. Babylonian Talmud, Avodah Zarah 10b (https://www.sefaria.org.il/Avodah_Zarah.10b.8?lang =bi&with=all&lang2=en) שכל בן נח שראינוהו מקבל עליו שבע מצות הוא מחסידי אומות :Beit HaBechirah to Sanhedrin 57 .56 .העולם ובכלל בעלי דת ויש לו חלק לעולם הבא 57. Sefer haIkkarim 1:23 (https://www.sefaria.org.il/Sefer_HaIkkarim%2C_Maamar_1.23.5?lang =bi&with=all&lang2=he) 58. Boaz commentary to Pirkei Avot 3:1; he says that a non-Jew who "do[es] not act like Esau" has a portion in the World to Come, and gives as examples non-Jews who made great contributions to humanity yet presumably never accepted Jewish , including Edward Jenner and Johannes Guttenberg (source (https://www.etzion.org.il/en/r-lipshutzs-at titude-towards-non-jews)). 59. The Acts of the Apostles (The Anchor Yale Bible Commentaries), Yale University Press (December 2, 1998), ISBN 0-300-13982-9, chapter V 60. Joseph Fitzmyer, The Acts of the Apostles (The Anchor Yale Bible Commentaries), Yale University Press (December 2, 1998), ISBN 0-300-13982-9, chapter V 61. Karl Josef von Hefele's commentary on canon II of Gangra (http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/ npnf214.viii.v.iv.ii.html) notes: "We further see that, at the time of the Synod of Gangra, the rule of the Apostolic Synod with regard to blood and things strangled was still in force. With the Greeks, indeed, it continued always in force as their Euchologies still show. Balsamon also, the well-known commentator on the canons of the Middle Ages, in his commentary on the sixty-third Apostolic Canon, expressly blames the Latins because they had ceased to observe this command. What the Latin Church, however, thought on this subject about the year 400, is shown by St. Augustine in his work Contra Faustum, where he states that the Apostles had given this command in order to unite the heathens and Jews in the one ark of Noah; but that then, when the barrier between Jewish and heathen converts had fallen, this command concerning things strangled and blood had lost its meaning, and was only observed by few. But still, as late as the eighth century, Gregory the Third (731) forbade the eating of blood or things strangled under threat of a penance of forty days. No one will pretend that the disciplinary enactments of any council, even though it be one of the undisputed Ecumenical Synods, can be of greater and more unchanging force than the decree of that first council, held by the Holy Apostles at Jerusalem, and the fact that its decree has been obsolete for centuries in the West is proof that even Ecumenical canons may be of only temporary utility and may be repealed by disuse, like other laws." 62. Jewish Encyclopedia: Gentile: Gentiles May Not Be Taught the Torah (http://jewishencyclop edia.com/view.jsp?artid=142&letter=G#543): "R. Emden (), in a remarkable apology for Christianity contained in his appendix to "Seder 'Olam" (pp. 32b–34b, Hamburg, 1752), gives it as his opinion that the original intention of Jesus, and especially of Paul, was to convert only the Gentiles to the seven moral laws of Noah and to let the Jews follow the Mosaic law; this explains the apparent contradictions in the New Testament regarding the laws of Moses and the Sabbath." 63. Ilana E. Strauss (January 26, 2016). "The Gentiles Who Act Like Jews" (https://www.tabletm ag.com/jewish-life-and-religion/196588/the-gentiles-who-act-like-jews). Tablet Magazine. Nextbook Inc. Retrieved October 25, 2018. 64. The Divine Code, Rabbi Moshe Weiner, Ed. Dr. Michael Schulman Ph.D., Vol, I., p. 21, 2008, publ. Ask Noah International 65. Letter of Blessing (for Sefer Sheva Mitzvoth HaShem), Rabbi Yonah Metzger, Chief Rabbi of Israel, p.1. 66. "The Rebbe and President Ronald Reagan" (http://www.chabad.org/142535). Chabad.org. Retrieved 8 November 2014. 67. Thomas.loc.gov (http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c102:h.j.res.104.enr:) 68. "Druze Religious Leader Commits to Noachide "Seven Laws" " (http://www.israelnationalne ws.com/News/News.aspx/56379). 2004-01-18. Retrieved 2014-01-18.

Further reading

Barre Elisheva. Torah for Gentiles – the Messianic and Political Implications of the Bnei Noah Laws, 2008, ISBN 978-965-91329-0-4. Bleich, J. David. "Judaism and natural law" in Jewish law annual, vol. VII 5–42 Bleich, J. David. "Tikkun Olam: Jewish Obligations to Non-Jewish Society" in: Tikkun olam: social responsibility in Jewish thought and law. Edited by David Shatz, Chaim I. Waxman and Nathan J. Diament. Northvale, N.J.: Jason Aronson, 1997. ISBN 0-7657-5951-9. Broyde, Michael J. "The Obligation of Jews to Seek Observance of Noahide Laws by Gentiles: A Theoretical Review" in Tikkun olam: social responsibility in Jewish thought and law. Edited by David Shatz, Chaim I. Waxman and Nathan J. Diament. Northvale, N.J. : Jason Aronson, 1997. ISBN 0-7657-5951-9. Cecil, Alan W. The Noahide Code: A Guide to the Perplexed Christian. (Aventura: Academy of Shem Press, 2006). ISBN 0-9779885-0-3. Cohen, Yakov Dovid. Divine Image, Insights into the Laws of Noah, published by The Institute of Noahide Code 2006 ISBN 1-4243-1000-8 online www.Noahide.org Cowen, Shimon Dovid. Perspectives on the Noahide Laws – Universal ethics. The Institute of Judaism and Civilization (3rd edition) 2008 ISBN 0-9585933-8-8 www.ijc.com.au Clorfene C and Rogalsky Y. The Path of the Righteous Gentile: An Introduction to the Seven Laws of the Children of Noah. Targum Press, 1987. ISBN 0-87306-433-X. Online version (https://web.archive.org/web/20050421080058/http://www.moshiach.com/action/mor ality/introduction.php). Dallen, Michael (http://www.1stcovenant.com/about_us.htm). The Rainbow Covenant: Torah and the Seven Universal Laws (http://www.1stcovenant.com/thebook.htm) ISBN 0-9719388- 2-2 Library of Congress Control Number 2003102494 and online excerpts (http://www.1stco venant.com/pages/books.htm#exerpts) and comics (http://www.1stcovenant.com/articles/ca rtoons_000.htm) Lichtenstein, Aaron. The Seven Laws of Noah. New York: The Rabbi Jacob Joseph School Press and Z. Berman Books, 2d ed. 1986. Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 80- 69121. Novak, David. The image of the non-Jew in Judaism: an historical and constructive study of the Noahide Laws. New York : E. Mellen Press, 1983. Novak, David. Natural law in Judaism. Cambridge ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 1998. Rakover, Nahum. Law and the Noahides: law as a universal value. Jerusalem: Library of Jewish Law, 1998. External links

Spitzer, Jeffrey. "The Noahide Laws" (https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/the-noahide -laws/). My Jewish Learning. Singer, Isidore; Greenstone, Julius H. (1906). "Noachian Laws" (http://jewishencyclopedia.c om/articles/9679-laws-noachian). Jewish Encyclopedia. Kopelman Foundation. What does God expect from non-Jews (http://www.noahidenations.com) Ask Noah International and "The Divine Code" – Shulchan Aruch (Code of Torah Law) for Gentiles (http://www.asknoah.org) Institute of Noahide Code (http://www.Noahide.org) Wikinoah: Online resource of history, halacha, publications, and websites concerning Bnei Noah (http://www.wikinoah.org) Detailed explanations of the Noahide Laws for Beginners (https://web.archive.org/web/2011 1130162915/http://thenoahidelaws.com/) Seven Laws of Noah (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1Gg9kw4eoc) Animated video

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The Seven Laws of Noah and the Non-Jews who Follow Them

By Michael Kress

Sitting at a table at Mendy’s Kosher Delicatessen in New York, Jim Long pauses to say a blessing in Hebrew before biting into a massive hamburger topped with fried pastrami. “This pastrami is better than bacon,” he declares in his warm voice tinged with an Arkansan accent. The 58-year-old filmmaker—who no longer permits himself bacon—is in the city with his wife Carol, who sits primly beside him. They are here to speak at several Orthodox synagogues about their documentary, Riddles of the Exodus, which examines the biblical account through the lens of Egyptian archaeological finds.

The Longs are an observant couple. Hebrew phrases pepper their conversation—a b’ezrat Hashem (with God’s help) here, a baruch Hashem (praise God) there. Back in Arkansas, they keep a traditional Jewish home. “We’ve got blessings in ivrit [Hebrew] hanging on the walls, and menorahs on display,” Long explains. Each year, they build a sukkah and attend a Passover seder. “Our oldest grandson just turned six and already knows his aleph-bet,” Long boasts.

But despite the baruch Hashems, the menorahs, the sukkah, the avoidance of pork and the intimate familiarity with advanced rabbinic texts, Jim and Carol Long are not Jewish, nor do they have any plans to convert. They are Noahides: non-Jews who accept the authority of Jewish law and focus their lives around the Jewish concept of Sheva Mitzvot B’nei Noach or the Seven Commandments for the Children of Noah. This set of laws is intended for non-Jews and, according to tradition, predate the Ten Commandments given at Mount Sinai. “I believe exactly what a Jew believes,” Long tells me. “My belief system is exactly parallel to that of an Orthodox Jew. That doesn’t mean I am one.”

Unbeknownst to most Jews, there are hundreds, maybe even thousands, of Noahides, and most, like the Longs, are former Christians who’ve turned their backs on the faith. This is not the first time the world has seen a community of “Righteous Gentiles” who center their beliefs around Judaism but it is the first time in history that such a group has begun to organize as a worldwide movement. And that movement is being actively encouraged by some Orthodox Jewish groups—in particular, the -based Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidim.

About forty blocks north of Mendy’s deli, Rabbi Yakov Cohen scurries around a second-floor office at the Schneerson Center for Jewish Life, the home of Chabad on the Upper East Side of Manhattan.

The 30-something Brooklynite with a close-cropped reddish beard, rarely sits still: he devotes his copious energies to helping out with the Chabad center’s core mission—classes, prayer services and other programs for Jewish residents of this tony Manhattan neighborhood.

His true passion, however, lies in reaching out to non-Jews through what are usually referred to as the “Seven Laws,” which he describes as pillars of universal morality that serve as a “balm for a world of conflict and immorality.” Jewish teachings say that God first gave these laws to Adam, then reaffirmed them as part of the covenant he made with Noah after the Flood. Just as the Jews have the Ten Commandments (plus an additional 603 mitzvot), non-Jews—all of whom are technically the children of Noah—have the Seven Laws, which command them to establish a legal system and refrain from murder, blasphemy, idolatry, adultery, theft and eating the flesh of a living animal.

“The non-Jews have the full length and breadth of Torah—they just have a different role in it,” says Cohen, his rapid-fire delivery complete with a -ish lilt. “The role of every person is to be a good person, to bring divine light, to draw down godliness, Hashem, into the world. To do it as a Jew, as a non-Jew, it doesn’t matter. It’s the same light,” he says. “It’s the same Godly energy.”

Like virtually all Chabad Hasidim, Cohen seeks counsel in the words of Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the late Lubavitch rebbe, who died at age 92 in 1994 and is still affectionately referred to simply as the “the rebbe.” “Influencing non-Jews to keep their mitzvos, the Seven Noahide Laws… will assist our task of making the world into a dwelling place for God, and help bring about the arrival of Messiah,” Schneerson said in a 1987 speech during a celebration. In response to teachings like this, thousands of his followers fanned out around the globe to battle what they saw as society’s moral degeneracy, bringing yiddishkeit to non-observant Jews and seeking out and supporting interested non-Jews.

About six years ago, Cohen founded Noahide.org, a website that serves as a sort of Noahide think tank, through which he runs conferences, publishes papers and counsels non-Jews from as far away as Scandinavia. Other Chabad-associated websites such as AskNoah.org and 7for70.com (meaning, seven laws for the proverbial 70 nations of the world) likewise seek to spread Noahide values to non-Jews in English, French, Spanish and other languages. Rabbis from Shimon Cowen in Australia to Immanuel Schochet in Canada offer halachic advice to Noahides and lecture about what Jewish tradition expects of non-Jews. In Israel, Chabad emissaries visit Arab and Druze villages to pass out literature about the Seven Laws and converse with the sometimes bewildered—but often receptive—locals. In addition to preparing the world for the Messiah, they see themselves as presenting moral values that will end the centuries-old animosities between Muslims and Jews.

“We, the Jewish people, especially frum people, have to be a light upon the nations and we have to tell them what Torah says,” says Cohen. “We have the responsibility to shed light on the world.”

Jack Saunders has a snowy white beard of biblical proportions.

Back in the 1980s he was a Baptist minister at Frazier’s Chapel Independent Baptist Church in Cohutta, Georgia, near the Tennessee border. But that was before the now 58-year-old Tennessean began to question the fundamentals of his faith and came to the conclusion that the gospel stories of Jesus and the entire New Testament are false.

“It was kind of disturbing,” he says of the experience. “But if you’re looking for truth and truth smacks you in the face, then you have to do something. You have to be able to confront it and say, ‘This is the truth’ and let go of your emotions.”

Saunders recalls how hard it was to express his doubts to his parishioners and admit that he had “been wrong for all those years.” The process was slow. For about a year and a half he preached only from the Jewish Bible, what Christians call the Old Testament. Then one Sunday morning, Saunders recalls, he stood on the pulpit and read from 7:14, in which a young woman, interpreted by Christians to be a , gives birth to Jesus. For the first time he let his parishioners know that he saw no hint of Christian prophecy in that passage. “That’s when everything, you may say, hit the fan.”

Some church-goers abandoned Saunders, but nearly half of the congregation’s 70 members were moved by the pastor’s change of heart and stayed as Frazier’s Chapel Independent Baptist Church removed its steeple and crosses. “At the time,” Saunders says, “the only thing we knew was what we were not.” After reading about the Seven Laws and studying with a rabbi, Saunders and his remaining flock became Noahides and redubbed their place of worship Frazier’s Chapel B’nai Noach Study Center. “I wanted to be able to read the Hebraic sources by myself,” says Saunders, who has since learned Hebrew. “I didn’t want to be lied to because I’d been lied to by all those Christians.”

It was Texas archaeologist Vendyl Jones who introduced Jim Long to the Seven Laws. The two met in 1993 when Jones appeared on the Dallas radio show that Long produced. A former Baptist preacher, Jones had grown dismayed with what he considered the anti-Jewish sentiments of the Gospels and sought council from rabbis, studied in Israel and became a Noahide. He is believed to have been the inspiration for the character Indiana Jones in the film and is the founder of the Vendyl Jones Research Institute—a nonprofit based in Grandview, Texas, devoted to Biblical archeology. Considered one of the pioneers of the modern Noahide movement, Jones fondly remembers meeting Schneerson in his Brooklyn home and the rabbi’s encouraging words: “‘Vendyl Jones, you are doing the most important work in the world.’”

Long found himself intrigued by Jones’s spiritual journey. Having drifted from denomination to denomination until he abandoned Christianity altogether, Long “was looking for something to fill the void.” Shortly after the radio interview, he began attending Torah classes and joined Jones on archeological digs in the .

For Pam Rogers, the break with Christianity was more wrenching. Rogers and her husband, Larry, who live in Tulsa, Oklahoma, were members of the Worldwide Church of God, a small Christian movement that observes the Sabbath on Saturdays, before becoming leaders of a Messianic Jewish congregation. In the early 1990s, a Jewish man befriended them and challenged them to prove the validity of the Christian Bible. As the couple tried to defend their views, they came to believe that the New Testament distorted the teachings of the .

The decision to become a Noahide threatened to break the Rogers family apart. Pam’s father, a Pentecostal preacher, refused to speak to her for four years. Larry lost his because he refused to work on Saturdays. The couple almost divorced because Pam made the decision to build her life around the Seven Laws before Larry did. “We lose our children, our spouses, our identities,” Rogers says of the sacrifices that she and other Noahides are often forced to make for their faith.

Despite what might seem an obvious trajectory, following the Seven Laws is not a path to becoming a Jew, says Yakov Cohen of the Schneerson Center. “We’re not interested in membership,” he says.

Rather, the Chabad sees Judaism as a “universal religion” that offers salvation to everyone without conversion.

Jews are not known for proselytizing, and most Jews believe that Judaism prohibits it. David Novak—a Conservative rabbi and leading authority on the Seven Laws and what Judaism requires of non-Jews—debunks that idea. “Find me one halachic prohibition against proselytizing,” he says. The popularly accepted notion that Judaism opposes proselytizing, Novak argues, rests less on theology than on the fact that most of has been a perpetual struggle for survival. “For most of the time, Jews couldn’t do it.”

Novak, who teaches at the University of Toronto, points to sporadic attempts to convert people to Judaism throughout history. The best-known effort took place during the time of the Second Temple, which stood from 515 to 70 B.C.E. Living under the Romans, Jews actively proselytized, with great success. Some non-Jews converted, others simply took on aspects of observant Jewish life and became part of Jewish communities. Called the “God Fearers” (Yirei Adonai), they are immortalized in the Book of .

While Jewish law does not prohibit proselytization, it does not call for a world of Jewish converts, either. The traditional messianic vision, as articulated most famously in the , is of a world at peace in which everyone acknowledges one God, even if all do not adopt Judaism:

And many peoples shall go and say: ‘Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths.’ For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And He shall judge between the nations, and shall decide for many peoples; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares…

Even in a text as familiar as the Aleinu prayer, Jews regularly reference a vision of Jews and non-Jews under a monotheistic ruler—to many, a clear allusion to Noahides:

All the world’s inhabitants will recognize and know that to you, every knee should bend, every tongue should swear. Before You, Lord, our God, they will bend every knee and cast themselves down and to the glory of your name they will render homage, and they will all accept upon themselves the yoke of your kingship, that you may reign over them soon and eternally.

Since the earliest days of Christianity, Jewish sages have argued over whether the Noahide commandment not to worship “false ” is compatible with other religions.

Islam, the rabbis hold, is acceptable because of its adamantly monotheistic stance. Christianity, on the other hand, remains a subject of contention, with many arguing that belief in the Trinity is polytheistic, and therefore out of bounds under Noahide law.

Another critical debate centers around whether the Seven Laws are a set of universal moral imperatives that people intuit on their own or are precepts that Jews must actively bring to the world. The dominant halachic attitude has been that Jews are not required to spread Noahide teachings to non-Jews. Moses Maimonides, the medieval Jewish philosopher and legal authority, disagreed. In his monumental 12th-century work the Mishneh Torah, Maimonides envisioned a society in which non- Jews would be governed by Jewish law, noting that they could choose to convert. “If they do not want to, we do not compel them to accept the Torah and the commandments. Moses did, however, command in the name of God to compel all people to accept the Noahide laws,” Maimonides continued. “Compel” may seem a particularly strong word, but Maimonides’s stance is clear: Jews must do what they can to teach non-Jews about the Noahide laws.

The 19th century Italian rabbi and famed Kabbalist, Benamozegh, also believed that Jews have a responsibility to guide non-Jews towards the path of righteousness. Shortly before his death in 1900, Benamozegh received a letter from Frenchman Aimé Pallière seeking advice on converting to Judaism. Benamozegh told the young man there was another way. “The religion of humanity is no other than Noahism,” the rabbi wrote to Pallière. “Here is the religion preserved by Israel to be transmitted to the Gentiles. It is the path which lies open before your efforts, before mine as well, to spread the knowledge thereof, as is my duty to do so.” Called the “first and last high of the Noahide religion,” Pallière is believed to have been the first modern Noahide. A talented writer, he learned Hebrew, lectured at the Orthodox Rabbinical School of France and urged Jews to follow Orthodox traditions.

Benamozegh believed “that mankind cannot rise to the essential principles on which society must rest unless it meet[s] with Israel. And Israel cannot fathom the depths of its own national and religious tradition, unless it meet[s] with mankind.” A half-century later, Benamozegh’s dream of a Jewish-supported Noahide worldwide movement would be seized upon by Schneerson. “Every Jew has the obligation to ensure that all the peoples of the world observe the Seven Noahide Laws” and that non-Jews, as well as Jews, “acknowledge God as Creator and ruler of the world,” Schneerson declared.

It’s a position that remains controversial. “If Jews are telling Gentiles what to do, it’s a form of imperialism,” Novak says. To him, the Seven Laws are valuable in constructing a moral foundation that enables Jews to speak out on social issues, but not as part of a religion around which non-Jews should structure their daily lives. “Why would any Gentile want to be told by Lubavitch—or any other rabbi—what to do?” Novak asks. “I am suspicious of anyone who wants to live this way.”

Novak isn’t alone in his suspicions. “With a lot of rabbis, there’s still this skepticism and fear that someone’s trying to infiltrate your shul and will end up being some sort of missionary trying to bring people to Christianity,” Jack Saunders says of the reception Noahides often receive when seeking guidance. Counseling Noahides is not the sort of subject covered in a typical rabbinical school education and rabbis tend to confront the issue only if approached personally by a non-Jew.

Barry Freundel, the author of Contemporary ’s Response to Modernity and rabbi of Washington, DC’s Kesher Israel, a modern Orthodox , is among the many rabbis who have never been approached by a Noahide. Freundel doesn’t share Schneerson’s belief that Jews are required to spread the Noahide laws to non-Jews—but he also doesn’t believe that Jews can ignore interested Noahides. “Once they are doing it, you are required to help them,” he says.

Carol Long wishes there were many more rabbis who were willing to work with Noahides. “They have to know there are actually people out there looking to them for leadership and spiritual guidance and who respect what they bring to the world.”

Today’s Noahide movement has no prescribed ritual and liturgical life.

Even the laws themselves—six out of the seven—are prohibitions such as “’t kill” and “don’t steal.”

“We need to give more than ‘don’t, don’t, don’t,’” Larry Rogers says. If more people are going to become Noahide, “they have to have a life. They have to know there are life celebrations,” he says. “We’re trying to find our place with Hashem.”

To add greater meaning to their lives, some Noahides have created a lifestyle parallel to that of Orthodox Judaism: They study Jewish texts, pray and follow some of what are known as the “positive commandments”—rituals and other mitzvot. They’ve adopted portions of Jewish liturgy and , removing all mentions of chosenness, to make clear that this concept only applies to Jews.

But “there are so many opinions about Noahide halacha,” says Pam Rogers. “It’s very confusing for us Gentiles.” The Noahide approach to illustrates the difficulty of deciding which Jewish traditions to follow. Rogers and her husband try to avoid work and set aside time for a festive meal and prayer, but don’t refrain from using electrical devices. Others may shun the use of electricity but go out of their way to perform at least one activity over the course of Shabbat that distinguishes them from Jews. Jack Saunders, for example, writes a check. “I always do something that makes it known I’m not Israel,” he says.

From his base in New York, Yakov Cohen is working to bring structure to this mosaic of Noahide spiritual life. He and others are creating a Noahide (prayerbook) to standardize prayers, and a liturgy of lifecycle rituals, such as funerals and baby-naming ceremonies. This year, one of the first Noahide weddings was held in Buffalo, New York, under a chuppa. The officiating rabbi spoke of the Seven Laws as the marriage’s foundation and sealed it with a contract modeled after the traditional ketuba. Rabbis are also working on the first-ever Noahide Shulhan Arukh—a comprehensive book of law pertaining to non-Jews, which will spell out the specifics of Noahide life, making clear which mitzvot are acceptable for them and which aren’t. “We know what they can’t do,” says Cohen. “Let’s see what they can do.”

Noahides are few, dispersed, often misunderstood and they crave community.

Lucky ones, like Saunders, find likeminded souls near home with whom to gather together to study Jewish texts, pray, discuss the challenges of the Noahide life and socialize. Local groups, such as the Chavurath B’nei Noach (the Fellowship of the Children of Noah) of Ft. Worth, Texas, serve as an important source of communal life for their members. Organizations such as The Root & Branch Association, Noahide Nations, Rainbow Covenant and B’nai Noach Torah Institute provide advice and support to Noahides wherever they live, often through the Internet.

No single organization, however, is widely recognized as representative of the worldwide movement. That’s partly because of the diffuse and ad hoc nature of Noahide organizations, but it is also reflective of the nature of the movement, which is composed of independent-minded people who have rejected their traditional faith and are willing to follow a largely uncharted spiritual path. “We’re very iconoclastic—we’re all about taking down the idols,” Jim Long says. Saunders puts it more pessimistically: “It seems like every time we try to organize, it doesn’t go well.”

The most recent effort to bring Noahides together comes in the form of High Council of B’nei Noah, an umbrella organization that seeks to fill the leadership vacuum. The High Council’s mission is to provide support for Noahides, educate the general public, serve as a liaison with the Jewish community and standardize Noahide beliefs and practices. Last January, members of the Council—which included Saunders and Long—were inaugurated in Jerusalem, where they recited the following oath:

“I pledge my allegiance to Hashem, God of Israel, Creator and King of the Universe, to His Torah and its representatives, the developing Sanhedrin. I hereby pledge to uphold the Seven Laws of Noah in all their details, according to Oral Law of Moses under the guidance of the developing Sanhedrin.”

The Noahide Council is supported by the respected Orthodox Rabbi , best known for the edition of the Talmud that bears his name, but who’s also the leader of the “developing Sanhedrin” cited in the oath. Steinsaltz’s Sanhedrin is the most recent attempt to revive the Great Sanhedrin of 71 sages who met in Jerusalem until 425 C.E. to discuss matters of concern to the Jewish people and adjudicate disputes. Steinsaltz argues that both Jews and Noahides follow different parts of the same belief system and can even be considered members of the same religion. “Even from simply a utilitarian point of view, we Jews have hardly any friends in the world. B’nei Noah are by definition our closest friends,” he says. “So we should reach out to them.” Already, the Council has been troubled by internal disagreements and criticism from outsiders. Some Noahides are unhappy that its members were appointed by the Sanhedrin rather than voted on, while others complain that all its members are American. Jack Saunders is among those who have left the Council, tiring of the strife though still supportive of its mission. “For me, it’s a wonderful thing,” he says, but cautions that “working out all the problems is going to be tough.”

Steinsaltz believes the Council—and the broader Noahide community—will overcome these rifts. Long also remains optimistic. A major conference for Noahides in Jerusalem for October 2007, during Sukkot, is in the works and Long hopes it will serve as an inspiration for Noahides worldwide. “We think that we could act as a gesher, a bridge, between Jews and Noahides,” he says.

As a child of a Jewish father, Philip Levy, a 28-year-old Noahide from the northern Virginia suburbs of Washington, DC, could walk into any Reform synagogue as a full-fledged member.

But after drifting from Catholicism, his mother’s religion, to evangelical Christianity, he found meaning in Orthodox Judaism. Through the Internet and guided by the local Chabad community, Levy came to self-identify as a Noahide. He takes classes and attends services as a non-Jew at a Chabad synagogue and even created a website, novanoahides.org (nova as in Northern Virginia)—in the hope of meeting other Noahides who live nearby. So far, he has only found one.

Why doesn’t Levy take that last step and convert, so he can be considered Jewish according to Orthodox standards and become a full member of the community? Nearly all Noahides grapple with the conversion question, sometimes for years and without definitive conclusion. After all, they adhere to traditional Jewish commandments more strictly than most Jews and many can quote from rabbinic texts as well as yeshiva students.

Some have become Jewish, but they are a minority. For the rest, the reasons for not converting are complicated. “I was raised on bacon and eggs,” Levy jokes, “and if I had to give them up I don’t know what I’d do.” More seriously, he talks about an “attachment” to his “Gentileness” and his respect for his mother.

But for most Noahides the decision not to convert boils down to the fact that they find spiritual fulfillment in what they view as their role in the divine plan for the world: To follow the lead of the Jewish people—not become them. “Israel was chosen to be a nation of kings and and a light unto the nations,” Pam Rogers explains. “We decided if everybody converted, who would Israel have to be priests to?”

They believe that they can have a greater impact as non-Jews following the Torah than as Jewish converts, both by encouraging other non-Jews to live according to Noah’s laws and by calling upon Jews to observe their own traditions. “If I just converted and went out to the non-Jewish world talking about the Torah and the prophets and how great it was, then I’d just be another Jew running my mouth,” says Jack Saunders.

To those who take the long view of Jewish history, like University of Toronto professor Novak, the Noahide movement is destined to peter out, as did the Second Temple-era God Fearers. Eventually, Novak reasons, Noahides will return to their original faiths or convert to Judaism. “If you want rabbis to tell you what to do, why not convert to Judaism?” he asks. “It’s an untenable situation.”

A couple of months after meeting the Longs at Mendy’s Kosher Delicatessen, I called them at their home in Arkansas to ask how they envisioned the Noahide future, in 15, 20, or even 50 years. “There will be places in every state and nation where people can go to study and worship,” answered Carol. No other group of Righteous Gentiles has had the tools of modern technology with which to communicate, organize effectively and dispense information. This, Jim said, not only insures the long-term sustainability, but the growth of the Noahide movement. Then he asked me a question: “Do you know what kind of world we would live in if all nations honored the Seven Laws?” He took a quick breath and answered his own query: “It would be transformational. If we were to stop killing, stop stealing, establish real courts of justice everywhere in the world, do you see what would happen? We’d have world peace.”

Momentmag.com offers just a taste of what MOMENT magazine has to offer. The 7 Laws of the Children of Noah

1. With respect to God's commandments, all of humanity is divided into two general classifications: the Children of Israel and the Children of Noah. 2. The Children of Israel are the Jews, the descendants of the Jacob. They are commanded to fulfill the 613 Commandments of the Torah. 3. The Children of Noah comprise the seventy original nations of the world and their branches. They are commanded concerning the Seven Universal Laws, also known as the Seven Laws of the Children of Noah or the Seven Noahide Laws.[1] These Seven Universal Laws pertain to idolatry, blasphemy, murder, theft, sexual relations, eating the limb of a living animal, and establishing courts of law. 4. All Seven Universal Laws are prohibitions. Do not wonder at this. Negative commandments are of a higher order than positive commandments, and their fulfillment, which takes more effort than positive commandments, earns a greater reward. 5. Men and women are equal in their responsibility to observe the seven commandments.[2] 6. It is a matter of dispute as to when a person becomes responsible for his or her actions under these laws. One opinion holds that it depends on the intellectual development of the individual.[3] According to this opinion, as soon as a child has attained the maturity to understand the meaning and significance of the Seven Universal Laws, he is obligated to the fullest extent of the law. The other opinion is that a boy reaches the age of legal responsibility at his thirteenth birthday and a girl at her twelfth birthday.[4] 7. The Children of Noah are permanently warned concerning the Seven Universal Laws. This means that ignorance of the law is not a valid defense. One cannot claim, for example, that he did not know that idolatry was one of the seven commandments. Nor can he claim that he did not know that bowing down to an idol constitutes idolatry. (He can, however, claim that he did not know that such-and-such was an idol, for this is not ignorance of the law.) Therefore, one is duty bound to study the Seven Universal Laws to the best of one's ability and to teach the knowledge of them to one's children. 8. When one of the Children of Noah resolves to fulfill the Seven Universal Commandments, his or her is elevated. This person becomes one of the Chasidei Umot ha-Olam, the Pious Ones of the Nations, and receives a share of the Eternal World.[5] The Holy Scriptures call one who accepts the yoke of fulfilling the Seven Universal Laws a ger toshav, a proselyte of the gate. This person is permitted to live in the Land of Israel and to enter the Holy and to offer sacrifices to the God of Israel.[6] 9. Although the Children of Noah are commanded only concerning the Seven Universal Commandments, they are permitted to observe any of the 613 Commandments of the Torah for the sake of receiving divine reward.[7] The exceptions to this are:[8] a. Observing the Sabbath in the manner of the Jews (resting from the actions that were needed for the building of the during the Exodus from ) b. Observing the Jewish holy days in the manner of the Jews (resting in a similar manner to the Sabbath) c. Studying those parts of the Torah that do not apply to the Noahides’ service of God d. Writing a Torah scroll (the Five Books of Moses) or receiving an to the Torah (reading a portion of the Torah at a public gathering) e. Making, writing, or wearing tefilin, the phylacteries worn during prayer that contain portions of the Torah f. Writing or affixing a mezuzah, the parchment contain- ing portions of the Torah, to one's doorposts or gateposts (Note: A prime purpose of the Seven Universal Laws is to teach the Children of Noah about the Oneness of God, and therefore those parts of Torah that pertain to this knowledge are permissible for him to study. This includes the entirety of the twenty-four books of the Hebrew Scriptures. Also, the study of any part of the Torah that brings one to greater knowledge concerning the performance of the Seven Noahide Commandments is permissible. But Talmudic or Halakhic study of subjects that pertain exclusively to the Jew's service of God is forbidden. The Noahide who studies portions of the Torah that do not pertain to him damages his soul.[9]) 10. If a Noahide is striving in the learning of Torah or keeping the Sabbath in the manner of Jews or reveals new aspects of Torah, he may be physically restrained and informed that he is liable for capital punishment, but is not put to death. (Note: The action taken against him is only meant to dissuade him from doing forbidden acts. If the court that is established in consonance with the Seven Universal Laws gives the death penalty to a Noahide, the execution is an atonement for this person's transgression, and consequently one who transgresses and is punished by the court can merit a portion in the World to Come.[10] Furthermore, the Noahide must experience reincarnation to be able to atone for transgressions he had done.) 11. The responsibility of The Seven Noahide Laws is a yoke of faith in God. This means that the laws must be observed solely because God commanded them. If the Children of Noah observe these Seven Universal Laws for any reason or intention other than to fulfill God's will, the performance is invalid and no divine reward is received. This means that if one of the Children of Noah says, "These laws seem sensible and beneficial, therefore I will observe them," his actions accomplish nothing and he receives no reward.[11] 12. When one of the Children of Noah engages in the study of the Seven Universal Laws, he is able to attain a spiritual level higher than the High Priest of the Jews, who alone has the sanctity to enter the Holy of Holies in the Temple in Jerusalem. [12] 13. If one of the Children of Noah wishes to accept the full responsibility of the Torah and the 613 Commandments, he or she can convert and become a Jew in every respect. One who elects to do this is called a ger tzedek, a righteous proselyte. [13] It is a principle of Judaism, however, not to seek converts, and one who requests conversion is generally discouraged. Should the person persist in the desire to convert, counsel should be taken only with an Orthodox rabbi or scholar, for conversion not in accord with Halakha, Torah Law, is no conversion at all, and conversion supervised and bestowed by rabbis who themselves do not follow the laws of the Torah are null and void, neither recognized in heaven nor by any God-fearing Jew. 14. It is incorrect to think that since the Children of Israel have 613 Commandments and the Children of Noah have seven commandments, the ratio of spiritual worth is proportionally 613 to seven. The truth is that the Seven Universal Laws are general commandments, each containing many parts and details, whereas the 613 Commandments of the Torah are specific, each relating to one basic detail of the Divine Law. Therefore, the numerical disparity in no way reflects the relative spiritual worth of the two systems of commandments. [14] The prime difference in the service of the Israelite and that of the Noahide is that the Noahide sees the existence of existence, that is, he refines the world, whereas the Israelite sees the non-existence of existence, that is, he reveals the Godliness in the world. Of course, refining the world reveals its inherent Godliness and revealing Godliness automatically refines the world. 15. The statutory punishment for transgressing any one of the Seven Laws of Noah is capital punishment. [15] According to some, punishment is the same whether one transgresses with knowledge of the law or is ignorant of the law. [16] According to others, a transgressor of the Noahide Law who is ignorant of the law receives the death penalty only in the case of murder. [17] 16. If the courts cannot punish an individual for lack of witnesses or any other reason (see the chapter on Courts of Law), the transgressor will be punished by Divine Decree. [18] 17. Besides the Seven Universal Commandments, the Children of Noah have traditionally taken it upon themselves to fulfill the commandment of honoring father and mother. [19] (see the chapter on Honoring Father and Mother). 18. Some authorities are of the opinion that the Children of Noah are obligated to fulfill the commandment of giving charity. [20] Others state that it is proper and meritorious for the Children of Noah to give charity but that it is not actually commanded of them. [21] 19. If a Noahide who follows the Seven Universal Laws gives charity, the Israelites accept it from him and give it to the poor of Israel, since through the merit of giving charity to the poor among the Jewish people one is given life by God and saved from death. But a Noahide who does not accept the yoke of the Seven Noahide Laws and gives charity is not permitted to give it to the needy of Israel. His charity may be given to poor Noahides only. 20. If one of the Children of Noah arises and performs a miracle and says that God sent him, then instructs others to add to or subtract from any of the Seven Universal Laws or explains them in a way not heard at Mount Sinai, or claims that the 613 Commandments given to the Jews are not eternal, but limited to a fixed period of time, this person is deemed a false prophet and incurs the death penalty.[22] 21. There is an oral tradition that the Children of Noah are forbidden to interbreed animals of different species or to graft trees of different kinds,[23] although some authorities hold that they are permitted to do either.[24] However, they may wear shaatnez (clothing containing both wool and linen) and they may plant different seeds such as grape and wheat in the same field, which are acts forbidden to Jews. [25] Forbidden interbreeding and grafting are not punishable in courts of law. 22. The Sages of Israel state that Children of Ketura (the sons of 's concubine, Hagar) who were born after Ishmael and Isaac must by law be circumcised. Since today the descendants of Ishmael are intermixed with the descendants of the other sons of Hagar, all are obligated to be circumcised on the eighth day after they are born. Those transgressing this are not liable for the death penalty.[26] This law applies only to Semitic peoples, although all other nations are allowed to circumcise if they desire. 23. One opinion holds that only the six sons of Hagar and not their descendants were obligated to be circumcised.[27] 24. In accord with the Seven Universal Commandments, man is enjoined against creating any religion based on his own intellect. He either develops religion based on these Divine Laws or becomes a righteous proselyte, a Jew, and accepts all 613 commandments of the Torah.[28] (Note: Concerning making holidays for themselves, Noahides may participate in the celebration of certain Jewish holidays, such as Shavuot, celebrating the Giving of the Torah, since the Children of Noah received their commandments at the same time, or Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year and Day of Judgment, since all mankind is judged by God on that day, so it should therefore be important to the Noahide as well as the Israelite. Rosh Hashanah is also the day that Adam, the First Man, was created by God, and all mankind is descended from Adam just as it is from Noah.[29] Even these, however, the Noahide celebrates only in order to bring additional merit and reward to himself, and he may not rest in the manner of the Jews. Moreover, the Noahide is strictly forbidden to create a new holiday that has religious significance and claim that it is part of his own religion, even if the religion is the observance of the Seven Noahide Laws. For example, it would be forbidden to make a holiday celebrating the subsiding of the waters of the Flood of Noah or anything of the like. And, all the more so, it would be forbidden to institute holidays that ascribe religious significance to events outside the purview of the Seven Noahide Commandments. Celebrating secular activities and commemorating historical events, even if they involve a festive meal, are permissible.) 25. The nations of the world acknowledge the and they do not transgress the will of God. Their failing is an inability to be nullified to God, and they deny His Oneness by thinking that they themselves are separate entities, calling Him the God of gods. Therefore, we find that when they transgress the Seven Noahide Commandments, it is only because the spirit of folly enters them and covers the truth, concealing it from them.[30] But from their essential being, they are not able to transgress the Will of God. Therefore, even Balaam, the wicked prophet who had sexual relations with an animal, his ass, which is a clear transgression of the Seven Noahide Laws, said, "I am not able to transgress the word of God" (Num. 22:18). 26. The commandment to be fruitful and multiply was given to Noah, but inasmuch as it was not repeated at Mount Sinai, this commandment is not considered part of the Seven Universal Laws.[31] However, the Children of Noah have the obligation to make the whole earth a dwelling place for mankind.[32] This is minimally achieved by every couple giving birth to a male and a female child who are in turn capable of reproduction.[33] Moreover, the couple that bears more children is credited with bringing more spiritual goodness into the world, assuming that these children are reared in an environment of morality by fulfilling the Seven Universal Laws. 27. A Noahide who strikes an Israelite causing even a slight wound, though he is theoretically condemned for this, does not receive the death penalty.[34] 28. When a Noahide dies, he is to be buried in the earth, "for out of it were you taken; for you are dust and unto dust you shall return" (Gen. 3:19). This does not mean that the Children of Noah transgress one of the Seven Commandments by utilizing another process such as cremation or cryogenic preservation, but they will lack the atonement that burial in the earth accomplishes.[35] 29. By observing the Seven Universal Laws, mankind is given the means by which it can perfect itself. The individual, through these laws, has the power to refine his essential being, and can reach higher and higher without limit. For it is written, "I call heaven and earth to bear witness, that any individual, man or woman, Jew or Gentile, freeman or slave, can have the Holy Spirit bestowed upon him. It all depends on his deeds."[36] And it is also written, "Ultimately, all is understood: fear God and observe His commandments, for this is the completion of man" (Eccles. 12:13).

[1] Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin 56a [2] Encyclopedia Talmudica, The Children of Noah, volume 3, page 348 [3] The Rosh (Rabbeinu Asher), responsa number 16 [4] Babylonian Talmud, Nazir 29b, commentary of Rashi, "And Rabbi Yose..."; Likutei Sichot of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, volume 5, page 421 [5] Mishneh Torah, Laws of Kings, chapter 8, law 11 [6] Mishneh Torah, Laws of Forbidden Relationships, chapter 14, law 7 [7] Ibid., Laws of Kings, chapter 10, law 10 [8] Ibid., chapter 10, law 9 and the commentary of Radvaz on chapter 10, law 10 [9] Yud-Tess Kislev with the Lubavitcher Rebbe, 5745 (1984) [10] , Iggeret HaTshuvah, chapter 1, page 90b [11] Mishneh Torah, Laws of Kings, chapter 8, law 11 [12] Babylonian Talmud, Baba Kamma 38a [13] Shulchan Arukh, Yoreh Deah, Laws of Conversion, chapter 268, law 2 [14] The Seven Laws of Noah, Lichtenstein, chapter 9, page 89 [15] Mishneh Torah, Laws of Kings, chapter 10, law 14 [16] Babylonian Talmud, Makkot 9a, commentary of Rashi, "Therefore..." [17] Mishneh Torah, Laws of Kings, chapter 10, law 1 [18] Commentary of Rashi on Exod. 23:7 and 21:13; Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin 37b [19] Nahal Eshkol, Laws of Circumcision, chapter 39, number 6 [20] Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin 56b, commentary of Rabbeinu Nissim, "And He commanded him - these are the judges" [21] Mishneh Torah, Laws of Kings, chapter 10, law 10 [22] Mishneh Torah, Laws of the Foundation of Torah, chapter 9, law 1 [23] Ibid., Laws of Kings, chapter 10, law 6 [24] Shulchan Arukh, Yoreh Deah, chapter 297, note 3, commentary of the Shach [25] Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin 56b [26] Mishneh Torah, Laws of Kings, chapter 10, law 7, 8 [27] Babylonion Talmud, Sanhedrin 59b, commentary of Rashi, "And if you want to say circumcision..." [28] Mishneh Torah, Laws of Kings, chapter 10, law 9 [29] Me'am Loez, Genesis, chapter 13, page 194 [30] Sefer HaArchin Chabad, volume 2, The Nations of the World, chapter 1, section 3, page 269 [31] Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin 59b [32] Sefer Hahinnukh, First Commandment [33] Shulchan Arukh, Even HaEzer, chapter 1, law 5 [34] Mishneh Torah, Laws of Kings, chapter 10, law 6 [35] Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin 46b [36] Tanna D'bei Eliyahu, beginning of chapter 9 THE SEVEN NOAHIDE LAWS: OF MONKEY BRAINS AND COURTS

* IRENE M ERKER ROSENBERG

[1] Almost everyone knows, or at least has heard of, the Ten Commandments, which were given to the Jewish people at Mount Sinai after the exodus from Egypt: to believe in God, not to engage in idolatry or to take God's name in vain, to observe the Sabbath, to honor one's father and mother, not to murder, commit adultery, steal, give false testimony, or covet.1 Fewer know about the Seven Noahide laws,2 which were given to Adam3 and reaffirmed by God to Noah after the

* Royce R. Till Professor of Law, University of Houston Law Center. B.A., College of the City of New York, 1961; LL.B., New York University School of Law, 1964. My thanks to Harriet Richman, Faculty Services Librarian, University of Houston Law Library, for her excellent research services and to the University of Houston Law Foundation for its financial support. This essay is dedicated to the memory of my husband, Yale L. Rosenberg.

1The Ten Commandments appear twice in the Old Testament: Exodus 20:2-14 and Deuteronomy 5:6-18. The wording is not exactly the same and commentators explore those differences in depth. Note, for example, that the Exodus version says, "remember" ("zachor") the Sabbath, whereas Deuteronomy states, "safeguard" ("shamoor") the Sabbath.

2 See THE ARTSCROLL BABYLONIAN TALMUD, at Sanhedrin 56a5 (Hersh Goldwurm, ed. 1994) [hereinafter BABYLONIAN TALMUD] (listing the seven universal laws).

3 There is a dispute as to which of the Noahide laws were given to Adam and which to Noah. One of the difficulties with the argument that God gave all seven laws to Adam is that Adam was prohibited from eating meat altogether. See Genesis 1:29. Why then tell Adam that he is not to eat the limb taken from a live animal? Man was not given permission to eat meat until after the Flood. Genesis 9:3-4. See 1 ENCYCLOPEDIA TALMUDICA 141 (Isadore Epstein & Harry Freedman eds., 1969) [hereinafter ENCYCLOPEDIA TALMUDICA] (noting that "[s]ome derive this [the prohibition against eating a limb severed from a live animal] from the words spoken to Adam, ‘you may freely eat’ (Genesis 2, 16) implying that he may eat only of that which stands ready to be eaten, thus excluding a limb severed from a living animal, since a live animal does not stand to be eaten. . . . Others derive it from the words spoken to Noah (Id. 9, 4), ‘Only flesh with the life thereof . . . shall you not eat.’"). Therefore some conclude that God gave Adam only six commandments and added the seventh regarding eating the limb of a live animal to Noah. See 1 M IDRASH RABBAH 131, 278 (H. Freedman trans., 1983)[hereinafter RABBAH]. See also

1 Flood4, thus "predat[ing] the revelation of biblical legislation to the Jewish people."5 These universal laws prohibit idolatry, blasphemy, murder, illicit sexual relations, robbery, eating a limb taken from a live animal, and failing to establish courts of law. The Noahide laws are all negative commandments,6 prohibitions against doing or failing to do certain acts, and violators are subject to the death penalty.7

[2] Jewish law posits that the Seven Noahide laws bind all non-Jews.8 Jews are also required to observe the seven universal laws, but only as a matter of Jewish law, that is, the Decalogue and the

613 commandments derived from it.9 This distinction has practical consequences because of the

Deuteronomy 12:23 ("you shall not eat the life with the meat" (prohibiting the ingestion of blood)). There are also different opinions as to the precise biblical source of the Noahide laws, their exact number and their content. Some, for example, argue that non-Jews are prohibited from performing sterilization and the mixing of different seeds and animals. See discussion in BABYLONIAN TALMUD, supra note 2, at Sanhedrin 56a5-57a2, and 4 ENCYCLOPEDIA TALMUDICA 361- 64.

4 See CHAIM CLORFENE & YAKOV ROGALSKY, THE PATH OF THE RIGHTEOUS GENTILE 7-9 (1987) [hereinafter RIGHTEOUS GENTILE] (arguing that God gave Adam all seven laws and commanded him to teach it to succeeding generations, and after the Flood "God reaffirmed the original seven commandments that He had taught Adam." Id. at 9). See also discussion supra note 3.

5 NAHUM RAKOVER, LAW AND THE NOAHIDES 9 (1998) [hereinafter RAKOVER].

6 The duty to establish courts appears to be a positive commandment: set up courts of law. It is viewed, however, as a negative commandment, that is, do not fail to establish courts of law. See RIGHTEOUS GENTILE, supra note 4, at 101-02.

7 BABYLONIAN TALMUD, supra note 2, at Sanhedrin 57b3 n.30. There are different opinions as to which of the four biblical death penalties applies to a Noahide convicted in a court of law-- stoning, burning, beheading or strangulation. The majority rule is that he is subject to decapitation. 4 ENCYCLOPEDIA TALMUDICA, supra note 3, at 377.

8 BABYLONIAN TALMUD, supra note 2, Sanhedrin at 56a5.

9 See BABYLONIAN TALMUD, supra note 2, at Makkos 23b3 (noting that "[s]ix hundred and thirteen

2 differences in interpretation of both sets of laws.10 Some of the Noahide laws prohibit conduct that is also encompassed in the Decalogue, such as the prohibitions against murder and theft, but others do not.11 A few of the Noahide laws are interpreted more strictly than their counterparts in Jewish law, that is, a non-Jew would be liable for committing a certain act, but a Jew would not.12 Most are, however, more lenient13 than the 613 commandments governing Jews.14

[3] There is "no original text of the Noahide Code"15 as it is not explicitly stated in the Torah, the first five books of the Bible. The earliest source systematically discussing and analyzing the seven laws is Talmudic.16 Although there is no express statement of them in the Torah, the

are included in the Ten Commandments").

10 See 4 ENCYCLOPEDIA TALMUDICA, supra note 3, at 363 (noting that "[t]he seven precepts contain both stringencies and leniencies which differentiate Noahides from Jews").

11 For example, there is no requirement that non-Jews observe the Sabbath, and indeed, although Noahides generally may observe almost all of the 613 rules binding on Jews, Sabbath observance is prohibited. See RIGHTEOUS GENTILE, supra note 4, at 41.

12 See 1 ENCYCLOPEDIA TALMUDICA, supra note 3, at 141-42 (discussing the difference between the Mosaic kosher laws and the Noahide prohibition against eating the limb of a live animal). Jews may eat the meat of a ritually slaughtered animal even if there is still some movement in the animal. Noahides are not obliged to ritually slaughter animals, but they may not eat the meat of them until the limbs have completely stopped moving or quivering. But see BABYLONIAN TALMUD, supra note 2, at Chullin 33a1 (asking, "Is there such a thing that an object or action could be permitted to a Jew and forbidden to a gentile?").

13 BABYLONIAN TALMUD, supra note 2, Sanhedrin at 58b3 n.24.

14 See MAIMONIDES, THE COMMANDMENTS (Charles B. Chavel trans., 1967) (a two volume work explaining the 248 positive commandments and the 365 negative commandments incumbent upon the Jewish people).

15 AARON LICHTENSTEIN, THE SEVEN LAWS OF NOAH 11 (2d ed., 1981) [hereinafter LICHTENSTEIN].

16 Id. Rabbi Lichtenstein notes that "the earliest book of the Halakha [law] which undertakes to delineate the Seven Laws is the Tosefta, attributed to Hiyya bar Abba, born circa 160 [C.E.]."

3 Noahide laws are learned by biblical exegesis.17

[4] The biblical source for the Noahide laws is not obvious. Genesis 2:16 states, "And

HASHEM God commanded the man, saying, ‘Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat.’" 18

The verse is redundant19 as God had already informed Adam of this fact in Genesis 1:29, "I have given to you all herbage yielding seed that is on the surface of the entire earth, and every tree that has seed-yielding; it shall be yours for food." The Torah is very terse, and in most cases when a letter, word or phrase is merely duplicative, it is there to teach us something.20 According to the

Sages, each word of this superfluous verse in Genesis 2:16 alludes to the Seven Commandments given to Adam and his descendants.21

17 See THE COMPLETE ARTSCROLL SIDDUR 49-53 (Nosson Scherman trans., 1993) (the thirteen rules of interpreting the Torah).

18 Unless otherwise noted, English translations of the Bible are taken from THE ARTSCROLL STONE EDITION OF THE (Nosson Scherman ed., 11th ed. 2001). The word HASHEM literally means "the name;" it is used in place of God's actual name so that it is not said frivolously or in vain. When the Torah is read for religious purposes, God’s actual name is uttered. The name for HASHEM denotes God's aspect of mercy. The Hebrew word for God in the verse denotes His attribute of strict justice.

19 BABYLONIAN TALMUD, supra note 2, Sanhedrin at 56b1 n.9.

20 See NEHAMA LEIBOWITZ, STUDIES IN BERESHIT (Genesis) 82 (Aryeh Newman trans., 4th rev. ed. 1981) (noting, "the Torah's sparing use of words and avoidance of every unnecessary repitition, even the addition or subtraction of a letter"). Leibowitz explains that "[t]he choice of every word [in the Torah] is deliberate and there is nothing accidental or coincidental in it but the imparting of some specific lesson". Id. at 513. This principle does not always apply. Sometimes the Torah may repeat a word or phrase because that was how people commonly spoke. See BABYLONIAN TALMUD, supra note 2, Sanhedrin at 56a5.

21 The translation of Genesis 2:16 in the ArtScroll version of the BABYLONIAN TALMUD is somewhat different from the ArtScroll version of the Torah. See text supra note 18. The verse as translated in the BABYLONIAN TALMUD is "Hashem God commanded upon the man saying ‘Of every tree of the garden you may surely eat.’" See BABYLONIAN TALMUD, supra note 2, Sanhedrin

4 [5] Since Jews are commanded to obey 613 laws, one might conclude either that they need more restrictions, or that they enjoy a greater spiritual worth than non-Jews who have only seven commandments. One answer is that the Noahide laws are stated in general terms but they encompass various details and aspects,22 whereas the 613 laws are specific. For example, "[t]he single Noahide law against sexual immorality prohibits adultery, sodomy, and various types of incest. Yet, each of these specific offenses is enumerated separately among the 613."23

Furthermore, if one counts only those of the 613 laws that are applicable in modern times (many commandments refer to ritual practice in the Temple), the ratio between the number of Jewish and

Noahide laws is greatly diminished. As one noted scholar, Rabbi Aaron Lichtenstein, has observed:

It becomes apparent then that a comparison between just seven Noahide laws and six hundred thirteen Mitzvoth [commandments] cannot be invoked as a supposed indication of the relative limitedness of the Noahide system, for the seven Noahide laws refer

at 56b1. The words "He commanded," refers to a system of law; the word "Lord,"(Hashem) refers to "blessing," that is, cursing the name of God; the word "God," refers to idolatry, "upon the," means murder, "saying" (which is also redundant), refers to sexual transgressions, "of every tree of the garden" alludes to theft, and "you may surely eat," prohibits eating the limb taken from a live animal. Each of these meanings is supported by the use of the same words appearing in other verses.

22 See 4 ENCYCLOPEDIA TALMUDICA, supra note 3, at 362-64 (noting that the seven laws are generalizations and setting forth a list of the details of these laws compiled by an early Sage which encompass 30 precepts: unity of God, idolatry, blasphemy, prayer, taking an oath in vain, suicide, homicide, sexual relations with another man's wife, marriage by dowry and gift, relations with a sister, sodomy, bestiality, castration, eating the carcass of a dead animal, a limb taken from a live animal, eating blood, hybridization of animals, sacrifices from clean animals, robbery, honoring one's father and mother, consigning one's children to the fire, augury, soothsaying, divining, sorcery, casting spells, consulting a ghost, consulting a familiar spirit, inquiring of the dead. One of the precepts is missing in the manuscript. The missing precept follows the prohibition against hybridization of animals; perhaps the missing precept is a prohibition against the hybridization of seeds. See discussion in BABYLONIAN TALMUD, supra note 2, at Sanhedrin 56b1.

23 LICHENSTEIN, supra note 15, at 17.

5 to seven broad areas of legislation, whereas each of the six hundred thirteen refer to a separate, specific, narrowly construed statute. That is to say, the word ‘law’ as found in the term ‘Seven Laws’ refers to a broad legislative area; the word ‘commandment’ as found in the term ‘Six Hundred Thirteen Commandments’ refers to a stark legal dictum qualified as a mere bylaw of the broader area.24

He concludes that sixty-six commandments can be derived from the Seven Noahide laws.25 It is the same type of exegesis by which the 613 commandments governing Jews were derived from the

Decalogue.26 "Therefore, the numerical disparity in no way reflects the relative spiritual worth of the [Noahide] commandments."27

[6] Official recognition of the Seven Noahide Laws is contained in a congressional resolution signed by President Bush in 1991, noting that "the historical tradition of ethical values and principles which are the basis of civilized society . . . have been the bedrock of society from the dawn of civilization, when they were known as the Seven Noahide Laws."28 There are small communities of Noahide observers in the United States and indeed throughout the world. A leading figure in the movement is Vendyl Jones who conducts archeological digs to find the Ark of the

Covenant.29 He is reputed to be the model for the Indiana Jones movies.30 Although most

24 Id. at 92.

25 Id. at 93.

26 BABYLONIAN TALMUD, supra note 2, at Makkos 23b3.

27 RIGHTEOUS GENTILE, supra note 4, at 43.

28 H.R.J. Res. 104, 102d Cong. (1991), Pub.L. No. 102-14.

29 Information about Vendyl Jones and the B'nai Noach movement can be found at http://www.vendyljones.org.il (last visited Nov. 1, 2004).

6 Noahides start as Christians who want to learn more about their roots, they are neither Christian nor Jewish. They simply follow the Noahide laws and call themselves B'nai No'ach,31 which is

Hebrew for the sons of Noah. In some communities they study and observe some aspects of

Jewish law, even though it is not commanded.32 Some do, however, go on to convert to Judaism, although traditional Jewish law does not encourage conversion33--it is not a religion that actively seeks proselytes. To the contrary, Judaism asserts that "by observing the Seven Noahide

Commandments, a Gentile fulfills the purpose of creation and receives a share of the World to

Come, the blessed spiritual world of the righteous."34

[7] I had always understood the enduring importance of the values embedded in the seven laws.

The prohibition against eating the flesh or limb of a living animal gave me pause, mainly because I could not imagine anyone doing such a thing. Apparently, however, it was customary to do so, else there would have been no need to prohibit such conduct. It may well be that prior to refrigeration people would cut off a piece of meat from a live animal as a way of assuring a supply of fresh meat,35 or it may have been an aspect of pagan rituals.36 But is the law of enduring significance? Is

30 For a fascinating article on Vendyl Jones' life and activities, see Gerard Robbins, Vendyl Jones and the , JEWISH HERALD VOICE OF HOUSTON, TEXAS (May 2000), available at http://www.rense.com/general2/ark.htm.

31 See J. DAVID DAVIS, FINDING THE GOD OF NOAH: THE SPIRITUAL JOURNEY OF A BAPTIST M INISTER FROM CHRISTIANITY TO THE LAWS OF NOAH (1996).

32 See, e.g., Leslie Scrivener, Noahides Make a Leap of Faith, The Toronto Star, May 19, 1996, at F7; R. Gustav Niebuhr, Christian Fundamentalists Seek Roots of Their Faith: There Goes the Steeple, Wall S. J., Mar. 20, 1991, at A1.

33 See BABYLONIAN TALMUD, supra note 2, Yevamos at 47a3-47b2.

34 RIGHTEOUS GENTILE, supra note 4 at 4.

7 it fundamental in the same way as the prohibitions against murder and theft?37

[8] Subsequently, I learned that there are modern cultures which view certain foods obtained in that way as a delicacy. A friend was telling me about her first visit to an Asian country. Fine restaurants in that country had special tables with holes carved in the middle of them. A monkey, the top of whose head had been lopped off, is placed under the table, the exposed brain showing through, and diners ate the monkey’s brains while it was still alive.38 Presumably the monkey does

35 Cf., Genesis 37:2: "and Joseph brought a bad report of them [his brothers] to their father." Rashi, the great 12th century commentator on the Torah and the Talmud, notes that Joseph "would report to his father that they ate a part cut off from a living animal." 1 THE PENTATEUCH AND RASHI'S COMMENTARY 370 (Abraham ben Isaiah and Benjamin Sharfman, trans. 1950). In Deuteronomy 12:23 God commands Moses: "Only be steadfast in not eating the blood." Rashi notes that "[f]rom the words "Be steadfast" you can derive that they were dissolute in the eating of blood; consequently it was necessary to state "Be steadfast." 5 RASHI'S COMMENTARY at 120. See also Alyza, The Sheva Mitzvot B'nai Noach: An Introduction ¶ 18 available at (

Today in the western world we have refrigeration and the storage of meat is not given much thought. But in the harsh pagan world, people would cut off a limb of the animal they used for food, tie off the stump of the severed limb so it would not bleed to death, and then leash up the animal so it would not run away. They left it to suffer until more meat was needed in a day or two, then hack off another limb, and so on. Some people prided themselves on how long they could keep an animal alive, while slowly carving it to death. This concept of keeping meat fresh, is a treatment to animals that is still being carried out today in some third world countries.

).

36 See DAVID NOVAK, THE IMAGE OF THE NON-JEW IN JUDAISM (1983).

37 See Lichtenstein, supra note 15 at 56: "A question that can legitimately be raised here is: Does not the Limb of a Living Creature seem too puny a violation to be found alongside such considerations as adultery, murder, theft, idolatry, etc.?"

38 JOY M ASOFF, OH, YUCK, THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF EVERYTHING NASTY 100 (2000)(my thanks to Yosef Kerzner, age 13, for finding this source). But see references at

8 not feel any pain, or it is restrained, otherwise eating dinner would be a somewhat challenging experience. The recent outbreak of monkey pox will undoubtedly deter this activity.39 The practice of eating meat from a living animal is also apparently practiced in the United States. In some areas of the country bulls are castrated while they are alive and the testicles are cooked and eaten as a delicacy known as "Rocky Mountain" oysters.40

[9] Therefore, the prohibition speaks to actual practices, then and now. Transcending these aspects, however, on a value level, what kind of person would inflict such pain on living animals?

There are studies indicating that many violent criminals have a history of cruelty to animals in their childhood.41 Perhaps in recognition of such a connection the Torah speaks to the issue of animal cruelty in a variety of contexts. Deuteronomy 22:4 admonishes a person to help someone unload his donkey that has fallen on the road because of the heavy burden it carries. Deuteronomy 22:6-7 requires that if a person finds a nest with the female bird roosting on its eggs or its young, he should not take the mother with the young: "Let the mother go, taking only the young for yourself." Similarly, in Leviticus 22:28 there is a prohibition against killing a mother and its

www.maxent.org/ch/monkey_brainsref.html, claiming that this is merely an urban legend. Nonetheless, some of their own citations belie that claim.

39 See, e.g., Denise Grady & Lawrence Altman, Beyond Cute: Exotic Pets Come Bearing Exotic Germs, N.Y. Times, June 17, 2003, at F1 (describing how monkey pox was transmitted into the United States).

40 Yirmeyahu Bindman, The Seven Colors of the Rainbow: Torah Ethics for Non-Jews 106 (1995)[hereinafter Rainbow].

41 See Margit Livingston, Desecrating the Ark: Animal Abuse and the Law’s Role in Prevention, 87 IOWA L. REV. 1, 17-22 (2001) (analyzing various studies concerning a link between cruelty to animals and criminal behavior).

9 offspring on the same day.42 The Ten Commandments demand that the Sabbath be observed not only by people, but also by their animals--it is a day of rest for "your ox, your donkey, and your every animal." 43 In the Talmud there is an extensive discussion regarding cruelty to animals in general. The debate is not whether there is a prohibition against making animals suffer, but whether the commandment comes from the Torah or is merely a rabbinic ordinance.44 The conclusion is that it is a biblical prohibition.

[10] If one learns it is wrong to be cruel to animals,45 or to cause them unnecessary pain or emotional distress, even to assuage their hunger, then surely that lesson will extend to human beings. The commandment instills a reverence for living creatures and helps the individual achieve greater refinement and , and, in that sense, fits comfortably along with the other fundamental Noahide laws.46

[11] The commandment that most intrigues me, however, is the requirement that courts of law be established. There are various disputes among the commentators regarding the exact content of

42 “But you shall not slaughter, from the herd or the flock, an animal with its young on the same day.”

43 Deuteronomy 5:12-15

44 BABYLONIAN TALMUD, supra note 2, Bava Metzia at 32b1-33a1.

45 Lichtenstein, supra note 15 at 57 (notes the various Jewish laws prohibiting cruelty to animals in various contexts).

46 See 4 SEFER HAHINNUCH, THE BOOK OF [MITZVOT] EDUCATION 409-10 (Charles Wengrov, trans. 1988)[hereinafter SEFER HAHINNUCH](noting in Commandment 452 that "[a]t the root of the precept lies the reason that we should not train our spirit in the quality of cruelty. . . there is no greater cruelty in the world than when one cuts a limb or flesh from an animal while it is yet alive before him, and he eats it.")

10 this requirement.47 One of these disputes concerns whether "Noahides are permitted to legislate their own laws" or are bound by Jewish law.48 But all seem to agree that it includes establishing courts of law and prohibiting any act that would lead to "an unjust judicial decision."49 To ensure implementation of these two principles, many scholars believe that at least twenty precepts of the

613 Commandments of Jewish law are applicable to this Noahide requirement to establish a legal system: (1) "to appoint judges and officers in each and every community," (2) "to treat the litigants equally before the law," (3) "to inquire diligently into the testimony of a witness," (4) to assure

"against the wanton miscarriage of justice by the court," (5) prohibiting a "judge [from] accepting a bribe or gift from a litigant," (6) prohibiting "the judge showing marks of honor to but one litigant,"

(7) enjoining "the judge [from] acting in fear of a litigant's threats," (8) prohibiting "the judge [from] out of compassion, favoring a poor litigant," (9) prohibiting "the judge discriminating against the litigant because he is a sinner," (10) prohibiting "the judge, out of softness, putting aside the penalty of a mauler or killer," (11) prohibiting "the judge [from] discriminating against a stranger or

47 For example, Maimonides believed that the Noahide commandment to establish courts encompassed only an order to establish a court system so as to enforce the other six commandments. Nachmonides, on the other hand, believed that this commandment also required Noahides to set up an entire system of civil law. BABYLONIAN TALMUD, supra note 2, Sanhedrin 56a5 n.48. Maimonides thought that such a requirement stemmed from the Noahide law against theft. Id. For an extensive discussion regarding the differences between Maimonides and Nachmanides see LICHTENSTEIN, supra note 15, at 35-43. For another scholarly exposition of this issue see RAKOVER, supra note 5, at 55-86.

48 The conflict stems from the different views of two talmudic Sages. Although it is agreed that the biblical source for the Noahide laws is Genesis 2:16, there is a debate concerning which word of the verse refers to a system of laws. One Sage learns this obligation from the words "He commanded," and another infers it from the word "God." The first Sage concludes that Noahides are permitted to pass their own laws, whereas the other finds that the laws legislated by Noahides must be the same as Jewish law. See discussion in RAKOVER, supra note 5, at 56-57.

11 orphan," (12) enjoining "the judge hearing one litigant in the absence of the other," (13) prohibiting

"appointing a judge who lacks knowledge of the Law," (14) prohibiting "the court killing an innocent man," (15) prohibiting "incrimination by circumstantial evidence,"50 (16) prohibiting

"punishing for a crime committed under duress,"51 (17) requiring "that the court is to administer the death penalty by the sword (i.e., decapitation)," (18) prohibiting "anyone taking the law into his own hands to kill the perpetrator of a capital crime," (19) a duty "to testify in court," and (20) prohibiting "testifying falsely."52

[12] Almost all of these rules concerning the courts are sophisticated and fundamental to a righteous system of justice. They pale, however, in comparison to Jewish law, which is almost fanatically concerned with courts, their rules and procedures, and the fear of convicting innocent people. In Exodus 18, Moses' father-in-law, Yitro, visits Moses in the desert and observes him judging cases from morning to night. In Exodus, Yitro advises Moses to get some help:

And you shall discern from among the entire people, men of accomplishment, God-fearing people, men of truth, people who despise money, and you shall appoint them leaders of thousands, leaders of hundreds, leaders of fifties, and leaders of tens. They shall judge the people at all times, and they shall bring every major matter to you, and with every minor matter they shall judge.53

49 LICHTENSTEIN, supra note 15, at 31.

50 But see RIGHTEOUS GENTILE, supra note 4, at 102.

51 At common law duress was a defense for every crime but murder. State v. Toscano, 378 A.2d 755, 756 (N.J. 1977). Section 2.09 of the Model Penal Code makes duress an affirmative defense without excluding homicide. MODEL PENAL CODE §2.09.

52 These duties are set forth in LICTENSTEIN, supra note 15, at 31-35. See also RAINBOW, supra note 4, at 113-20 (discussing the laws that are necessary in a just society).

53 Exodus 18:21-22.

12 [13] Jewish law, however, is composed not only of the Written law, the Torah, but also the Oral law. Indeed, the Written law cannot be read in isolation from the Oral law. The latter consists of the

Mishnah, redacted circa 200 C.E., and the Gemara, redacted circa 500 C.E. Together they are known as the Talmud.54 The Talmud is divided into 60 odd tractates, comprising over 5,000 pages, written in Aramaic, with no vowels or punctuation.55 Together they are known as the Talmud.56

The Talmud is divided into 60 odd tractates, comprising over 5,000 pages, written in Aramaic, with no vowels or punctuation.57 There is no index or table of contents. The terseness is baffling. With whichever tractate you start learning, it is taken for granted that you know all of it. One must, however, accept the Talmud on its own terms or concede defeat and withdraw.

[14] In the Babylonian Talmud,58 tractate Sanhedrin deals with courts, crimes and punishments, and it is filled with robust debates concerning the minutiae of law. The disputants intellectually wrap themselves around the particular issue, turning it over and around, inside and out, quoting sources and poking holes in each other's arguments, until the matter is resolved or the Sages say

"Taykoo"--it will be decided when the Messiah comes. It is an elaborate edifice devoted to

54 ADIN STEINSALTZ, THE TALMUD, THE STEINSALTZ EDITION: A REFERENCE GUIDE (Israel V. Berman trans., 1989).

55 See Irene M. Rosenberg & Yale L. Rosenberg, In the Beginning: The Talmudic Rule Against Self-Incrimination, 63 N.Y.U.L. REV. 955, 966-74 (1988).

56 Adin Steinsaltz, The Talmud, The Steinsaltz Edition: A Reference Guide (Israel V. Berman transl, 1989).

57 See Irene M. Rosenberg & Yale L. Rosenberg, In the Beginning: The Talmudic Rule Against Self-Incrimination, 63 N.Y.U.L. Rev. 955, 966-74 (1988).

58 There is another Talmud called the Jerusalem Talmud, which was composed by the Sages of Israel. For various reasons, the Babylonian Talmud has historically been viewed as more

13 ascertaining truth and justice as revealed by God.

[15] Over the years, my husband and I have written numerous articles about Jewish law, concentrating on the talmudic debates.59 At first, the judicial system seemed, not to put too fine a point on it, which is particularly strange in criminal law. In time we came to know and appreciate the wisdom of the Sages.

[16] Jewish courts trying criminal cases are composed of 23 judges (three for civil cases),60 who hector the life out of witnesses, admonishing them to tell the truth, or else.61 Only competent witnesses may testify, namely males,62 who are unrelated to the defendant or to each other,63 are not insane, blind, deaf or mute,64or do not lend money on interest,65 or engage in nefarious activities such as gambling or raising pigeons.66

[17] There must be two witnesses to the crime.67 The witnesses must warn the defendant that

authoritative.

59 See, e.g., Irene M. Rosenberg & Yale L. Rosenberg, Lone Star Liberal Musings on "Eye for Eye" and the Death Penalty, 1998 Utah L. Rev. 505; Irene M. Rosenberg & Yale L. Rosenberg, "Perhaps What Ye Say is Based Only on Conjecture"--Circumstantial Evidence, Then and Now, 31 Hous. L. Rev. 1371 (1995). See also articles cited infra in notes 66, 69, and 78.

60 BABYLONIAN TALMUD, supra note 2, Sanhedrin 2a1.

61 Id. at 37a3.

62 BABYLONIAN TALMUD, supra note 2, Shevuos 30a2.

63 BABYLONIAN TALMUD, supra note 2, Makkos 6a1.

64 BABYLONIAN TALMUD, supra note 2, Bava Basra 128a3-128b1.

65 BABYLONIAN TALMUD, supra note 2, Sanhedrin 24b2.

66 Id.

14 the act he is about to commit is a crime.68 The defendant must verbally acknowledge the warning,69 thus obviating any claims of ignorance of the law, and then proceed to commit the crime in full view of the witnesses. Circumstantial evidence, no matter how reliable, is prohibited.70 Causation requirements are very stringent.71 Confessions are of no evidentiary value, even if they are completely voluntary; no person may incriminate himself.72 The case must be tried and proven only through the testimony of the witnesses.73 The judges question them separately and intensively, probing to find inconsistencies in their testimony.74 If there are any discrepancies, even those that are minor, their testimony is excluded and the defendant is acquitted.75 The judges cannot render a verdict the day the trial ends, they must retire and think about the case, looking for loopholes, until the following day.76

67 Deuteronomy 17:6, 19:15, Numbers 35:30.

68 BABYLONIAN TALMUD, supra note 2, Sanhedrin 80b1.

69 Id. at 81b2.

70 Id. at 37b1.

71 See Irene M. Rosenberg, Yale L. Rosenberg & Bentzion S. , Murder by Gruma: Causation in Homicide Cases Under Jewish Law, 80 B.U. L. REV. 1017, 1051 (2000).

72 BABYLONIAN TALMUD, supra note 2, Sanhedrin 9b2.

73 Id.

74 Id. at 37a3, 40a1-40a4.

75 See Irene M. Rosenberg & Yale L. Rosenberg, Guilt: Henry Friendly Meets the MaHaRaL of Prague, 90 MICH. L. REV. 604, 619-25 (1991)

76 BABYLONIAN TALMUD, supra note 2, Sanhedrin 40a3. See also Irene M. Rosenberg & Yale L. Rosenberg, Guilt: Henry Friendly Meets the MaHaRaL of Prague, 90 MICH. L. REV. 604, 619-25 (1991)(describing and analyzing the overnight deliberation law).

15 [18] The difficulty in obtaining a conviction in the Jewish courts77 is captured in a famous

Talmudic passage discussing whether a court is named the "bloody Sanhedrin" because it convicted one person in seven years or one person in seventy years.78 Some argue that these laws were merely aspirational or idealistic and were never actually implemented.79 The difficulty is that the

Talmud is replete with references to actual cases,80 thus indicating that they were of practical import. In any event, the strict rules governing the criminal law clearly represent normative Jewish law.

[19] As noted above, there are disputes as to the content of the Noahide law regarding the establishment of a legal system, but most agree that this commandment is governed by at least some of the super-stringent rules of Jewish law and legal procedure.81 However, there are exceptions.82 A Noahide may be convicted by one judge.83 It is unclear whether circumstantial

77 Many of the safeguards applicable in the Jewish courts did not apply to the king's court. See THE CODE OF M AIMONIDES, Book 14: The Book of Judges, Kings and Wars 3:8-10, at 213-14 (Abraham M. Hershman trans., 1949). Furthermore, in times of emergency some of the rules were suspended for short periods of time even in the rabbinic courts. See BABYLONIAN TALMUD, supra note 2, at 46a3 (allowing punishment without the usual safeguards because of the exigencies of the times).

78 BABYLONIAN TALMUD, supra note 2, Makkos 7a1.

79 See, e.g., GEORGE F. MOORE, 2 JUDAISM 186-87 (1930).

80 See, e.g., AARON SCHREIBER, JEWISH LAW AND DECISION-MAKING 278 (1979).

81 See generally, BABYLONIAN TALMUD, supra note 2, Sanhedrin 56b3 n.33.

82 See 1 MIDRASH RABBAH, Genesis, supra note 3 at 279-80 (noting that the Noahide prohibition against bloodshed encompasses murder by an agent, the killing of an embryo, and the procedural rule that confessions are admissible).

83 BABYLONIAN TALMUD, supra note 2, Sanhedrin 57b1.

16 evidence is sufficient to establish guilt.84 Defendants are presumed to know the Seven Noahide laws, and therefore, a witness need not warn them that they are about to commit a crime.85 There need be only one witness to convict, if he is known to be a righteous person. If the witness's character is not known, two witnesses are required.86 A defendant may testify against himself, but since his character is then in issue, a second witness is required to support a verdict of guilt.87 As in

Jewish law, a witness can only be male, however he may be related to the defendant, as can the judge.88 These procedures are extrapolated from various biblical sources.89

[20] In Genesis 9:5, which is a superfluous verse,90 God says to Noah: "However, your blood which belongs to your souls I will demand; of every beast will I demand it; but of man, of every man for that of his brother I will demand the soul of man."91 The words "your blood which belongs

84 Compare CLORFENE & ROGALSKY, supra note 4, at 102, with LICHTENSTEIN, supra note 15, at 31.

85 See BABYLONIAN TALMUD, supra note 2, Sanhedrin 57b1; CLORFENE & ROGALSKY, supra note 4, at 102. See also SEFER HAHINNUCH, supra note 4, at 147-49 (arguing that notice is not needed because "it makes no difference in their [Noahide] law, whether a transgression occurred unintentionally or deliberately"). This is contrary to Jewish law. See Irene M. Rosenberg, Yale L. Rosenberg & Bentzion S. Turin, Murder by Gruma: Causation in Homicide Cases Under Jewish Law, 80 B.U. L. REV. 1017, 1024-30 (2000)(noting the various grades of homicide under Jewish law).

86 CLORFENE & ROGALSKY, supra note 4 at 108.

87 Id. In American law a confession need only be supported by evidence that the crime occurred. Smith v. United States, 348 U.S. 147, 153-54 (1954)(noting that generally guilt can be established by the defendant's uncorroborated confession).

88 BABYLONIAN TALMUD, supra note 2, Sanhedrin 57b1.

89 Id.

90 Id. at 57b1 n.4.

17 to your souls, I will demand," teaches that a person may be be executed by one judge,92 that no prior warning is required is learned from the words "of every beast will I demand it,"93 that only one witness is necessary to convict stems from "I will demand it,"94 that a woman may not testify is alluded to by the words "from the hand of man,"95 and finally, that the testimony of a relative is permitted comes from "every man's brother."96

[21] One can argue that these are only minimum requirements, and therefore Noahides may require stricter rules. On the other hand, one can conclude that since the Talmud specifically mentions the more lenient rules applying to Noahide laws, they are bound to convict people based on these less strict practices.97 However, notwithstanding any differences between Noahide and

Jewish courts, it is clear that the former must at least adhere to procedures and rules that assure not only the appearance of fairness, but also prevent conviction of the innocent, a problem that we in the United States have yet to solve.98 The Noahide law teaches us that following the rules is

91 Id. at 57b1 nn. 4 & 5.

92 Id. at 57b5 (noting that the singular "I" is used).

93 BABYLONIAN TALMUD, supra note 2, Sanhedrin 57b1 n.6 (arguing that a murderer, just as a beast, need not receive a warning).

94 Id. at 57b1 & note 7.

95 Id. at 57b1 & note 8.

96 Id. at 57b1 & note 9.

97 RAKOVER, supra note 5 at 73.

98 See Hugo A. Bedau & Michael L. Radelet, Miscarriages of Justice in Potentially Capital Cases, 40 STAN. L. REV. 21, 35-36 (1987)(concluding from a study of 350 defendants sentenced to death, that 40% were innocent); see also Herrera v. Collins, 506 U.S. 390, 400 (1993)(ruling that claims of actual innocence unconnected to a constitutional violation is not cognizable in federal habeas

18 important and indeed doing so may assure that correct decisions are rendered. The rules, however, must reflect a humane substantive law:

[T]he commandment to establish a legal system requires the establishment of a just legal system, one that is applied with fairness and before whom all are equal. . . . Law that violates fundamental human values does not satisfy modern conceptions of the rule of law and certainly does not meet the Noahide obligation to create a just legal system. Those who follow the dictates of an unjust legal system are held accountable for obeying the law and not resisting it. It was on this basis that war criminals were tried and convicted at the international tribunal in Nurenberg after World War II.99

[22] "And God said, `Let us make Man in our image, after our likeness.'"100 God then commanded man to "[b]e fruitful and multiply."101 But understanding the essence of His creation all too well, He then directed man to establish courts of law to assure justice and harmony. That commandment is a precious gift to all people.

corpus).

99 RAKOVER, supra note 5 at 7-8 (emphasis in original).

100 Genesis 1:26.

101 Id.

19 God-fearer God-fearers (Greek: φοβούμενος τὸν Θεόν, Phoboumenos ton Theon)[1] or God-worshippers (Greek: θεοσεβής, Theosebes)[1] were a numerous class of gentile sympathizers to Hellenistic Judaism that existed in the Greco-Roman world,[2][3][4][5] which observed certain Jewish religious rites and traditions without becoming full converts to Judaism.[2][3][6][7] The concept has precedents in the proselytes of the Hebrew Bible.

Sardis Synagogue (3rd century, Turkey) had a large community of God-fearers and Contents Jews integrated into the Roman civic life. Overview Origin, history, status and diffusion Sources Hebrew Bible In inscriptions, texts and papyri In early Christian writings Role in Pauline Christianity See also Notes and references External links

Overview

Origin, history, status and diffusion Over the last 50 years a growing number of scholars of Judaic studies and history of Judaism became interested in the subject of God-fearers and their relationship with Hellenistic Judaism and early Christianity. According to the most common assumption,[8] Jews that lived in the Greco-Roman world during the Hellenistic and Roman period were not involved in active missionary efforts of mass conversion among Pagans,[9] although many historians disagree.[8][10][11][12]

As Jews emigrated and settled in the Roman provinces of the Empire, Judaism became an appealing religion to a large number of Pagans, for many reasons;[6][7][11] God-fearers and proselytes that underwent full conversion were Greeks or Romans, and came from all social classes: they were mostly women[10] and freedmen[10] (liberti), but there were also artisans, soldiers and few people of high status, like patricians and senators.[10]

The class of God-fearers existed between the 1st[11] and the 3rd century CE.[13][14] They are mentioned in Latin and Greek literature, Flavius Josephus' and Philo's historical works, , early Christian writings, and other contemporary sources such as synagogue inscriptions from Diaspora communities[6][7][14] (Palestine,[10] [2] and Minor).[6][7][10]

Sources

Hebrew Bible In the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh), there is some recognition of gentile monotheistic worship as being directed toward the God of the Jews. This forms the category of yir’ei HaShem/yir’ei Shamayim meaning "Fearers of the Name"/"Fearers of Heaven",[4][14] "the Name" being a , יראי השם :Hebrew) Jewish euphemism for Yahweh, cf. Psalm 115:11 (https://www.mechon- mamre.org/p/pt/pt26b5.htm#11)).[15][16] This was developed by later rabbinic literature into the concept of Noahides, gentiles that follow the Seven Laws of Noah, which rabbinic writings assigned to the Noahic Covenant.[17]

In inscriptions, texts and papyri The Greek terms that refer to God-fearers (theosebeis, sebomenoi, phoboumenoi, metuentes)[4][14][18] are found in ancient literature (Greek, Roman, and Jewish) and synagogue inscriptions discovered in Aphrodisias,[6][14][19] Panticapaeum, Tralles, Sardis, Venosa, Lorium (in Rome), Rhodes, Deliler (Philadelphia) and Miletus.[6][7]

Judging from the distinctions in the Acts of the Apostles it is thought that they did not become gerim tzedekim,[20] which required circumcision,[21] although the evidence across the centuries varies widely and the meaning of the term may have included all kinds of sympathetic gentiles, proselytes or not.[22] There are also around 300 text references (4th century BCE to 3rd century CE) to a sect of Hypsistarians, some of whom practiced Sabbath and which many scholars see as sympathizers with Judaism related to God-fearers.[23]

In early Christian writings God-fearers is used of those pagans who attached themselves in varying degrees to Judaism without becoming total converts, and are referred to in the Christian New Testament's Acts of the Apostles,[24] which describes the Apostolic Age of the 1st century.

So Paul stood up, and motioning with his hand said: "Men of Israel, and you that fear God (οἱ φοβούμενοι τὸν θεόν), listen".

— Acts 13:16

Brethren, sons of the family of Abraham, and those among you that fear God (ἐν ὑμῖν φοβούμενοι τὸν θεόν), to us has been sent the message of this salvation.

— Acts 13:26 (RSV)

Role in Pauline Christianity Judaising Gentiles and God-fearers are considered by modern scholars to be of significant importance to the growth of early Christianity;[25][26] they represented a group of Gentiles who shared religious ideas and practices with Jews, to one degree or another. However, the God-fearers were only "partial" converts, engaged in certain Jewish rites and traditions without taking a step further to actual conversion to Judaism, which would have required full adherence to the 613 Mitzvot, including various prohibitions (, circumcision, Shabbat observance etc.) that were generally unattractive to would-be Gentile (largely Greek) converts. The rite of circumcision was especially unappealing and execrable in Classical civilization[26][27][28] because it was the custom to spend an hour a day or so exercising nude in the gymnasium and in Roman baths, therefore Jewish men did not want to be seen in public deprived of their foreskins.[27][28] Hellenistic and Roman culture both found circumcision to be cruel and repulsive.[27][28]

The Apostle Paul in his letters fiercely criticized the Judaizers that demanded circumcision for Gentile converts, and opposed them;[26][29][30][31] he stressed instead that faith in Christ constituted a New Covenant with God,[31] a covenant which essentially provides the justification and salvation for Gentiles from the harsh edicts of the Mosaic Law, a New Covenant that didn't require circumcision[26][29][30][31] (see also Justification by faith, Pauline passages supporting antinomianism, Abrogation of Old Covenant laws). of Thyatira, who became Paul's first convert in , is described as "a worshipper of God" (Acts 16:14 (https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts%2016:14– 16:14&version=rsv)); the Roman soldier Cornelius and the Ethiopian eunuch are also considered by modern scholars as God-fearers.[25][32]

In Paul's message of salvation through faith in Christ as opposed to submission under the Mosaic Law,[26] many God-fearers found an essentially Jewish group to which they could belong without the necessity of their accepting Jewish Law. Aside from earning Paul's group a wide following, this view was generalized in the eventual conclusion that converts to Christianity need not first accept all Jewish Law (see Apostolic Decree), a fact indispensable to the spread of the early Christians which would eventually lead to the distinction between Judaism and Christianity as two separate religions.

See also Anti-Judaism in early Christianity Biblical law in Christianity Council of Jerusalem Dual-covenant theology Fear of God Ger toshav Jewish Christians New Perspective on Paul Noahidism Sabians Split of early Supersessionism

Notes and references 1. Sim, David C. & MacLaren, James S. (2013). "Chapter 1, Paragraph 3: God-Fearers" (http s://books.google.it/books?id=qNBBAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA15&lpg=PA15). Attitudes to Gentiles in Ancient Judaism and Early Christianity. Bloomsbury Publishing. pp. 15–23. ISBN 978-0- 56763-766-6. 2. Kraabel, A. T. (1981). "The Disappearance of the 'God-Fearers' ". Numen. Leiden: Brill Publishers. 28 (2): 113–126. JSTOR 3270014 (https://www.jstor.org/stable/3270014). 3. Feldman, Louis H.; Reinhold, Meyer, eds. (1996). " "Sympathizers" (God-fearers)" (https://b ooks.google.com/books?id=_kvhzxTf6QoC&pg=PA137). Jewish Life and Thought among Greeks and Romans. Edinburgh: T&T Clark. pp. 137–145. ISBN 0-567-08525-2. 4. Marcus, Ralph. "The Sebomenoi in Josephus". Jewish Social Studies. Indiana University Press. 14 (3): 247–250. JSTOR 4465081 (https://www.jstor.org/stable/4465081). "We know from Pagan, Christian and Jewish sources that during the Hellenistic and early Roman periods some Gentiles were so strongly attracted to Judaism that they became converts and undertook to observe Jewish laws and customs in the same manner as did the Jews themselves. [...] It is also commonly assumed that there were some Gentiles who did not go so far as to become converts but indicated their belief in monotheism and gave up the worship of Pagan gods. How far they went in openly dissociating themselves from Paganism and in associating themselves with Judaism we do not know. These Gentile sympathizers are commonly thought to be referred by the terms sebomenoi or phoboumenoi ton theon and metuentes in Greek and Latin sources, and yir᾿ê shamayim "fearers of Heaven" (i.e. God-fearers) in some early Rabbinic passages." 5. Geoffrey W. Bromiley (1986). The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. 3 (Fully Revised ed.). Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans. p. 1010. ISBN 0-8028-3783-2. "Many scholars see a parallel between the "God-fearers" in rabbinic literature and the "God- fearers" in the NT. In rabbinic literature the ger toshab was a Gentile who observed the Noachian commandments but was not considered a convert to Judaism because he did not agree to circumcision. [...] some scholars have made the mistake of calling the ger toshab a "proselyte" or "semiproselyte." But the ger toshab was really a resident alien in Israel. Some scholars have claimed that the term "those who fear God" (yir᾿ei Elohim/Shamayim) was used in rabbinic literature to denote Gentiles who were on the fringe of the synagogue. They were not converts to Judaism, although they were attracted to the Jewish religion and observed part of the law." 6. Trebilco, Paul, I «Timorati di Dio» in Lewin, Ariel (editor), Gli ebrei nell'Impero romano: saggi vari, pp. 161–193, La Giuntina, Florence, 2001, ISBN 88-8057-120-6. 7. Trebilco, Paul; Davies, William David & Finkelstein, Louis. "Chapter 3: The Jews in Asia Minor, 66-c. 235 CE" (https://books.google.it/books?id=BjtWLZhhMoYC&pg=PA80&lpg=PA8 0). In Katz, Steven T. (ed.). The Cambridge History of Judaism: Volume 4, The Late Roman- Rabbinic Period. Cambridge University Press. pp. 80–82. ISBN 978-0-521-77248-8. 8. Sand, Shlomo; Ilany, Ofri (21 March 2008). "Shattering a 'National Mythology' " (https://www. haaretz.com/1.5007179). Haaretz. Tel Aviv. Retrieved 26 July 2018. "The people did not spread, but the Jewish religion spread. Judaism was a converting religion. Contrary to popular opinion, in early Judaism there was a great thirst to convert others. The Hasmoneans were the first to begin to produce large numbers of Jews through mass conversion, under the influence of Hellenism. The conversions between the Hasmonean Revolt and Bar Kochba's rebellion are what prepared the ground for the subsequent, wide- spread dissemination of Christianity. After the victory of Christianity in the fourth century, the momentum of conversion was stopped in the Christian world, and there was a steep drop in the number of Jews. Presumably many of the Jews who appeared around the Mediterranean became Christians. But then Judaism started to permeate other regions – pagan regions, for example, such as Yemen and North . Had Judaism not continued to advance at that stage and had it not continued to convert people in the pagan world, we would have remained a completely marginal religion, if we survived at all." 9. Catherine Hezser, Jewish Travel in Antiquity (2011), Mohr Siebeck, p. 438, Tübingen, Germany, ISBN 978-3-16-150889-9. 10. Louis H. Feldman, "The Omnipresence of the God-Fearers" (http://cojs.org/louis-h-feldman- omnipresence-god-fearers-biblical-archaeology-review-12-5-1986/), Biblical Archaeology Review 12, 5 (1986), Center for Online Judaic Studies. 11. Shaye J. D. Cohen, From the Maccabees to the Mishnah (1989), pp. 55–59, Westminster John Knox Press, Louisville: Kentucky, ISBN 978-0-664-25017-1. 12. A. T. Kraabel, J. Andrew Overman, Robert S. MacLennan, Diaspora Jews and Judaism: essays in honor of, and in dialogue with, A. Thomas Kraabel (1992), Scholars Press, ISBN 978-15-55406-96-7. "As pious gentiles, the God-fearers stood somewhere between Greco-Roman piety and Jewish piety in the synagogue. In his classic but now somewhat outdated study titled Judaism in the First Centuries of the Christian Era, Harvard scholar George Foot Moore argued that the existence of the God-fearers provides evidence for the synagogue's own missionary work outside of Palestine during the first century C.E. The God-fearers were the result of this Jewish missionary movement." 13. Robert F. Tannenbaum, "Jews and God-Fearers in the Holy City of Aphrodite" (http://cojs.or g/robert-f-tannenbaum-jews-god-fearers-holy-city-aphrodite-biblical-archaeology-review-12- 5-1986/), Biblical Archaeology Review 12, 5 (1986), Center for Online Judaic Studies. 14. Louis H. Feldman (1992). " "Sympathizers" with Judaism" (https://books.google.com/books? id=jVyzbHAJ_hAC&pg=PA389). In Attridge, Harold W.; Hata, Gohei (eds.). Eusebius, Christianity, and Judaism. Detroit: Wayne State University Press. pp. 389–395. ISBN 0- 8143-2361-8. 15. and Global Dialogue: Religious Pluralism and the Pursuit of Peace. ed. Roger Boase, Hassan Bin (FRW) Talal . Ashgate. 2010 Page 203 "Nevertheless, by late biblical times Israelites realised that there were other people in the world who worshipped the one, unseen God. Such people form the category of yir'ei Hashem (God-fearers, cf. Psalm 115:11); perhaps it is to ..." 16. Jeffrey M. Cohen 500 questions and answers on Chanukah 2006 "Hence the references to them in Jewish sources such as Sebomenoi or Yir'ei Hashem (God-fearers). Many of them accepted monotheism, though held back from many other basic ritual precepts." 17. Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin 56a, 56b. 18. Pieter W. van der Horst, God-fearers (theosebeis) (http://classics.oxfordre.com/view/10.109 3/acrefore/9780199381135.001.0001/acrefore-9780199381135-e-8035) (2015), Oxford Classical Dictionary. 19. The face of New Testament studies: a survey of recent research Scot McKnight, Grant R. Osborne – 2004 "Theosebeis in the Aphrodisias Inscription" RB 2 [1992]: 418–24), who surmises that the two God-worshipers, Eummonius and Antoninus, who were studying Torah were actual God-fearers, but those listed on the other side of the pillar were ..." 20. Jacobs, Joseph; Hirsch, Emil G. (1906), "Proselyte" (http://jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/ 12391-proselyte#anchor5), Jewish Encyclopedia, "In contradistinction to the ger toshab, the full proselyte was designated as "ger ha-ẓedeḳ," "ger ha-berit" (a sincere and righteous proselyte, one who has submitted to circumcision; see Mek., Mishpaṭim, 18; Gerim iii.). The common, technical term for "making a convert" in rabbinical literature is "ḳabbel" (to accept), or "ḳareb taḥat kanfe ha-Shekinah" (to bring one near, or under the wings of, the Shekinah). This phrase plainly presupposes an active propaganda for winning converts (comp. Cant. R. v. 16, where God is referred to as making propagandic efforts). In fact, that proselytes are welcome in Israel and are beloved of God is the theme of many a rabbinical homily (Ruth R. iii.; Tan., Wayiḳra [ed. Buber, 3]; see also Mek., Mishpaṭim, 18; Tosef., Demai, ii. 10; Bek. 32a)." 21. Proselytes and God-fearers Kirsopp Lake 22. Todd C. Penner, In praise of Christian origins: Stephen and the Hellenists, p. 226, 2004: "The category of Theosebes is notoriously difficult to delineate. It is debatable whether or not the term was ever a widely recognized technical designation of a Gentile "hanger-on," and much of the evidence is difficult to date". 23. James D. Arvila, p. 29. 24. Journal of Biblical Studies: Godfearer, by J. Brian Tucker (http://www.journalofbiblicalstudie s.org/Issue10/Godfearer.pdf): "The traditional understanding of God-fearers, i.e. F.F. Bruce, “God-fearers were Gentiles who attached themselves in varying degrees to the Jewish worship and way of life without as yet becoming full proselytes.”" 25. Dunn, James D. G. (2009). Beginning from Jerusalem: Christianity in the Making. 2. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans. p. 446. ISBN 978-0-8028-3932-9. 26. Bisschops, Ralph (January 2017). "Metaphor in Religious Transformation: 'Circumcision of the Heart' in Paul of Tarsus" (https://www.researchgate.net/publication/312589528_Metapho r_in_Religious_Transformation_'Circumcision_of_the_Heart'_in_Paul_of_Tarsus) (PDF). In Chilton, Paul; Kopytowska, Monika (eds.). Language, Religion and the Human Mind. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 1–30. doi:10.1093/oso/9780190636647.003.0012 (http s://doi.org/10.1093%2Foso%2F9780190636647.003.0012). ISBN 978-0-19-063664-7. Retrieved 30 November 2019. 27. Rubin, Jody P. (July 1980). "Celsus' Decircumcision Operation: Medical and Historical Implications" (http://www.cirp.org/library/restoration/rubin/). Urology. Elsevier. 16 (1): 121– 124. doi:10.1016/0090-4295(80)90354-4 (https://doi.org/10.1016%2F0090-4295%2880%29 90354-4). PMID 6994325 (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/6994325). Retrieved 30 November 2019. 28. Jewish Encyclopedia: Circumcision: In Apocryphal and Rabbinical Literature (http://jewishen cyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=514&letter=C&search=circumcision#2): "Contact with Grecian life, especially at the games of the arena [which involved nudity], made this distinction obnoxious to the Hellenists, or antinationalists; and the consequence was their attempt to appear like the Greeks by epispasm ("making themselves foreskins"; I Macc. i. 15; Josephus, "Ant." xii. 5, § 1; Assumptio Mosis, viii.; I Cor. vii. 18; Tosef., Shab. xv. 9; Yeb. 72a, b; Yer. Peah i. 16b; Yeb. viii. 9a). All the more did the law-observing Jews defy the edict of Antiochus Epiphanes prohibiting circumcision (I Macc. i. 48, 60; ii. 46); and the Jewish women showed their loyalty to the Law, even at the risk of their lives, by themselves circumcising their sons."; Hodges, Frederick M. (2001). "The Ideal Prepuce in Ancient Greece and Rome: Male Genital Aesthetics and Their Relation to Lipodermos, Circumcision, Foreskin Restoration, and the Kynodesme" (http://www.cirp.org/library/history/ hodges2/) (PDF). Bulletin of the History of Medicine. Johns Hopkins University Press. 75 (Fall 2001): 375–405. doi:10.1353/bhm.2001.0119 (https://doi.org/10.1353%2Fbhm.2001.01 19). PMID 11568485 (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11568485). Retrieved 30 November 2019. 29. Dunn, James D. G., ed. (2007). " 'Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision, but...' " (https://b ooks.google.com/books?id=hD8r9kotxQgC&pg=PA314). The New Perspective on Paul: Collected Essays. Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament. 185. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck. pp. 314–330. ISBN 978-3-16-149518-2. Retrieved 30 November 2019. 30. Thiessen, Matthew (2016). "Gentile Sons and Seed of Abraham" (https://books.google.com/ books?id=e3dYCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA105). Paul and the Gentile Problem. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 105–115. ISBN 978-0-19-027175-6. Retrieved 30 November 2019. 31. Acts 15:1–2 (https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts%2015:1–15:2&version= rsv), Acts 15:6–10 (https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts%2015:6–15:10&v ersion=rsv), Gal 5:2–3 (https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Galatians%205:2– 5:3&version=rsv), Gal 5:6–12 (https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Galatians% 205:6–5:12&version=rsv), Gal 6:12–15 (https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=G alatians%206:12–6:15&version=rsv), Phil 3:2–3 (https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?s earch=Philippians%203:2–3:3&version=rsv), 1 Cor 7:17–21 (https://www.biblegateway.com/ passage/?search=1_Corinthians%207:17–7:21&version=rsv), Rom 2:17–29 (https://www.bi blegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans%202:17–2:29&version=rsv), Rom 3:9–28 (http s://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans%203:9–3:28&version=rsv), Rom 5:1–11 (https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans%205:1–5:11&version=rs v). 32. Fredriksen, Paula (2018). When Christians Were Jews: The First Generation (https://books. google.com/books?id=NW9yDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA155). London: Yale University Press. p. 155. ISBN 978-0-300-19051-9.

External links

Catholic Encyclopedia: Proselyte (http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12481c.htm) mentions "fearers of God" Louis H. Feldman, “The Omnipresence of the God-Fearers” (http://cojs.org/louis-h-feldman- omnipresence-god-fearers-biblical-archaeology-review-12-5-1986/), Biblical Archaeology Review 12, 5 (1986), Center for Online Judaic Studies A. Chaniotis, "Godfearers in the City of Love" (http://www.bib-arch.org/bar/article.asp?PubID =BSBA&Volume=36&Issue=3&ArticleID=2), Biblical Archaeology Review 36, 3 (2010), Biblical Archaeology Society A. Guttmacher, "Fear of God" (http://jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=71&letter=F&se arch=fear%20of%20god) (1906), Jewish Encyclopedia

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=God-fearer&oldid=934093706"

This page was last edited on 4 January 2020, at 18:57 (UTC).

Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization. Proselyte The biblical term "proselyte" is an anglicization of the Koine Greek term προσήλυτος (proselytos), as used in the Septuagint (Greek Old Testament) for "stranger", i.e. a "newcomer to Israel";[1] a "sojourner in the land",[2] and in the Greek New Testament[3] for a first-century convert to Judaism, generally from [ger toshav).[3) גר תושב Ancient Greek religion. It is a translation of the Biblical Hebrew phrase

"Proselyte" also has the more general meaning in English of a new convert to any particular religion or doctrine.

Contents History of the proselyte in Israel In Judaism In early Christianity See also References External links

History of the proselyte in Israel The Law of Moses made specific regulations regarding the admission into Israel's community of such as were not born Israelites.[4]

The New Testament makes mention of proselytes in synagogues.[5] The name proselyte occurs in the New Testament only in Matthew and Acts.[6] The name by which they are commonly designated is that of "devout men", or men "fearing God", or "worshipping God", "fearers of Heaven" or "God- fearers".[7][8][9][10]

On the historical meaning of the Greek word, in chapter 2 of the apocryphal gospel Acts of Pilate (roughly dated from 150 to 400 CE), Annas and Caiaphas define "proselyte" for Pilate:

And Pilate, summoning the Jews, says to them: You know that my wife is a worshipper of God, and prefers to adhere to the Jewish religion along with you. ... Annas and Caiaphas say to Pilate: All the multitude of us cry out that he [Jesus] was born of fornication, and are not believed; these [who disagree] are proselytes, and his disciples. And Pilate, calling Annas and Caiaphas, says to them: What are proselytes? They say to him: They are by birth children of the Greeks, and have now become Jews.

— Roberts Translation[11]

In Judaism There are two kinds of proselytes in Rabbinic Judaism: ger tzedek (righteous proselytes, proselytes of righteousness, religious proselyte, devout proselyte) and ger toshav (resident proselyte, proselytes of the gate, limited proselyte, half-proselyte).

A "righteous proselyte" is a gentile who has converted to Judaism, is bound to all the doctrines and precepts of the Jewish religion, and is considered a full member of the Jewish people. The proselyte is circumcised as an adult (milah l'shem giur), if male, and immerses in a mikvah to formally effect the conversion.

A "gate proselyte"[12] is a resident alien who lives in the Land of Israel and follows some of the Jewish customs.[10] They are not required to be circumcised nor to comply with the whole of the Torah. They are bound only to conform to the Seven Laws of Noah[10] (do not worship idols, do not blaspheme God's name, do not murder, do not commit fornication (immoral sexual acts), do not steal, do not tear the limb from a living animal, and do not fail to establish rule of law) to be assured of a place in the World to come.

In early Christianity The "religious proselytes" spoken of in Early Christian writings[13] were likely righteous proselytes rather than gate proselytes.[14] There is some debate however as to whether proselytes known as God- fearers (Phoboumenoi)[15] and/or Worshippers (Sebomenoi),[16] who were baptized but not circumcised, fall into the righteous or gate category. The New Testament uses the word four times, exclusively referring to converts to Judaism, and never referring to conversion to Christianity[17].

See also

Anusim Gerim Noahidism Sons of Noah

References 1. 1 Chronicles 22:2 (https://bible.oremus.org/?passage=1+Chronicles+22:2–22:2&version=nr sv) 2. Exodus 12:48 (https://bible.oremus.org/?passage=Exodus+12:48–12:48&version=nrsv); 20:10 (https://bible.oremus.org/?passage=Exodus+20:10–20:10&version=nrsv); 22:21 (http s://bible.oremus.org/?passage=Exodus+22:21–22:21&version=nrsv) 3. "Genesis 1:1 (KJV)" (https://www.blueletterbible.org/kjv/gen/1/1/s_1001). Blue Letter Bible. 4. Exodus 20:10 (https://bible.oremus.org/?passage=Exodus+20:10–20:10&version=nrsv); 23:12 (https://bible.oremus.org/?passage=Exodus+23:12–23:12&version=nrsv); 12:19 (http s://bible.oremus.org/?passage=Exodus+12:19–12:19&version=nrsv); 12:48 (https://bible.ore mus.org/?passage=Exodus+12:48–12:48&version=nrsv); Deuteronomy 5:14 (https://bible.or emus.org/?passage=Deuteronomy+5:14–5:14&version=nrsv); 16:11-14 (https://bible.oremu s.org/?passage=Deuteronomy+16:11–16:14&version=nrsv), etc. 5. Acts 10:2-7 (https://bible.oremus.org/?passage=Acts+10:2–10:7&version=nrsv); 13:42-50 (h ttps://bible.oremus.org/?passage=Acts+13:42–13:50&version=nrsv); 17:4 (https://bible.orem us.org/?passage=Acts+17:4–17:4&version=nrsv); 18:7 (https://bible.oremus.org/?passage= Acts+18:7–18:7&version=nrsv); Luke 7:5 (https://bible.oremus.org/?passage=Luke+7:5–7:5 &version=nrsv) 6. Matthew 23:15 (https://bible.oremus.org/?passage=Matthew+23:15–23:15&version=nrsv); Acts 2:10 (https://bible.oremus.org/?passage=Acts+2:10–2:10&version=nrsv); 6:4 (https://bi ble.oremus.org/?passage=Acts+6:4–6:4&version=nrsv); 13:43 (https://bible.oremus.org/?pa ssage=Acts+13:43–13:43&version=nrsv) 7. Louis H. Feldman (1992). " "Sympathizers" with Judaism" (https://books.google.com/books? id=jVyzbHAJ_hAC&pg=PA389). In Attridge, Harold W.; Hata, Gohei (eds.). Eusebius, Christianity, and Judaism. Detroit: Wayne State University Press. pp. 389–395. ISBN 0- 8143-2361-8. 8. Feldman, Louis H.; Reinhold, Meyer, eds. (1996). " "Sympathizers" (God-fearers)" (https://b ooks.google.com/books?id=_kvhzxTf6QoC&pg=PA137). Jewish Life and Thought among Greeks and Romans. Edinburgh: T&T Clark. pp. 137–145. ISBN 0-567-08525-2. 9. Marcus, Ralph. "The Sebomenoi in Josephus". Jewish Social Studies. Indiana University Press. 14 (3): 247–250. JSTOR 4465081 (https://www.jstor.org/stable/4465081). "We know from Pagan, Christian and Jewish sources that during the Hellenistic and early Roman periods some Gentiles were so strongly attracted to Judaism that they became converts and undertook to observe Jewish laws and customs in the same manner as did the Jews themselves. [...] It is also commonly assumed that there were some Gentiles who did not go so far as to become converts but indicated their belief in monotheism and gave up the worship of Pagan gods. How far they went in openly dissociating themselves from Paganism and in associating themselves with Judaism we do not know. These Gentile sympathizers are commonly thought to be referred by the terms sebomenoi or phoboumenoi ton theon and metuentes in Greek and Latin sources, and yir᾿ê shamayim "fearers of Heaven" (i.e. God-fearers) in some early Rabbinic passages." 10. Proselytes ad God-fearers.-Many scholars see a parallel between the "God- “ fearers" in rabbinic literature and the "God-fearers" in the NT. In rabbinic literature the ger toshab was a Gentile who observed the Noachian commandments but was not considered a convert to Judaism because he did not agree to circumcision. [...] some scholars have made the mistake of calling the ger toshab a "proselyte" or "semiproselyte." But the ger toshab was really a resident alien in Israel. Some scholars have claimed that the term "those who fear God" (yir᾿ei Elohim/Shamayim) was used in rabbinic literature to denote Gentiles who were on the fringe of the synagogue. They were not converts to Judaism, although they were attracted to the Jewish religion and observed part of the law. ” — Geoffrey W. Bromiley, The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1986, Fully Revised Edition), p. 1010, Vol. 3, Eerdmans, Grand Rapids: Michigan, ISBN 0-8028-3783-2. 11. "Gospel of Nicodemus: Acts of Pilate (ANF text)" (http://earlychristianwritings.com/text/gosp elnicodemus-roberts.html). earlychristianwritings.com. 12. bible verse Exodus 20:9-10, Deut 5:13-14, Deut 14:20-29 Deut 16:10-14, Deut 24:13-14, Deut 26:11-12, Deut 31:11-12 13. Acts 13:43 (https://bible.oremus.org/?passage=Acts+13:43–13:43&version=nrsv) 14. The Bauer lexicon calls it a "mixed expression" 15. Luke 1:50 (https://bible.oremus.org/?passage=Luke+1:50–1:50&version=nrsv),18:2-4 (http s://bible.oremus.org/?passage=Luke+18:2–18:4&version=nrsv); Acts 10:2 (https://bible.ore mus.org/?passage=Acts+10:2–10:2&version=nrsv),10:22 (https://bible.oremus.org/?passag e=Acts+10:22–10:22&version=nrsv),10:35 (https://bible.oremus.org/?passage=Acts+10:35– 10:35&version=nrsv),13:16 (https://bible.oremus.org/?passage=Acts+13:16–13:16&version =nrsv),13:26 (https://bible.oremus.org/?passage=Acts+13:26–13:26&version=nrsv); 1 Pet 2:17 (https://bible.oremus.org/?passage=1+Peter+2:17–2:17&version=nrsv); Rev 14:7 (http s://bible.oremus.org/?passage=Revelation+14:7–14:7&version=nrsv), 19:5 (https://bible.ore mus.org/?passage=Revelation+19:5–19:5&version=nrsv) 16. Acts 13:43 (https://bible.oremus.org/?passage=Acts+13:43–13:43&version=nrsv),13:50 (htt ps://bible.oremus.org/?passage=Acts+13:50–13:50&version=nrsv),16:14 (https://bible.orem us.org/?passage=Acts+16:14–16:14&version=nrsv),17:4 (https://bible.oremus.org/?passage =Acts+17:4–17:4&version=nrsv),17:17 (https://bible.oremus.org/?passage=Acts+17:17–17: 17&version=nrsv),18:7 (https://bible.oremus.org/?passage=Acts+18:7–18:7&version=nrsv); Josephus Ant. 14.7.2 (http://www.ccel.org/j/josephus/works/ant-14.htm) 17. Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, Gerhard Kittel, Gerhard Friedrich, trans. Geoffrey Bromiley, volume VI p742.

External links

BeJewish.org (http://www.BeJewish.org) Abrahams, Israel (1911). "Proselyte" (https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/1911_Encyclop%C3%A 6dia_Britannica/Proselyte). Encyclopædia Britannica. 22 (11th ed.). pp. 455–456. Driscoll, James F. (1911). "Proselyte" (https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Catholic_Encycloped ia_(1913)/Proselyte). Catholic Encyclopedia. 12. Jacobs, Joseph; Hirsch, Emil G. (1905). "Proselyte" (http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/ articles/12391-proselyte). The Jewish Encyclopedia. 10. pp. 220–224. AskNoah.org - United Noahide Academies (http://www.asknoah.org) Noahide.org - Institute of Noahide Law (http://www.noahide.org) HaMikdash.com - The Responsibilities of the Gentiles (https://web.archive.org/web/2006071 8210224/http://www.hamikdash.com/Rambam.html) BneiNoach.org - Noachide Resource Center (http://www.bneinoach.org/news.php) Noachide.org.uk - Bnai Noach in the UK (http://www.noachide.org.uk) Free Online Book: 'The Path of the Righteous Gentile' (https://web.archive.org/web/200607 11034402/http://www.moshiach.com/action/morality/in-depth.php) Gentiles and Circumcision (https://web.archive.org/web/20060613184451/http://www.gentile s-and-circumcision.info/) Godfearers in the City of Love (http://www.bib-arch.org/bar/article.asp?PubID=BSBA&Volu me=36&Issue=3&ArticleID=2) Biblical Archaeology Review

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Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization. Generations of Noah The Generations of Noah or Table of Nations, broadly referred to as Origines gentium, is a genealogy of the sons of Noah, according to the Hebrew Bible (Genesis 10), and their dispersion into many lands after the Flood,[1] focusing on the major known societies. The term nations to describe the descendants is a standard English translation of the Hebrew word "goy", following the c. 400 CE Latin Vulgate's "nationes", and does not have the same political connotations that the word entails today.[2]

The list of 70 names introduces for the first time a number of well known ethnonyms and toponyms important to biblical [3] geography, such as Noah's three sons Shem, and , This T and O , from the first from which 18th century German scholars at the Göttingen printed version of Isidore's School of History derived the race terminology Semites, Etymologiae, identifies the three and Japhetites. Certain of Noah's grandsons were also used for known as populated by names of peoples: from Elam, Ashur, Aram, Cush, and Canaan descendants of Sem (Shem), Cham were derived respectively the Elamites, Assyrians, Arameans, (Ham) and Iafeth (Japheth). Cushites, and Canaanites. Likewise from the sons of Canaan: Heth, Jebus, and Amorus were derived Hittites, Jebusites, and Amorites. Further descendants of Noah include Eber – from Shem (from whom come the "Hebrews"); the hunter-king Nimrod – from Cush; and the – from Misrayim.

As Christianity spread across the Roman world, it carried the idea that all people were descended from Noah. But the tradition of Hellenistic Jewish identifications of the ancestry of various peoples, which concentrates very much on the East Mediterranean and the Near East (described below), became stretched and its historicity questioned. Not all Near Eastern people were covered, and northern peoples important to the Late Roman and medieval world, such as the Celtic, Slavic, Germanic, and Nordic peoples were not covered, nor were others of the world's peoples, such as sub-Saharan Africans, Native Americans, and peoples of Central Asia, the Indian subcontinent, the Far East, and Australasia. A variety of arrangements were The world according to the Mosaic devised by scholars in order to make the table fit, with for account (1854 map) example the Scythians, who do feature in the tradition, being claimed as the ancestors of much of northern Europe.[4]

According to Joseph Blenkinsopp, the 70 names in the list express symbolically the unity of humanity, corresponding to the 70 descendants of Israel who go down into Egypt with Jacob at Genesis 46:27 (http s://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt0146.htm#27) and the 70 elders of Israel who visit God with Moses at the covenant ceremony in Exodus 24:1–9 (https://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt0224.htm#1).[5] Contents Table of Nations Book of Chronicles Book of Jubilees Septuagint version 1 Peter Sons of Noah: Shem, Ham and Japheth Problems with identification Ethnological interpretations Extrabiblical sons of Noah See also Notes References Citations Bibliography External links

Table of Nations On the family pedigrees contained in the biblical pericope of Noah, (882‒942) wrote:

The Scriptures have traced the patronymic lineage of the seventy nations to the three sons of Noah, as also the lineage of Abraham and Ishmael, and of Jacob and Esau. The blessed Creator knew that men would find solace at knowing these family pedigrees, since our soul demands of us to know them, so that [all of] mankind will be held in fondness by us, as a tree that has been planted by God in the earth, whose branches have spread out and dispersed eastward and westward, northward and southward, in the habitable part of the earth. It also has the dual function of allowing us to see the multitude as a single individual, and the single individual as a multitude. Along with this, man ought to contemplate also on the names of the countries and of the cities [wherein they settled]."[6]

Maimonides, echoing the same sentiments, wrote that the genealogy of the nations contained in the Law has the unique function of establishing a principle of faith, how that, although from Adam to Moses there was no more than a span of two-thousand five hundred years, and the human race was already spread over all parts of the earth in different families and with different languages, they were still people having a common ancestor and place of beginning.[7]

Book of Genesis Chapters 1–11 of the Book of Genesis are structured around five toledot statements ("these are the generations of..."), of which the "generations of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth" is the fourth. Events before the Genesis flood narrative, the central toledot, correspond to those after: the post-Flood world is a new creation corresponding to the Genesis creation narrative, and like Adam, Noah has three sons who will populate the world. The correspondences extend forward as well: there are 70 names in the Table, corresponding to the 70 Israelites who go down into Egypt at the end of Genesis and to the 70 elders of Israel who go up the mountain at Sinai to meet with God in Exodus. The symbolic force of these numbers is underscored by the way the names are frequently arranged in groups of seven, suggesting that the Table is a symbolic means of implying universal moral obligation.[8] The number 70 also parallels a corruption of the account in the Hebrew religion, the Canaanite mythology, where 70 represents the number of gods in the divine clan who are each assigned a subject people, and where the supreme god El and his consort, Asherah, has the title "Mother/Father of 70 gods," which, due to the coming of monotheism, had to be changed, but its symbolism lived on in the Noah dividing the world between his new religion. sons. Anonymous painter; Russia, 18th century The overall structure of the Table is:

1. Introductory formula, v.1 2. Japheth, vv.2–5 3. Ham, vv.6–20 4. Shem, vv.21–31 5. Concluding formula, v.32.[9] The overall principle governing the assignment of various peoples within the Table is difficult to discern: it purports to describe all humankind, but in reality restricts itself to the Egyptian lands of the south, the Mesopotamian lands, and /Asia Minor and the Ionian Greeks, and in addition, the "sons of Noah" are not organized by geography, language family or ethnic groups within these regions.[10] The Table contains several difficulties: for example, the names Sheba and Havilah are listed twice, first as descendants of Cush the son of Ham (verse 7), and then as sons of Joktan, the great-grandsons of Shem, and while the Cushites are North African in verses 6–7 they are unrelated Mesopotamians in verses 10– 14.[11]

The date of composition of Genesis 1–11 cannot be fixed with any precision, although it seems likely that an early brief nucleus was later expanded with extra data.[12] Portions of the Table itself 'may' derive from the 10th century BCE, while others reflect the 7th century BCE and priestly revisions in the 5th century BCE.[1] Its combination of world review, myth and genealogy corresponds to the work of the Greek historian Hecataeus of Miletus, active c.520 BCE.[13]

Book of Chronicles I Chronicles 1 includes a version of the Table of Nations from Genesis, but edited to make clearer that the intention is to establish the background for Israel. This is done by condensing various branches to focus on the story of Abraham and his offspring. Most notably, it omits Genesis 10:9–14, in which Nimrod, a son of Cush, is linked to various cities in Mesopotamia, thus removing from Cush any Mesopotamian connection. In addition, Nimrod does not appear in any of the numerous Mesopotamian King Lists.[14] Book of Jubilees The Table of Nations is expanded upon in detail in chapters 8–9 of the Book of Jubilees, sometimes known as the "Lesser Genesis," a work from the early .[15] Jubilees is considered pseudepigraphical by most Christian and Jewish sects but thought to have been held in regard by many of the Church Fathers.[16] Its division of the descendants throughout the world are thought to have been heavily influenced by the "Ionian " described in the Histories (Herodotus),[17] Ionian world map and the anomalous treatment of Canaan and Madai are thought to have been "propaganda for the territorial expansion of the Hasmonean state".[18]

Septuagint version The Hebrew bible was translated into Greek in Alexandria at the request of Ptolemy II, who reigned over Egypt 285–246 BCE.[19] Its version of the Table of Nations is substantially the same as that in the Hebrew text, but with the following differences:

It lists Elisa as an extra son of Japheth, giving him eight instead of seven, while continuing to list him also as a son of Javan, as in the Masoretic text. Whereas the Hebrew text lists Shelah as the son of Arpachshad in the line of Shem, the Septuagint has a Cainan as the son of Arpachshad and father of Shelah – the Book of Jubilees gives considerable scope to this figure. Cainan appears again at the end of the list of the sons of Shem. Obal, Joktan's eighth son in the Masoretic text, does not appear.[20]

1 Peter In the First Epistle of Peter, 3:20, the author says that eight righteous persons were saved from the Great Flood, referring to the four named males, and their wives aboard Noah's Ark not enumerated elsewhere in the Bible.

Sons of Noah: Shem, Ham and Japheth The Genesis flood narrative tells how Noah and his three sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth, together with their wives, were saved from the Deluge to repopulate the Earth.

Shem's descendants: Genesis chapter 10 verses 21-30 gives one list of descendants of Shem. In chapter 11 verses 10-26 a second list of descendants of Shem names Abraham and thus the Israelites.[21] In the view of some 17th-century European scholars (e.g., John Webb), the Native American peoples of North and South America, eastern Persia and "the Indias" descended from Shem.[22] Ham's descendants: The forefather of Cush, Egypt, and Put, and of Canaan, whose lands include portions of Africa, Arabia, Syria-Palestine and Mesopotamia. The etymology of his name is uncertain; some scholars have linked it to terms connected with divinity, but a divine or semi-divine status for Ham is unlikely.[23] Japheth's descendants: His name is associated with the mythological Greek Titan Iapetos, and his sons include Javan, the Greek-speaking cities of Ionia.[24] In Genesis 9:27 it forms a pun with the Hebrew root yph: "May God make room [the hiphil of the yph root] for Japheth, that he may live in Shem's tents and Canaan may be his slave."[25] Based on an old Jewish tradition contained in the Aramaic [26] Targum of pseudo-Jonathan ben Uzziel, an anecdotal 1823 map by Robert Wilkinson (see reference to the Origines gentium in Genesis 10:2-ff (https://ww also 1797 version here). Prior to the w.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt0110.htm#2) has been passed down, mid-19th century, Shem was and which, in one form or another, has also been relayed by associated with all of Asia, Ham with Josephus in his Antiquities,[27] repeated in the Talmud,[28] and all of Africa and Japheth with all of Europe. further elaborated by medieval Jewish scholars, such as in works written by Saadia Gaon,[29] Josippon,[30] and Don Isaac Abarbanel,[31] who, based on their own knowledge of the nations, showed their migratory patterns at the time of their compositions:

“The sons of Japheth are Gomer, and Magog,[32] and Madai,[33] and Javan,[34] and Tuval,[35] and Meshech[36] and Tiras,[37] while the names of their diocese are Africa proper,[38] and Germania,[39] and Media, and Macedonia, and Bithynia, and Moesia (var. Mysia) and Thrace. Now, the sons of Gomer were Ashkenaz,[40] and Rifath[41] and Togarmah,[42] while the names of their diocese are Asia,[43] and Parthia and the ‘land of the barbarians.’ The sons of Javan were Elisha,[44] and Tarshish,[45] Kitim[46] and Dodanim,[47] while the names of their diocese are Elis,[48] and Tarsus, Achaia[49] and Dardania.” --- Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on Genesis 10:2–5

“The sons of Ḥam are Kūš, and Miṣrayim,[50] and Fūṭ (Phut),[51] and Kenaʻan,[52] while the names of their diocese are Arabia, and Egypt, and Elīḥerūq[53] and Canaan. The sons of Kūš are Sebā[54] and Ḥawīlah[55] and Savtah[56] and Raʻamah and Savteḫā,[57] [while the sons of Raʻamah are Ševā and Dedan].[58] The names of their diocese are called Sīnīrae,[59] and Hīndīqī,[60] Samarae,[61] Lūbae,[62] Zinğae,[63] while the sons of Mauretinos[64] are [the inhabitants of] Zemarğad and [the inhabitants of] Mezağ.”[65] ---Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on Genesis 10:6-7

“The sons of Shem are Elam,[66] and Ashur,[67] and Arphaxad,[68] and Lud,[69] and Aram.[70] [And the children of Aram are these: Uz,[71] and Hul,[72] and Gether,[73] and Mash.[74]] Now, Arphaxad begat Shelah (Salah), and Shelah begat Eber.[75] Unto Eber were born two sons, the one named Peleg,[76] since in his days the [nations of the] earth were divided, while the name of his brother is Joktan.[77] Joktan begat Almodad, who measured the earth with ropes;[78] Sheleph, who drew out the waters of rivers;[79] and Hazarmaveth,[80] and Jerah,[81] and Hadoram,[82] and Uzal,[83] and Diklah,[84] and Obal,[85] and Abimael,[86] and Sheba,[82][87] and Ophir,[88] and Havilah,[89] and Jobab,[90] all of whom are the sons of Joktan.”[91] ---Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on Genesis 10: 22–28 Problems with identification While the three major family-types of mankind and their distinct physiognamies may be easy to recognise and classify as a whole, determining precise descent-groups, however, based strictly on patrilineal descent, may prove to be more difficult, owing to the fact that nations are not stationary. People are often multi-lingual and multi-ethnic, and people sometimes migrate from one country to another - whether voluntarily or involuntarily. Some nations have intermingled with other nations and can no longer trace their paternal descent,[92] or have assimilated and abandoned their mother's tongue for another language. In addition, phenotypes cannot always be used to determine one's ethnicity because of interracial marriages. A nation today is defined as "a large aggregate of people inhabiting a particular territory united by a common descent, history, culture, or language." The biblical line of descent is irrespective of language, place of nativity,[93] or cultural influences, as all that is binding is one's patrilineal line of descent.[94] For these reasons, attempting to determine precise blood relation of any one group in today's Modern Age may prove futile. Sometimes people sharing a common patrilineal descent spoke two separate languages, whereas, at other times, a language spoken by a people of common descent may have been learnt and spoken by multiple other nations of different descent.

Ethnological interpretations Identifying human races in terms of their Biblical lineage, based on the Generations of Noah, has been common since antiquity. The early modern Biblical division of the world's races into Semites, Hamites and Japhetites was coined at the Göttingen School of History in the late 18th century – in parallel with the Color terminology for race which divided mankind into five colored races ("Caucasian or White", "Mongolian or Yellow", "Aethiopian or Black", "American or Red" and "Malayan or Brown"). This designation, while perhaps generally correct, can also be misleading, since some of Shem's posterity are known to have dark complexions, as stated by Pirke Rabbi Eliezer.[95]

While Genesis 10 was covered extensively by numerous Christian, Jewish and Muslim scholars over many centuries, the phrase "Table" of nations only appeared and became popular in English from the 1830s.

Extrabiblical sons of Noah There exist various traditions in post-biblical and talmudic sources claiming that Noah had children other than Shem, Ham, and Japheth who were born before the Deluge.

According to the Quran (Hud 42–43), Noah had another unnamed son who refused to come aboard the Ark, instead preferring to climb a mountain, where he drowned. Some later Islamic commentators give his name as either Yam or Kan'an.[96]

According to Irish mythology, as found in the Annals of the Four Masters and elsewhere, Noah had another son named Bith who was not allowed aboard the Ark, and who attempted to colonise Ireland with 54 persons, only to be wiped out in the Deluge.

Some 9th-century manuscripts of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle assert that Sceafa was the fourth son of Noah, born aboard the Ark, from whom the House of Wessex traced their ancestry; in William of Malmesbury's version of this genealogy (c. 1120), Sceaf is instead made a descendant of Strephius, the fourth son born aboard the Ark (Gesta Regnum Anglorum). An early Arabic work known as Kitab al-Magall "Book of Rolls" (part of Clementine literature) mentions Bouniter, the fourth son of Noah, born after the flood, who allegedly invented astronomy and instructed Nimrod.[97] Variants of this story with often similar names for Noah's fourth son are also found in the c. fifth century Ge'ez work Conflict of Adam and Eve with Satan (Barvin), the c. sixth century Syriac book Cave of Treasures (Yonton), the seventh century Apocalypse of Pseudo-Methodius (Ionitus[98]), the Syriac Book of the Bee 1221 (Yônatôn), the Hebrew Chronicles of Jerahmeel, c. 12th– 14th century (Jonithes), and throughout Armenian apocryphal literature, where he is usually referred to as Maniton; as well as in works by Petrus Comestor c. 1160 (Jonithus), Godfrey of Viterbo 1185 (Ihonitus), Michael the Syrian 1196 (Maniton), Abu al-Makarim c. 1208 (Abu Naiţur); Jacob van Maerlant c. 1270 (Jonitus), and Abraham Zacuto 1504 (Yoniko).

Martin of Opava (c. 1250), later versions of the Mirabilia Urbis Romae, and the Chronicon Bohemorum of Giovanni di Marignola (1355) make Janus (the Roman deity) the fourth son of Noah, who moved to , invented astrology, and instructed Nimrod.

According to the monk Annio da Viterbo (1498), the Hellenistic Babylonian writer Berossus had mentioned 30 children born to Noah after the Deluge, including Macrus, Iapetus Iunior (Iapetus the Younger), Prometheus Priscus (Prometheus the Elder), Tuyscon Gygas (Tuyscon the Giant), Crana, Cranus, Granaus, 17 Tytanes (Titans), Araxa Prisca (Araxa the Elder), Regina, Pandora Iunior (Pandora the Younger), Thetis, Oceanus, and Typhoeus. However, Annio's manuscript is widely regarded today as having been a forgery.[99]

See also

Historicity of the Bible Noah's Ark Wives aboard the Ark

Notes

Dillmann, A., Genesis: Critically and Exegetically Expounded, Vol. 1, Edinburgh, UK, T. and T. Clark, 1897, 314. Kautzsch, E.F.: quoted by James Orr, "The Early Narratives of Genesis," in The Fundamentals, Vol. 1, , CA, Biola Press, 1917.

References

Citations

1. Rogers 2000, p. 1271. 2. Guido Zernatto and Alfonso G. Mistretta (July 1944). "Nation: The History of a Word". The Review of Politics. Cambridge University Press. 6 (3): 351–366. doi:10.1017/s0034670500021331 (https://doi.org/10.1017%2Fs0034670500021331). JSTOR 1404386 (https://www.jstor.org/stable/1404386). 3. "Biblical Geography (http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06428c.htm)," Catholic Encyclopedia: "The ethnographical list in Genesis 10 is a valuable contribution to the knowledge of the old general geography of the East, and its importance can scarcely be overestimated." 4. Johnson, James William, "The Scythian: His Rise and Fall", Journal of the History of Ideas, Vol. 20, No. 2 (Apr., 1959), pp. 250-257, University of Pennsylvania Press, JSTOR (https://w ww.jstor.org/stable/2707822) 5. Blenkinsopp 2011, p. 156. 6. Saadia Gaon 1984b, p. 180. 7. Ben Maimon 1956, p. 381 (part 3, ch. 50). 8. Blenkinsopp 2011, pp. 4 and 155–156. 9. Towner 2001, p. 102. 10. Gmirkin 2006, p. 140–141. 11. Towner 2001, p. 101–102. 12. Blenkinsopp 2011, p. 156–157. 13. Brodie 2001, p. 186. 14. Sadler 2009, p. 123. 15. Scott 2005, p. 4. 16. Machiela 2009. 17. Ruiten 2000. 18. Alexander 1988, p. 102–103. 19. Pietersma & Wright 2007, p. xiii. 20. Scott 2005, p. 25. 21. Strawn 2000a, p. 1205. 22. Mungello, David E. (1989). Curious land: Jesuit accommodation and the origins of Sinology (https://books.google.com/?id=wb4yPw4ZgZQC&printsec=frontcover&q=Noah#v=snippet&q =Shem&f=false;). University of Hawaii Press. pp. 179, 336–337. ISBN 0-8248-1219-0. "there are more references in that book on the early Jesuits' and others' opinions on Noah's Connection to China" 23. Strawn 2000b, p. 543. 24. Blenkinsopp 2011, p. 158. 25. Thompson 2014, p. 102. 26. Targum Pseudo-Jonathan (1974) 27. Josephus 1998, pp. 1.6.1-4. 28. Jerusalem Talmud, Megillah 1:9 [10a]; Babylonian Talmud, Yoma 10a 29. Saadia Gaon 1984, pp. 31–34. 30. Josippon 1971, pp. 1–2. 31. Abarbanel 1960, pp. 173–174. 32. His progeny were initially called by the Greeks "Scythians" (Herodotus, Book IV. 3-7; pp. 203-207), a people that originally inhabited those lands stretching between the Black and Aral Seas (S.E. Europe and Asia), although some of which people later went as far eastward as the Altai Mountains. Abarbanel (1960:173) alleges that Magog was also the progenitor of the Goths, a Germanic race. The Goths have a history of migration where they are known to have settled among other nations, such as among the inhabitants of Italy and of France and of Spain. See (1970:3). The Jerusalem Talmud, Leiden MS. (Megillah 1:9 [10a]) uses the word Getae to describe the descendants of Magog. According to Isidore of Seville (2006:197), the Dacians (the ancient people inhabiting Romania - formerly Thrace) were offshoots of the Goths. 33. According to Josephus (Antiquities 1.6.1.), Madai's posterity inhabited the country of the Medes, the capital city of which, according to Herodotus, was Ecbatana. 34. According to Josippon (1971:1), the descendants of Javan inhabited Macedonia. According to Josephus (Antiquities 1.6.1.), from Javan were derived the Ionians and all the Grecians. 35. According to Josephus (Antiquities 1.6.1), the descendants of Tuval settled in the Iberian Peninsula. Abarbanel (1960:173), citing Josippon, concurs with this view, who adds that, besides Spain, some of his descendants had also settled in Pisa (of Italy), as well as in France along the River Seine, and in Britain. The Jerusalem Talmud (Megillah 10a), following the Aramaic Targum, ascribes the descendants of Tuval to the region of Bithynia. Alternatively, Josephus may have been referring to the Caucasian Iberians, the ancestors of modern . 36. According to Josephus (Antiquities 1.6.1), Meshech was the father of the indigenous peoples of in Central Anatolia, Turkey, where they had built the city Mazaca. This view is followed by Abarbanel (1960:173), although he seemed to confound Cappadocia with another place by the same name in Greater Armenia, near the Euphrates River. R. Saadia Gaon (1984:32 - note 5) opined that the descendants of Meshech had also settled in Khorasan. The Jerusalem Talmud (Megillah 10a), following the Aramaic Targum, ascribes the descendants of Meshech to the region of Moesia. 37. According to Josephus (Antiquities 1.6.1) and the Jerusalem Talmud (Megillah 10a), the descendants of Tiras are said to have originally settled in the country of Thrace (Thracians). In the Babylonian Talmud (Yoma 10a), one rabbi holds that some of his descendants settled in Persia, a view held also by R. Saadia Gaon (1984:32). According to Josippon (1971:1), Tiras was the ancestor of the Russian people (perhaps Kievan Rus'), as well as of those peoples who first settled in Bosnia, and in England (perhaps referring to the ancient Britons, the Picts, and the Scots – a Celtic race). This opinion seems to be followed by Abarbanel (1960:173) who wrote that Tiras was the ancestor of the Russian people and of the native peoples of England. 38. The sense here is to Africa Zeugitana in the north; Africa Byzacena to its adjacent south (corresponding to eastern Tunisia), and Africa Tripolitania to its adjacent south (corresponding to southern Tunisia and northwest Libya). All of which were part of the Dioecesis Africae, or Africa propria, in early Roman times. See Leo Africanus (1974), vol. 1, p. 22. Neubauer (1868:400) thought that Afriki in the Aramaic text "should necessarily represent a country in Asia here. Some scholars want to see Phrygia there, others Iberia" (End Quote). 39. Historians and anthropologists note that the entire region east of the Rhine River was known by the Romans as Germania (Germany), or what is transcribed in some sources as Germani, Germanica. The region, though now settled by a multitude of mixed peoples, was resettled some 4,500 years ago (based on a study presented in 2013 by Professor Alan J. Cooper, from the Australian Center for Ancient DNA, and by fellow co-worker Dr. Wolfgang Haak, who carried out research on early Neolithic skeletons discovered during an excavation in Sweden, and published in the article, "Ancient Europeans Mysteriously Vanished 4,500 Years Ago"); being resettled by a group of peoples comprising the Germanic Tribes, which group is largely thought to include the Goths, whether Ostrogoths or Visigoths, the Vandals and the Franks, Burgundians, Alans, Langobards, Angles, Saxons, Jutes, Suebi and Alamanni. 40. Considered by many to be the progenitor of the ancient Gauls (the people of Gallia, meaning, from Austria, France and Belgium, although this view is not conclusive. According to Saadia Gaon's Tafsir (a Judeo-Arabic translation of the Pentateuch), Ashkenaz was the progenitor of the Slavic peoples (Slovenes, etc.). According to Gedaliah ibn Jechia's seminal work, Shalshelet Ha- (p. 219), who cites in the name of Sefer Yuchasin, the descendants of Ashkenaz had also originally settled in what was then called Bohemia, which today is the present-day Czech Republic. This view is corroborated by native Czech historian and chronicler Dovid Solomon Ganz (1541–1613), author of a book published in Hebrew, entitled Tzemach Dovid (Part II, p. 71; 3rd edition pub. in Warsaw, 1878), who, citing Cyriacus Spangenberg, writes that the Czech Republic was formerly called Bohemia (Latin: Boihaemum). Josephus (Antiquities 1.6.1) simply writes for Ashkenaz that he was the progenitor of the people whom the Greeks call Rheginians, a people which Isidore of Seville (2006:193) identified with Sarmatians. Jonathan ben Uzziel, who rendered an Aramaic translation of the Book of in the early 1st-century CE, wrote that Ashkenaz in Jeremiah 51:27 is Hurmini (Jastrow: "probably a province of Armenia"), and Adiabene, suggesting that the descendants of Ashkenaz had also originally settled there. 41. R. Saadia Gaon (1984:32) in his translation of Genesis 10:3 thought Rifath to be the In contrast, Abarbanel .פרנגה progenitor of the Franks, whom he called in Judeo-Arabic (1960:173), like Josephus (Antiquities 1.6.1), opined that the descendants of Rifath settled in Paphlagonia, a region corresponding with Cappadocia (Roman province) in Asia Minor. Abarbanel added that some of these people (from Paphlagonia) eventually made their way into Venice, in Italy, while others went to France and to Lesser Britain (Brittany) where they settled along the Loire river. According to Josippon (1971:1), Rifath was the ancestor of the indigenous peoples of Brittany. The author of the Midrash Rabba (on Genesis Rabba §37) takes a different view, alleging that the descendants of Rifath settled in Adiabene. 42. Togarmah is considered by medieval Jewish scholars as being the progenitor of the original Turks, of whom were the Phrygians, according to Josephus (Antiquities 1.6.1). According to R. in his Kuzari, and according to the book Josippon (book I), Togarmah fathered ten sons, who were these: 1. Kuzar (Khazar; Cusar), actually the seventh son of Togarmah, and whose progeny became known as Khazars. In a letter written by King Joseph of the Khazar to Hasdai ibn Shaprut, he claimed that he and his people are descended from Japheth, through son Togarmah; 2. Pechineg (Pizenaci), the ancestor of a people that settled along the Danube River. Some Pechenegs had also settled along the river Atil (Volga), and likewise on the river Geïch (Ural), having common frontiers with the Khazars and the so-called Uzes; 3. Elikanos; 4. Bulgar, the ancestor of the early inhabitants of Bulgaria. These also settled along the lower courses of the Danube River; 5. Ranbina; 6. Turk, perhaps the ancestor of the Phrygians of Asia Minor (Turkey); 7. Buz; 8. Zavokh; 9. Ungar, the ancestor of the early inhabitants of Hungary. These also settled along the Danube River; 10. Dalmatia, the ancestors of the first inhabitants of Croatia. According to R. Saadia Gaon (1984:32 - note 9), some of Togarmah's descendants settled in Tadzhikistan in central Asia. Jonathan ben Uzziel, who rendered an Aramaic translation of the Book of in the early 1st-century CE, wrote that Togarmah in Ezekiel 27:14 is the province of Germamia (var. Germania), suggesting that his descendants had originally settled there. The same view is taken by the author of the Midrash Rabba (Genesis Rabba §37). 43. Asia, the sense being to Asia Minor. In the language employed by Israel's Sages, this place is always associated with the western part of Turkey, the largest city of which region during the period of Israel's sages being Ephesus, situated on the coast of Ionia, near present-day Selçuk, Izmir Province, in west Turkey (cf. Josephus, Antiquities 14.10.11). 44. A name typically associated with the Aeolians, who settled in Ilida (formerly known as Elis) in Greece, and in the regions thereabout. Jonathan ben Uzziel, who rendered an Aramaic translation of the in the early 1st-century CE, wrote that Elisha in Ezekiel 27:7 is the province of Italy, suggesting that his descendants had originally settled there. According to Hebrew Bible exegete, Abarbanel (1960:173), they also established a large colony in Sicily, whose inhabitants are known as Sicilians. According to Josippon (1971:1), Elisha's descendants had also settled in Germany (Almania). 45. According to Abarbanel (1960:173), the descendants of Tarshish eventually settled in Tuscany and in Lombardy, and made-up parts of the populations of Florence, , and Venice, underscoring the fact that the migration of man and of different ethnic groups is always fluid and ever changing. 46. According to Josephus (Antiquities 1.6.1), and R. Saadia Gaon (1984:32), Kitim was the father of the indigenous peoples who inhabited the isle of Cyprus. According to Josippon (1971:2), Kitim was also the forebear of the Romans who settled along the Tiber river, in the Campus Martius flood plain. Jonathan ben Uzziel, who rendered an Aramaic translation of the Book of Ezekiel in the early 1st-century CE, wrote that the Kitim in Ezekiel 27:6 is the province of Apulia, suggesting that his descendants had originally settled there. 47. According to R. Saadia Gaon (1984:32 - note 13), the descendants of Dodanim settled in Adana, a city in southern Turkey, on the Seyhan River. According to Josippon (1971:2), Dodanim was the forebear of the Croatians and the Slovenians, among other nations. Abarbanel (1960:173) held that the descendants of Dodanim settled the isle of Rhodes. 48. Now called Ilida (in southern Greece on the Peloponnese). 49. This place is distinguished by being the northwestern part of the Peloponnese peninsula. 50. Misrayim was the progenitor of the indigenous Egyptians, from whom are descended the Copts. Misrayim's sons were Ludim, Anamim, Lehabim, Naphtuhim, , (out of whom came Philistim), and Caphtorim. 51. According to Josephus (Antiquities 1.6.2), and Abarbanel (1960:173), Fūṭ is the progenitor of the indigenous peoples of Libya. R. Saadia Gaon (1984:32 - note 15) writes in Judeo- and ,תפת Arabic that Fūṭ's name has been preserved as an eponym in the town called mentioned by Ibn Battuta, a town תוות which Yosef Qafih thought may have been the town in the Sahara bounded by present-day Morocco. 52. The reference here is to Canaan, who became the father of eleven sons, the descendants of whom leaving the names of their fathers as eponyms in their respective places where they came to settle (e.g. Ṣīdon, Yəḇūsī, etc. See Descendants of Canaan). The children of Canaan had initially settled the regions south of the Taurus Mountains (Amanus) stretching as far as the border of Egypt. During the Israelite's conquest of Canaan under Joshua, some of the Canaanites were expelled and went into North Africa, settling initially in and around Carthage; on this account see Epiphanius (1935), p. 77 (75d - §79) and Midrash Rabba (Leviticus Rabba 17:6), where, in the latter case, Joshua is said to have written three letters to the Canaanites, requesting them to either take leave of the country, or make peace with Israel, or engage Israel in warfare. The Gergesites took leave of the country and were given a country as beautiful as their own in Africa propria. The Tosefta (Shabbat 7 [8]:25) mentions the country in respect to the Amorites who went there. 53. Not identified. Possibly a region in Libya. Jastrow has suggested that the place may have been an Egyptian eparchy or nomos, probably Heracleotes. The name also appears in Rav Yosef's Aramaic Targum of I Chronicles 1:8–ff. 54. Sebā is thought to have left his name to the town of Saba, which name, according to Josephus (Antiquities 2.10.2.), was later changed by Cambyses the Persian to Meroë, after the name of his own sister. Sebā's descendants are thought to have originally settled in Meroë, along the banks of the upper River. 55. According to R. Saadia Gaon (1984:32), this man's descendants are said to have settled in Zawilah, a place explained by medieval traveler Benjamin of Tudela as being "the land of Gana (Fezzan south of Tripoli)," situated at a distance of a 62-day caravan-journey, going westward from Assuan in Egypt, and passing through the great desert called Sahara. See Adler (2014), p. 61 (https://books.google.ca/books?id=mflHAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA61&dq=Jewi sh+Travellers+zawilah&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj37rn8mLbYAhVjxoMKHbS2BsQQ6AE IKTAA#v=onepage&q&f=false)). The Arab chronicler and geographer, Ibn Ḥaukal (travelled 943-969 CE), says of Zawilah that it is a place in the eastern part of the Maghreb, adding that "from Kairouan (Tunis) to Zawilah is a journey of one month." Abarbanel (1960:174), like Josephus (Antiquities 1.6.2.), explains this strip of country to be inhabited by the Gaetuli, and which place is described by Pliny in his Natural History as being between Libya and a stretch of desert as one travels southward. The 10th-century Karaite scholar, Yefet ben Ali (p. 114 - folio A), identified "the land of Havilah" in Genesis 2:11 with "the land of Zawilah," and which he says is a land "encompassed by the Pishon river," a river which he identified as the Nile River, based on an erroneous, medieval-Arab geographical perspective where the Niger River was thought to be an extension of the Nile River. See Ibn Khaldun (1967:118). In contrast, Yefet ben Ali identified the Gihon River of Genesis 2:13 with that of Amu Darya (al-Jiḥān / Jayhon of the Islamic texts), and which river encircled the entire Hindu Kush. Ben Ali's interpretation stands in direct contradiction to Targum Pseudo- Jonathan, where it assigns the "land of Havilah" (in Gen. 2:11) to the "land of India." 56. According to R. Saadia Gaon (1984:32 - note 18), Savtah was the forebear of the peoples who originally settled in Zagāwa, a place thought to be identical with Zaghāwa in the far- western regions of Sudan, and what is also called Wadai. According to Josephus (Antiquities 1.6.2.), the descendants of Savtah were called by the Grecians "Astaborans," a northeastern Sudanic people. 57. According to R. Saadia Gaon (1984:32), Savteḫā was the progenitor of the inhabitants of Demas, probably the ancient port city and harbour in Tunisia, mentioned by Pliny, now an extensive ruin along the Barbary Coast called Ras ed-Dimas, located ca. 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) from the island of Lampedusa, and ca. 200 kilometres (120 mi) southeast of Carthage. 58. Josephus (Antiquities 1.6.2.) calls the descendants of Dedan "a people of western Aethiopia" and which place "they founded as a colony" (Αἰθιοπικὸν ἔθνος τῶν ἑσπερίων οἰκίσας). R. Saadia Gaon (1984:32 - note 22), in contrast, thought that the children of Dedan came to settle in India. 59. A place thought to be in present-day Sudan. 60. A place on the sub- of India. 61. Pliny the Elder, in his Natural History, describes this place as being situate along the banks of the Nile River. 62. Also known as Byzacium, or what is now called Tunisia. 63. The medieval Arab geographers gave the name Zinğ or Zinj to the African people who dwell along the Indian , such as in present-day Kenya, but may also refer to places along the Swahili Coast. See Ibn Khaldun (1927), p. 106, who writes in the 14th-century of the Zinğ on this wise: "Ibn-Said enumerates nineteen peoples or tribes of which the black race is made up; Thus, on the East side, on the Indian Ocean, we find the Zendj (sic), a nation which owns the city of Monbeça (Mombasa) and practices idolatry" (End Quote). Ibn Khaldun (1967), p. 123, repeats the same in his work, The Muqaddimah, placing the people who are called Zinğ along the coast of the Indian Ocean, between Zeila and Mogadishu. 64. Mauretinos was the forebear of the Black Moors, from whom the region in North Africa bears its name. His name is generally associated with the biblical Raʻamah, and whose posterity were called Maurusii by the Greeks. In Tangier (the 1st Mauretania), the Black Moors were already a minority race at the time of Pliny, largely supplanted by the Gaetulians. According to R. Saadia Gaon (1984:32), the descendants of Raʻamah (Mauretinos) were thought to have settled Kakaw, possibly Gao, along the bend of the Niger River. Alternatively, Saadia Gaon may have been referring to the Gaoga who inhabit a region bordering on Borno to the west and Nubia to the east. On this place, see Leo Africanus (1974: vol. 3, p. 852 - note 27). 65. Mezağ is now El-Jadida in Morocco. 66. According to R. Saadia Gaon (1984:33 - note 47), the descendants of Elam settled in Khuzestan (Elam), and which, according to Josephus (Antiquities 1.6.4.) were "the ancestors of the ancient Persians." 67. According to R. Saadia Gaon (1984:33 - note 48), Ashur was the progenitor of the Assyrian race, whose ancestral territory is around Mosul in northern Iraq, near the ancient city of Nineveh. The same view was held by Josephus (Antiquities 1.6.4.). 68. According to Josephus (Antiquities 1.6.4.), Arphaxad's descendants became known by the Greeks as Chaldeans (Chalybes), who inhabited the region knownn as Chaldea, in present- day Iraq. 69. According to Josephus (Antiquities 1.6.4.), Lud was the forebear of the Lydians. The Asatir describes the descendants of two of the sons of Shem, viz. Laud (Ld) and Aram, as also having settled in a region of Afghanistan formerly known as Khorasan (Charassan), but known by the Arabic-speaking peoples of Afrikia (North Africa) as simply "the isle" (Arabic: Al-gezirah). (see: Moses Gaster (ed.), The Asatir: The Samaritan Book of the "Secrets of Moses", The Royal Asiatic Society: London 1927, p. 232) 70. According to Josephus (Antiquities 1.6.4.), Aram was the progenitor of the Syrians, a people who originally settled along the Euphrates River and, later, all throughout Greater Syria. R. Saadia Gaon (1984:33 - note 49), dissenting, thought that Aram was the progenitor of the Armenian people. 71. According to Josephus (Antiquities 1.6.4.), the descendants of Uz founded the cities of Trachonitis and Damascus. R. Saadia Gaon (1984:33 - note 50) possessed a tradition that Uz's descendants also settled the region in Syria known as Ghouta. 72. According to Josephus (Antiquities 1.6.4.), the descendants of Hul (Ul) founded Armenia. Ishtori Haparchi (2007:88), dissenting, thought that Hul's descendants settled in the region known as Hulah, south of Damascus and north of Al-Sanamayn (Ba'al Maon). 73. According to Josephus (Antiquities 1.6.4.), the descendants of Gether founded Bactria. Josephus is most-likely referring here to the Kushans (of the Pamirs mountain range), who, according to the Chinese historian and geographer Yu Huan (2004: section 5, note 13), had overrun Bactria and settled there in the late second-century BCE. Prior to this time, the region had been settled by rulers of Greek descent and heritage who had been there since Alexander's conquest ca. 328 BCE. The Bactrians of Kushan descent are known in Chinese as Da Yuezhi. The old Bactria (Chinese: Daxia) is thought to have included northern Afghanistan, including Badakhshan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, as far as the region of Termez in the west. Prior to the arrival of the Yuezhi in Bactria, they had lived in and around the area of Xinjiang (Western China) where the first known reference to the Yuezhi was made in ca. 645 BCE by the Chinese Guan Zhong in his work Guanzi (管子, Guanzi Essays: 73: 78: 80: 81). He described the Yúshì 禺氏 (or Niúshì 牛氏), as a people from the north-west who supplied jade to the Chinese from the nearby mountains (also known as Yushi) in Gansu (see: Iaroslav Lebedynsky, Les Saces, ISBN 2-87772-337-2, p. 59). 74. According to Josephus (Antiquities 1.6.4.), the descendants of Mash settled the region known in as Charax Spasini. 75. Whose posterity were known as the "Hebrews", after the name of their forebear. 76. From Peleg's line descended the Israelites, the descendants of Esau, and the Arabian nations (Ishmaelites), among other peoples - all sub-nations. 77. In the South Arabian tradition, he is today known by the name Qaḥṭān, the progenitor of the Sabaean-Himyarite tribes of South Arabia. See Saadia Gaon (1984:34) and Luzzatto, S.D. (1965:56). 78. According to Nethanel ben Isaiah (1983:74), Almodad's descendants settled along the "coastal plains," without naming the country. 79. According to Nethanel ben Isaiah (1983), p. 74, Sheleph's descendants settled along the "coastal plains," without naming the country. 80. Nethanel ben Isaiah (1983:74), a place now called in southern Yemen by the name Ḥaḍramawt. Pliny, in his Natural History, mentions this place under the name Chatramotitae. 81. Nethanel ben Isaiah (1983:74) calls the place inhabited by Jerah's descendants "Ibn which means (ירח .Qamar" ("the son of Moon") – an inference to the word "Jerah" (Heb "moon," and where he says are now the towns of Dhofar in Yemen, and Qalhāt in Oman, and al-Shiḥr (ash-Shiḥr). 82. Nethanel ben Isaiah 1983, p. 74. 83. The old appellation given to the city of Sana'a in Yemen was Uzal. Uzal's descendants are thought to have settled there. See Nethanel ben Isaiah (1983:74); Luzzatto, S.D. (1965:56); and see Al-Hamdāni (1938:8, 21), where it was later known under its Arabic equivalent Azāl. 84. According to Nethanel ben Isaiah (1983:74), Diklah's posterity were said to have founded the city of Beihan. .al-iʻbāl = אלאעבאל A place which Nethanel ben Isaiah (1983:74), calls in Judeo-Arabic .85 86. According to Nethanel ben Isaiah (1983:74), Abimael's posterity inhabited the place called Al-Jawf. 87. Pliny, in his Natural History, mentions this place under the name Sabaei. 88. In Jewish tradition, Ophir is often associated with a place in India, where the descendants of Ophir are thought to have settled. Fourteenth-century biblical commentator, Nathanel ben Isaiah, writes: "And Ophir, and Havilah, and Jobab (Gen. 10:29), these are the tracts of countries in the east, being those of the first " (End Quote), and which first clime, according to al-Biruni, the sub-continent of India falls entirely therein. Cf. Josephus, (Antiquities of the Jews 8.6.4., s.v. Aurea Chersonesus). The 10th-century lexicographer, Ben Abraham al-Fasi (1936:46), identified Ophir with Serendip, the old Persian name for Sri Lanka (aka Ceylon). 89. Nethanel ben Isaiah (1983:74) calls the land settled by Havilah's posterity as being "a land inhabited in the east". Targum Pseudo-Jonathan ascribes the "land of Havilah" in Genesis 2:11 to the "land of India." Josephus (Antiquities 1.1.3.), writing on the same verse, says that "Havilah" is a place in India, traversed by the Ganges River. 90. Nethanel ben Isaiah (1983:74), calls the land settled by Jobab's posterity as being "a land inhabited in the east". 91. According to Josephus (Antiquities 1.6.4. [1.147]), the posterity of Joktan settled all those regions "proceeding from the river Cophen (a tributary of the Indus), inhabiting parts of India (Ἰνδικῆς) and of the adjacent country Seria (Σηρίας)." Of this last country, Isidore of Seville (2006:194) wrote: "The Serians (i.e. Chinese, or East Asians generally), a nation situated in the far East, were allotted their name from their own city. They weave a kind of wool that comes from trees, hence this verse 'The Serians, unknown in person, but known for their cloth'." 92. According to an ancient Jewish teaching in Mishnah (Yadayim 4:4), Sennacherib, the king of , came up and put all the nations in confusion. Therefore, Judah, a person who thought he was of Ammonite descent, was permitted to marry a daughter of Israel. 93. A case in point is Bethuel the Aramean ("Syrian") in Gen. 25:20, who was called an "Aramean", not because he was descended from Aram, but because he lived in the country of the Aramaeans (Syrians). So explains Nethanel ben Isaiah (1983:121–122). .חייס .Babylonian Talmud (Yebamot 62a), RASHI, s.v .94 95. Eliezer ben Hyrcanus (1983). Pirke Rabbi Eliezer (in Hebrew). Jerusalem: "Eshkol" Publishers. p. 77 (chapter 24). OCLC 301805102 (https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/30180510 2). 96. This was observed as early as 1734, in George Sale's Commentary on the Quran. 97. Klijn, Albertus (1977). Seth: In Jewish, Christian and Gnostic Literature (https://books.googl e.com/books?id=zpY3AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA54). BRILL. ISBN 90-04-05245-3., page 54 98. S.P. Brock notes that the earliest Greek texts of Pseudo-Methodius read Moneton, while the Syriac versions have Ionţon (Armenian Apocrypha, p. 117 (https://books.google.com/book s?id=AllY-mu65KsC&pg=PA123&dq=maniton+noah&sig=-f9dPnGz0czMO-kfP5MAxhoaJ-o #PPA116,M1)) 99. Gascoigne, Mike. "Travels of Noah into Europe" (http://www.annomundi.com/history/travels _of_noah.htm). www.annomundi.com.

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Granerød, Gard (2010). Abraham and (https://books.google.com/?id=kBBrXzw 3m2cC&pg=PA131&dq=%22there+is+no+consensus+about+the+date+of+composition+of+t he+Priestly+writing%22#v=onepage&q=%22there%20is%20no%20consensus%20about%2 0the%20date%20of%20composition%20of%20the%20Priestly%20writing%22&f=false). Walter de Gruyter. ISBN 9783110223453. Ibn Khaldun (1927). Histoire des Berbères et des dynasties musulmanes de l'Afrique septentrionale (Histoire des Dynasties Musulmanes) (in French). 2. Translated by Baron de Slane. Paris: P. Geuthner. OCLC 758265555 (https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/758265555). Ibn Khaldun (1967). N.J. Dawood (ed.). The Muqaddimah: an Introduction to History. 1. Translated by Franz Rosenthal (2 ed.). Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press. OCLC 750556436 (https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/750556436). Ishtori Haparchi (2007). Avraham Yosef Havatzelet (ed.). Sefer Kaftor Ve'ferah (in Hebrew). 2 (chapter 11) (3 ed.). Jerusalem: Bet ha-midrash la-halakhah ba-hityashvut. OCLC 32307172 (https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/32307172). Isidore of Seville (1970). History of the Goths, Vandals, and Suevi. Translated by Guido Donini and Gordon B. Ford, Jr. Leiden: E.J. Brill. OCLC 279232201 (https://www.worldcat.or g/oclc/279232201). Isidore of Seville (2006). Barney, Stephen A.; Lewis, W.J.; Beach, J.A. (eds.). The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0- 521-83749-1. OCLC 1130417426 (https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1130417426). Josephus (1998). Jewish Antiquities. The Loeb Classical Library. 1. Translated by Henry St. John Thackeray. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press. ISBN 0674995759. Josippon (1971). Hayim Hominer (ed.). Josiphon by Joseph ben Gorion Hacohen (3 ed.). Jerusalem: Hominer Publication. pp. 1–2. OCLC 776144459 (https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/ 776144459). (reprinted in 1978) Kaminski, Carol M. (1995). From Noah to Israel: Realization of the Primaeval Blessing After the Flood (https://books.google.com/?id=EX-xAwAAQBAJ&dq=Ross+table+of+nations#v=o nepage&q=%22Gog%2C%20Magog%2C%20and%20the%20latter-day%20emperor%22&f =false). A&C Black. ISBN 9780567539465. Keiser, Thomas A. (2013). Genesis 1–11: Its Literary Coherence and Theological Message (https://books.google.com/?id=XdJNAwAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=fals e). Wipf and Stock Publishers. ISBN 9781625640925. Knoppers, Gary (2003). "Shem, Ham and Japheth" (https://books.google.com/?id=BFatAwA AQBAJ&pg=PA29&dq=%22Knoppers+Shem,+Ham+and+Japheth%22#v=onepage&q=%22 Knoppers%20Shem%2C%20Ham%20and%20Japheth%22&f=false). In Graham, Matt Patrick; McKenzie, Steven L.; Knoppers, Gary N. (eds.). The Chronicler as Theologian: Essays in Honor of Ralph W. Klein. A&C Black. ISBN 9780826466716. Leo Africanus (1974). Robert Brown (ed.). History and Description of Africa. 1–3. Translated by John Pory. New York Franklin. OCLC 830857464 (https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/8308574 64). (reprinted from London 1896) Luzzatto, S.D. (1965). P. Schlesinger (ed.). S.D. Luzzatto's Commentary to the Pentateuch (in Hebrew). 1. Tel-Aviv: Dvir Publishers. OCLC 11669162 (https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/11 669162). Macbean, A. (1773). A Dictionary of Ancient Geography: Explaining the Local Appellations in Sacred, Grecian, and Roman History (https://books.google.com/?id=EqwBAAAAYAAJ&p g=RA36-PA14&lpg=RA36-PA14&dq=Africa+propria+(Pliny%27s+Natural+History)#v=onepa ge&q&f=false). London: G. Robinson. OCLC 6478604 (https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/64786 04). Machiela, Daniel A. (2009). "A Comparative Commentary on the Earths Division" (https://bo oks.google.com/books?id=7O4oKMuLeaQC&pg=PA107#v=onepage&q&f=false). The Dead Sea Genesis Apocryphon: A New Text and Translation With Introduction and Special Treatment of Columns 13–17. BRILL. ISBN 9789004168145. Matthews, K.A. (1996). Genesis 1–11:26 (https://books.google.com/?id=xLe4AwAAQBAJ&p g=PA433&dq=%22the+three+geographical+arcs+of+the+branches+intersect+at+the+cente r%22#v=onepage&q=%22the%20three%20geographical%20arcs%20of%20the%20branch es%20intersect%20at%20the%20center%22&f=false). B&H Publishing Group. ISBN 9781433675515. McEntire, Mark (2008). Struggling with God: An Introduction to the Pentateuch (https://book s.google.com/?id=VwOs9f1FpmsC&pg=PA65&dq=%22the+groups+of+people+have+their+ own+languages%22#v=onepage&q=%22the%20groups%20of%20people%20have%20thei r%20own%20languages%22&f=false). Mercer University Press. ISBN 9780881461015. Nethanel ben Isaiah (1983). Sefer Me'or ha-Afelah (in Hebrew). Translated by Yosef Qafih. Kiryat Ono: Mechon Moshe. OCLC 970925649 (https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/970925649). Neubauer, A. (1868). Géographie du Talmud (https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_DIgYKxhN NL8C) (in French). Paris: Michel Lévy Frères. Pietersma, Albert; Wright, Benjamin G. (2005). A New English Translation of the Septuagint (https://books.google.com/?id=17CBLsFpnsgC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Septuagint#v=one page&q=Septuagint&f=false). Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199743971. Rogers, Jeffrey S. (2000). "Table of Nations" (https://books.google.com/?id=qRtUqxkB7wkC &pg=PA1271&dq=%22a+schematic+representation+describing+the+expansion+of+humank ind%22#v=onepage&q=%22a%20schematic%20representation%20describing%20the%20e xpansion%20of%20humankind%22&f=false). In Freedman, David Noel; Myers, Allen C. (eds.). Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible. University Press. ISBN 9789053565032. Ruiten, Jacques T. A. G. M. (2000). Primaeval History Interpreted: The Rewriting of Genesis 1–11 in the Book of Jubilees (https://books.google.com/books?id=1xxo82l7TeQC&pg=PA32 4#v=onepage&q&f=false). BRILL. ISBN 9789004116580. Saadia Gaon (1984). Yosef Qafih (ed.). Rabbi Saadia Gaon's Commentaries on the Pentateuch (in Hebrew) (4 ed.). Jerusalem: Mossad Harav Kook. OCLC 232667032 (https:// www.worldcat.org/oclc/232667032). Saadia Gaon (1984b). Moshe Zucker (ed.). Saadya's Commentary on Genesis (in Hebrew). New York: Jewish Theological Seminary of America. OCLC 1123632274 (https://www.world cat.org/oclc/1123632274). Sadler, Rodney Steven, Jr. (2009). Can a Cushite Change His Skin?: An Examination of Race, Ethnicity, and Othering in the Hebrew Bible (https://books.google.com/?id=7WQYAAA AQBAJ&pg=PA123&dq=%22This+version+of+the+Table+of+Nations+is+similar+to+that%2 2#v=onepage&q=%22This%20version%20of%20the%20Table%20of%20Nations%20is%20 similar%20to%20that%22&f=false). A&C Black. ISBN 9780567027658. Sailhamer, John H. (2010). The Meaning of the Pentateuch: Revelation, Composition and Interpretation (https://books.google.com/?id=pBVWU9U85m0C&dq=Genesis+%22Table+of +Nations%22). InterVarsity Press. ISBN 9780830878888. Scott, James M. (2005). Geography in Early Judaism and Christianity: The Book of Jubilees (https://books.google.com/?id=SVOb6gm_8bEC&pg=PA25&dq=%22The+list+is+substantial ly+the+same+in+the+septuagint%22#v=onepage&q=%22The%20list%20is%20substantiall y%20the%20same%20in%20the%20septuagint%22&f=false). Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521020688. Strawn, Brent A. (2000a). "Shem" (https://books.google.com/?id=qRtUqxkB7wkC&pg=PA12 71&dq=%22a+schematic+representation+describing+the+expansion+of+humankind%22#v =onepage&q=%22a%20schematic%20representation%20describing%20the%20expansio n%20of%20humankind%22&f=false). In Freedman, David Noel; Myers, Allen C. (eds.). Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible. Amsterdam University Press. ISBN 9789053565032. Strawn, Brent A. (2000b). "Ham" (https://books.google.com/?id=qRtUqxkB7wkC&pg=PA127 1&dq=%22a+schematic+representation+describing+the+expansion+of+humankind%22#v= onepage&q=%22a%20schematic%20representation%20describing%20the%20expansion% 20of%20humankind%22&f=false). In Freedman, David Noel; Myers, Allen C. (eds.). Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible. Amsterdam University Press. ISBN 9789053565032. Targum Pseudo-Jonathan (1974). M. Ginsburger (ed.). Pseudo-Jonathan (Thargum Jonathan ben Usiël zum Pentateuch (in Hebrew). Berlin: S. Calvary & Co. OCLC 6082732 (https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/6082732). (First printed in 1903, Based on British Museum add. 27031) Thompson, Thomas L. (2014). "Narrative Reiteration and Comparative Literature: Problems in Defining Dependency" (https://books.google.com/?id=yFNsBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA102&dq =%22pun+on+the+name+of+Japheth%22#v=onepage&q=%22pun%20on%20the%20nam e%20of%20Japheth%22&f=false). In Thompson, Thomas L.; Wajdenbaum, Philippe (eds.). The Bible and Hellenism: Greek Influence on Jewish and Early Christian Literature. Routledge. ISBN 9781317544265. Towner, Wayne Sibley (2001). Genesis (https://books.google.com/?id=6ONdsoa7MHUC&pg =PA105&dq=Genesis+%22Table+of+Nations%22#v=onepage&q=Genesis%20%22Table% 20of%20Nations%22&f=false). Westminster John Knox Press. ISBN 9780664252564. Uehlinger, Christof (1999). "Nimrod" (https://books.google.com/?id=yCkRz5pfxz0C&pg=PA6 28&dq=%22Kush+stands+for+Nubia%22%22eponym+of+the+Kassites%22#v=onepage&q =%22Kush%20stands%20for%20Nubia%22%22eponym%20of%20the%20Kassites%22&f= false). In Van der Toorn, Karel; Becking, Bob; Van der Horst, Pieter (eds.). Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible. Brill. ISBN 9780802824912. Wajdenbaum, Philippe (2014). Argonauts of the Desert: Structural Analysis of the Hebrew Bible (https://books.google.com/?id=AEiPBAAAQBAJ&pg=PT92&dq=Japhet+Iapetos#v=on epage&q=Japhet%20Iapetos&f=false). Routledge. ISBN 9781317543893. Yefet ben Ali (n.d.). Yefet ben Ali's Commentary on the Torah (Genesis) - Ms. B-51 (https:// www.nli.org.il/he/manuscripts/NNL_ALEPH000176181/NLI#$FL56789409) (in Hebrew). St. Petersburg, Russia: Institute of Oriental Manuscripts of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Yu Huan (2004), "The Peoples of the West", Weilue 魏略 (http://depts.washington.edu/silkro ad/texts/weilue/weilue.html#section5), translated by John E. Hill (section 5, note 13) (This work, published in 429 CE, is a recension of Yu Huan's Weilue ("Brief Account of the Wei Dynasty"), the original having now been lost)

External links Jewish Encyclopedia (http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=134&letter=G): Entry for "Genealogy"

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This page was last edited on 8 February 2020, at 20:19 (UTC).

Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization. Righteous Among the Nations ḥasidei ummot ha`olam "righteous , ֲח ִסי ֵדי ֻאמּת ָהע ָלם :Righteous Among the Nations (Hebrew (plural) of the world's nations") is an honorific used by the State of Israel to describe non-Jews who risked their lives during to save Jews from extermination by the Nazis for altruistic reasons. The term originates with the concept of "righteous gentiles", a term used in rabbinic Judaism to refer to non-Jews, called ger toshav, who abide by the Seven Laws of Noah.

Contents Bestowing Righteous settled in Israel Other signs of veneration Number of awards by country See also References Bibliography External links

Bestowing When , the Shoah ' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority, was established in 1953 by the Knesset, one of its tasks was to commemorate the "Righteous Among the Nations". The Righteous were defined as non-Jews who risked their lives to save Jews during the Holocaust.

Since 1963, a commission headed by a justice of the Supreme Court of Israel has been charged with the duty of awarding the honorary title "Righteous Among the Nations". Guided in its work by certain criteria, the commission meticulously studies all documentation including evidence by survivors and other eyewitnesses, evaluates the historical circumstances and the element of risk to the rescuer, and then decides if the case meets the criteria. Those criteria are:[1]

Only a Jewish party can put a nomination forward Helping a family member, or helping a Jew who converted to Christianity is not a criterion for recognition; Assistance has to be repeated or substantial Assistance has to be given without any financial gain expected in return (although covering expenses such as food is acceptable) The award has been given without regard to the social rank of the helper. It has been given to royalty such as Princess Alice of Battenberg, Queen Mother Helen of Romania and Queen Elisabeth of Belgium but also to others like the philosopher Jacques Ellul and to Amsterdam department store employee Hendrika Gerritsen.[2][3] A person who is recognized as Righteous for having taken risks to help Jews during the Holocaust is awarded a medal in their name, a certificate of honor, and the privilege of having the name added to those on the Wall of Honor in the Garden of the Righteous at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem (the last is in lieu of a tree planting, which was discontinued for lack of space). The awards are distributed to the rescuers or their next-of-kin during ceremonies in Israel, or in their countries of residence through the offices of Israel's diplomatic representatives. These ceremonies are attended by local government representatives and are given wide media coverage.

The Yad Vashem Law authorizes Yad Vashem "to confer honorary citizenship upon the Righteous Among the Nations, and if they have died, the commemorative citizenship of the State of Israel, in recognition of their actions". Anyone who has been Memorial tree in Jerusalem, Israel recognized as "Righteous" is entitled to apply to Yad Vashem for honoring , a Polish Roman Catholic nurse who saved the certificate. If the person is no longer alive, their next of kin is 2,500 Jews entitled to request that commemorative citizenship be conferred on the Righteous who has died.

In total, 27,362 (as of 1 January 2018)[4] men and women from 51 countries have been recognized,[4] amounting to more than 10,000 authenticated rescue stories. Yad Vashem's policy is to pursue the program for as long as petitions for this title are received and are supported by evidence that meets the criteria.[5]

Recipients who choose to live in the State of Israel are entitled to a pension equal to the average national wage and free health care, The Righteous Medal of Marta as well as assistance with housing and nursing care. Bocheńska

Righteous settled in Israel At least 130 Righteous non-Jews have settled in Israel. They were welcomed by Israeli authorities, and were granted citizenship. In the mid-1980s, they became entitled to special pensions. Some of them settled in British Mandatory Palestine before Israel's establishment shortly after World War II, or in the early years of the new state of Israel, while others came later. Those who came earlier often spoke fluent Hebrew and have integrated into Israeli society.[6]

Other signs of veneration The Righteous are honored with a feast day on the liturgical calendar of the Episcopal Church in the United States on 16 July.

One Righteous Among the Nations, Elizabeth Hesselblad of Sweden, has been canonized a saint in the .[7] Five others have been beatified: Blessed Giuseppe Girotti, O.P., and of Italy,[8][9] Blessed Klymentiy Sheptytsky, M.S.U., of Austria-Hungary,[10] Blessed Bernhard Lichtenberg of Germany,[11] and Blessed Sára Salkaházi of Hungary. In 2015, 's first street sign honoring a Righteous Among the Nations was unveiled in Vilnius.[12] The street is named Simaites Street, after Ona Šimaitė, a Vilnius University librarian who helped and rescued Jewish people in the .[12]

Number of awards by country As of 16 June 2017, the award has been made to 26,513 people.[4]

The Righteous Diploma of

A Righteous Among the Nations award ceremony in the Polish Senate, 2012

1940 issued visa by Consul in Lithuania Number Rank Country of awards

1 Poland 6,863

2 5,595

3 France 3,995

4 Ukraine 2,634

5 Belgium 1,731 Polish passport extended in 1941 by Righteous Among the Nations 6 Lithuania 891 Chilean diplomat Samuel del Campo 7 Hungary 844

8 Italy 682

9 Belarus 641

10 Germany 601

11 Slovakia 572

12 Greece 335

13 Russia 204

14 Serbia 139 hand signed visa 15 Latvia 136 from 1940 16 Czech Republic 118

17 Croatia 117

18 Austria 109

19 Moldova 79

20 Albania 75

21 Norway 67

22 Romania 60

23 49 University study booklet issued to Polish Righteous Among the Nations 24 Bosnia and Herzegovina 47 Wladyslaw Smolski in 1938. 25 Armenia 24

26 Denmark, United Kingdom 22

28 Bulgaria 20

29 North Macedonia, Sweden 10

31 Slovenia 15

32 Spain 9

33 United States 5

34 Estonia, Turkey, Portugal 3

37 Brazil, Chile, Indonesia, Peru, 2 Republic of China

Cuba, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Georgia, Ireland, Japan, 42 1 Luxembourg, Montenegro, Vietnam

See also

British Hero of the Holocaust European Day of the Righteous Individuals and groups assisting Jews during the Holocaust List of Righteous Among the Nations by country Righteousness Żegota

References

1. Gunnar S. Paulsson, "The Rescue of Jews by Non-Jews in Nazi-Occupied Poland", The Journal of Holocaust Education, volume 7, nos. 1 & 2 (summer/autumn 1998): pp. 19–44. Reprinted in "Collective Rescue Efforts of the Poles", p. 256. 2. Gerritsen, Hendrika Jacoba (Heinsius) (http://db.yadvashem.org/righteous/family.html?langu age=en&itemId=4043182), in The Righteous Among the Nations. Jerusalem: Yad Vashem, retrieved online 6 April 2018. 3. "Familieberichten" (https://resolver.kb.nl/resolve?urn=ABCDDD:010833219:mpeg21:a0223) [Family notices]. Het Parool. 28 December 1990. Retrieved 13 April 2018 – via Delpher. 4. "About the Righteous: Statistics" (https://www.yadvashem.org/righteous/statistics.html). Names of Righteous by Country. Yad Vashem The Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority. 1 January 2019. Retrieved 21 June 2019. 5. "First Arab Nominated for Holocaust Honor" (http://palestinianpundit.blogspot.com/2007/01/f irst-arab-nominated-for-holocaust.html). Associated Press. 30 January 2007. Retrieved 1 February 2007. 6. "Story in The Forward re Righteous Gentiles who settled in Israel" (http://forward.com/article s/143987/righteous-moved-to-israel-after-saving-jews-in-hol). Forward.com. Retrieved 6 September 2013. 7. Mark Greaves, Swedish Sister who hid Jews from the Nazis is to be canonised (http://www. catholicherald.co.uk/news/2015/12/18/swedish-sister-who-hid-jews-from-the-nazis-is-to-be- canonised/), Catholic Herald, 18 December 2015. Accessed 19 December 2015. 8. "Blessed Giuseppe Girotti: Another Dominican Saint in the Making" (http://www.op.org/en/co ntent/blessed-giuseppe-girotti-another-dominican-saint-making). Order of Preachers. Retrieved 21 December 2016. 9. "Odoardo Focherini: Late journalist, hero and Blessed of the Catholic Church" (https://www. youtube.com/watch?v=l1BH-X8Wzmw). Rome Reports. Retrieved 19 June 2013. 10. " of the Servants of God on June 27, 2001", Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (http://www.ugcc.org.ua/35.0.html?&L=2) Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/201411290 55636/http://www.ugcc.org.ua/35.0.html?&L=2) November 29, 2014, at the Wayback Machine 11. Gaydosh, Brenda (2017). Bernhard Lichtenberg. Roman Catholic Priest and of the Nazi Regime, Lanham. p. 175 12. "Lithuania's first street honoring Holocaust Righteous unveiled in Vilnius | Jewish Telegraphic Agency" (http://www.jta.org/2015/09/25/news-opinion/world/lithuanias-first-stree t-honoring-holocaust-righteous-unveiled-in-Vilnius). Jta.org. 25 September 2015. Retrieved 26 September 2015.

Bibliography

The Heart Has Reasons: Holocaust Rescuers and Their Stories of Courage, Mark Klempner, ISBN 0-8298-1699-2, The Pilgrim Press. Righteous Gentiles of the Holocaust: Genocide and Moral Obligation, David P. Gushee, ISBN 1-55778-821-9, Paragon House Publishers. The Lexicon of the Righteous Among the Nations, Yad Vashem, Jerusalem. (volumes: Poland, France, Netherlands, Belgium, Europe I, Europe II). To Save a Life: Stories of Holocaust Rescue, Land-Weber, Ellen, ISBN 0-252-02515-6, University of Illinois Press. The Seven Laws of Noah, Lichtenstein, Aaron, New York: The Rabbi Jacob Joseph School Press, 1981, ASIN B00071QH6S. The Image of the Non-Jew in Judaism, Novak, David, ISBN 0-88946-975-X, New York and Toronto: Edwin Mellen Press, 1983. The Path of the Righteous: Gentile Rescuers of Jews During the Holocaust, Paldiel, Mordecai, ISBN 0-88125-376-6, KTAV Publishing House, Inc. Among the Righteous: Lost Stories from the Holocaust's Long Reach into Arab Lands, Robert Satloff, Washington Institute for Near East Policy, (PublicAffairs, 2006) ISBN 1- 58648-399-4. When Light Pierced the Darkness: Christian Rescue of Jews in Nazi-Occupied Poland, Tec, Nechama, ISBN 0-19-505194-7, Oxford University Press. Zegota: The Council to Aid Jews in Occupied Poland 1942-1945, Tomaszewski, Irene & Werbowski, Tecia, ISBN 1-896881-15-7, Price-Patterson. Tolerance in Judaism: The Medieval and Modern Sources, Zuesse, Evan M., In: The Encyclopaedia of Judaism, edited by Jacob Neusner, A. Avery-Peck, and W.S. Green, Second Edition, ISBN 90-04-14787-X, Leiden: Brill Publishers, 2005, Vol. IV: 2688-2713. When Courage Was Stronger Than Fear: Remarkable Stories of Christians Who Saved Jews from the Holocaust by Peter Hellman. 2nd edition, ISBN 1-56924-663-7, Marlowe & Companym, 1999. Rescue and Flight: American Relief Workers Who Defied the Nazis, Subak, Susan Elisabeth, University of Nebraska Press, 342 pp., 2010. Ugo G. Pacifici Noja e Silvia Pacifici Noja, Il cacciatore di giusti: storie di non ebrei che salvarono i figli di Israele dalla Shoah, Cantalupa Torinese, Effatà, 2010, (in Italian), ISBN 978-88-7402-568-8. Paul Greveillac, Les fronts clandestins : quinze histoires de Justes (https://web.archive.org/ web/20140517154659/http://www.nicolas-eybalin.com/livre-Les_Fronts_clandestins-53-1-1- 0-1.html) (in French), Nicolas Eybalin publishing, 2014 (ISBN 978-2-36665-000-6).

External links

The Righteous Among the Nations (http://www.yadvashem.org/righteous?WT.mc_id=ggcam p&WT.srch=1) at Yad Vashem. Its online exhibitions include: "Their Fate Will Be My Fate Too…" Teachers Who Rescued Jews During the Holocaust (http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/exhibitions/righteous-teachers/index.asp?WT.mc_id=w iki) Spots of Light: Women in the Holocaust (http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/exhibitions/sp ots_of_light/index.asp?WT.mc_id=wiki) "Polish Righteous – Recalling Forgotten History" (https://sprawiedliwi.org.pl/en) (Website portal for the multimedia-based project and its research documentation and presentations). sprawiedliwi.org.pl. Warsaw, Poland: POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews. 2016. Heroes and Heroines of the Holocaust (http://isurvived.org/TOC-II.html#Up) at the Holocaust Survivors' Network Klempner, Mark (2017). "Heart Has Reasons: Holocaust Rescuers and Their Stories of Courage" (http://www.hearthasreasons.com) (Website portal of resources for the book and lectures of the same name, with PDF and audio excerpts). hearthasreasons.com. The site includes extensive lists of articles, books and film/video/DVDs about Holocaust rescuers and related heroes, plus a reading group guide and book excerpts such as: Rut Matthijsen: Chemistry of Compassion (http://www.hearthasreasons.com/rut.pdf) — the story of a Dutch biochemist and Righteous Gentile Photo gallery on righteous gentiles during the Holocaust (http://motlc.wiesenthal.org/album s/palbum/p03/a0190p3.html) at the Simon Wiesenthal Center Rescuers (https://web.archive.org/web/20150822060512/http://www.us-israel.org/jsource/H olocaust/rescuetoc.html) at the Jewish Virtual Library Karoly Szabo - Wallenberg, 1947, 1965 (http://www.spacetime-sensor.de/wallenberg.htm): Holocaust Memorial Budapest, testimony from the Jakobovics family The Jewish Foundation for the Righteous (http://www.jfr.org) at JFR.org Auschwitz: Inside the Nazi State (https://www.pbs.org/auschwitz/learning/index.html) at the American public television broadcaster PBS zyciezazycie.pl (http://zyciezazycie.pl/index.php?lang=en), a site commemorating Poles who gave their lives to save Jews Gardens of the Righteous Worldwide Committee (http://www.gariwo.net/eng_new/) Essay: "Paying the ultimate price" (http://fr.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1238562943837& pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull) by Irena Steinfeldt, The Jerusalem Post, 14 April 2009. "AJPN - anonymes, Justes et persécutés durant la période nazie dans les communes de France (The Anonymous, Just and Percecuted during the Nazi period in the communes of France)" (http://www.ajpn.org). www.ajpn.org (in French). Bordeaux, France: AJPN. 2008– 2016.

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Righteous_Among_the_Nations&oldid=937880916"

This page was last edited on 27 January 2020, at 20:01 (UTC).

Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization. Ger toshav ger "foreigner" or "alien" + toshav "resident", lit. "resident alien"[1]) is ,גר תושב :Ger toshav (Hebrew a term in Judaism for a gentile (non-Jew) living in the Land of Israel who agrees to be bound by the Seven Laws of Noah,[2] a set of imperatives which, according to the Talmud, were given by God[3] as a binding set of laws for the "children of Noah" – that is, all of humanity.[4][5] A ger toshav is therefore chassid umot ha-olam "Pious חסיד אומות העולם :commonly deemed a righteous gentile (Hebrew People of the World").[6]

Contents Definition Modern times and views See also References

Definition A ger toshav is a gentile who accepts the authority of the Torah and the rabbis upon himself, but specifically as applied to gentiles. The term ger toshav may be used in a formal or informal sense.

In the formal sense, a ger toshav is a gentile who officially accepts the seven Noahide Laws as binding upon himself in the presence of a (Jewish rabbinical court). In the Talmudic discussion regarding the ger toshav, there are two other, differing minority opinions (Avodah Zarah, 64b) as to what the ger toshav accepts upon himself:[6][7]

1. To abstain from idolatrous practices of any kind (detailed in Exodus 20:2–4 (https://www.me chon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt0220.htm#2), Deut 5:6–8 (https://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt05 05.htm#6)).[2] 2. To uphold all the 613 commandments in rabbinical enumeration,[2] except for the prohibition against eating kosher animals that died by means other than ritual slaughter, or possibly[6] (Meiri) any prohibition not involving kareth. The accepted legal definition is the majority opinion that the ger toshav must accept the seven Noahide Laws before a rabbinical court of three.[2][6] Such a ger toshav receives certain legal protections and privileges from the community, the rules regarding Jewish-Gentile relations are modified, and there is a Biblical obligation to render him aid when in need. The restrictions on having a gentile do work for a Jew on the Sabbath are also stricter when the gentile is a ger toshav.[8]

In the informal sense, a ger toshav is one who accepts the Noahide Laws on his own, or alternatively, simply rejects idolatry[2][6] (the latter issue is in particular brought up regarding Muslims.)[6] More formally, a gentile who accepts the Seven Mitzvot, although not before a beth din, is known as chasid umot ha'olam, which means "Pious People of the World."[9] There is discussion among the halakhic authorities as to which of the rules regarding a ger toshav would apply to the informal case.[2][8] The procedure has been discontinued since the cessation of the year of Jubilee, and hence, there are no formal gerim toshvim (plural) extant today. However, it can be argued that a great deal are "informal" ones,[6] especially since it is possible to be a chasid umot ha'olam even when the Jubilee Year is not observed.[10]

Modern times and views Judaism encourages non-Jews to adhere to the Noahide Laws.[11] Some groups, notably Chabad Lubavitch, have set up classes and networks for Gentiles who commit themselves to this legal system (see Noahide Campaign). The Lubavitcher Rebbe himself encouraged his followers on many occasions to teach the Seven Laws of Noah, devoting some of his addresses to the subtleties of this code.[12][13][14]

In 2008, a new code of law, written by Rabbi Moshe Weiner specifically for Noahides, was published under the auspices of Ask Noah International. The book's stated intention is to serve as the first ever "Shulchan Aruch for all the laws of the Children of Noah," and is entitled Sefer Sheva Mitzvot Hashem.[15] To grant it authority, it bears letters of endorsement from Rabbi Zalman Nechemia Goldberg of the Supreme Rabbinical Court of Israel, both the Chief Rabbis of Israel, and letters of blessing and approbation from various other notable rabbis around the world. In the code itself, it states that[16] "at this time, while we do not accept geirim toshvim for the sake of (granting) the privileges of (the ger toshav) [for example, to live in the Land of Israel], nevertheless, if he comes before (a rabbinical court of) three of his own free will to accept upon himself to be a ger toshav and one of the Pious People of the World, for the sake of accepting his mitzvot, we accept him." Later, it notes that one of the "Pious People of the World" (chasid umot ha'olam) is not necessarily also a ger toshav, and it is possible to be a chasid umot ha'olam despite not being a ger toshav. In fact, it lists four possibilities for Gentiles:[9]

1. Complete conversion to Judaism of his own free will 2. Upholding the Seven Mitzvot of the Children of Noah, i.e. chasid umot ha'olam 3. Ger toshav 4. Having himself circumcised A Gentile is obligated to accept the Seven Mitzvot, but is not required to appear before a rabbinical court to become a ger toshav; that is a personal choice.[17]

According to Kellner (1991) on Maimonides, a ger toshav could be a transitional stage on the way to or "righteous alien", a convert to Judaism. He conjectures (גר צדק :becoming a ger tzedek (Hebrew that only a full ger tzedek would be found at the time of the Messiah.[18]

However, Rabbi Menachem Mendel states that the status of ger toshav will continue to exist, even in the Messianic era. This is based on the statement in Hilchot Melachim 12:5 that "the entire world's (kol ha'olam) occupation will be nothing but to know G‑d." In its plain meaning, he asserts, kol ha'olam also includes Gentiles. As proof, he cites 11:4, also dealing with the Messianic era, where the similar term ha'olam kulo, "the world in its entirety," clearly refers to Gentiles. Continuing the text in Hilchot Melachim 12:5, Maimonides explicitly changes the topic to Jews by using the term Yisra'el, explaining that "Therefore, the Jews will be great sages and know the hidden matters, grasping the knowledge of their Creator according to the full extent of human potential," indicating that Jew and Gentile will co-exist in the time of the Messiah.[19] In any case, even when there is a Jewish king and a Sanhedrin, and all the twelve tribes live in the Land of Israel, Jewish law does not permit forcing someone to convert and become a ger tzedek against his will.[20]

See also

Am ha-aretz Conversion to Judaism God-fearer Noahidism Proselyte Righteous Among the Nations Seven Laws of Noah Virtuous pagan, similar concept in Christianity

References

1.

[...] In rabbinic literature the ger toshab was a Gentile who observed the Noachian commandments but was not considered a convert to Judaism because he did not agree to circumcision. [...] some scholars have made the mistake of calling the ger toshab a "proselyte" or "semiproselyte." But the ger toshab was really a resident alien in Israel. Some scholars have claimed that the term "those who fear God" (yir᾿ei Elohim/Shamayim) was used in rabbinic literature to denote Gentiles who were on the fringe of the synagogue. They were not converts to Judaism, although they were attracted to the Jewish religion and observed part of the law.

— Geoffrey W. Bromiley, The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1986, Fully Revised Edition), p. 1010, Vol. 3, Eerdmans, Grand Rapids: Michigan, ISBN 0-8028-3783-2. 2.

In order to find a precedent the rabbis went so far as to assume that proselytes of this order were recognized in Biblical law, applying to them the term "toshab" ("sojourner," "aborigine," referring to the Canaanites; see Maimonides' explanation in "Yad," Issure Biah, xiv. 7; see Grätz, l.c. p. 15), in connection with "ger" (see Ex. xxv. 47, where the better reading would be "we-toshab"). Another name for one of this class was "proselyte of the gate" ("ger ha-sha'ar," that is, one under Jewish civil jurisdiction; comp. Deut. v. 14, xiv. 21, referring to the stranger who had legal claims upon the generosity and protection of his Jewish neighbors). In order to be recognized as one of these the neophyte had publicly to assume, before three "ḥaberim," or men of authority, the solemn obligation not to worship idols, an obligation which involved the recognition of the seven Noachian injunctions as binding ('Ab. Zarah 64b; "Yad," Issure Biah, xiv. 7). [...] The more rigorous seem to have been inclined to insist upon such converts observing the entire Law, with the exception of the reservations and modifications explicitly made in their behalf. The more lenient were ready to accord them full equality with Jews as soon as they had solemnly forsworn idolatry. The "via media" was taken by those that regarded public adherence to the seven Noachian precepts as the indispensable prerequisite (Gerim iii.; 'Ab. Zarah 64b; Yer. Yeb. 8d; Grätz, l.c. pp. 19–20). The outward sign of this adherence to Judaism was the observance of the Sabbath (Grätz, l.c. pp. 20 et seq.; but comp. Ker. 8b).

— "Proselyte (http://jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/12391-proselyte#ancho r4)", Jewish Encyclopedia (1906).

3. According to Encyclopedia Talmudit (Hebrew edition, Israel, 5741/1981, Entry Ben Noah, page 349), most medieval authorities consider that all seven commandments were given to Adam, although Maimonides (Mishneh Torah, Hilkhot M'lakhim 9:1) considers the dietary law to have been given to Noah. 4. Encyclopedia Talmudit (Hebrew edition, Israel, 5741/1981, entry Ben Noah, introduction) states that after the giving of the Torah, the Jewish people were no longer in the category of the sons of Noah; however, Maimonides (Mishneh Torah, Hilkhot M'lakhim 9:1) indicates that the seven laws are also part of the Torah, and the Talmud (Bavli, Sanhedrin 59a, see also Tosafot ad. loc.) states that Jews are obligated in all things that Gentiles are obligated in, albeit with some differences in the details. 5. Compare Genesis 9:4–6 (https://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt0109.htm#4). 6. Rabbi , ed. (1979). "Ger Toshav, Section 1". Encyclopedia Talmudit (in Hebrew) (Fourth Printing ed.). Jerusalem, Israel: Yad Harav Herzog (Emet). 7. Talmud b. Sanhedrin 56a, 56b 8. Rabbi Shlomo Yosef Zevin, ed. (1979). Encyclopedia Talmudit (in Hebrew) (Fourth Printing ed.). Jerusalem, Israel: Yad Harav Herzog (Emet). עוד מבאר בלקוטי שיחות ע"פ הצפנת פענח :Sefer Sheva Mitzvot Hashem, p. 27 .9 שחסיד אומות העולם אינו דוקא גר תושב, ואפשר לב"נ להיות חסיד אומות העולם, אע"פ שאינו גר תושב. ולכן לא הזכיר הרמב"ם כאן ש'אין מקבלין גר תושב אלא בזמן שהיובל נוהג' כדרכו בכל מקום (הארה: ראה הל' ע"ז פ"י, הל' מילה פ"א, הל' שבת פ"כ, הל' איסורי ביאה פי"ד.) שהזכיר דין ג"ת, כי אין כוונת הרמב"ם שכופין ב"נ להיות ג"ת, אלא לבאר האפשרויות העמודות לב"נ על פי התורה. א) גרות גמורה מרצונו, ב) קיום שבע מצוות – ועל זה צוה ה' את משה לכופם, ג) גר תושב, It is further explained in Likkutei Sichot according to the Tzafnat Pane'ach" ד) למול עצמו. that a chasid umot ha'olam [lit. Pious People of the World] is not necessarily a ger toshav, and it is possible for a Gentile [lit. Descendant of Noah] to be a chasid umot ha'olam despite him not being a ger toshav. And therefore the Rambam did not mention here that "We only accept a ger toshav while the Jubilee Year is observed" as usual in all the places (footnote: See Hilchot Avodah Zarah ch. 10, Hilchot Milah ch. 1, Hilchot Shabbat ch. 20, Hilchot Issurei Bi'ah ch. 14) that he mentions the law of the ger toshav, because the Rambam's intention was not that we force Gentiles [lit. Descendants of Noah] to be geirim toshvim, but rather to explain the options that stand for the Gentile [lit. Descendant of Noah] according to the Torah: 1) Complete conversion by his own free will, 2) upholding the seven mitzvot – and regarding this, G‑d commanded Moses to compel them, 3) ger toshav, 4) to circumcise himself." ד חיוב בן נח ואפשרותו להיות חסיד אומ"ה הוא :Sefer Sheva Mitzvot Hashem, p. 28 .10 .The obligation of the gentile [lit בכל זמן, ואינו תלוי בזמן שמקבלין גר תושב. Descendant of Noah] and his ability to be a chasid umot ha'olam are at all times, and are not dependent on the time that we accept a ger toshav." 11. pp.27, 40 et al, Sefer Sheva Mitzvot Hashem 12. Likutei Sichot vol. 26, p. 133 13. Likutei Sichot vol. 35, p. 97 14. Likutei Sichot vol. 4, 1094 15. Sefer Sheva Mitzvot Hashem, title page 16. Sefer Sheva Mitzvot Hashem, p. 18. Square brackets in the original; round brackets are the translator's interpolations. Also see footnote 10 at length there, explaining the sources for ולכן בזמן הזה, אע"פ שאין מקבלין ג"ת לענין זכויותיו :the ruling. Original Hebrew [כגון לגור בארץ ישראל], מ"מ אם בא לקבל על עצמו מרצונו להיות גר תושב וחסיד אומ"ה בפני ג' לענין קבלת מצוותיו מקבלין אותו. א. בן נח חייב לקבל על עצמו ולקיים שבע מצוות :Sefer Sheva Mitzvot Hashem, p. 28 .17 מפני שה' צוה לבני נח והודיע ע"י משה רבינו בתורה, והנזהר לקיימן משום כך הרי זה 'חסיד אומות העולם'.... ו. גר תושב וחסיד אומות העולם שתי תוערים הם. ואין ב"נ צריך לקבל על עצמו להיות גר תושב, וכן אינו צריך לקבל על עצמו עול ז' A Gentile [lit. Descendant of Noah] is required to accept .1" מצוות בפני בית דין ישראל. upon himself and uphold the seven mitzvot because G‑d [so] commanded the children of Noah through our Teacher Moses in the Torah. One who is careful to uphold them because of this is a chasid umot ha'olam [lit. Pious People of the World].... "6. Ger toshav and chasid umot ha'olam are two different terms. A Gentile is not required to accept upon himself to be a ger toshav, and so too is not required to accept the yoke of the seven mitzvot before a Jewish beit din." 18. Maimonides on Judaism and the Jewish people -Menachem Marc Kellner – 1991 (S U N Y Series in Jewish ) (9780791406915): Page 44 "against my reading of Maimonides is strengthened by the fact that Maimonides himself says that the ger toshav is accepted only during the time that the Jubilee is practiced.43 The Jubilee year is no longer practiced in this dispensation ...... Second, it is entirely reasonable to assume that Maimonides thought that the messianic conversion of the Gentiles would be a process that occurred in stages and that some or all Gentiles would go through the status of ger toshav on ...But this question aside, there are substantial reasons why it is very unlikely that Maimonides foresaw a messianic era in which the Gentiles would become only semiconverts (ger toshav) and not full converts (ger tzedek). ...But the main thrust of all the Maimonidean texts we have been analyzing here is that in the days of the Messiah all human beings will stand before God equally and jointly. What is a semiconvert? Maimonides explains that the ger toshav " 19. Schneersohn, Menachem Mendel. Sha'arei Ge'ulah. pp. 267–8 (translated from Hebrew; emphasis and round brackets, but not the square brackets, in original text): There is a further detail in the wording of the Rambam in the completion and conclusion of his book [Mishneh Torah, Hilchot Melachim 12:5]: "And the occupation of the entire world will not be anything other than to know G‑d." Because in its plain meaning, it thereby includes the nations of the world as well (similar to what the Rambam wrote in the previous chapter, that the Messianic king will "improve the world in its entirety to serve G‑d... I will transform the nations etc."), especially since immediately afterwards the Rambam changes [terminology] and writes "And therefore Israel will be great sages etc." From this it is clear that the phrase entire world written above is intended to thereby include the children of Noah as well. 20. Mishneh Torah, Hilchot Melachim 8:10 (http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/11883 53/jewish/Chapter-8.htm) The Seven Laws of Noah, Lichtenstein, Aaron, New York: The Rabbi Jacob Joseph School Press, 1981. The Image of the Non-Jew in Judaism, Novak, David, ISBN 0-88946-975-X, New York and Toronto: Edwin Mellen Press, 1983. Tolerance in Judaism: The Medieval and Modern Sources, Zuesse, Evan M., In: The Encyclopaedia of Judaism, edited by J. Neusner, A. Avery-Peck, and W.S. Green, Second Edition, ISBN 90-04-14787-X, Leiden: Brill, 2005, Vol. IV: 2688–2713 Encyclopedia Talmudit, Hebrew edition, 5739/1979, entry Ger Toshav Sheva Mitzvot Hashem, Weiner, Moshe, Jerusalem: Ask Noah International, 2008. (Hebrew) The World of The Ger, Rabbi David Katz and Rabbi Chaim Clorfene

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