Torah Online - Rabbi Tuvia Bolton SEVEN NOAHIDE COMMANDMENTS Judaism's message to mankind. According to the Jewish prophets there will come a day when the entire world will worship only one god; the G-d of Israel. (we write the word 'God' with a dash so it won't be desecrated if this paper is thrown away) Indeed, this is the very motto and mission statement of Judaism; the "Shema Yisroel' prayer. It is repeated twice daily by every Jew and should be the last words one says in one's life before dying; "Hear Israel, G-d is our G-d, G-d is one" (Deut.6:4) It means: "Hear and Understand, Jews. Presently G-d is 'ours'; believed in only by us and not by the other religions….. But in the future He will be 'ONE' and worshiped by all mankind. As it says (Zephaniah 3) "Then I will transform all mankind to a clear language that all will call in the name of G-d, and serve Him with one shoulder." and (Zechariah 14) ' "On that day G-d will be one and His name one". (Rash'i, the foremost explainer of the Torah. On Deut. 6:4) In other words; Judaism believes that inevitably each and every human on in this planet will be religious and will worship only 'our' G-d. It is impossible to conceive of such a thing? Is one god better than another? Isn't this coercion; the Jewish counterpart of the inquisiton? Certainly not! In fact, the opposite is true. The Torah and prophets refer to an era when all mankind will recognize the unity of all creation and realize that there is a Creator who has endowed us with ultimately positive, potentials and will help us to realize them. Then the world will begin to become perfected: When the Good, Love, Gratitude and power to build will be revealed in each of us G-d will react to our efforts and such evils as war, famine, tragedy, want, disease and even death will cease to exist. This will all be accomplished when all mankind begins to believe in the G-d of Israel (the first and basis of the Seven Noahide Commandments) and follow His Torah. As Maimonides, (Rabbi Moses ben Maimon 13th century spiritual giant and foremost codifier of Judaism) writes in his book 'Mishneh Torah' in explaining the Seven Noahide Commandments: "From the word of G-d, Moses commanded the Jews to convince and bring the entire world to the observance of the commandments that were given to 'Bnei Noach' (all the gentiles)" (Laws of Kings 8:4)… "And that they should fulfill them because they were commanded through Moses on Mount Sinai (ibid 8:11)" "At that time there will be no hunger, war, no jealousy or competition because all physical things will be in abundance (ibid 12:5) Let us First understand more about the G-d of Israel: THE CREATOR. The Jews worship a completely different G-d than all the other religions, and it is this G-d that all mankind eventually will be worshiping. All other religions worship a spiritual power or powers; gods, personages, spirits, forces etc. that are separate and distant entities from the world and the people in it. They separate reality into what Judaism calls 'Shtay R'shuyout' lit. Two Domains: Spiritual and Physical. But the Jews worship the Creator. Not just a creator who made the world long ago and is now distant, viewing creation from high up, but One Creator who creates all being; all atoms, all spirit, all consciousness even each of us humans, anew ….. every instant! As the Torah begins: In the beginning G-d created the Heavens and the Earth. 'Heavens' means everything spiritual and 'Earth' refers to the physical. In other words the G-d of the Torah is not spiritual… rather He CREATES the spiritual. And He creates the physical as well. And because He creates time as well. In other words the Jews want to bring all mankind to worship the Creator: The One G-d who is creating each and every person every instant. This is the most simple yet most difficult concept possible: G-d is infinitely close and infinitely far at the same time. Close because G-d creates us and nothing is closer to us than our own existence. (and we must admit that we are not creating ourselves). But difficult and far because G-d creates even the spiritual. He is 'above' the spiritual 'gods' of the other religions. His existence is more real and intensely present than ours and more infinite than even the spirtual. In other words, He is the only REAL existence. While we are mere creations. This is the basis of the Noahide commandments; worshiping the G-d who creates us. Who is infinitely close and real and yet incomprehensibly far and 'unreal'. Who Personally creates all reality. G-d is the source of life, of all consciousness, all matter and all spirit. It is even possible to feel this; Look around you. The air, the trees, the sky, the ground, the people yourself ….. all is being created constantly by G-d. He is the source of all existence and He alone creates all being constantly FROM NOTHING! This is the G-d of Israel. Or, In the language of the Torah: "Ain Od Milvado" (Deut. 4:35). There is nothing but Him. But G-d is also intimate and….. He CARES; He gives us eyes to see, ears to hear, all our senses, talents and abilities as well as the urge to develop and use them to improve the world. He alone is the source of all good. He alone provides our needs, gives us life, livelihood, joy, meaning, love and all we have. And He alone actually hears and answers all prayers. (Psalms 145: 9,18) He saved Noah, the only righteous man in a totally evil generation, from the flood (All gentiles are called 'Bnei Noach' because, as Noah's direct descendents they have inherited his integrity and G- d given potential for truth and good.) and began through him a brave, new world. G-d took the Jews from Egypt, gave them the Torah, fed them Manna and water and protected them in the desert for 40 years. And He has been and still is, protecting them ever since till this very day!! That is what it means; He is a "living G-d". (Jeremiah 10:10) and that G-d has an 'image' (Gen. 1:27) Namely that, although in fact He is the Creator and we are His creations, He reacts to us as though we are somehow His equals. (as is explained in length and depth in Kabalistic and Chassidic texts.) He hears our prayers, rewards and punishes our deeds and helps us when we are in need. From Him alone comes all we have and all we are, indeed our very being every instant. He is the Creator of the Universe and to Him alone we owe an infinite debt of gratitude.. But in order to really express our gratitude properly it must be according to what He wants; the rules that He, THE CREATOR HIMSELF, established. That is why He gave the Torah. THE TORAH The Torah is the ONLY direction manual, written and given personally by G-d ........ for all creation. Of course there are Bibles and various 'holy' books of other religions but all of them claim to be, at best, spiritual revelations given privately to either one (most often miraculously born) individual or to a select few. But the Torah was given to millions of people by the Creator Himself. Fifty days after G-d personally took the entire Jewish nation from Egypt with great miracles and signs (itself an unequalled event in history) He brought them to Mount Sinai and amidst fire and thunder personally appeared (Deut. 5:4) and spoke to them (Exodus 20:2,3) saying: "I am your G-d who took you out of Egypt. Worship no other gods. With these words G-d made many things clear; First; that the Jews are His people. Second; He is active in this world; He took the Jews from Egypt. Third; He wants us to worship only Him (the G- d who took the Jews from Egypt) and finally; we must do it even in our most mundane matters (Don't kill, steal etc) This, the giving of the Torah, was the most eye-witnessed and verified event in the history of the world. Millions of Jews saw, heard and afterward told their children that G-d spoke to them all. …. And it has been passed down from generation to generation without interruption since then. Yes, for over three thousand three hundred years, despite persecutions, inquisitions, holocausts, expulsions, pogroms and unspeakable hardships Jewish parents have been telling their children that G-d took their forefathers from Egypt and gave them His Torah. Even more. The other religions, even those that believe that G-d chose the Jews and gave them His Torah, never even so much as tried to invent such a tale regarding the origin of their various Bibles. As the Torah itself says……."Has there ever been such a great thing or have you ever heard the likes of it" etc. (Deut 4:32) it would simply be impossible to support. And even more amazing; the Torah of the Jews today is exactly the same one that was given to Moses. For over 3,300 years, since Mt.