Seven Laws of Noah

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The rainbow is the unofficial symbol of Noahidism, recalling the Genesis flood narrative in which a rainbow appears to Noah after the Flood; it represents God's promise to Noah to refrain from flooding the Earth and destroying all life again.<ref name="Segal 1993">Template:Cite book</ref>

In Judaism, the Seven Laws of Noah (Template:Langx, Sheva Mitzvot B'nei Noach), otherwise referred to as the Noahide LawsTemplate:Refn or the Noachian LawsTemplate:Refn (from the Hebrew pronunciation of "Noah"), are a set of universal moral laws which, according to the Talmud, were given by God as a covenant with Noah and with the "sons of Noah"—that is, all of humanity.Template:Refn

The Seven Laws of Noah include prohibitions against worshipping idols, cursing God, murder, adultery and sexual immorality, theft, eating flesh torn from a living animal, as well as the obligation to establish courts of justice.Template:Refn

According to 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-Ba), the final reward of the righteous.Template:Refn The non-Jews that choose to follow the Seven Laws of Noah are regarded as "Righteous Gentiles" (Template:Langx, Chassiddei Umot ha-Olam: "Pious People of the World").Template:Refn

List

The Seven Laws of Noah as traditionally enumerated in the Babylonian Talmud (Sanhedrin 56a-b) and Tosefta (Avodah Zarah 9:4),Template:Refn are the following:Template:Refn<ref>For a discussion of whether the rabbinic conception of the Noahide prohibition of idolatry mirrors the Torah's prohibition of idolatry or has more leeway, see Template:Cite journal.</ref>

1. Not to worship idols.Template:Refn
2. Not to curse God.
3. Not to commit murder.Template:Refn
4. Not to commit adultery or sexual immorality.Template:Refn
5. Not to steal.Template:Refn
6. Not to eat flesh torn from a living animal.Template:Refn
7. To establish courts of justice.Template:Refn

According to the Talmud, the seven Noahide laws were given first to Adam and subsequently to Noah.Template:Refn The Tannaitic and Amoraitic rabbinic sages (1st–6th centuries CE) disagreed on the exact number of Noahide laws that were originally given to Adam.<ref name="Vana 2013"/><ref name="JE1"/><ref name="Talmudica"/> Six of the seven laws were exegetically derived from passages in the Book of Genesis,Template:Refn with the seventh being the establishment of courts of justice.<ref name="JE1"/><ref name="Talmudica"/> The earliest complete rabbinic version of the seven Noahide laws can be found in the Tosefta:<ref name="Vana 2013"/><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Oxford">Template:Cite book</ref>

Origins

Biblical sources

The prohibition on worshipping idols, cursing God and committing theft or sexual immorality are largely based on the orders God gives to humanity as a whole in the Genesis creation narrative.

• Worship of idols, cursing God and theft: "And the Lord God commanded the man, "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die." (Genesis 1:16–17); this establishes God as the supreme authority over humanity (implying humanity must respect Him and worship Him alone), and has been interpreted as setting forth the prohibition on taking property without the owner's consent (the property being the fruit and the owner being God himself).
• Sexual immorality: "Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh" (Genesis 2:24); this has been interpreted as establishing which sexual relationships are lawful, all the other ones being unlawful.

<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Later, according to the Genesis flood narrative, a deluge covered the whole world on account of violent corruption on the earth, killing every surface-dwelling creature except Noah, his wife, his sons, their wives, and the animals taken aboard the Ark. According to the biblical narrative, all modern humans are descendants of Noah, thus the name Noahide Laws refers to the laws that apply to all of humanity.<ref name="Vana 2013" /> After the Flood, God sealed a covenant with Noah with the following admonitions as written in Genesis 9:4–6:<ref>

Template:Tanakhverse</ref>

• 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 1st century BCE,<ref name="Vana 2013"/><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> may include a substantially different list of six commandments at verses 7:20–25:<ref name="Vana 2013"/> (1) to observe righteousness; (2) to cover the shame of their flesh; (3) to bless their creator; (4) to honor their parents; (5) to love their neighbor; and (6) to guard against fornication, uncleanness, and all iniquity.<ref>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref>

Modern analysis

Rabbinical

The Encyclopedia Talmudit, edited by Rabbi Shlomo Yosef Zevin, states that after the giving of the Torah, the Jewish people were no longer included in the category of the sons of Noah. Maimonides (Mishneh Torah, Hilkhot M'lakhim 9:1) indicates that the seven commandments are also part of the Torah, and the Babylonian Talmud (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.<ref name="Talmudica"/> According to the Encyclopedia Talmudit, most medieval Jewish authorities considered that all the seven commandments were given to Adam, although Maimonides (Mishneh Torah, Hilkhot M'lakhim 9:1) considered the dietary law to have been given to Noah.<ref name="Talmudica"/>

Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the Lubavitcher Rebbe, published and spoke about the Seven Laws of Noah many times.<ref>"The Rebbe - Purpose in life" (Chabad Lubavitch Channel - YouTube)</ref> According to Schneerson's view, based on a detailed reading of Maimonides' Hilkhot M'lakhim, the Talmud, and the Hebrew Bible, the seven laws originally given to Noah were given yet again, through Moses at Sinai, and it's exclusively through the giving of the Torah that the seven laws derive their current force.<ref name=lk_26_yisro3>Template:Cite book</ref> What has changed with the giving of the Torah is that now, it is the duty of the Jewish people to bring the rest of the world to fulfill the Seven Laws of Noah.<ref name=lk_4_vaeschonon>Template:Cite book</ref>

Academic and secular

According to Michael S. Kogan, professor of philosophy and religious studies at Montclair State University, the Seven Laws of Noah are not explicitly mentioned in the Torah but were exegetically extrapolated from the Book of Genesis by 2nd-century rabbis,<ref name="Kogan 2008">Template:Cite book</ref> which wrote them down in the Tosefta.<ref name="Kogan 2008"/>

According to Adam J. Silverstein, professor of Middle Eastern studies and Islamic studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jewish theologians started to rethink the relevance and applicability of the Seven Laws of Noah during the Middle Ages, primarily due to the precarious living conditions of the Jewish people under the Medieval Christian kingdoms and the Islamic world (see Jewish–Christian relations and Jewish–Islamic relations), since both Christians and Muslims recognize the patriarch Abraham as the unifying figure of the Abrahamic tradition, alongside the monotheistic conception of God.<ref name="Silverstein 2015">Template:Cite book</ref> Silverstein states that Jewish theology came to include concepts and frameworks that would permit certain types of non-Jews to be recognized as righteous and deserving of life in the Hereafter due to the "Noachide Law". He sees there being two "Torahs": one for Jews, the other for the gentile "Children of Noah". Whilst theoretically the Noachide Law should be universal, its prohibitions against blasphemy and idolatry mean that in practice it only really applied to non-idolatrous theists. Therefore, Jews normally considered Christians and/or Muslims when discussing this concept.<ref name="Silverstein 2015"/>

David Novak, professor of Jewish theology and ethics at the University of Toronto, presents a range of theories regarding the sources from which the Seven Laws of Noah originated, including the Hebrew Bible itself, Hittite laws, the Maccabean period, and the Roman period.<ref name="Novak 1983">Template:Cite book</ref> Regarding the modern Noahide movement, he denounced it by stating that "If Jews are telling Gentiles what to do, it's a form of imperialism".<ref name="Kress"/>

Judaism

Talmud

According to the Talmud, the seven Noahide laws apply to all of humanity.<ref name="Vana 2013"/><ref name="Talmudica"/><ref name="JVL"/> In Judaism, the term B'nei Noach (Template:Langx, "Sons of Noah")<ref name="Sefaria"/> refers to all mankind.<ref name="Talmudica"/> The Talmud also states: "Righteous people of all nations have a share in the world to come".<ref>Sanhedrin 105a</ref> Any non-Jew who lives according to these laws is regarded as one of the Righteous among the Gentiles.<ref name="myjewishlearning.com"/><ref name="JE1"/><ref name="Feldman2017"/><ref name="Feldman2018"/><ref name="ET1"/><ref name="Sefaria"/><ref name="JVL"/> According to the Talmud, the Noahide covenant was given first to Adam and subsequently to Noah.<ref name="Britannica"/><ref name="Vana 2013"/><ref name="Talmudica"/><ref name="JVL"/> Six of the seven laws were exegetically derived from passages in the Book of Genesis,<ref name="Britannica"/><ref name="JE1"/><ref name="Talmudica"/><ref name="JVL"/> with the seventh being the establishment of courts of justice.<ref name="Britannica"/><ref name="JE1"/><ref name="Talmudica"/><ref name="JVL"/>

The Talmudic sages expanded the concept of universal morality within the Noahide laws and added several other laws beyond the seven listed in the Talmud and Tosefta which are attributed to different rabbis,<ref name="Britannica"/><ref name="Vana 2013"/><ref name="JE1"/><ref name="Talmudica"/> such as prohibitions against committing incest, cruelty to animals, pairing animals of different species, grafting trees of different kinds, castration, emasculation, homosexuality, pederasty, and sorcery among others,Template:Refn with some of the sages, such as Ulla, going so far as to make a list of 30 laws.<ref name="Britannica"/><ref name="Vana 2013"/><ref name="JE1"/><ref>Chullin 92a-b</ref> The Talmud expands the scope of the seven laws to cover about 100 of the 613 mitzvot.<ref name="Annual">Template:Cite book</ref>

Punishment

In practice, Jewish law makes it very difficult to apply the Jewish death penalty.<ref name="Jewishvirtuallibrary.org Capital Punishment">Template:Cite web</ref> No record exists of a Gentile having been put to death for violating the seven Noahide laws.<ref name="Novak 1983"/> 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.<ref name="Jewishvirtuallibrary.org Capital Punishment"/>

According Sanhedrin 56a, for Noahides convicted of a capital crime, the only sanctioned method of execution is decapitation,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> considered one of the lightest capital punishments.<ref>Maimonides, Mishneh Torah, Judges, Laws of Sanhedrin, chapter 14, law 4</ref> Other sources state that the execution is to be by stoning if he has intercourse with a Jewish betrothed woman, or by strangulation if the Jewish woman has completed the marriage ceremonies, but had not yet consummated the marriage. In Jewish law, the only form of blasphemy which is punishable by death is blaspheming the Ineffable Name (Template:Tanakhverse).<ref name="Amram-Kohler">Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref> Some Talmudic rabbis held that only those offences for which a Jew would be executed, are forbidden to gentiles.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The Talmudic rabbis discuss which offences and sub-offences are capital offences and which are merely forbidden.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Maimonides states that anyone who does not accept the seven Noahide laws is to be executed, as God compelled the world to follow these laws.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> For the other prohibitions such as the grafting of trees and bestiality he holds that the sons of Noah are not to be executed.<ref name="Halakhah.com">Template:Cite web</ref> Maimonides adds a universalism lacking from earlier Jewish sources.<ref name="Annual"/>Template:Rp The Talmud differs from Maimonides in that it considers the seven laws enforceable by Jewish authorities on non-Jews living within a Jewish nation.<ref name="Annual"/>Template:Rp Nahmanides disagrees with Maimonides' reasoning. He limits the obligation of enforcing the seven laws to non-Jewish authorities, thus taking the matter out of Jewish hands. The Tosafot seems to agree with Nahmanides' reasoning.<ref name="warAndPeace">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp According to some opinions, punishment is the same whether the individual transgresses with knowledge of the law or is ignorant of the law.<ref>Babylonian Talmud, Makkot 9a, commentary of Rashi</ref>

Some authorities debate whether non-Jewish societies may decide to modify the Noachide laws of evidence (for example, by requiring more witnesses before punishment, or by permitting circumstantial evidence) if they consider that to be more just.<ref>Law and the Noahides, pp. 73–76</ref> Whilst Jewish law requires two witnesses, Noachide law, as recorded by Rambam, Hilkhot Melakhim 9:14, can accept the testimony of a single eyewitness as sufficient for use of the death penalty. Whilst a confession of guilt is not admissible as evidence before a Jewish court, it is a matter of considerable dispute as to whether or not it constitutes sufficient grounds for conviction in Noachide courts.<ref>Contemporary Halakhic Problems, Vol II, Part II, Chapter XVII Capital Punishment in the Noachide Code III. Rules of Evidence in the Noachide Code Contemporary halakhic problems, by J. David Bleich, 1977-2005</ref>

There is also some debate as to whether the ideal punishment for violation of these laws is the death penalty, or if it is up to the court's discretion to decide which punishment is most fitting. While a simple reading of the Talmud might suggest that the ideal punishment is the death penalty, a number of prominent commentators, including Rav Yosef Eliyahu Henkin, have argued that it is up to the courts to decide.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

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.<ref name="Halakhah.com"/> Like the Talmud, he interpreted the prohibition against homicide as including a prohibition against abortion.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> David ben Solomon ibn Abi Zimra, a commentator on Maimonides, expressed surprise that he left out castration and sorcery which were also listed in the Talmud.<ref>Sanhedrin 56b.</ref>

The Talmudist Ulla wrote of 30 laws which the sons of Noah took upon themselves. 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.<ref>Chullin 92a, and see Rashi.</ref> Though the authorities seem to take it for granted that Ulla's thirty commandments included the original seven, an additional thirty laws are 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 Samuel ben Hofni which was recently published from his Judeo-Arabic writings after having been found in the Cairo Geniza.<ref>Mossad HaRav Kook edition of the Gaon's commentary to Genesis.</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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.<ref>Kol Hidushei Maharitz Chayess I, end Ch. 10</ref>

Ger toshav (resident alien)

During biblical times, a Gentile living in the Land of Israel who did not want to convert to Judaism but accepted the Seven Laws of Noah as binding upon himself was granted the legal status of ger toshav (Template:Langx, ger: "foreigner" or "alien" + toshav: "resident", lit. "resident alien").<ref name="JE1"/><ref name="Bromiley 1986">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Bleich 1995">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="JE2">Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref> A ger toshav is therefore commonly deemed a "Righteous Gentile" (Template:Langx, Chassid Umot ha-Olam: "Pious People of the World"),<ref name="myjewishlearning.com"/><ref name="JE1"/><ref name="Feldman2017"/><ref name="Feldman2018"/><ref name="ET1"/><ref name="Sefaria"/> and is assured of a place in the World to Come (Olam Ha-Ba).<ref name="myjewishlearning.com"/><ref name="JE1"/><ref name="Feldman2017"/><ref name="Feldman2018"/><ref name="ET1"/><ref name="Sefaria"/>

The rabbinic regulations regarding Jewish-Gentile relations are modified in the case of a ger toshav.<ref name="ET1"/> The accepted halakhic opinion is that the ger toshav must accept the seven Noahide laws in the presence of three haberim (men of authority),<ref name="JE2"/> or, according to the rabbinic tradition, before a beth din (Jewish rabbinical court).<ref name="ET1"/> He will receive certain legal protection and privileges from the Jewish community, and there is an obligation to render him aid when in need. The restrictions on having a Gentile do work for a Jew on the Shabbat are also greater when the Gentile is a ger toshav.<ref name="ET1"/>

According to the Jewish philosopher and professor Menachem Kellner's study on Maimonidean texts (1991), a ger toshav could be a transitional stage on the way to becoming a "righteous alien" (Template:Langx, ger tzedek), i.e. a full convert to Judaism.<ref name="Kellner1991">Template:Cite book</ref> He conjectures that, according to Maimonides, only a full ger tzedek would be found during the Messianic era.<ref name="Kellner1991"/> Furthermore, Kellner criticizes the assumption within Orthodox Judaism that there is an "ontological divide between Jews and Gentiles",<ref name="Kellner2016">Template:Cite web</ref> which he believes is contrary to what Maimonides thought and the Torah teaches,<ref name="Kellner2016"/> stating that "Gentiles as well as Jews are fully created in the image of God".<ref name="Kellner2016"/>

According to Christine Hayes, an American scholar of ancient Judaism and early Christianity serving as the Sterling Professor of Religious Studies in Classical Judaica at Yale University, the gerim were not necessarily Gentile converts in the Hebrew Bible, whether in the modern or rabbinic sense.<ref name="Hayes 2002"/> Nonetheless, they were granted many rights and privileges when they lived in the Land of Israel.<ref name="Hayes 2002"/> For example, they could offer sacrifices, actively participate in Israelite politics, keep their distinct ethnic identity for many generations, inherit tribal allotments, etc.<ref name="Hayes 2002">Template:Cite book</ref>

Maimonides' view and his critics

During the Golden Age of Jewish culture in the Iberian Peninsula, the medieval Jewish philosopher and rabbi Maimonides (1135–1204) wrote in the halakhic legal code Mishneh Torah that Gentiles must perform exclusively the Seven Laws of Noah and refrain from studying the Torah or performing any Jewish commandment, including resting on the Shabbat.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> He also states that if Gentiles willingly perform any Jewish commandment besides the Seven Laws of Noah according to the correct halakhic procedure, they are not prevented from doing so.<ref name="JVL"/><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> According to Maimonides, teaching non-Jews to follow the Seven Laws of Noah is incumbent on all Jews, a commandment in and of itself.<ref name="Kress">Template:Cite web</ref> Nevertheless, the majority of rabbinic authorities over the centuries have rejected Maimonides' opinion, and the dominant halakhic consensus has always been that Jews are not required to spread the Noahide laws to non-Jews.<ref name="Kress"/>

Maimonides held that Gentiles may have a part in the World to Come (Olam Ha-Ba) just by observing the Seven Laws of Noah and accepting them as divinely revealed to Moses.<ref name="Britannica"/><ref name="Sefaria"/><ref name="JVL"/><ref name="Lemler 2011">Template:Cite journal</ref> According to Maimonides, such non-Jews achieve the status of Chassid Umot Ha-Olam ("Pious People of the World"),<ref name="Sefaria"/> and are different from those which solely keep the Noahide laws out of moral/ethical reasoning alone.<ref name="Sefaria"/> He wrote in Hilkhot M'lakhim:"<ref name="Sefaria"/>

Some later editions of the Mishneh Torah differ by one letter and read "Nor one of their wise men"; the latter reading is narrower. In either reading, Maimonides appears to exclude philosophical Noahides from being "Righteous Gentiles".<ref name="Sefaria"/> According to him, a truly "Righteous Gentile" follows the seven laws because they are divinely revealed, and thus are followed out of obedience to God.<ref name="Sefaria"/><ref name="m1"/><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

An important caveat to that teaching, however, was enunciated by Maimonides in a letter he wrote to Hasdai Ha-Levi, reprinted in the standard collections of his letters and explicitly accepted as authentic by leading scholars on Maimonides such as Isadore Twersky; in this he actually polemicised against the view that it was obligatory for a gentile to have accepted the Torah to be classified as a true Noachide and attaining the World to Come, i.e., final salvation. He wrote:

Twersky suggests that what Maimonides meant by his statement seemingly excluding non-Jews who did not affirm the Torah foundation of the Noachide Covenant from ultimate salvation was simply to underline the centrality of the Torah in the defining of all mitzvot. There was no intention, despite the uncharacteristically clumsy formulation, to exclude the righteous of all peoples who led godly lives even without knowing of the Torah or being rightly informed about it. They were given divine reward. David Hartman has shown that the identical outlook is affirmed in the Mishneh Torah itself, in the tractate on the Sabbatical Year and Jubilee, XIII,13, explicitly about ″every single individual among the world's inhabitants.″<ref>David Hartman, Maimonides: Torah and Philosophic Quest, (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1986), pp. 52-53, 222-223, n.62</ref> So it was not for Maimonides a merely private opinion made in passing, but had halakhic (Jewish law) standing. However, some later Jewish sages and readers have taken issue with Maimonides who did not know of the letter to Hasdai Ha-Levi, and/or who did not refer to the Mishneh Torah ruling David Hartman points out.

The 15th-century Sephardic Orthodox rabbi Yosef Caro, one of the early Acharonim and author of the Shulchan Aruch, bluntly rejected Maimonides' denial of the access to the World to Come to the Gentiles who obey the Noahide laws guided only by their reason as anti-rationalistic and unfounded, asserting that there is not any justification to uphold such a view in the Talmud.<ref name="Lemler 2011"/> The 17th-century Sephardic Dutch philosopher Baruch Spinoza read Maimonides as saying "nor one of their wise men", and accused him of being narrow and particularistic.<ref name="Lemler 2011"/> Other Jewish philosophers influenced by Spinoza, even though repudiating him, such as Moses Mendelssohn and Hermann Cohen, also have formulated more inclusive and universal interpretations of the Seven Laws of Noah.<ref name="Lemler 2011"/><ref name="m1">Template:Cite book</ref>

The 18th-century Ashkenazi German philosopher Moses Mendelssohn, one of the leading exponents of the Jewish enlightenment (Haskalah), citing the Letter to Hasdai Ha-Levi, strongly disagreed with Maimonides' formulation of the subject in the Mishneh Torah tractate Melakim, and instead contended that in conformity to the Letter itself, and enlightened reasonings, gentiles who observe the Noahide laws out of ethical, moral, or philosophical reasoning, in effect being ethical monotheists but not grounding this in the Torah specifically, retained the status of "Righteous Gentiles" and would still achieve salvation.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> According to Steven Schwarzschild, Maimonides' position has its source in his adoption of Aristotle's skeptical attitude towards the ability of reason to arrive at moral truths,<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

A novel understanding of Maimonides' position in the 20th century, advanced by the Ashkenazi Orthodox rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook, is that a non-Jew who follows the commandments due to philosophical conviction rather than revelation (what Maimonides calls "one of their wise men") also merits the World to Come; this would be in line with Maimonides' general approach that following philosophical wisdom advances a person more than following revelatory commands.<ref>Iggerot HaReiyah 1:89, quoted in Law and the Noahides, p.35</ref>

Modern Noahide movement

Menachem Mendel Schneerson encouraged his followers on many occasions to preach the Seven Laws of Noah,<ref name="Feldman2017"/><ref name="Kress"/> devoting some of his addresses to the subtleties of this code.<ref name=lk_26_yisro3/><ref name=lk_4_vaeschonon/><ref name=lk_35>Template:Cite book</ref> Since the 1990s,<ref name="Feldman2017"/><ref name="Feldman2018"/> Orthodox Jewish rabbis from Israel, most notably those affiliated to Chabad-Lubavitch and religious Zionist organizations,<ref name="Feldman2017"/><ref name="Feldman2018"/><ref name="Ilany">Template:Cite news</ref> including The Temple Institute,<ref name="Feldman2017"/><ref name="Feldman2018"/><ref name="Ilany"/> have set up a modern Noahide movement.<ref name="Feldman2017"/><ref name="Feldman2018"/><ref name="Ilany"/> These Noahide organizations, led by religious Zionist and Orthodox rabbis, are aimed at non-Jews to proselytize among them for ethical monotheism and tolerance, and commit them to follow the Noahide laws. This call for Noahide renewal not only applies universally and equally to all races and cultures but also does not rule out full conversion to Judaism by anyone deeply motivated to do so.<ref>Joseph P. Schultz, Judaism and the Gentile Faiths: Comparative Studies in Religion (London: Associated University Presses, 1981), Chapter 10: "The Noahite Commandments: The Religious Basis for World Law," pp. 354-370, and Evan Zuesse, "Tolerance in Judaism: Medieval and Modern Sources," in: The Encyclopaedia of Judaism, Second Edition, eds. Jacob Neusner et al. (Leiden, Boston: Brill, 2005), Vol. IV: pp.2688-2713</ref>

There are critics of these goals. Ofri Ilany, a writer in the secularist Haaretz newspaper, cites Professor Rachel Feldman's claims that religious Zionist and Orthodox rabbis that guide the modern Noahide movement are motivated by messianic hopes (sometimes called the Third Temple movement,)<ref name="Feldman2017"/><ref name="Feldman2018"/><ref name="Ilany"/> which allegedly implies a racist and supremacist ideology which consists in the belief that the Jewish people are God's chosen nation and racially superior to non-Jews,<ref name="Feldman2017"/><ref name="Feldman2018"/><ref name="Ilany"/> and mentor Noahides because they believe that the Messianic era will begin with the rebuilding of the Third Temple on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem to re-institute the Jewish priesthood along with the practice of ritual sacrifices, and the establishment of a Jewish theocracy in Israel, supported by communities of Noahides.<ref name="Feldman2017"/><ref name="Feldman2018"/><ref name="Ilany"/> These critics assert that in 1990, Meir Kahane, a convicted terrorist and founder of the Israeli ultra-nationalist political party Kach, was the keynote speaker at the First International Conference of the Descendants of Noah, the first Noahide gathering, in Fort Worth, Texas.<ref name="Feldman2017"/><ref name="Feldman2018"/><ref name="Ilany"/> After the assassination of Meir Kahane that same year, The Temple Institute, which advocates rebuilding the Third Jewish Temple on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, started to promote the Noahide laws as well.<ref name="Feldman2017"/><ref name="Ilany"/>

Public recognition

In the 1980s, rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson urged his followers to actively engage in activities to inform non-Jews about the Noahide laws, which had not been done in previous generations.<ref name="Kress"/><ref name="Tabletmag">Template:Cite magazine</ref> The Chabad-Lubavitch movement has been one of the most active in Noahide outreach, believing that there is spiritual and societal value for non-Jews in at least simply acknowledging the Noahide laws.<ref name="Feldman2017"/><ref name="Feldman2018"/><ref name="Kress"/><ref name="Tabletmag"/>

In 1982, Chabad-Lubavitch had a reference to the Noahide laws enshrined in a U.S. Presidential proclamation: the "Proclamation 4921",<ref name="ucsb.edu1">Template:Cite web</ref> signed by the then-U.S. President Ronald Reagan.<ref name="ucsb.edu1"/> The United States Congress, recalling House Joint Resolution 447 and in celebration of Schneerson's 80th birthday, proclaimed 4 April 1982, as a "National Day of Reflection".<ref name="ucsb.edu1"/>

In 1989 and 1990, Chabad-Lubavitch had another reference to the Noahide laws enshrined in a U.S. presidential proclamation: the "Proclamation 5956",<ref name="ucsb.edu2">Template:Cite web</ref> signed by then-U.S. President George H. W. Bush.<ref name="ucsb.edu2"/> The United States Congress, recalling House Joint Resolution 173 and in celebration of Schneerson's 87th birthday, proclaimed 16 April 1989, and 6 April 1990, as "Education Day, U.S.A."<ref name="ucsb.edu2"/>

In January 2004, 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; the mayor of the Arab city of Shefa-'Amr (Shfaram) – where Muslim, Christian, and Druze communities live side-by-side – also signed the document.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In March 2016, the Sephardic Chief Rabbi of Israel, Yitzhak Yosef, declared during a sermon that Jewish law requires that only non-Jews who follow the Noahide laws are allowed to live in Israel:<ref name="Sharon 2016">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> "According to Jewish law, it's forbidden for a non-Jew to live in the Land of Israel – unless he has accepted the seven Noahide laws, [...] If the non-Jew is unwilling to accept these laws, then we can send him to Saudi Arabia, ... When there will be full, true redemption, we will do this."<ref name="Sharon 2016"/> Yosef further added: "non-Jews shouldn't live in the land of Israel. ... If our hand were firm, if we had the power to rule, then non-Jews must not live in Israel. But, our hand is not firm. [...] Who, otherwise be the servants? Who will be our helpers? This is why we leave them in Israel."<ref name="ADL 2016">Template:Cite web</ref> Yosef's sermon sparked outrage in Israel and was fiercely criticized by several human rights associations, NGOs and members of the Knesset;<ref name="Sharon 2016"/> Jonathan Greenblatt, Anti-Defamation League's CEO and national director, and Carole Nuriel, Anti-Defamation League's Israel Office acting director, issued a strong denunciation of Yosef's sermon:<ref name="Sharon 2016"/><ref name="ADL 2016"/>

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 from observing them.<ref name="JE3">Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

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 the Noahide laws,<ref name="Novak 1983"/> and Jewish scholars disagree about whether the Noahide laws are a functional part of the Halakha (Jewish law).<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

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 humankind 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.<ref name="ET1"/>

Early Christianity

File:Saint James the Just.jpg

James the Just, whose judgment was adopted in the Apostolic Decree of Acts Template:Bibleverse-nb: "but we should write to them [gentiles] to abstain only from things polluted by idols and from fornication and from whatever has been strangled and from blood." (NRSV)

In the history of Christianity, the Apostolic Decree recorded in Acts 15 is commonly seen as a parallel to the Seven Laws of Noah, and thus be a commonality rather than a differential.<ref name="Vana 2013"/><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name="Fitzmyer 1998">Template:Cite book</ref> Some modern scholars dispute the connection between Acts 15 and the seven Noahide laws.<ref name="Fitzmyer 1998"/> The Apostolic Decree is still observed by the Eastern Orthodox Church and includes some food restrictions.<ref>Karl Josef von Hefele's commentary on canon II of Gangra Template:Webarchive 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 63rd Apostolic Canon, expressly blames the Latins because they had ceased to observe this command. What the Latin Church may have thought on this subject around 400 is suggested by St. Augustine in his work Contra Faustum, where he states that the Apostles had given this command 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, Pope 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."</ref>

The Jewish Encyclopedia article on Paul of Tarsus states: Template:Blockquote

The article on the New Testament states: Template:Blockquote

The 18th-century rabbi Jacob Emden hypothesized that Jesus, and Paul after him, intended to convert the gentiles to the Seven Laws of Noah while calling on the Jews to keep the full Law of Moses.<ref name="JE3"/>

See also

• Code of Hammurabi
• Ethical monotheism
• Forbidden relationships in Judaism
• God-fearers
• Interfaith dialogue
• Israeli citizenship law
• Jewish Christianity
  • Judaizers
  • Judeo-Christian
  • Messianic Jews
  • Subbotniks
• Jewish outreach
• Judaism and environmentalism
• List of ancient legal codes
• Natural law
• Noahidism
• Proselytization and counter-proselytization of Jews
  • Jews for Jesus
  • New Christians
• Relations between Judaism and Christianity
  • British Israelism
  • Catholic Church and Judaism
  • Christian Zionism
  • Eastern Orthodoxy and Judaism
  • Jewish views on Jesus
    • Jesus in the Talmud
    • Rejection of Jesus
  • Protestantism and Judaism
• Relations between Judaism and Islam
• Righteous among the Nations
• Ritual Decalogue
• Shituf
• Sons of Noah
• State of nature
• Ten Commandments
• Zera Yisrael

Further reading

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External links

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