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Noahidism (/ˈnoʊəhaɪdɪzəm/) orNoachidism (/ˈnoʊəxaɪdɪzəm/) is amonotheisticJewishreligious movement aimed atnon-Jews,[9] based upon theSeven Laws of Noah[10] and their traditional interpretations withinOrthodox Judaism.[11]
According to theJewish law, non-Jews (gentiles) are not obligated toconvert to Judaism, but they are required to observe the Seven Laws of Noah to be assured of a place in theWorld to Come (Olam Ha-Ba), the final reward of the righteous.[17] The penalty for violating any of the Noahide laws is discussed in theTalmud,[12] but in practical terms it is subject to the working legal system which is established by the society at large.[12] Those who subscribe to the observance of the Noahic Covenant are referred to asBnei Noach (Hebrew:בני נח, "Sons of Noah") orNoahides (/ˈnoʊ.əhaɪdz/).[18] The modern Noahide movement was founded in the 1990s byOrthodox Jewishrabbis fromIsrael,[2][3][7] mainly tied toChabad-Lubavitch andreligious Zionist organizations,[2][3][7] includingThe Temple Institute.[2][3][7]
Historically, the Hebrew termBnei Noach has been applied to all non-Jews asdescendants of Noah.[3][12][13] However, nowadays it is primarily used to refer specifically to those "Righteous Gentiles" who observe the Seven Laws of Noah.[3][4][5] Noahide communities have spread and developed primarily in theUnited States,United Kingdom,Latin America,Nigeria, thePhilippines, andRussia.[5] According to a Noahide source in 2018[update], there are over 20,000 official Noahides around the world and the country with the greatest number is the Philippines.[3][5][7]
The theological basis for theseven commandments of theNoahic Covenant is said to be derived interpretatively from demands addressed toAdam[19] and toNoah,[20] who are believed to be the progenitors of humankind inJudaism, and therefore to be regarded asuniversal moral laws.[13][21] The seven commandments of the Noahic Covenant enumerated in theBabylonian Talmud (Avodah Zarah 8:4,Sanhedrin 56a-b) are:[24]
According to the AmericanRoman Catholic priest anddogmatic theologian Bruce R. Barnes, the obligation to follow the Noahic Covenant and its seven commandments was incumbent upon theJewish people as well, and remained effective for them until theTen Commandments were given toMoses onMount Sinai:[13]
With the giving of theTorah, God chose a people to live by His Commandments. This is a critical moment for those who believe that revelation is the only authentic expression of law. Such individuals think that the Revealed Law predominates and that theNoahide Laws are absorbed into theMosaic Laws, thereby losing their independence. This unification of the two sets of law during the revelation at Sinai strengthened and confirmed (rather than diminished) the obligation fornon-Jews to follow the Noahide Laws.Righteous Gentiles were obliged to follow the Seven Commandments and, by association, the Sinaitic Commandments because the Noahide Laws were now considered subsumed into the Sinai Laws. This did not alter the distinction between the two sets of people who followed the respective laws. [...] The relationship between the Noahites and the Jews would always be similar to the relationship between a priest and a faithful layman. The obligation to follow the Noahide Laws was incumbent upon the Jews from Adam to the Revelation at Sinai. Virtually allJewish thinkers who dealt with this issue kept this in mind.[13]
The concept of "Righteous Gentiles" (gerim toshavim) has a few precedents in thehistory of Judaism, primarily duringBiblical times and theRoman domination of the Mediterranean. In theHebrew Bible, it is reported that the legal status ofger toshav (Biblical Hebrew:גר תושב,ger: "foreigner" or "alien" +toshav: "resident",lit. 'resident alien')[37] was granted to thoseGentiles (non-Jews) living in theLand of Israel who did not want to convert to Judaism but agreed to observe the Seven Laws of Noah.[38] TheSebomenoi orGod-fearers of theRoman Empire were another ancient example of non-Jews being included within the Jewish community without converting to Judaism.[2][39]
During theGolden Age of Jewish culture in the Iberian Peninsula, themedievalJewish philosopher andrabbiMoses Maimonides (1135–1204) wrote in thehalakhic legal codeMishneh Torah that Gentiles (non-Jews) must perform exclusively the Seven Laws of Noah and refrain fromstudying the Torah or performing anyJewish commandment, including resting on theShabbat;[40] however, Maimonides also states that if Gentiles want to perform any Jewish commandment besides the Seven Laws of Noah according to the correct halakhic procedure, they are not prevented from doing so.[41] According to Maimonides, teaching non-Jews to follow the Seven Laws of Noah is incumbent on all Jews, a commandment in and of itself.[4] Nevertheless, the majority ofrabbinic 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.[4]
During the 1860s inWestern Europe, the idea of Noahidism as a universal Judaic religion for non-Jews was developed byElijah Benamozegh,[2][42] anItalianSephardic Orthodox rabbi and renownedJewish Kabbalist.[43] Between the years 1920s–1930s, French writer Aimé Pallière [fr] adopted the Noahide laws at the suggestion of his teacher Elijah Benamozegh; afterwards, Pallière spread Benamozegh's doctrine in Europe and never formally converted to Judaism.[2][21] Modern historians argue that Benamozegh's role in the debate on Jewish universalism in the history ofJewish philosophy was focused on the Seven Laws of Noah as the means subservient to the shift ofJewish ethics from particularism to universalism, although the arguments that he used to support his universalistic viewpoint were neither original nor unheard in the history of this debate.[42] According toClémence Boulouque, Carl and Bernice Witten Associate Professor of Jewish and Israel Studies atColumbia University in the City of New York, Benamozegh ignored theethnocentricbiases contained in the Noahide laws, whereas some contemporaryright-wingJewish political movements have embraced them.[42]
Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the Lubavitcher Rebbe, encouragedhis followers on many occasions to preach the Seven Laws of Noah,[2][4] devoting some of his addresses to the subtleties of this code.[44][45][46] Since the 1990s,[2][3] Orthodox Jewish rabbis from Israel, most notably those affiliated toChabad-Lubavitch andreligious Zionist organizations,[2][3][7] includingThe Temple Institute,[2][3][7] have set up the modern Noahide movement.[2][3][7] These Noahide organizations, led by religious Zionist and Orthodox Jewish rabbis, are aimed atnon-Jews toproselytize among them and commit them to follow the Noahide laws.[2][3][7] According to Rachel Z. Feldman,[3] American anthropologist and Assistant Professor of Religious Studies atDartmouth College, many of the Orthodox Jewish rabbis involved in mentoring Noahides are supporters of theThird Temple movement who believe that the messianic era shall begin with the establishment of aJewish theocratic state inIsrael, supported by communities of Noahides worldwide:[3]
Today, nearly 2,000Filipinos consider themselves members of the "Children of Noah", anewJudaic faith that is growing into the tens of thousands worldwide asex-Christians encounter forms of Jewish learning online. Under the tutelage ofOrthodox Jewishrabbis, Filipino "Noahides", as they call themselves, study Torah, observe the Sabbath, and passionately support a form ofmessianic Zionism. Filipino Noahidesbelieve that Jews are a racially superior people, with an innate ability to access divinity. According to their rabbi mentors, they are forbidden from performing Jewish rituals and even reading certain Jewish texts. These restrictions have necessitated the creation of new, distinctly Noahide ritual practices and prayers modeled after Jewish ones. Filipino Noahides are practicing a new faith that alsoaffirms the superiority of Judaism and Jewish biblical right to theLand of Israel, in line with the aims of the growing messianic Third Temple Movement inJerusalem.[3]
Feldman describes Noahidism as a "newworld religion" that "carv[es] out a place for non-Jews in themessianic Zionist project".[3] She characterizes Noahide ideology in the Philippines and elsewhere in the global south as having a "markedly racial dimension" constructed around "an essential categorical difference between Jews and Noahides".[3]David Novak, professor ofJewish theology andethics at theUniversity of Toronto, has denounced the modern Noahide movement by stating that "If Jews are telling Gentiles what to do, it's a form ofimperialism".[4]
In 2005 a "High Council ofBnei Noah", set up to represent Noahide communities around the world, was endorsed bya group that claimed to be the new Sanhedrin.[47] The High Council ofBnei Noah consists of a group of Noahides who, at the request of thenascent Sanhedrin, gathered inJerusalem on 10 January 2006 to be recognized as an international Noahide organization for the purpose of serving as a bridge between the nascent Sanhedrin and Noahides worldwide.[48] There were ten initial members who flew to Israel and pledged to uphold the Seven Laws of Noah and to conduct themselves under the authority of the Noahidebeth din (religious court) of the nascent Sanhedrin.[48]
Meir Kahane andShlomo Carlebach organized one of the first Noahide conferences in the 1980s. In 1990, Kahane was the keynote speaker at the First International Conference of the Descendants of Noah, the first Noahide gathering, inFort Worth, Texas.[2][3][7] After theassassination of Meir Kahane that same year,The Temple Institute, which advocates torebuild the Third Jewish Temple on theTemple Mount inJerusalem, started to promote the Noahide laws as well.[2][7]
TheChabad-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.[2][3][4][5] In 1982, Chabad-Lubavitch had a reference to the Noahide laws enshrined in aU.S. Presidential proclamation: the "Proclamation 4921",[49] signed by the then-U.S. PresidentRonald Reagan.[49] TheUnited States Congress, recalling House Joint Resolution 447 and in celebration ofMenachem Mendel Schneerson's 80th birthday, proclaimed 4 April 1982, as a "National Day of Reflection".[49]
In 1989 and 1990, they had another reference to the Noahide laws enshrined in aU.S. Presidential proclamation: the "Proclamation 5956",[50] signed by then-PresidentGeorge H. W. Bush.[50] The United States Congress, recalling House Joint Resolution 173 and in celebration of Menachem Mendel Schneerson's 87th birthday, proclaimed 16 April 1989, and 6 April 1990, as "Education Day, U.S.A."[50]
In January 2004, the spiritual leader of theDruze community in Israel, SheikhMowafak 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 theArab city ofShefa-'Amr (Shfaram) also signed the document.[51]
In March 2016, theSephardicChief Rabbi of Israel,Yitzhak Yosef, declared during a sermon that Jewish law requires that the only non-Jews allowed to live in Israel are obligated to follow the Noahide laws:[52][53]
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 toSaudi Arabia, [...] When there will be full, true redemption, we will do this.[52]
Yosef further added:
[N]on-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.[54]
Yosef's sermon sparked outrage in Israel and was fiercely criticized by several human rights associations,NGOs andmembers of the Knesset;[52]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:[52][54]
The statement by Chief Rabbi Yosef is shocking and unacceptable. It is unconscionable that the Chief Rabbi, an official representative of the State of Israel, would express such intolerant and ignorant views about Israel's non-Jewish population – including the millions of non-Jewish citizens.
As a spiritual leader, Rabbi Yosef should be using his influence to preach tolerance and compassion towards others, regardless of their faith, and not seek to exclude and demean a large segment of Israelis.
We call upon the Chief Rabbi to retract his statements and apologize for any offense caused by his comments.[54]
Furthermore, the sign of the Noahide covenant, therainbow, is available to all humanity to symbolizeGod's promise of safety. And it is completely outside of the specialcovenant with Abraham and his descendants. The covenant withNoah is expanded to the entireprimeval period, encompassing all the revealed commandments precedingSinai.
Noahide Laws, also calledNoachian Laws, a JewishTalmudic designation for seven biblical laws given toAdam and toNoah before therevelation to Moses onMt. Sinai and consequently binding on all mankind.Beginning withGenesis2:16, the Babylonian Talmud listed the first six commandments as prohibitions against idolatry, blasphemy, murder, adultery, and robbery and the positive command to establish courts of justice (with all that this implies). Afterthe Flood a seventh commandment, given to Noah, forbade the eating of flesh cut from a living animal (Genesis 9:4). Though the number of laws was later increased to 30 with the addition of prohibitions against castration, sorcery, and other practices, the "seven laws", with minor variations, retained their original status as authoritative commandments and as the source of other laws. As basic statutes safeguardingmonotheism and guaranteeing properethical conduct in society, these laws provided a legal framework foralien residents in Jewish territory.Maimonides thus regarded anyone who observed these laws as one "assured of a portion in theworld to come."
In rabbinic literature theger 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 theger toshab a "proselyte" or "semiproselyte." But theger 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.
Rashi,Yevamot 48b, maintains that a resident alien (ger toshav) is obliged to observeShabbat. Theger toshav, in accepting the Seven Commandments of the Sons of Noah, has renounced idolatry and [...] thereby acquires a status similar to that ofAbraham. [...] Indeed,Rabbenu Nissim,Avodah Zarah 67b, declares that the status on an unimmersed convert is inferior to that of ager toshav because the former's acceptance of the "yoke of the commandments" is intended to be binding only upon subsequent immersion. Moreover, the institution ofger toshav as a formal halakhic construct has lapsed with thedestruction of the Temple.
The Seven Laws. Laws which were supposed by the Rabbis to have been binding upon mankind at large even before therevelation at Sinai, and which are still binding upon non-Jews. The termNoachian indicates the universality of these ordinances, since the whole human race was supposed to be descended from the threesons of Noah, who alone survivedthe Flood. [...] Basing their views on the passage in Genesis 2:16, they declared that the following six commandments were enjoined upon Adam: (1) not to worship idols; (2) not to blaspheme the name of God; (3) to establish courts of justice; (4) not to kill; (5) not to commit adultery; and (6) not to rob (Gen. R. xvi. 9, xxiv. 5; Cant. R. i. 16; comp. Seder 'Olam Rabbah, ed. Ratner, ch. v. and notes, Wilna, 1897; Maimonides, "Yad," Melakim, ix. 1). A seventh commandment was added after the Flood—not to eat flesh that had been cut from a living animal (Genesis 9:4). [...] Thus, theTalmud frequently speaks of "the seven laws of the sons of Noah," which were regarded as obligatory upon all mankind, in contradistinction to those that were binding upon Israelites only (Tosef., 'Ab. Zarah, ix. 4; Sanh. 56a et seq.). [...] He who observed the seven Noachian laws was regarded as a domiciled alien, as one of the pious of the Gentiles, and was assured of a portion in theworld to come (Tosef., Sanh. xiii. 1; Sanh. 105a; comp. ib. 91b; "Yad," l.c. viii. 11).
In order to find a precedent the rabbis went so far as to assume thatproselytes of this order were recognized inBiblical law, applying to them the term "toshab" ("sojourner," "aborigine," referring to theCanaanites; seeMaimonides' 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).
