Who Are Noahides (Bnei Noach)?
Before we get to sources, I just want to say it like I would to you in person:
The Jews are guardians of the Torah. But not all of Torah is exclusively for the Jewish people. Noah, as in the man who survived the flood, observed aspects of the Torah as well. This tradition was passed down through Jews and through their Noahide counterparts for generations.
The past 20 years has seen a sudden increase in the interest and number of gentiles who wish to follow the Torah as God sets out for them. That is to say, by following the 7 Noahide Laws. These seven laws are the foundations necessary to create a society based around goodness and Godliness.
This is not about converting to Judaism. This is about what God’s Torah calls upon gentiles to do. It is a tradition older than the Koran and older than the Christian Bible.
Nor must you necessarily stop your current religious practices (depending on what they are). For a beautiful article by a very great rabbi on that topic see this PDF: “The Irrelevance of Toleration” by Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz.
Okay. I’m done.
Here’s some sources and stuff.
In the Talmud, and codified by Maimonides, it is written that it is not sufficient for a non-Jew to just keep the Seven Laws in order to “have a portion in the world to come,” that is, to be assured of eternal life.
As Maimonides says:
Everyone who accepts the seven commandments and is careful to perform them – this person is of the Chasidei Umos HaOlam, and he has a portion in the World to Come. He accepts them and performs them because they were commanded by the Kodosh Baruch Hu revealed to us by the hand of Moshe Rabbenu that the Bnei Noah were previously commanded in these things.
See this wonderful WikiNoah page for more answers to questions such as:
Loading ...
