THE PATH OF THE RIGHTEOUS GENTILE
AN INTRODUCTION TO THE SEVEN LAWS OF THE CHILDREN OF NOAH
by Chaim Clorfene and Yakov
Rogalsky
Copyright © by
the authors
Permission is granted for PERSONAL USE ONLY.
The material is published
in book format by Feldheim
Press (NY)
PREFACE
Imagine how a person might feel if he received a personal
notification from a king asking him to fulfill a mission. Of course,
the person had always been aware of the king, but he never dreamed that
the king was aware of him. And he surely never thought that the king
might one day select him as an emissary.
Moreover, it is the king's promise that if he should succeed in his
mission, which happens to be well within his normal capability, he will
be moved into the royal palace and rewarded with fabulous riches and
glory for the rest of his life.
Chances are that if the foregoing situation happened, the person
would be awestruck and humbled beyond imagining. "The king wants me to
do his bidding? Me, personally?" After the shock and dismay wore off,
this person would experience boundless joy. "The king considers me
capable of fulfilling a mission. I have real worth!."
Finally, the joy would give way to a powerful sense of well-being.
With the king's promised benevolence, the person would never have to
worry about the thing. Such a gracious bestowal from a mighty ruler is
an absolute guarantee of security.
This is precisely the situation that every person on earth faces.
The above is told as a parable.
The king is G-d, Creator of heaven and earth, the Father of all
mankind. The mission is the fulfilment of His commandments and the
reward is eternal life.
By studying and fulfilling the Seven Laws of the Children of Noah,
one enters into a unique bond with the Creator and thereby draws a G-dly
light onto one's soul. The light is eternal and in it one receives an
eternal reward.
It is strange indeed that although these Seven Divine Commandments
form the most ancient of all religious doctrines, it is a doctrine that
remains ever-new, practised and studied by only a few exalted souls
throughout the world.
This slim volume is an attempt to popularize these eternal
teachings to make known to righteous people their true religious
obligation and majestic spiritual potential.
HISTORICAL OVERVIEW
The code of Divine Law which we now know as the Seven Commandments
of the Children of Noah has been with mankind since the creation of the
first man, Adam. The very reason that G-d created man last of all the
creations was symbolic of man's choice in the world.
When he is fulfilling G-d's will, man sits atop everything that was
created before him, truly the crown of creation. But when he fails in
disobedience to G-d, he is last and lowlier than all the creatures,
lower even than the mosquito who consumes throughout its life, but never
eliminates waste, the symbol of ultimate selfishness.
Even the lowly mosquito follows G-d's will. Man alone has the
option to transgress it.
When G-d charged Adam, "And the L-rd G-d commanded Adam, saying: Of
every tree in the garden you may surely eat. But from the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil you may not eat of it, for on the day that
you eat of it you shall surely die." (Genesis 2:16,17) this single
commandment contained the source of the Seven Noahide Commandments.
And more, Adam was charged by G-d with the responsibility to teach
the laws to future generations. The verse states that G-d commanded
Adam, "saying."
This word, "saying," is superfluous, and it is a principle of the
Torah that there are no superfluous words, everything comes to teach us
something.
In this case, the superfluous word, "saying," indicates the not
only did G-d say it to Adam, but He meant for Adam to say it as well.
It is a principle in Biblical analysis that when a verse states,
"And the L-rd spoke to Moses, saying..." it means that G-d taught Moses
something and that He expected him to teach it to the Jewish people, or,
as in the case of the Seven Commandments of the Children of Noah, to all
of mankind.
And so, Adam taught his children the Seven Universal Laws: Not to
worship idols, not to curse G-d, not to kill, not to steal, not to
engage in sexual immorality, not to eat the limb of a living animal, and
to establish courts of law to enforce these laws. And so mankind
developed.
The clear proof that the descendants of Adam knew these laws and
were expected to obey them by the Divine Judge and Father, was that 1557
years later, He brought the Great Flood as a punishment for mankind's
failure in keeping these commandments. "And G-d saw the earth and,
behold, it was corrupted, because all flesh had corrupted its way on the
earth." (Genesis 6:12)
The classic Biblical commentary of Rashi teaches that the
corruption was sexual immorality and idol worship. And in the next
verse, "And G-d said to Noah, the end of all flesh has come before Me,
because the earth is filled with wickedness," Rashi comments concerning
the phrase, "the earth is filled with wickedness," that it was theft.
So for sexual immorality, idol worship, and theft, three of the seven
commandments that Adam was expected to teach his children, and
mankind was expected to obey, the Creator of all destroyed all, except
for the remnant which included Noah, his wife, three sons and their
wives.
When the flood waters settled and the earth had been wiped clean of
its taint, we no longer had to fall back on Adam as the father of all
mankind.
Now, mankind had a new father, Noah. And unlike Adam, who failed
to fulfill G-d's commandments, Noah was "a righteous man, pious in his
generation, and Noah walked with
G-d." (Genesis 6:9).
And so, with a new world and a fresh start at building it in
sanctity, G-d reaffirmed the original seven commandments that He had
taught Adam. G-d blessed Noah and his sons and their wives and promised
him that He would never again destroy the world as He had done, sealing
the promise for all time by striking a covenant with Noah as mankind's
father. "And G-d said, 'this is the sign of the covenant that I am
placing between me and your children and between all the living souls
that are with you for all generations. My bow I am placing in the cloud
and it shall be for a sign of the covenant between Me and the earth.'"
(Genesis 9:12,13).
The sign of the covenant was the rainbow and it would serve as a
permanent symbol of Divine Benevolence. It was the first time the
rainbow had ever been seen in the world, although it had been created
and readied for this moment at twilight after the sixth day of creation,
between the time Adam transgressed and the Sabbath, when G-d rested from
all He had made. (Chapters of the Fathers 5:6)
The rainbow with its seven colours reflected the beauty and
divinity of the Seven Commandments of the Children of Noah.
* * * *
When G-d created Adam and placed him in the Garden of Eden, this
was to be the prime dwelling place of the Divine Presence. But when Adam
transgressed G-d's commandment, the Divine Presence withdrew and left
the earth in favour of the first heaven.
Then with the sin of Cain and Abel, the Divine Presence withdrew
from the first to the second heaven. Then Enosh evoked idolatrous gods
and the Divine Presence went from the second to the third heaven. And
from there It rose from the third to the fourth because of the
generation of the Flood.
Although Noah was righteous enough to be spared destruction and be
designated the second father of mankind, he lacked the power to effect a
true rectification of Adam's sin, necessary to draw the Divine Presence
back to Its desired residence on earth even though he tried to achieve
it. We learn that one of the first acts he engaged in upon leaving the
Ark was to plant a vineyard.
Most Biblical commentaries are highly critical of this action.
After all, mankind had just been destroyed. To plant a vineyard in
order to grow grapes and make wine seems totally inappropriate under the
circumstances. But there are those who say that Noah was attempting to
rectify the sin of Adam.
The Talmud states that in one opinion, the fruit of the tree of
knowledge was the grape. What Adam had done was drink wine in a profane
manner. It had been G-d's intention that Adam would wait until the
Sabbath, which was to come in just a few hours, and then the fruit of
the tree, the grape, would be used to sanctify the Sabbath and bear
witness to the fact that G-d had created the world in six days and
rested on the seventh. It is argued that Noah knew this deeper meaning
of Adam's transgression and by planting a vineyard and using the wine
for holy purposes, he could achieve the complete rectification of the
sin. But Noah failed. He became intoxicated, and discovered naked by
his youngest son Ham, who shamed him by calling Noah's other two sons,
Shem and Japheth to see their father's drunken nakedness.
Rashi comments on this verse (Genesis 9:22) that Ham either
castrated his father or had homosexual relations with him or both. Shem
and Japheth respectfully covered their father with a garment, but the
damage had been done. Noah awoke and cursed Ham and his descendants and
the Divine Presence looked down in pity, now from the fifth heaven.
The Seven Commandments of the Children of Noah remained, as before
the Flood, unheeded by all but a few, notably Shem and his grandson
Eber, who established Houses of Study for the purpose of understanding
and fulfilling the Noahide Laws.
Then came the generation of the Tower of Babel. This was a
generation of brilliant scientists. Not only did they learn to master
many of the world's natural forces, such as controlling the
weather, but they reasoned in their scientific wisdom that the earth had
no Master, or, at least if it had a Master, that they were His equal,
and they built a tower to the heavens to challenged the authority
of G-d.
They scientifically concluded that, since the Flood of Noah
occurred in the year 1557 after creation, this meant that every 1557
years, the heavens would shake, the depths would open, and the rains
would come to destroy the earth.
And the Bible teaches, "And G-d descended to look at the city and
the tower that the children of men had built." (Genesis 11:5) This was
already from the sixth heaven.
G-d took measures to stop his errant children by confounding their
language and scattering them to distant lands.
Originally, all of mankind spoke one language, the language of
Scripture, Hebrew, the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alef-bayt being
the very instruments of creation. But now mankind had lost this merit,
communicating in the seventy languages of the world.
Then King Nimrod arose with a wickedness that was virtually without
precedent. He proclaimed himself g-d of all the earth and commanded all
his subjects to worship him as the actual deity. Those who refused, he
killed.
Nimrod was called "a mighty hunter before the L-rd." (Genesis 10:9)
Rashi comments on the words, "a mighty hunter," because he captured the
minds of men with his mouth and led them astray to rebel against G-d.
"Before the L-rd," in that he intentionally provoked Him in His
presence.
Nimrod, unlike any man who had lived before him, acted wickedly in
order to defy G-d. He knew his Master and rebelled out of spite against
Him.
And G-d withdrew His Divine Presence to the seventh and highest
heaven.
With G-d's revealed Presence removed to the highest heaven, mankind
dwelt in a world of moral and spiritual darkness.
Then finally, there arose a righteous man whose deeds began to draw
the revealed Presence back to earth. Abraham stood alone against the
world by clinging to the Creator and doing His will. He challenged
Nimrod's idolatry with his belief in the One G-d, and eventually
vanquished Nimrod completely, bringing mankind to the recognition of
the true Deity and His way in the world.
In Abraham's merit, the Divine Presence descended from the seventh
heaven to the sixth heaven. Because of Abraham's son, Isaac, the Divine
Presence descended from the sixth to the fifth heaven, then from the
fifth to the fourth with Isaac's son, Jacob.
Jacob's spiritual might was awesome. He wrestled with an Angel of
G-d and defeated it. Through Jacob and his children, twelve sons and
one daughter, a new and distinct people on earth would emerge. The
Children of Israel were called after their father Jacob, who had been
blessed by G-d and had been given the new name of Israel.
"Your name shall no more be called Jacob, but Israel shall be your
name, and He called his name, Israel." (Genesis 35:10) And Rashi
comments about this that the name Jacob implies one who comes with
stealth and guile, but Israel denotes a prince and a ruler.
With the Children of Israel, a people of G-d had come into the
world. Abraham, Isaac, and Israel were each mighty prophets and knew
that their descendants would go down to Egypt in exile and would then be
redeemed by G-d and given His Divine Law on Mount Sinai.
The Patriarchs fulfilled the Seven Commandments of the Children of
Noah, and through their gift of prophecy saw what the Sinai Revelation
would bring, and obeyed those laws as well, even though not commanded
concerning them. When G-d had blessed Isaac, it was "because Abraham
listened to My voice, and kept My charge, My commandments, My statues,
and My laws." (Genesis 26:5)
Rashi comments that "charge" refers to the admonitions of the Torah
which had not yet been commanded, including Rabbinical prohibitions
regarding the Sabbath, whereas "commandments" refers to matters such as
robbery and bloodshed (two of the Seven Noahide Commandments).
In fact, there were times when a conflict over the two codes of law
arose. The initial strife between Joseph and his brothers had to do
with the difference between the Mosaic precept of keeping kosher and the
Noahide commandment forbidding eating the limb of a living animal.
Mosaic Law permits eating the meat of an animal which has been
ritually slaughtered, even at such time as the animal still exhibits
movement in its limbs. Noahide Law does not require ritual
slaughtering, but forbids eating an animal's meat until even the
slightest trace of movement has stopped.
The brothers had a heated discussion about the subject and the sons
of Leah argued that they, by following the Mosaic precept, were exempt
from the Noahide prohibition, and to prove the point, they slaughtered
an animal according to the Mosaic precept, and ate of its meat before
the animal's limbs had stopped twitching.
Joseph felt that they had erred in their judgement and told the
matter to their father. Joseph's brothers sold him into slavery, but he
had G-d with him and rose to become second in command in Egypt, a
veritable king alongside the Pharaoh.
By the time he had forgiven his brothers their wickedness, the
Divine Presence had descended from the fourth to the third heaven.
Before the Children of Israel settled in the land of Egypt, their
brother, Judah, had preceded them and had established a school in Goshen
for the study of G-d's Law, both of the Seven Commandments which they
were obliged to observe and of the Laws of the Torah, which they
received as a heritage from Abraham, Isaac, and Israel.
Even during the long and bitter period of Egyptian slavery, the
tribe of Levi remained in the House of Study, exempt from the harsh
servitude, in order that the Divine Law would be remembered and
understood and fulfilled.
And G-d's Presence descended from the third to the second heaven.
When Pharaoh decreed against the male infants born to the Children
of Israel, Amram, the leader of the generation and a descendant of Levi,
divorced his wife, Jochebed. His idea was to stop bringing Israelite
infants into the world in order to prevent their murder.
Amram, as leader, knew that his action would be emulated by his
people, which is precisely what happened. But his daughter, Miriam,
told her father that Pharaoh had only decreed against the males, but
that he had decreed against all the infants, male and female, by not
bringing any into the world.
Amram and Jochebed re-married and the child, Moses, was born. And
the Divine Presence descended from the second to the first heaven.
Moses was the most humble man who ever lived. His humility was so
complete that he considered himself as nothing at all. Whatever he
achieved, he saw as coming solely because of G-d.
He felt that if G-d had bestowed another man with as many talents
as he, the other man would surely have achieved more with them. It was
this self-nullification that stood him in direct contrast to Pharaoh,
who claimed to be a deity as Nimrod had.
When G-d redeemed the Children of Israel and decimated the idolatry
of the Egyptians, it was for the purpose of His Revelation at Sinai and
the Giving of the Torah.
Fifty days after the Children of Israel had left Egypt, Moses
ascended Mount Sinai and in full view of 600,000 Jewish men and
approximately a total of 3,000,000 women and children, the
L-rd G-d of Israel spread the heavens out like a pavement of sapphire
atop the mountain and descended to earth from His heavenly abode.
G-d had departed from the Garden of Eden and now had returned on
Mount Sinai with the Giving of the Torah.
It was a Divine Revelation of proportions that the human mind
cannot even begin to comprehend. All the blind and the lame and the
deaf were miraculously healed. All the righteous souls who would ever
be born into this world were called forth by the L-rd G-d to witness
His Divine Presence. This was the seal of G-d, His truth.
With the Giving of the Torah, the G-d of Israel chose the
descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as His Chosen People,
commanding them to fulfill the 613 precepts of the Torah. He also
commanded the righteous of the other nations of the world to keep the
Seven Commandments of the Children of Noah and commanded Moses and his
people teach them how.
It was both the establishment of a new covenant and the
strengthening of the old one.
Both the Mosaic and the Noahide laws were inextricably bound
together. The Children of Noah, the righteous Gentiles, were obligated
to fulfill the Seven Commandments because they were given on Mount
Sinai, not because they were given to Noah. And the Children of Israel
were commanded to teach the righteous Gentiles the Seven Commandments.
When Moses ascended Mount Sinai to meet G-d, earth and heaven came
together in a unique way. G-d took of His holiness and brought it to
earth. For the first time in creation, physical objects could be
infused with actual holiness.
The year was 2448 since the creation.
The Torah scroll and other writings, the sacrifices and other
articles of use in the Tabernacle and later in the Temple service, had
the Children of Israel become holy unto the L-rd, meaning separate
and distinct from the rest of creation with a sanctity uniquely reserved
for the service of G-d.
During the periods when the Jewish people lived in the Holy Land,
their responsibility of teaching the Gentiles the Seven Commandments was
generally fulfilled.
During the 410 years that the First Temple stood and the 420 of the
Second Temple, Gentiles who wanted to dwell in the Land of Israel had to
agree to fulfill the Noahide Laws, and had the right to enter the Holy
Temple and offer sacrifices to G-d.
With respect to the nations of the world, this posed some thing of
a problem. Influential as it was, particularly during the times of King
Solomon, the Land of Israel was but one place on a rather large globe.
And the observance of the Noahide Laws outside of the Land of Israel was
rare.
Then, nearly two thousand years ago, G-d took a drastic step to
remedy the situation. He destroyed His Holy Temple, the center of
religious Jewish life, and exiled His people Israel to every corner of
the planet, where they remain, for the most part, to this very day. As
the Talmud states, "The Jewish people went into exile only in order to
make converts, meaning to teach the nations faith in the One G-d."
The intention was for the Jewish people to proclaim the faith in
the G-d of their fathers and to bring all the peoples of the world into
the communion of Israel and G-d by teaching them the Seven Commandments
of Noah. But what the Jews found in the world outside their own land
was a difficult situation. Mixed up with a myriad of foreign cultures,
the Jew had a lifelong struggle to maintain his own traditions without
being swallowed up by the cultures and traditions of the peoples
around him, in fulfilment of the Biblical injunction, "Take heed to
yourself that you inquire not after their gods, saying: How used these
nations to serve their gods? Even so, I will do likewise." (Deut.
12:30)
Moreover, the Jew found that people were distrustful of him and
hostile, and were far too busy trying to convert him to their religions
to have any time to listen what he might have to say about the
subject.
Three factors in recent times have caused a change in the
situation. The first is that the spiritual deterioration of mankind has
reached a desperate stage. Half the world follows an official doctrine
of atheism (which Jews consider the cruelest and most extreme form
of idolatry) and much of the rest of the world is sunken into
immorality and crime.
Second, there exists a spirit of ecumenism, largely due to radio
and television and the information explosion, in which Judaism's view
concerning the non-Jew's relationship to G-d no longer meets with
irrational responses.
The third is that G-d has waited long enough, as it says, "And it
shall happen, that whoso will not come up out of the families of the
earth unto Jerusalem to bow down before the King, the L-rd of Hosts -
even upon these there shall be no rain." (Zach. 14:17)
It all depends on us, which includes you. And so, the following
Guide to the Seven Laws of the Children of Noah has been prepared. It
is not meant to serve as a document of legal or spiritual authority, but
as a means by one may become familiar with the subject.
We hope and pray that the G-d of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob will
forgive any errors this work may contain, and that it will become an
instrument for bringing all of mankind closer to its Father in Heaven.
May His revealed Presence soon dwell among us on earth as well in
heaven. Amen, Selah.
*************************************************************
KNOWING G-D'S ONENESS
PART ONE.
1. It is the foundation of foundations of all doctrines and
philosophical inquiry to know that there is a First Existence (without a
beginning) and He created all existence (brought everything forth from
absolute nothingness into being). And everything that is found in the
heavens or on the earth exists only as because of the truth of His
existence.
2. And if all the creatures in creation should cease to exist, He
alone would still exist and in no way would He be nullified because of
their nullification. For every creation needs Him, but He, blessed be
He, does not need any of them or all of them, and His truth is not like
the truth of any one of them. Their existence is not imperative, but
depends on His existence. Therefore, their existence is relative. But
the First Existence is uncaused. His existence is absolute.
3. Of Him the prophet says, "The L-rd G-d is truth." (Jer. 10:10) He
alone is truth and there is no other truth like unto His truth. And of
Him the Torah says, "There is nothing else besides Him." (Deut. 4:35)
4. This Existence is the G-d of the Universe and Master of the
earth. He directs the planet with a power that has neither limit nor
end, with a power that is uninterrupted, so that the planet always
revolves. And it is impossible for something to revolve without there
being a force causing it to revolve. And He, blessed be He, causes it
to revolve without a hand and without a body.
5. And if it should ever occur to you that there is another G-d
besides Him, it is a rejection of the very Source that everything
depends on.
6. This G-d is one. He is not two nor more than two, and there is no
single existence as unique and singular as His existence. He is not in
a category that includes others of His species. And He is
not divided into portions or sections as is a body, but His is a oneness
and a uniqueness that has no equal in the universe.
7. If there were many gods, they would perforce have bodies, because
there is no way to differentiate one being from another except by bodily
or material differences. And if the Creator had a body or
any material form, He would have both a limit and an end, and His power
would have a limit and an end, because it is not possible for there to
be a body that doesn't have a termination point and for
everything pertaining to it to also have a termination point. But
because of our G-d, blessed be His Name, Whose power is endless and
uninterrupted, the planet revolves perpetually, for His power
is not a bodily power, and because He has no body, there are no
accidents or occurrences of the body that happen to Him which might
divide or separate Him from another being. Therefore it is
impossible for Him to be anything but One.
8. If a person would think that there might be two gods, equally
uncreated, what would distinguish one from the other except for their
occupying different places at the same time or the same place at
different times? And if you want to say that they occupy different
places at the same time or the same place at different times, they are
surely not limitless. Otherwise, the concept of two infinities arises
which is by definition impossible. Infinity is one and all inclusive
and supremely indivisible into aspects, extremities, or forms.
9. It is explained in the Torah and the Prophets that the Holy One,
blessed be He, has no body for it says, "Because the L-rd He is G-d in
Heaven above and on the earth below," (Deut. 4:39) And a body
cannot be in two places, and it says, "Because they saw no form," (Deut.
15), and it says, "And who is compared or equal to Me?" (Isaiah 40:25),
and if He had a body, He would be comparable to other bodies.
10. If so, why does it say in the Torah, "And under His feet," (Exodus
24:10), and "Written by the finger of G-d," (Exodus 31:18), "Hand of the
L-rd," (Exodus 9:3), "Eyes of the L-rd," (Gen.38:7), "Ears of
the L-rd," (Num.11:1) and many examples like this? All of this is
because the intellect of man is unable to fathom anything other than
materiality, and the Torah is given in the language of man. So all of
these examples are descriptive phrases, such as "If I whet
the glitter of my sword," (Deut. 32:41), and does He have a
sword? It is all only a parable. The truth is that He has no semblance
nor form, but all of it is the vision of the prophet, as it is written,
"Can you find G-d by searching for Him, or can you delve into the depths
of the Al-mighty?" (Job 11:7)
11. And what was it that Moses sought when he asked G-d, "Please, show
me Your glory." (Exodus 33:18). Moses wished to know the truth of the
existence of the Holy One, blessed be He, to the point where he knew it
in his heart just as one knows a person whom he recognizes by face and
whose form in engraved in his heart, whom he recognizes as distinct from
other men. Thus did Moses wish to the Holy One, blessed be He, to the
point where He would be distinct in Moses's heart like other existences,
thereby knowing the truth of G-d's existence as it really
is. And G-d answered him that man lacks this power of
intellect while his soul is attached to a body and so he cannot not know
this truth clearly.
12. Since, as it has been explained, G-d has no body, He is not
subject to the accidents of the body, He has neither attachment nor
separation, neither place nor measurement, neither ascent nor
descent, neither right nor left, neither front nor back, neither
standing nor sitting, and just as He has no ending, neither has He a
beginning, and He has neither life nor death as a body has, neither
intellect nor wisdom like a wise man, and He neither sleeps nor wakes,
neither anger nor laughter, neither joy nor sadness, neither silence nor
speech like the speech of man.
13. And such passages in the Torah as "He sits in the heavens and
laughs," (Psalms 2:4) are merely parables and similitudes, which is as
the Sages of Israel say that the Torah was given in the
language of man, and as G-d says, "I am the L-rd, I do not change."
(Malachi 3:6) If he were at times angry and at times joyous, this would
surely constitute change, for all these qualities and
attributes are only found in a lowly body, a physical vessel whose
foundation is dust, but He, may He be blessed, is exalted far, far above
any of this.
PART TWO.
1. One should strive to love and fear G-d, Who is honoured and
exalted, as it says, "You should love the L-rd your G-d," (Deut. 6:4)
and its says, "You should fear the L-rd your G-d." (Deut. 6:13)
2. What is the way to love Him and fear Him? At the time a man
ponders deeply about His wondrous deeds and His manifold great
creations, he will realize that G-d's wisdom has no equal or end and he
will immediately love and praise and glorify and desire with a great
desire to know His Great Name. And when he thinks about these things,
he will immediately be awestruck with fear and he will realize that he
is only a small creature, low and inconsequential, standing with
extremely limited knowledge before the One who possess knowledge that is
perfect and complete.
PART THREE.
1. "Know this day and take it unto your heart that the L-rd is G-d in
the heavens above and on the earth below, there is no other." (Deut.
4:39)
2. In the beginning, when G-d said, "Let there be a firmament in the
midst of the waters," (Gen. 1:6) the words and letters of His blessed
speech, being eternal as He is eternal, stand eternally in the
firmament of the heavens as the activating life force in creation. Were
G-d to retract His words or cause the letters of his speech to depart
even for an instant, the heavens would immediately return to absolute
nothingness just as they were prior to their having been created by G-d
saying, "Let there be a firmament."
3. Thus it is with each of the Ten Utterances by which G-d created the
world. Were the letters of G-d's speech to return to their Source, the
entirety of creation would instantly cease to exist and become
absolutely nothingness as they were prior to the beginning of the six
days of creation.
4. When one contemplates the foregoing, he can begin to understand how
G-d was one and unique and alone before He created the world and remains
equally one and unique and alone after the world was created, and that
the creation of the world in no way added anything to His completeness
and perfection.
5. This seems to be a paradox. How can it be that the creation of the
world effected no change in G-d? The seeming paradox is resolved by
realizing that compared to G-d, Whose speech is the sole life force in
creation, the world is absolutely and literally nothing and
non-existent. This is because in His Presence everything is considered
non-existent, literally null and void, and there is no place devoid of
His Presence, as it is written, "Do I not fill Heaven and earth saith
the L-rd?"
6. When a flesh and blood person speaks, the words and the breath of
his mouth are felt and seen to leave the speaker and to be things unto
themselves, but G-d's speech is never separated from Him
because there is no place devoid of Him and nothing outside of Him, for
He is Eternal and Infinite.
7. Even the idea of speech as applied to G-d is not to be taken
literally, but is merely metaphorical. Just as the speech of a person
reveals what was previously hidden in the person's thoughts,
thus it is above with the L-rd of Hosts, blessed be He, Who brought
forth all of created existence from a state of hiddenness to revelation
by saying the Ten Utterances as recorded in the Book of Genesis. It is
this which is called speech in reference to G-d.
8. These Ten Utterances by which the world was created are called the
speech of G-d because through them His Will went from a concealed state
to a revealed state. But this so-called speech is unified
with Him in absolute unity. The difference is only from the
perspective of created beings which receive their life force from G-d's
speech, as it descends from His exalted being and creates
material existence, descending level after level until it reaches this
coarse physical world. Here, created beings are able to receive the
G-dly flow of life without losing their identities through being
absorbed and nullified in their true Source, G-d.
9. This G-dly influx is concealed to avoid a revelation of G-d that is
greater than the world can endure. Therefore, it appears to the
creatures that the light and life-force of the Omnipresent which is
clothed in each creation, and is the true existence of each creation, is
a thing apart from His blessed Self and merely issues from Him, just as
the speech of a human being issues from the person. Yet there is
absolutely no concealment from the perspective of the Holy One, blessed
be He. Nothing is obscured from Him whatsoever. To Him darkness and
light are exactly the same, as it is written, "Even the darkness
conceals nothing from You, but the night shines as the day."
(Psalms 139:12)
10. Nor does the descent of level after level stop His blessed speech
from remaining in a state of absolute unity with Him, but it is
metaphorically "Like the snail whose garment is part of him," (Midrash
Genesis Rabba 21).
11. The error that mundane philosophers make which leads them to assume
that G-d created the world then abandoned it to its own devices is that
they assume that the creative process of G-d is the same as
that of man. And, in truth, it is far different, as it is written, "For
My thoughts are not like your thoughts," and, "Thus My ways are higher
than your ways." (Isaiah 55:8-9) Man is merely capable of creating
something from something. The human craftsman takes an ingot of silver
and fashions a vessel from it. When the craftsman removes his hand from
his creation, the vessel still remains. This is because the craftsman
merely changes the form of a created substance. However, when G-d
created the heavens and the earth, He made them from absolute
nothingness, and were He to remove His creative force, they would be as
they were before He brought them forth into the state of revealed
creation, that is, non-existent.
12. From the foregoing words of truth, it should be apparent how the
entirety of creation is, in truth, considered null and non- existent
with respect to the G-d's activating force and the breath of
His mouth. This, of course, does not mean that the creation is an
illusion. It does mean, however, that G-d's Divine Force is its true
existence, and that creation has no independent existence of its own.
For it must be remembered that the example of G-d removing His original
ten utterances was hypothetical. G-d has no such intention. The
universe is real.
13. The reason that every created being and thing appears to possess an
independent self-existence is that we do not grasp or see with our
physical eyes the power of G-d and the breath of His mouth that is
within creation. If permission were granted the eye to see the life
force and the spirituality that flows from G-d to every created thing,
then we would no longer be able to see the physicality of material
existence. For, since the physical world is truly nullified to its
Source, if we could see the G-dly source, how could we see the physical
world?
14. This is analogous to a ray of sunlight which may be seen from the
earth, but from the perspective of the sun, the ray's source, all that
is seen is the source's light that fills the sky. From the sun's
perspective, the ray has no existence whatsoever.
15. However, the analogy of the ray of sunlight is incomplete, because
its source, the sun, exists only in one place in the heavens. The sun
does not exist in the heavens and on the earth where its light
appears to have a separate existence. This is in contrast to created
beings which are always within its Source, except the Source is not
revealed to our eyes.
16. It is not sufficient to say that G-d created the world during the
six days of creation, for His creative activity is continuous, truly an
infinite flow of Life force. This is why it is written "He creates
darkness and forms light," rather than He created darkness and formed
light. And this applies to man as well. The man who feels his own self
importance and does not recognize the fact that the Creator is
constantly bringing him forth from absolute nothing into existence is
called one whom G-d created - past tense. This is in contrast to a
person who acknowledges the truth of his existence, that is comes from
G-d alone, constantly. This person is called one whom G-d creates.
(Kedushas Levi, Braishis)
RETURNING TO G-D
PART ONE.
1. A person must realize that G-d, blessed be He, is more
merciful to man than anyone or anything else can be.
The Creator, blessed be He, does not conceal anything from a
person which might improve his personal welfare. Remember, man is one
of G-d's creations, and no one can better understand how to
care for a creation than the original maker.
If this principle is applicable to a human craftsman who
really does not create any new form, but merely changes the form of an
already existing creation, then certainly it is true of G-d Who brought
the basic elements of man into being from absolute nothingness and
sustains him at every instance and every second.
G-d is all-knowing in the ways of what is best for man, what
can damage him and what will work to his advantage.
2. A person should contemplate and know that G-d lavishes great
and abundant kindness on man. From the beginning of human existence,
G-d has bestowed these kindnesses even without man being worthy of
them. And it is not because G-d has a need for man, but only because of
G-d's great goodness and generosity.
3. One should also realize clearly that G-d observes him at all
times and that there is nothing hidden from Him. All stand revealed
before Him. G-d knows if whether or not a person has complete
trust in Him. Therefore, it is fitting that a person trust G-d and turn
to Him, abandoning ways contrary to Him.
By observing the Seven Noahide Commandments with care and
deliberation, one demonstrates that he has put his complete trust in
G-d. G-d will then reciprocate with trust in man, leading him to
success and happiness in all matters.
4. There is no miracle in the creation as great as returning to
G-d through repentance. Repentance is greater than wisdom. By means of
wisdom, man can discriminate between good and evil, choosing the good
and rejecting the evil. Nevertheless, the evil remains evil. But
through the power of repentance, man has the power to miraculously
transform evil to good, for the sins themselves and the remorse over
having committed them, are the very actions that draw a person to G-d
with impassioned longing and great love.
5. A Chasidic Rebbe once happened upon a person who was a
notorious sinner. The Rebbe walked up to the man and confessed that he
was envious of him.
"But, Rebbe,' the man said, amazed, "you are a saint and I am
a sinner. Why should you be envious of me?"
"Because," the Rebbe answer, "you can bring a much greater
light into the world than I can. I can only bring goodness to the world
by resisting sin and doing what I am supposed to do. You can
transform thousands, maybe millions, of evil deeds into wondrous merits
by repenting and returning to G-d."
PART TWO.
1. If a person had transgressed one or all of the Seven Universal
Commandments, either willfully or unintentionally, when he repents, he
is obligated to verbally confess, specifying his sins in front
of the G-d of kindness, blessed be He. How should he confess? He
should words to the effect, "I beseech you, G-d, I have sinned
(unintentionally), or, I have transgressed willingly. I have
acted out of spite before You and I have done such and such. I regret
my actions and am ashamed of them and will not do such and such again."
This is the essence of confession. Anyone who increases the
content of his confession and elaborates upon it is praiseworthy.
2. Any punishment imposed on a person by a court of law does not
serve as an atonement for the transgression unless the person confesses
his sins to G-d in the above manner.
And similarly, one who wounds his friend or causes him
monetary loss, even though he paid what he owes him, his transgression
is not atoned for unless he confessed to G-d and he resolves never to
repeat such a deed again.
3. Repentance atones for all sins, even if one is evil all the
days of his life and returns to G-d on the last of his days, none of his
wickedness is mentioned to him in the Divine Judgement.
4. What is considered complete repentance? If, after having
confessed, it occurs to the person to repeat the transgression done in
the past, and the opportunity to do it arises, and he resists and does
not do it solely because of his repentance and not because of his fear
of anyone (a policeman is watching the fruit stand, etc.) and not
because he is too weak physically and can no longer do it.
For example, if a man has had a relationship with a woman who
is forbidden to him and he has repented and confessed, and after a time
it happens that he finds himself alone with her again as when he
committed the transgression with her, and now he resists and does not
transgress - this is a person who has done complete repentance.
5. If one returns to G-d (repenting of his transgressions) only in
his old age and it is at a time of his life when he no longer is able to
repeat the transgressions of the past, although this is not the
highest form of repentance - it does help him and he is considered a
true penitent who has returned to G-d.
6. Even if one transgresses all his life and repents the day of
his death and dies a penitent - all his sins are forgiven. Thus if one
remembers his Creator and returns to Him before he dies, he is
forgiven.
7. And what is repentance? It is when the sinner abandons his
sin, removing it from his thoughts and is completely resolved not do it
again. Consequently, he regrets what has happened in the past and
accepts G-d, the Knower of secrets as his witness that he will never
return to such a sin again. And he needs to confess verbally and state
the resolutions that he made in his heart.
8. One who confesses with words and does not resolve in his heart
to leave his sin is similar to one who immerses in a ritual pool while
grasping a dead rat in his hand. The immersion in the pool does not
help all until he discards the unclean object.
9. On the path of repentance, the penitent should cry to G-d with
tears and supplications and should give charity according to his
capability, at least ten percent of his income and preferably
twenty percent. He should also distance himself from the thing in which
he sinned or with whom he sinned. He should change all his deeds and
tread a straight path, and exile himself from his present
residence since exile is an atonement because it brings a person to
humility, and the essence of repentance comes through a broken heart and
a humble spirit.
10. It is praiseworthy for the penitent to confess publicly, even
to the extent of informing others of his transgressions, saying to his
peers, "I have sinned against so-and-so and I have done
such-and-such. But I have changed my ways I deeply regret my past."
11. One who is haughty and does not inform others of his
transgressions, choosing rather to conceal them, does not do complete
repentance.
12. Public declaration refers to the sins between oneself and his
fellow man. The sins that are between oneself and his Creator need not
be broadcast, and, in truth, it is considered the ultimate of
brazenness to reveal them as it shows that he is not embarrassed about
them. Let him simply return to G-d, blessed be He, specifying his sins
before Him. Any public confession should be in a general way without
specifying actions, and he should consider it a blessing that his
iniquity has not become revealed.
13. Repentance helps only with sins that one commits between
himself and G-d, but for sins that are between oneself and his fellow
man, he has to pacify his fellow and ask forgiveness from him.
14. If a person receives an apology, he should never refuse to be
pacified, but should forgive easily and be slow to feel anger towards
another. At the time a person asks forgiveness of him, he
should grant favour with a full heart and a sincere spirit.
15. Every person should consider himself perfectly balanced
between reward and punishment. Similarly, he should see the entire
world as similarly balanced because of his deeds. If he
commits one sin, he leans the scales of judgement for himself
and for the entire world towards guilt and condemnation, and
consequently he can be the cause of the whole world's destruction. But
if he does one good deed, he can tilt the scales of judgement for
himself and the whole world toward merit and can bring salvation and
deliverance for himself and the whole world.
PART THREE.
1. The power of self-determination is given to every person. If he
wants to direct himself towards good and righteousness, the power is in
his hand; if he wants to direct himself to the way of evil, the power is
similarly his.
2. Man is unique in this world and there is not another creation that
can compare to him in this regard. Man is intellectually aware of good
and evil. He does what he wishes to do, and no one can
prevent him from choosing to do good or evil.
3. One should banish thoughts and ideas such as the fools of the
world speak about - that G-d has decreed man's destiny from birth
whether he will be righteous or wicked. There is no such
thing. Every person has the ability to become righteous or wicked,
compassionate or cruel, generous or selfish. And so it is with all
other character traits and abilities to live within the
normative conduct set for man by the commandments of G-d.
It is true, however, that the individual may be born with
tendencies towards specific problematic behaviour, but at all times it
is within his or her power to overcome these natural
tendencies. No one is born a thief and no one is born a sexual deviant.
4. If G-d had predetermined the individual's destiny, whether for
good or for evil, on what basis could the righteous be rewarded and the
wicked be punished? Just as the Creator desired that fire and wind
would naturally rise upwards, and water and earth would naturally
descend, and that a planet would move in a circular motion, and all
other creatures of the world would act in accord with the nature that
G-d chose for them, thus did G-d desire that man should have the free
will to determine his actions.
5. Therefore, man is judged according to his deeds. If he does good,
good is done to him. If he does evil, evil is repaid him. And at a
future time, you must surrender yourself to Judgement for your
thoughts, speech, and actions. If a person fulfills the Seven Noahide
Commandments, thereby doing good in this world, he is repaid with
boundless good from G-d.
6. The reward for doing good is hundreds of times greater than the
punishment for doing evil, for it is written, "visiting the iniquity of
the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth
generation of them that hate Me, and showing mercy unto the thousandth
generation of them that love Me." (Ex. 20:5-6)
PART FOUR.
1. Whenever a person commits a transgression with his own knowledge
and will, it is proper that he be punished for it so that he be paid for
his deeds. G-d knows exactly how he should be paid. The judgement may
be that the sinner be punished in this world with afflictions to his
body (various diseases or seeming accidents). Or, the punishment might
take the form of a loss of property and wealth or his children might be
afflicted because of his wrongdoings. Also, there are sins that are
judged to be repaid in the World to Come and so no harm befalls the
transgressor in this world. And there are sins that must be paid for in
this world and the World to Come.
2. One should know that it is considered a great kindness for a
person to be punished in this world because the World to Come is Eternal
and everything of it is also Eternal. This will provide a
glimmer of understanding as to why the righteous suffer and the wicked
prosper.
It is as if G-d says of the wicked, "The little good he did in
this world I will repay him for in this world so that there remains no
reward for him in the Eternal World, and the payment for his sins await
him in fullest measure." And of the righteous, it is as if G-d says,
"For his few sins, I will punish him in this world where afflictions are
transitory, and for his great number of merits I will withhold reward in
this world so I can bestow upon him the greatest possible measure
of eternal good in the World to Come."
3. When we are referring to a man paying for his wicked deeds, this
presumes he does not repent and abandon them. But if he does repentance
it is considered as a shield between him and the punishment.
And just as a man sins because of his own understanding and free will,
he can also repent through his own understanding and free will.
4. There is a circumstance in which G-d does not offer a person the
opportunity to repent. This refers to a person who commits so grave a
sin or commits such an overwhelming number of sins (such as
causing many others to sin by leading them to idolatry or causing them
to follow a false religious doctrine) that this person, who sinned
through his own understanding and free will, is denied the
ability to repent and the opportunity to abandon his evil is not granted
to him in order that he should be lost in the sins that he committed.
However, this only means that it is not made easy for the
person. Nevertheless, it is written that nothing can stand between a
man and repentance, for a person can always overcome the obstacles and
through strength of will return to G-d in full repentance.
5. A person should constantly regard himself in a state where death
is close at hand, and finding himself standing in sin, he should
immediately repent from all his sins. He should not say, "When I grow
older, I will repent." Perhaps he will die before he reaches old age.
6. One should not say that repentance applies only to sins involving
an actual deed, like forbidden sexual relations and theft. For, just as
a man must repent of those, he must become introspective
concerning his evil characteristics and repent of them, from his anger
and his hatred and from jealousy and folly and from pursuit of wealth
and honour and excessive imbibing and gluttony and other base
character traits. From all of them, he must return to G-d. When a
person is sunk into these base pursuits and evil traits, it is harder to
abandon graver sins involving actual evil deeds.
7. A true penitent should not worry that, as a result of his sins, he
is a long way from the exalted status of the righteous. The truth is
that he is loved and treasured by the Creator as if he had never
committed a sin. And more, his reward is enormous for he has tasted sin
and departed from it, and has conquered his evil inclination. This
makes him far greater than one who has never tasted sin, for he has
achieved a greater spiritual conquest.
8. The ways of the penitent should be humble and extremely modest.
If fools and boors taunt him about his previous deeds and say to him,
"Yesterday you were doing such and such, and now look at you
trying to be so high and mighty." he should pay no attention to them,
but listen silently and rejoice and know that their insults are bringing
him great merit. When a penitent is embarrassed about his
past deeds and is humiliated because of them, his merits are increased
and his spiritual level becomes exalted.
9. It is a grave sin to say to a penitent, "Remember your previous
deeds," or to mention anything of his past ways in order to embarrass
him, or to mention ideas or incidents that will remind him of
what he has done.
10. Great is repentance for it draws a person close to G-d, and the
farther one's distance, the closer and more beloved one can become
through repentance. "Yesterday he was despicable in front
of G-d; he was disgusting, distanced, and an abomination. And today, he
is precious, close, and beloved."
PART FIVE.
1. The treasure reserved for the righteous is Eternal Life in the
World to Come. This is a life that does not incorporate death. It is a
good that does not co-exist with evil. And the punishment for
the wicked is that they do not merit this life, but they will be cut off
and will die out. And all who do not merit this Life are truly
considered dead. The wicked are cut off in their wickedness and perish
like an animal. That is to say that the wicked whose soul is severed
from the body by spiritual extinction does not merit the eternal life of
the World to Come.
2. Loss of the Life of the World to Come is the most terrible
retribution, for this is considered a total loss and a complete
destruction. It is a loss than can never be regained because
repentance and return to G-d can only be achieved while the soul is in
the body in this material world. Once the soul has separated from the
body, it is no longer time for good deeds or wicked deeds or
repentance. Then it is the time of reward or punishment.
3. There are certain misguided Arabs who fill their lives with
lewdness and who imagine that the reward for obeying G-d's Commandments
and for following the way of truth is to inherit a paradise where they
are able to eat and drink gourmet foods and beverages and to have
relationships with "beautiful forms," to wear linen and brocaded
garments and to be able to dwell in ivory palaces and used vessels of
gold and silver and other similar fantasies. The intelligent among
mankind will easily see that all these images are foolish and vain and
there is neither inner purpose nor spiritual meaning to any of them.
These ideas betray a lack of understanding and reveal a compulsion for
materialism, for it is only because we are a people with physical bodies
and form that these things have any relevancy. All of these dreams,
such as eating and drinking are needed only for the body and
the soul has no longing for them at all. The soul desires bodily needs
only in order to establish and maintain a healthy stature, and takes no
pleasure in physical delights at all.
4. In the time of the Eternal Life where there is no body nor any
physical existence at all, these material things will be entirely
nullified. And there, in the World to Come, the great goodness
is for the soul alone. And there is no way in this world to grasp or
comprehend any understanding of this pleasure whatsoever. But the
delights of the World to Come are glorious beyond human
concept, and there is nothing of this world to compare with their
supernal goodness.
5. The Sages of Israel call it the World to Come not because it will
exist in a future time and cannot be found here and now. The World to
Come exists now and can be found now. We call it the World to
Come because it is the life that comes to man after the physical life of
this world where the soul is encased in a physical body. The World to
Come is found as it has been found from the very beginning.
6. We are commanded to walk the Middle Path for it is good with
proper ways, as it says, "You should walk in G-d's way." (Deut.23:9)
Just as G-d is called gracious, man must be gracious. Just
as G-d is called merciful, man must be merciful. Man is obligated to
follow the ways of G-d to the fullest extent of his ability.
10. A person can accustom himself to this manner of conduct by
performing deeds that reflect moderation and the middle way, repeating
them constantly until they become ingrained and established
traits. And because these names - gracious, merciful, kind, righteous -
are those which the Creator is called, these ways of the middle path is
called the way of G-d. Whoever walks this path brings goodness and
blessing to himself.
11. Every single person from all the people of the earth whose spirit
is humble and who differentiates between good and evil in order to be
able to stand before G-d, to serve Him and know Him and walk upright in
His path, removing the yoke of the scheming and calculating that a
person normally utilizes in order to conduct his life, sanctifies the
Holy of Holies. G-d will be this person's portion and inheritance in
this world and the World to Come forever and ever. And he will merit
success in all his material efforts in this world.
THE SEVEN UNIVERSAL LAWS.
1. With respect G-d'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
Patriarch Jacob. They are commanded to fulfill the 613 commandments of
the Torah.
3. The Children of Noah are the Gentiles, comprising the seventy
nations of the world. They are commanded concerning the Seven Universal
Laws, also known as the Seven Laws of the Children of Noah or
the Seven Noahide Laws.
These Seven Universal Laws pertain to:
1. Idolatry
2. Blasphemy
3. Murder
4. Theft
5. Sexual relations
6. Eating the Limb of a Living Animal
7. Establishing courts of law
4. All Seven Universal Laws are prohibitions.
Negative commandments are of a higher order than positive
commandments. The G-dly light they elicit is drawn from too high a
source to be enclothed in actions using something of this
physical world. One can merit the divine reward elicited from so high a
source only by rejecting a forbidden action in this physical world.
5. Men and women are equal in their responsibility to observe the Seven
Universal Laws.
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.
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.
7. When one of the Children of Noah resolves to fulfill the Seven
Universal Laws, his or her soul is elevated. This person becomes one of
the Chasidei Umot Haolam - Pious Ones of the Nations - and
receives a share of the Eternal World. The Holy Scriptures calls 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 to the Holy Temple in Jerusalem and to offer sacrifices to the G-d
of Israel.
Although the Children of Noah are commanded only concerning the Seven
Universal Laws, they are permitted to observe any of the 613
commandments of the Torah for the sake of receiving divine reward.
The exceptions to this are:
1. Observing the Sabbath in the manner of the Jews. (resting from
the actions that were needed for the building of the Tabernacle during
the Exodus from Egypt.)
2. Observing the Jewish Holidays in the manner of the Jews. (Resting
in a similar manner to the Sabbath.)
3. Studying those parts of the Torah which do not apply to the
Noahide's service of G-d.
4. Writing a Torah scroll (the Five Books of Moses) or receiving an
aliyah to the Torah (reading a portion of the Torah at a public
gathering).
5. Making, writing, or wearing Tefillin, which are the phylacteries
worn during prayer that contain portions of the Torah.
6. Writing or affixing a mezuzah, the parchment containing portions
of the Torah, to one's doorposts or gateposts.
7. A prime purpose of the Seven Universal Laws is to teach the
Children of Noah about the oneness of G-d and therefore, those parts of
Torah that pertain to this knowledge are permissible for
him to study.
Also, since the Seven Universal Laws were given on Mount Sinai at
the time when the Torah was given to the Jewish people, scriptural
portions describing the Revelation at Sinai are also
permissible.
This may be extended to include a Biblical description of
the exodus from Egypt of the Children of Israel, since that was a
preparation for the revelation of G-d at Mount Sinai.
And obviously, any study that brings greater knowledge concerning the
performance of the Seven Noahide Laws is permissible. But clearly, any
Talmudic or Halachic study of commandments that pertain only to Jews is
strictly forbidden, for the Noahide who studies portions of the Torah
that do not pertain to him damages his soul.)
8. 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 is to
be beaten and punished and informed that he is liable
for the death penalty, but he is not killed.
The beatings and other punishments are 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 considered 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. Furthermore, the
Noahide must experience reincarnation in order to do atonement for the
transgressions he has previously done.
9. The responsibility of The Seven Noahide Laws is a yoke of faith
in G-d. This means that the laws must be observed solely because G-d
commanded them. If the Children of Noah were to observe
these Seven Universal Laws for any reason or intention other than to
fulfill G-d'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.
10. 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.
11. 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.
It is a principle of Judaism, however, not to seek converts and one
who requests conversion is generally discouraged. Should the person
persist in his or her desire to convert, counsel should be taken only
with an Orthodox Rabbi or scholar, for conversion not in accord with
Halacha - Torah Law - is no conversion at all, and conversion bestowed
by rabbis who themselves do not follow the Laws of the Torah are null
and void, neither recognized in heaven nor by any
G-d-fearing Jew.
12. It is incorrect to think that since the Children of Israel have 613
commandments and the Children of Noah have seven commandments, that 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.
13. The statutory punishment for transgressing any one of the Seven
Laws of the Children of Noah is death.
According to some, it is the same whether one transgresses
intentionally or because of ignorance of the of the Law.
According to others, a transgressor of the Noahide Law
because of ignorance receives the death penalty only in the case of
murder.
14. If the courts cannot punish an individual for lack of witnesses or
any other reason (see section on Courts of Law), the transgressor will
be punished by divine decree.
15. Besides the Seven Universal Laws, the Children of Noah have
traditionally taken it upon themselves to fulfill the commandment of
honouring mother and father. A digest of these laws is
presented in a later chapter.
16. Also, some are of the opinion that the Children of Noah are
obligated to fulfill the commandment of giving charity. 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.
17. 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 G-d and saved from death. But a Gentile
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 only to poor Gentiles.
18. If one of the Children of Noah arises and performs a miracle and
says that G-d sent him, then instructs others to add 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.
19. 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.
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 forbidden to the Jews.
Forbidden interbreeding and grafting does not require the
death penalty in a court of law. A Noahide that strikes an Israelite,
causing even the slightest wound, even though he is theoretically
condemned for this, he does not suffer the death penalty.
20. The Sages of Israel state that Children of Ketura (the sons of
Abraham's concubine, Hagar) who were born after Ishmael and Isaac are
obligated to be circumcised. And since today the
descendants of Ishmael are intermixed with the descendants of Hagar, all
are obligated to be circumcised on the eighth day after they are born.
Those transgressing this are given the death penalty.
21. One opinion holds that the six sons of Hagar only and not their
descendants are obligated to be circumcised. And other authorities are
of the opinion that this obligatory circumcision has only to
do with semitic peoples, although all other nations are allowed to
circumcise if they desire.
22. In accord with the Seven Universal Laws, 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.
Concerning making a holiday for themselves, a Noahide can
participate in a Jewish holiday, such as Shavuoth - The Feast of Weeks -
when the Torah was given since the Children of Noah received their
commandments at that time as well, or Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year
and Day of Judgement, since all mankind is judged by G-d on that day
and, therefore, should be important to the Noahide as well as the
Israelite. Rosh Hashanah also is the day Adam, the first man, was
created by G-d, and all mankind is descended from Adam just as it is
from Noah. Even these, however, the Noahide celebrates only in order to
bring additional merit and reward for himself, and 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 them 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 Laws.
Celebrating secular activities or commemorating historical
events, such as the Fourth of July, even if they involve a festive meal
are permissible.)
23. The nations of the world acknowledge the existence of G-d and they
do not transgress the will of G-d. Their failing is an inability to be
nullified to G-d and they deny His oneness by thinking that they
themselves are separate entities, calling Him the G-d of gods.
Therefore, we find that when they transgress the Seven Noahide Laws, it
is only because the spirit of folly enters them and covers
the truth, concealing it from them. But from their essential being,
they are not able to transgress the will of G-d. 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 G-d." (Num. 22:18 )
24. 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.
However, the Children of Noah have the obligation to make the
whole earth a dwelling place for mankind. This is minimally achieved by
every couple giving birth to a male and female child who are in turn
capable of reproduction. Moreover, the couple that bears more children
are 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.
25. 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." (Shaare
Tzedek 60a, 60b)
And it is also written, "Ultimately, all is understood: fear
G-d and observe His commandments, for this is the completion of man."
(Ecclesiastics 12:13)
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IDOLATRY.
1. The essence of the Seven Universal Laws is the prohibition
against idolatry. One who worships another deity besides the Creator
denies the essence of religion and rejects the entirety of
the Seven Universal Laws. But one who guards himself against idolatry
demonstrates belief in G-d and affirms the entirety of the Seven
Universal Laws.
2. A descendant of Noah who serves an idol in its normal manner of
worship, is punished by death. The Children of Noah are forbidden to
perform any act of idolatry forbidden to the Children of Israel. Any
act of idolatry that the Jewish Ecclesiastical Court punishes with
death, the Noahide Courts also punish with death. And every instance in
which the Jewish Court does not punish by death, the Noahide Courts do
not punish with death. A person may be physically restrained or struck
to prevent him from performing forbidden idolatrous acts that are not
punishable by death.
3. The Children of Noah are forbidden to erect a Matzeva
(idolatrous pillar - e.g. the kaaba stone in Mecca) nor to plant an
Asherah (tree or shrub worshipped as a deity) nor to make graven images
(bas relief or full relief images) nor similar objects even for beauty
even though he has no intention to worship these images or forms or
pillars, but just makes them for beauty, it is forbidden. The Children
of Israel are not condemned for any of these transgressions, but receive
lashes, and therefore, neither are the Children of Noah killed for them.
4. Although there are opinions which state that the Children of
Noah transgress the prohibition of idolatry from the moment they make an
idol, the actual law is that the transgression does not
come into effect until the person actually worships or serves the idol.
5. According to many authorities, a Gentile is not warned about the
concept of "Partnership with G-d." The concept of partnership is the
acknowledgment of the existence of the G-d of Israel as
well as the belief of the possibility and existence of a deity
(independent will) other than G-d's. So long as the ascribing power to
a deity besides the Creator remains conceptual, it is permissible to the
Children of Noah according to many authorities. But to worship this
independent being is clearly idolatry. The danger of the concept of
partnership is that it frees people to act in accord with non-existent
gods and opens a doorway to actual idolatry. Most later authorities
agree that Children of Noah are forbidden to believe in a partnership.
But even according to these, the Children of Noah are not forbidden to
swear by the name of an idol in combination with G-d (swearing by the
L-rd of Hosts and a Hindu deity, for example).
6. The Children of Noah are not commanded to sanctify G-d's Name by
refusing to bow to an idol in the face of a threat to one's life. And
there is a dispute whether the Children of Noah are even
allowed to choose to lay down their lives in this manner, since they are
not commanded to do so. However, since we have a general rule the
Children of Noah may perform any of the 613 commandments of the Torah
to receive reward (with the notable exceptions found in the previous
chapter), then it seem that anyone may, indeed, choose to die for the
sanctification of G-d's name rather than bow to an idol, even though he
or she is not commanded to do so.
7. The commandment prohibiting idolatry comes to teach that one
should not serve anything of the creation - no created thing - no angel,
no plant, no star, nothing of the four fundamentals earth,
water, fire and air nor anything that is formulated from them. Even if
the worshipper knows that G-d is the Supreme Being and worships creation
as a way of glorifying G-d's greatness and His ability to
create great beings and things, nevertheless this is idol worship.
8. Perhaps one may ponder about the heavenly spheres and realize
that they do not die like other things and that it is, therefore, proper
to bow down to them and serve them. To do this is to place
them between oneself and the Creator. For although G-d may have
assigned these celestial beings certain roles in the conduct of the
world, nevertheless, man's responsibilities are to G-d and
not to G-d's messengers.
This, in fact, is how idolatry came to exist in the world.
The generations that lived immediately after Adam recognized that G-d
had created magnificent heavenly beings, the sun to rule by day and the
moon to rule by night. And these people began to honor G-d's exalted
messengers. Soon it was forgotten that these messengers had been
appointed by the Creator and the sun and the moon began to be honored
for their own greatness. This devolved to the worship of these creations
as deities themselves without awareness of the G-d that had created
them.
9. Many books have been written by idol worshippers concerning the
nature of their idolatry - what the main service is, what are the
procedures and laws. One should not read these books at
all nor should one think about them nor speak of them. Even studying
the formation of an idolatrous figure or even asking how something is
served without having the intention of serving it might
cause one to turn to it be led to engage in idolatrous practices.
10. Anyone who acknowledges that an idolatrous religion is true,
even though he does not serve the idol, is as one who reviles the mighty
and exalted Name of G-d.
PART TWO.
1. Many different types of idolatrous service exist and the service
for one idol is not like the service of another.
For example, the idol Beor was served by man defecating
before it. (This came about in a similarly devolutionary way as
idolatry itself. Original worshippers of this idol attained
much a state of frenzy and ecstasy that they lost control of themselves
and defecated. Their children saw the effect and misunderstanding the
cause, concluded that the worship was defecation) The worship
of Mercury was to cast stones before it or to remove stones from before
it.
2. Many specific forms of worship such as these were established
for other idols. Therefore, if one would defecate before Mercury or
throw stones at Beor, he is held harmless as this is not the normal
manner of worship. Only when a person worships the idol in the normal
manner does he transgress. Consequently, courts of law have to know the
appropriate service for the idol in any case of idolatry.
3. The preceding law applies to unique forms of worship. If,
however, the person bows down, offers sacrifices or incense or a
libation (the four forms of service of the Holy Temple in
Jerusalem) to any one of the idols, he is liable the death penalty even
though this may not be the way of official worship.
4. Any type of food placed upon an altar as an offering to an idol
is forbidden to be eaten. There is a difference of opinion concerning
foods unlikely to be offered to an idol, such as a
grasshopper or a cockroach. Some say that if an animal is ritually
slaughtered before an idol it always becomes forbidden as food, and this
applies even to grasshoppers or cockroaches or any other
food that is not normally ritually slaughtered. Others are of the
opinion that foods that do not appear to be offerings, such as the
aforementioned grasshoppers and cockroaches, are permissible.
5. Things such as water and salt which are not normally in the
category of offerings to an idol, if they are found directly in front of
an idol or within the curtains that surround the idol,
even these are forbidden.
6. It is forbidden to offer things that honor the idol even by
offering them from outside the boundaries that surround the idol. This
is considering decorating the idol.
(Note: It would seem by this law that throwing coins at an
idol or even into a pool of water that surround any idol - which even
today may be seen with some oriental idolatrous figures - would be in
the category of honoring the idol and symbolically ascribing powers to
it. Otherwise, why throw the money which is clearly an act of
beseeching a power for returned good fortune?)
7. It is not a transgression to place a thing outside of the walls
that surround the idol, so long as this object does not glorify the
idol.
8. If something has been prepared to be offered to an idol, but has
not yet been offered, it is permitted. One, however, should be strict
and not use anything found in the house of idol worship.
Therefore, one should never take candles from the place of idol worship
(Note: One should not purchase or use the sticks of incense
sold by any of the idolatrous religions or pseudo- religious groups.
Inasmuch as most hindu sects are pantheistic and idolatrous, health
foods purchased from such groups are questionable, for the foods
themselves may have been worshipped. In truth, any
religious food discipline wherein the foods themselves or the
combinations of the foods themselves are seen to be curatives or
wondrous in their health giving properties may be idolatrous.
Concerning the verse, "And man does not live by bread alone, but every
word that proceeds from the mouth of G-d" we are taught that it is not
the bread itself which nurtures the body of man and gives it strength
but the word of G-d, which are enveloped in the bread and gives the
bread its existence. These letters, "the word that proceeds from the
mouth of G-d," not only give the bread its existence, but when ingested
by man, nurture his physical body. Obviously the same is
true of any food or herb or wonder drug that heals - it is merely the
power of G-d within that food or herb or wonder drug that is the healing
agent.)
9. If one offers an idol excrement or pours it a libation of urine,
he transgresses as this falls in the category of sprinkling.
10. If one slaughtered an animal that is missing one of its limbs,
he is held harmless unless such is this idol's particular service.
11. If an idol is served by gathering sticks in front of it, and one
breaks a stick before it, he is liable and the stick becomes forbidden
for any use. But if he throws the stick before it the stick
does not become forbidden even though this act is forbidden. The object
becomes forbidden only if the worshipful act is similar to the actual
worship intended for that particular idol. And, whereas breaking a
stick is similar to gathering sticks, throwing a stick is not considered
similar to throwing sacrificial blood or offering a
libation.
12. If a man lifts a brick and says to it, "You are my god," and any
such similar speech, he is liable for idolatry. Even if he would
retract immediately and say, "This is not my god," his
retraction is of no help. This does not mean that the person cannot
repent. He surely can repent and G-d will forgive his idolatry. But if
his speech was witnessed, he will be brought to trial and condemned as
an idolater notwithstanding his retraction or his repentance.
Repentance is only good between man and G-d. Jurists and courts of law
lack the power to search a man's heart to determine the sincerity of his
repentance. This only G-d can do.
13. One who worships an idol according to the prescribed ritual,
even if he does it contemptuously, is liable. For example, if one
defecates in front of Beor in order to disgrace the idol or throws a
stone at Mercury in order to show contempt, since he performs the
prescribed worship, he is liable.
14. If a person worships an idol because its workmanship is
stunningly beautiful. Or if he worships it because he fears that some
evil will otherwise befall him, thereby imagining that the
idol has some power to do good or evil - so long as the person accepts
the idol as g-d, he is liable.
15. If a person serves an idol in the manner of one of the four
forms of service used in the Holy Temple in Jerusalem - prostrating,
sacrificing, sprinkling sacrificial blood, pouring libations, and serves
the idol with love and fear, but without accepting it as a g-d, he is
held harmless. If he hugs it or kisses it or dusts it off
or pours water on it to cleanse the dust off or anoints it or clothes it
or does other things in order to honour it, these are in the category of
prostrating to it.
16. If a thorn got stuck one's foot while he was in front of an idol,
he should not bend down to remove it as it appears he is bowing down to
the idol. This holds true even if there is no one around to
observe the act. This is also true if he drops his money in front of
the idol and wishes to pick it up.
(Note: There was an idolatrous sect that brought tourists to
its house of worship. The door leading to the room where the idol was
kept was extremely low so that anyone entering the
room had to bend over to enter, thus forcing everyone who entered to
appear as if they were bowing as they approached the idol.)
Rather, the person should remove the thorn or pick up his money
by first sitting, then removing the thorn or picking up the money. Or
he should turn his back to the to the idol or turn to the side of the
idol in order to remove the thorn or pick up the money. And if for any
reason a person has to remove his hat for a personal need, he should not
remove it until he passes before the idol so that it does not appear as
if he is removing it to pay respects to the idol.
17. If there is statuary with faces that draw in or pour out water from
the mouth of the statue, a person should not drink from this water by
placing his mouth to the statue's mouth as it would appear as
if he is kissing it. Even if this statuary fountain is not an idol per
se, one should be strict with oneself and refrain from drinking in this
manner. This is so even if it is an ornamental elaborate fountain that
does not have a face, but was designed primarily for beauty rather than
as a drinking fountain, and it is all the more so if the fountain has a
face.
18. One is forbidden to commission a craftsman to make an idol for
himself even if he does not intend to serve it. Also it is forbidden to
make an idol with one's own hands even if the idol is meant
for someone else and not for him and he does not intend to serve it.
All the more so, it is forbidden to make an idol with one's own hands
for oneself.
19. It is forbidden to make figures or images for ornamental purposes,
even though they are not idols, i.e. one should not make images of gold
or silver that are merely for artistic purposes because he might cause
others to make a mistake and think they are idols. This prohibition
pertains to forms with human characteristics in three dimensional
relief, such as are on forms and vessels in a palace. Though forbidden,
such actions do not warrant capital punishment.
20. But if the image is depressed rather than in relief, or two
dimensional such as paintings or woven tapestry, it is permitted.
21. A ring that has a seal on it in the image of a man (a cameo), if
the image protrudes in relief, it is forbidden to wear it, but it may be
used as a seal. If the image is depressed, it can be worn,
but it is forbidden to use it as a seal (the seal that it creates is an
image in relief).
22. It is forbidden to form images of the sun or the moon or the stars
or the constellations or of the angels or of the four faces (in one
form) of the Chariot, as it is forbidden to make images of the
ministers that serve G-d. Such figures may not even be made in two
dimensional form. It is also forbidden to make the face of a man alone
(not showing the body) even if it is just for beauty.
23. According to other opinions, it is only forbidden to make forms of
the angels and the Chariot in a three-dimensional form that is in
relief. Drawing them on canvas or weaving these images on
cloth or painting them on stone would be permitted since these are
spiritual beings and, therefore, are not three dimensional forms.
However, even this latter lenient opinion forbids the drawing
of the sun, moon, or stars (in their complete form) in a two-dimensional
drawing because they appear to us two- dimensionally in the sky.
24. Concerning a sculpture of man, some say the face is that which is
forbidden. Others say that sculpture becomes forbidden only if the
whole face of a human and its body is made. According to this second
opinion, making a human body with its face is permitted as long one
doesn't make the complete body, but only of a portion of it. However,
it is better to follow the stricter first opinion.
25. One should not physically grasp hold of these graven images even
for a moment as it might give people the wrong idea. However, since
people today do not commonly worship the image of a man as g-d, it is
not forbidden to hold the image of a man unless it is distinctly the
image of one worshipped as a g-d, as these are most certainly forbidden
to keep. But any other human image may be kept, so long as the image is
slightly distorted or damaged, such as by chipping the nose, to dispel
any no suspicion of it being an idolatrous form.
26. It is permitted to make statuary of wild or domestic animals and
of trees, even of animals which are symbols in astrology, such as the
lion, the ram, or the bull. One may make the full form of these figures
and retain them in his possession. However, one may not make one form of
all twelve astrological symbols.
27. There is a further opinion forbidding all three-dimensional forms,
whether they are in relief or depressed. This opinion forbids making
such forms in order to keep in one's possession. It is proper
to heed this opinion.
28. One should never gaze at three-dimensional images of man. But
images upon a ring, since they are commonly found without idolatrous
connotations, may be gazed upon.
29. The three chief idolatrous images in the world are:
A. The dragon, which is a derivative of the primordial
serpent.
B. A full figure of a man offering the beholder something
from the palm of his hand. This is an idolatrous perversion of Joseph
in Egypt who fed the multitudes in time of famine.
C. A woman nursing an infant. This is the idolatrous
perversion Eve, the mother of all mankind. It became the symbol of the
queen of heaven and is an image that has pervaded numerous pagan
cultures.
PART THREE
1. There is a difference of opinion whether the Children of Noah
transgress the commandment of idolatry by convincing someone else to
worship an idol. One opinion states that the Children of
Noah do not transgress this commandment by leading others to serve an
idol. The other opinion states that he is liable for the death penalty,
but only if he leads a Jew away from the worship of the G-d
of Israel and convinces him or her to serve an idol. If, however, one
Noahide convinces another Noahide to serve an idol, he is not liable for
punishment in a court of law, but since he has denied
himself and the other person the opportunity of being close to G-d, he
is punished from Heaven.
2. One who leads the majority of a city to idolatry is in a
special category and is called a persuader. If the one who influenced
the city is a prophet, his punishment is stoning. If a
person says, "The idol said to me, 'worship!'" or he says,
"G-d said to me, 'Worship the idol,'" he is a prophet. If he influences
a majority of a city, he is stoned.
3. A seducer is equally liable whether he uses singular or
plural expressions in his seduction. For example, he says, "I will go
an worship the idol," or, "Let us go and worship this idol," he is a
seducer.
4. One who convinces others to worship him as an idol and says
to them, "Serve me," and they worship him, he is stoned to death. If
they say, "Yes," and accept him as their g-d but do not
serve him, he is not stoned.
5. But if he convinces them to serve another person or any
other type of idolatry, and one he convinced accepted him and said,
"Yes, let us go and serve," even though they have not yet
served, both the seducer and the seduced are stoned.
6. A prophet who prophesies in the name of an idol, for
instance he says, "This particular idol or this particular star said to
me that it is an obligation to do such and such or not to do
such and such," even if his words teach the law correctly,
he is liable the death penalty for idolatry.
7. It is forbidden to establish a law or to refute a law by
the authority of someone who prophesies in the name of an idol, nor do
we ask him to produce a sign or a miracle. If he does so on his own, we
pay no attention to it nor do we reflect about it. Anyone who thinks
about these miracles and says, "Perhaps they are true," transgresses a
law. Such miracles are a test of our faith in G-d.
8. Similarly, a false prophet is killed by strangulation even
though he prophesies in the name of G-d and teaches the Seven Universal
Laws correctly, neither adding nor subtracting from their
true meaning.
9. One who prophesies words that he did not hear in a
prophetic vision or one who hears the words of a true prophet and says
that they were received by him and he prophesies concerning
these words, is a false prophet.
10. One who holds himself back from killing a false prophet is
a transgressor. And it matters not whether he fears to act because of
the latter's exalted position in the realm of prophecy, or
because he is fearful of the false prophet's words.
(Note: A trick of all false prophets and other idolatrous
practitioners is to instill fear in the hearts of their victims.)
11. A man should not use an idol or a house of idolatry as a
signpost, such as telling his friend, "Meet me at the side of this
particular house of idolatry."
PART FOUR
1. A forbidden pillar is a pillar that serves as a central point of
worship for gatherings of people is called a forbidden pillar. It is
forbidden even if the people come to it in order to worship G-d, for
this was the way of the idolater. Anyone who erects such a pillar
performs a forbidden act, but is not killed for it. A stone floor with
figures carved on it to attract the eye is called a figured stone and is
forbidden. Even if one bows down on it with the intention of honouring
G-d he performs a forbidden act for this was the way of the idolater,
but he is not killed for it. The way of idol worship was to lay a stone
floor such as this before the idol. All stood on the
figured stone floor, then bowed before the idol.
Therefore, one should not employ a similar practice concerning the
worship of G-d.
2. The previous law applies in all places but the Holy Temple in
Jerusalem where it is permissible to bow down to G-d upon a stone floor.
3. One who bows down on a figured stone floor does not transgress
until he bows in total prostration, spreading his arms and legs. But if
he bows to an actual idol (the figured stone was only a floor placed
before an idol), whether he bows down in complete prostration or merely
bows from the waist, he transgresses the prohibition against idolatry
and is killed for it.
4. It is a commandment to destroy all idols and all things used in
serving them and everything that is made because of it, and in the Land
of Israel it is a commandment to pursue after the idol until it is
destroyed completely from the land.
5. It is forbidden to derive pleasure or benefit from actual
idols and all items needed for their service or sacrifices to the idol
(wine, meat, or incense) and all that may be made to beautify
the idol (candles or clothes that are spread out for its honour).
Anyone who benefits from any of these transgresses, but is not killed
for it.
6. One is forbidden any benefit or usage from an animal that has
been offered to an idol, including the animal's excrement, its bones,
its horns, hooves, or skin. Therefore, if there is a skin
with a mark on it that indicates this skin was offered to an idol, such
as a round hole torn opposite the heart of the animal, this skin is
forbidden for use in any way.
7. The difference between an idol belonging to a Noahide and the
idol of a Israelite is that the former is forbidden immediately after
its making is completed event though it has not yet been served. A
Noahide's idol becomes a g-d from the moment it exists as a graven
image. The idol of an Israelite is not forbidden until it is served.
8. The articles that are for the idol, whether they belong to a
Noahide or to an Israelite, are not forbidden for use until they are
used for the idol. And this also applies to any ornament,
that it does not become forbidden until it is actually used for the
idol.
9. One who makes idols for others, even though he receives lashes,
his wages for the job are permitted him. This is because one is paid
for a job from the beginning to the end, yet this
craftsman's work did not become an idol till the last blow of his
hammer, which is not worth even a small coin, therefore, the rest of his
wages earned for making something that was not yet an idol
are permitted.
10. A Noahide who purchases scrap metal and finds an idol in it, if
he has taken possession of the article as his own, even if he has not
paid the money for it, it is considered a completed
transaction, as taking possession is the proof of purchase. He should
cast the metal in the sea. And similarly, if a Noahide inherits an idol
from his father who was an idolater, he should cast it into
the sea.
11. If a Noahide sells an idol in order that the purchaser will
serve the idol, the money is nevertheless permitted him. This is when
it is definitely known that the money is being used for