Noahidismus
B'nei Noah or "Children of Noah" is a ancient concept in Jewish Tradition[1]. According to the tradition non-Jews are able to either convert to Judaism or remain as Noachides and fulfill the Noahide Laws. The term now applies to a modern religious movement.
Modern Movement
A modern movement known as the B'nei Noah or B'nei Noach has appeared in which members endeavour to follow the Noahide Laws. A High Council of B’nei Noah was endorsed on January 10, 2006 by the newly formed Sanhedrin in Israel and purports to represent B'nei Noah communities around the world.
Belief in Universal Obligation
Adherents believe that because these laws were given to the new first family of humanity all human beings are obligated to fulfill them. These laws are discussed throughout the Talmud most notably in Sanhedrin 56a. The Medieval sage Rabbi Moshe Ben Maimon (the Rambam) collected all of the decisions in the Talmud and halachic decisions in his time and laid them out clearly so that everyone would know their obligations. The Rambam called this great work the Mishnah Torah.
Not only were the Jewish Laws recorded with their explanations in the Mishnah Torah, but the Noachide Laws were also collected with their explanation in the Rambam’s great work in Sefer Shoftim in the last book Hilchot Melachim U’Milchamot.
Theological Background
According to the Tanach[2], B’nei Noah are literally the children of Noah[3] and are descendants of Noah the only survivor of the flood that destroyed all of humanity. Noah’s children Shem, Ham, and Japheth along with their wives and Noah’s wife Naamah also survived the flood aboard the ark. Once the survivors were able to leave the ark for dry ground they began to start new families and rebuild the earth. The story of Noah culminates in the promise of God to Noah that he would never again destroy the world through a flood. The sign of this promise was the rainbow[4]
The Laws of Adam
Along with the promise of new life God reestablished the six laws originally given to Adam[5] in the garden (prohibition against idolatry,[6] blasphemy, theft, murder, illicit sex and the command to establish courts of justice) and added a new law, the prohibition of eating the limb of a living animal.
References
- ↑ B'nei Noah are discussed throughout the Babylonian Talmud particularly Sanhedrin 56-59a and Bava Kama 38b. The Mishneh Torah of the Rambam, a codification of the Talmud mentions laws in regard to non-Jews particularly in Laws of Kings and Wars.
- ↑ Called the Old Testament by Christians
- ↑ Just as the term "Children of Israel" not only represents a people (in the case of the Children of Noah the entire World) it also means that those identified with this term hold to a common ideology. The term "B'nei Noah", therefore, represents not only physical descendants of Noah but also "spiritual" descendants.
- ↑ Among the Jewish people and B'nei Noah this rainbow is a sign of the Noahide covenant. Man's part of this covenant is to obey the seven universal laws given to Noah by God. For more information on the Noahide Covenant see: "A Brief Introduction to the Noahide Covenant"
- ↑ See Hilchot Melachim
- ↑ The prohibition against idolatry is more complex than it may first appear. For a fuller examination of the complexities regarding idolatry seeIdolatry and Idol Chatter