Noahide Laws
The seven commandments that rabbinic tradition holds binding on all humanity, and the campaign launched about 1980 by the seventh Lubavitcher Rebbe, Menachem Mendel Schneerson, to spread them among non-Jews, which produced US presidential proclamations, acts of Congress and a modern "Bnei Noach" movement
| Noahide Laws | |
| Hebrew | שבע מצוות בני נח (sheva mitzvot bnei Noach, "the seven commandments of the children of Noah") |
|---|---|
| Earliest list | Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin 56a (a baraita) |
| Codified by | Maimonides, Mishneh Torah, Laws of Kings and Wars 8:10–11 |
| Chabad campaign | Launched by Menachem Mendel Schneerson in the early 1980s |
| US recognition | Pub. L. 97-166 (1982); Proclamation 4921 (1982); later "Education Day, U.S.A." resolutions and proclamations, including Pub. L. 102-14 (1991) |
| Followers | Noahides or Bnei Noach (non-Jews who keep the laws without converting) |
The Noahide Laws (also Seven Laws of Noah, Noachide laws; Hebrew sheva mitzvot bnei Noach) are seven commandments that rabbinic Judaism holds to be binding on all human beings, as descendants of Noah, as distinct from the 613 commandments binding on Jews.[1] For most of Jewish history they were a matter of legal theory. From the early 1980s the seventh Lubavitcher Rebbe, Menachem Mendel Schneerson, made their spread among non-Jews a campaign of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement.[2] The campaign won tributes from Ronald Reagan and later US presidents, and joint resolutions of the United States Congress that named the Seven Noahide Laws in their preambles.[3][4] It also helped to give rise to a small modern movement of non-Jewish "Noahides" or Bnei Noach.[5] Scholars disagree about how to read it. Some describe it as close to proselytising, or read it within Schneerson's messianism; Chabad presents it as a moral mission to the world, not a missionary one.[6][7][8]
The laws in Jewish tradition
The earliest list is a baraita (an early rabbinic teaching) in the Babylonian Talmud: "The descendants of Noah, i.e., all of humanity, were commanded to observe seven mitzvot: The mitzva of establishing courts of judgment; and the prohibition against blessing, i.e., cursing, the name of God; and the prohibition of idol worship; and the prohibition against forbidden sexual relations; and the prohibition of bloodshed; and the prohibition of robbery; and the prohibition against eating a limb from a living animal."[1] Later rabbinic interpretation expanded each of the seven into many particular rules.[5]
Maimonides (1138–1204) codified the laws in his Mishneh Torah. He wrote that "Moses was commanded by the Almighty to compel all the inhabitants of the world to accept the commandments given to Noah's descendants", and that a non-Jew who accepts and keeps the seven "is considered one of 'the pious among the gentiles' and will merit a share in the world to come". He added a condition: this applies "only when he accepts them and fulfills them because the Holy One, blessed be He, commanded them in the Torah", and not when he keeps them "out of intellectual conviction".[9] According to My Jewish Learning, "most rabbinic authorities rejected Maimonides' view" that Jews must actively teach the laws to non-Jews, and "the dominant halakhic (Jewish law) attitude had been that Jews are not required to spread Noahide teachings to non-Jews".[5]
The Chabad campaign
Origins
Wolfson writes that within Chabad the duty to win commitment to the laws "was seen as an integral part of the sixth Rebbe's messianic task". He notes that the release of Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn from Soviet prison in July 1927 was interpreted as a reaffirmation of his duty "to unify all the people of Israel by means of the dissemination of the Torah and Judaism, which includes the spreading of the fulfillment of the commandments of the sons of Noah in all of the world in its entirety".[6]
The Chabad-side biographer Chaim Miller dates the campaign proper to the early 1980s. He writes that "there had never been a notable effort to disseminate" the Noahide code or "even to clarify its practical implementation". According to Miller, Schneerson argued in an essay published in 1984 that this neglect arose because "throughout history any activity that might appear as proselytizing is likely to have offended the religious sentiments of the host culture and endangered its Jewish community"; in America and other free countries that concern no longer applied.[2] Chabad.org makes the same argument: "The Jew has been a victim of severe circumstances, and could not dare suggest that he had something to teach his contemptuous hosts about faith and morality" (Chabad-side).[8] Telushkin dates the campaign to 1980 and writes that it surprised and upset "many Jews, particularly in the Orthodox world" (Chabad-side).[10]
Miller writes that the message "was not only lost on the broader Jewish world, but also on many of his own followers", and that proposals from Chasidim were "either rejected by the Rebbe, ignored, or elicited a warning that 'this bears a tremendous responsibility'".[2] In a 1986 letter to Israel Drazin, an assistant chief of chaplains in the US Army, Schneerson wrote that had the commandments "been observed and adhered to by all the 'Children of Noah,' namely, the nations of the world ... there would not have been any possibility, in the natural order of things, for such a thing as a Holocaust".[2]
Christianity
Miller writes that Schneerson "pointed to numerous halachic rulings that the Trinity is not idolatrous for a non-Jew and is an acceptable form of worship for him", so that on this view "it would be a positive fulfilment of the Noahide Code when Christians embrace their faith, especially if the alternative is atheism". He adds that Schneerson nonetheless "perceived the ideal for the non-Jew was pure monotheism and an embrace of the Torah as the only authentic source of religion for all people" (Chabad-side).[2]
Lobbying in Washington
Heilman and Friedman write that by 1982 Rabbi Avremel Shemtov, the Chabad emissary in Philadelphia, who "later expanded his territory to include the District of Columbia", "was running what the papers called a 'well-oiled [political] machine' in Washington that got Congress to declare April 4, Menachem Mendel Schneerson's eightieth birthday, a National Day of Reflection". He approached lawmakers "who had well-organized Lubavitcher communities in their districts", including Speaker Thomas P. O'Neill, and spread the word to "sixty Lubavitcher centers in thirty states". "Barely a week into the lobbying effort, Rabbi Shemtov had close to two hundred congressional co-sponsors on board". They add: "This too was seen by Lubavitchers in a messianic context."[11]
US presidential proclamations and acts of Congress
National Day of Reflection, 1982
House Joint Resolution 447 became Public Law 97-166 on 3 April 1982. Its preamble refers to "ethical values and principles which, from the dawn of civilization when they were known as the Seven Noahide Laws, have been the bedrock of society". It authorised the President to designate 4 April 1982, "which this year coincides with the eightieth birthday of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, universally respected and revered leader and head of the worldwide Lubavitch movement", as the "National Day of Reflection".[3]
On the same day Reagan issued Proclamation 4921. It described the Lubavitch movement as "One shining example for people of all faiths of what education should be", and said of Schneerson: "He has provided a vivid example of the eternal validity of the Seven Noahide Laws, a moral code for all of us regardless of religious faith. May he go from strength to strength."[12] Schneerson replied in a letter of 18 April 1982 that by "reaffirming the eternal validity of the G-d given Seven Noahide laws (with all their ramifications) for people of all faiths—you have expressed most forcefully the real spirit of the American nation".[13] Wolfson comments that the proclamation's language "we can plausibly assume was crafted with the help of Lubavitchers".[13]
Education Day, U.S.A.
According to Telushkin, President Jimmy Carter first designated "Education Day, U.S.A." for Schneerson's birthday in April 1978.[14] A later proclamation by Donald Trump also refers to "April 18, 1978, our Nation's first Education Day, U.S.A."[15] Several of the resolutions and proclamations of the 1980s and early 1990s named the Noahide Laws:
| Year | Instrument | Noahide wording (verbatim) |
|---|---|---|
| 1982 | Pub. L. 97-166 (H.J.Res. 447); Proclamation 4921 (Reagan) | "from the dawn of civilization when they were known as the Seven Noahide Laws" (Act); "the eternal validity of the Seven Noahide Laws, a moral code for all of us regardless of religious faith" (Proclamation)[3][12] |
| 1984 | Proclamation 5181 (Reagan), on H.J.Res. 520 | "a tradition of ethical values that can trace its roots to the Seven Noahide Laws, which have often been cited as universal norms of ethical conduct and a guarantee of fundamental human rights"[16] |
| 1985 | Proclamation 5317 (Reagan), on H.J.Res. 186 | "the values, with their roots in the Seven Noahide Laws, which have guided the Lubavitch movement throughout its history"[17] |
| 1986 | Proclamation 5463 (Reagan), on H.J.Res. 582 | "He exemplifies the rich tradition of the Seven Noahide Laws, which have been the lodestar of the Lubavitch movement from its inception"[18] |
| 1989–90 | Proclamation 5956 (Bush), on H.J.Res. 173 | "The Noahide Laws are actually seven commandments given to man by God, as recorded in the Old Testament ... Through the leadership of Rabbi Menachem Schneerson and the worldwide Lubavitch movement, the Noahide Law -- and standards of conduct duly derived from them -- have been promulgated around the globe"[19] |
| 1991 | Pub. L. 102-14 (H.J.Res. 104) | "these ethical values and principles have been the bedrock of society from the dawn of civilization, when they were known as the Seven Noahide Laws"; "the year in which we turn to education and charity to return the world to the moral and ethical values contained in the Seven Noahide Laws"[4] |
Public Law 102-14, approved on 20 March 1991, designated 26 March 1991, "the start of the ninetieth year of Rabbi Menachem Schneerson", as "Education Day, U.S.A.". Its preamble states that "the Lubavitch movement has fostered and promoted these ethical values and principles throughout the world", and refers to "an international scroll of honor signed by the President of the United States and other heads of state".[4] Bush's proclamation for the same day praised the movement's emphasis on "moral education" but did not mention the Noahide Laws.[20] In 1994 Congress awarded Schneerson a Congressional Gold Medal; the act noted that his birthday had been marked "in each of the last 16 years as 'Education and Sharing Day, U.S.A.'".[21] Presidents have continued to proclaim Education and Sharing Day; Trump's 2017 proclamation honoured Schneerson as an educator without mentioning the Noahide Laws.[15]
The Bnei Noach movement
Non-Jews who take on the seven laws as a religious way of life, without converting to Judaism, call themselves Noahides or Bnei Noach ("children of Noah"). In an article for My Jewish Learning, Michael Kress describes them as "a small but growing movement", most of them "former Christians who've turned their backs on the faith". He writes that Noahides "can largely thank the vision of one 20th-century Jewish thinker: Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the late Lubavitcher rebbe", and that "The contemporary Noahide movement began to take shape during Schneerson's lifetime, but its major growth has taken place in the years since his death", fuelled largely by the internet.[5] He reports that "Chabad and other rabbis, together with Noahides, are creating a Noahide siddur (prayer book)" and a Noahide code of law.[5]
The movement has since spread well beyond Chabad. The anthropologist Rachel Z. Feldman writes that "Orthodox rabbis from Israel's religious right wing are engaging in a new form of Internet proselytizing", inviting non-Jews from Hebrew Roots Christianity, Seventh-Day Adventism and Messianic Judaism "to become Bnei Noah, the Children of Noah, a new Judaic faith and a harbinger of messianic times".[22] One such body is the Noahide World Center headed by the religious-Zionist Rabbi Oury Cherki, which Haaretz described in 2018 as having "Israeli governmental and rabbinical support" (critical).[23]
Chabad emissaries also take the campaign to non-Jews outside the West. Bilu describes a Chabad "campaign to urge the observance of the seven Noachide laws among Palestinian Arabs in Israel and in the territories", directed by Rabbi Boaz Kali,[24] and cases from India and Israel in which non-Jews who sought the Rebbe's blessing undertook to keep the seven laws.[25][26]
Kress wrote of "hundreds, maybe even thousands"; Feldman writes of "Tens of thousands of individuals" engaging with rabbis online. The two figures measure different things and come from different dates.[5][22]
Scholarly readings
- Close to proselytising (Wolfson). Wolfson writes that the campaign "should not be construed as missionary activity, since there is no interest in conversion". Still, it "comes closest to something akin to a proselytizing program on the part of Lubavitchers insofar as it reflects an aspect of their religious vision that entails shaping the beliefs and practices of non-Jews for the sake of redeeming the world".[6] He rejects the view that the campaign shows a weakening of ethnocentrism: "Many have claimed, apologetically in my view, that the campaign of the seven Noahide Laws illustrates not only a more conciliatory attitude toward Gentiles but a weakening of traditional ethnocentrism".[6] On his reading, "the other nations are treated as a means to benefit the Jews", and "Even the demand that they fulfill the seven commandments of Noah is merely an aspect of this instrumentality". He concludes that the Rebbe's effort "was certainly laudable", but that his remarks "only reinforced the deleterious alterity implied in his portrayal of the non-Jew as the other to the other who is the Jew".[27] Elsewhere he describes Schneerson's teaching on non-Jews as one that "both affirms and subverts the dualism of the sanctity of Jews and the impurity of non-Jews", and argues that the Noahide campaign "is not the only relevant topic to assess Schneerson's complex views on the subject of non-Jews".[28][29] See also Tanya.
- Preparation for the Messiah (Heilman and Friedman). Heilman and Friedman place the campaign within Schneerson's messianic programme. The Rebbe lectured "the world on the need to observe the Seven Noahide Commandments", and "If the Gentiles acted in accord with these demands, that too would prepare the way for the Messiah. This kind of concern about non-Jews and their moral and religious behavior was practically unprecedented in the modern Hasidic world."[7] They link Schneerson's outreach campaigns to his wish to reclaim messianic initiative from the State of Israel after 1967: "The Rebbe needed to reclaim the advantage."[30] They also note that in outreach "Even Gentiles, for whom the Noahide laws could be invoked, were an easier population than the children of mixed marriages."[31] See Chabad messianism.
- Secondary and restricted (Bilu). Bilu writes that Chabad's messages of redemption "are aimed at all of humanity while not in the least blurring the boundary between Jews and non-Jews. Chabad's appeal to the gentiles is secondary and restricted, aimed at convincing them to observe the seven Noachide laws." He adds that "the fact that this appeal is explicitly part of the movement's agenda is surprising and exceptional".[32] He also notes "the dichotomy and tension between the universal elements of the messianic vision and the particularist nature of its Jewish version", which he finds "especially troubling in the Meshichist discourse".[33]
Critical readings
- "A form of imperialism" (Novak) – critical. The theologian David Novak of the University of Toronto told My Jewish Learning: "If Jews are telling Gentiles what to do, it's a form of imperialism." In Kress's summary, Novak sees the seven laws as "a set of rules that Judaism prescribes for non-Jews while assuming any civil society or moral individual will reach these conclusions on their own, without prodding", and not "a religion around which non-Jews are expected to structure their daily lives".[5]
- Internet proselytising (Feldman) – critical. Feldman describes the rabbis who mentor Noahides online as "engaging in a new form of Internet proselytizing" within "a messianic Zionist vision".[22]
- Proselytising remote communities (Ilany) – critical. Writing in Haaretz in 2018 about the religious-Zionist Noahide World Center, Ofri Ilany said that it "is trying to proselytize members of remote communities. Just as long as they don't call themselves Jews, right?"[23] His article concerns a non-Chabad organisation.
- Orthodox opposition – critical. According to Telushkin, Rabbi Elazar Shach "had long condemned Chabad in public talks (focusing on, among other things, the campaign to teach the 'Seven Noahide Laws' to non-Jews…)".[10]
Chabad's response. Chabad.org states: "No, Judaism is not a proselytizing religion. It does not seek converts." In its account, every person has a divine mission, which for non-Jews "means the basic program of ethical monotheism built on seven commandments" (Chabad-side).[8] Wolfson agrees that there is "no interest in conversion", but adds that "The target audience for the missionizing tendencies on the part of Ḥabad is secular Jews".[6]
Torat HaMelech
Status: a published book; the authors were investigated for incitement, and the investigation was closed in 2012 without indictment.[34] Torat HaMelech (The King's Torah, 2009), by Rabbis Yitzhak Shapira and Yosef Elitzur of the Od Yosef Chai Yeshiva in Yitzhar, invokes the Noahide Laws in its discussion of when Jewish law permits killing non-Jews. The Jerusalem Post reported that a section of conclusions at the back of the book, "Conclusions - Chapter Five: The Killing of Gentiles in War", includes the following: "There is a reason to kill babies [on the enemy side] even if they have not transgressed the seven Noahide Laws [to believe in God, not to commit idolatry, murder, theft or adultery, to set up a legal system, and not to tear a limb from a live animal] because of the future danger they may present, since it is assumed that they will grow up to be evil like their parents...."[35] The same report said that the book carries a preface by Rabbi Yitzhak Ginsburgh, the Chabad-affiliated president and spiritual leader of Od Yosef Chai, who wrote of the need to illuminate the differences between Jew and gentile "at a time when we are obligated to conquer [the land of Israel] from our enemies".[35]
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin 56a, The William Davidson Talmud (Koren Noé edition, English translation), Sefaria. Primary source.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Chaim Miller, Turning Judaism Outward: A Biography of the Rebbe, Menachem Mendel Schneerson (Brooklyn: Kol Menachem, 2014), ch. 13 ("The Rebbe's Army, 1978–1987") (Kindle edition; no print page numbers). Chabad-side.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 United States Congress, Public Law 97-166 (H.J. Res. 447): Joint resolution to authorize and request the President to issue a proclamation designating April 4, 1982, as the "National Day of Reflection", 3 April 1982, 96 Stat. 60 (govinfo). Primary source.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 United States Congress, Public Law 102-14 (H.J. Res. 104): Joint resolution to designate March 26, 1991, as "Education Day, U.S.A.", 20 March 1991, 105 Stat. 44–45 (govinfo). Primary source.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 Michael Kress, "The Modern Noahide Movement", My Jewish Learning, accessed 20 October 2026.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 Wolfson, Open Secret (2009), p. 229.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Heilman and Friedman, The Rebbe (2010), p. 214.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 "All Mankind" (section "Beyond the Jewish Community"), Chabad.org, accessed 20 October 2026. Chabad-side.
- ↑ Maimonides, Mishneh Torah, Laws of Kings and Wars 8:10–11, trans. Eliyahu Touger (Jerusalem: Moznaim, 1986–2007), Sefaria. Primary source.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 Joseph Telushkin, Rebbe: The Life and Teachings of Menachem M. Schneerson, the Most Influential Rabbi in Modern History (New York: HarperCollins, 2014), ISBN 978-0-06-231898-5, ch. 9 ("Expressing Disagreement Without Being Disagreeable") and ch. 11 ("Judaism's Mission to the World") (EPUB edition; no print page numbers). Chabad-side.
- ↑ Heilman and Friedman, The Rebbe (2010), p. 213.
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 Ronald Reagan, Proclamation 4921 – National Day of Reflection, 3 April 1982, Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. Primary source.
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 Elliot R. Wolfson, Open Secret: Postmessianic Messianism and the Mystical Revision of Menahem Mendel Schneerson (New York: Columbia University Press, 2009), ISBN 978-0-231-14630-2, p. 228.
- ↑ Telushkin, Rebbe (2014), ch. 30 ("Major Events in the Life of the Rebbe: A Timeline") (EPUB edition). Chabad-side.
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 Donald J. Trump, Proclamation 9589 – Education and Sharing Day, U.S.A., 2017, 6 April 2017, The American Presidency Project. Primary source.
- ↑ Ronald Reagan, Proclamation 5181 – Education Day, U.S.A., 1984, 13 April 1984, The American Presidency Project. Primary source.
- ↑ Ronald Reagan, Proclamation 5317 – Education Day, U.S.A., 1985, 4 April 1985, The American Presidency Project. Primary source.
- ↑ Ronald Reagan, Proclamation 5463 – Education Day, U.S.A., 1986, 19 April 1986, The American Presidency Project. Primary source.
- ↑ George Bush, Proclamation 5956 – Education Day, U.S.A., 1989 and 1990, 14 April 1989, The American Presidency Project. Primary source.
- ↑ George Bush, Proclamation 6262 – Education Day, U.S.A., 1991, 20 March 1991, The American Presidency Project. Primary source.
- ↑ United States Congress, H.R. 4497: An Act to award a congressional gold medal to Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, Public Law 103-457, 2 November 1994, 108 Stat. 4799 (govinfo). Primary source.
- ↑ 22.0 22.1 22.2 Rachel Z. Feldman, "'I Call It Rabbi Youtube': Rabbinic Authority in the Digital Age and The Children of Noah (Bnei Noah) Movement", AJS Review 47:1 (April 2023), pp. 1–24, abstract. doi:10.1353/ajs.2023.0000. Scholarly; critical.
- ↑ 23.0 23.1 Ofri Ilany, "The Messianic Zionist Religion Whose Believers Worship Judaism (But Can't Practice It)", Haaretz (opinion), 12 September 2018. Critical; only the standfirst and opening were accessible.
- ↑ Bilu, With Us More Than Ever (2020), p. 63.
- ↑ Bilu, With Us More Than Ever (2020), p. 53.
- ↑ Bilu, With Us More Than Ever (2020), p. 120.
- ↑ Wolfson, Open Secret (2009), p. 231.
- ↑ Wolfson, Open Secret (2009), p. 263.
- ↑ Wolfson, Open Secret (2009), p. 264.
- ↑ Samuel C. Heilman and Menachem M. Friedman, The Rebbe: The Life and Afterlife of Menachem Mendel Schneerson (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2010), p. 170.
- ↑ Heilman and Friedman, The Rebbe (2010), p. 257.
- ↑ Bilu, With Us More Than Ever (2020), p. 245.
- ↑ Yoram Bilu, With Us More Than Ever: Making the Absent Rebbe Present in Messianic Chabad (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2020), p. 25.
- ↑ "A-G: 'Torat Hamelech' authors will not be indicted", The Jerusalem Post, 28 May 2012.
- ↑ 35.0 35.1 Matthew Wagner, "Shapira's distinction between Jewish, gentile blood", The Jerusalem Post, 28 January 2010.