בס”ד
How did the Movement Begin? And Where is it Going?
II: SOME MAIN ORAL TORAH SOURCES, AND SUBSEQUENT USE OF THESE TERMS
III: SOME MODERN MILESTONES, AND A LOOK AHEAD
PART II: SOME MAIN ORAL TORAH SOURCES, AND SUBSEQUENT USE OF THESE TERMS
In Mishneh Torah, Rambam teaches about a Noahite (i.e., a non-Jew) who accepts his Seven Commandments and their details as commanded by G-d in the Torah, through Moses at Mount Sinai. In Rambam’s terminology, this is a “Hasid (חֲסִיד) Umot HaOlam” (“Pious of the Nations of the World”). G-d rewards Noahites who follow that level of acceptance and observance with a share in the eternal World to Come.[1]
In contrast, after the Torah was given, if a Noahite adheres to the Seven Commandments only because they were given to Noah, he is not a Hasid Umot HaOlam. He still receives a reward for his observance as a righteous Gentile, but on a lower level. The Lubavitcher Rebbe taught it is appropriate for this person to have the title “Ben Noah” (Son of Noah). This is because he observes the Seven Commandments on the same basis as did his ancestor Noah [2]. However, it’s now common for Hasidei Umot HaOlam to be referred to as “Ben Noah”, “Bat Noah”, and “Bnei Noah”.
A Noahite who is righteous (but not pious) in observing the basic Seven Commandments only because they were given through Noah is described as being “wise”.[3] The same applies for one who observes them based only on his own intellectual reasoning.
The Origin of the Term “Noachide”
The English language is renowned for its proclivity to absorb new words. In standard usage, the title “Noahide,”, with the “-ide” suffix, would not have naturally come into use from within the English language. And yet it now has, so what is its origin? And in what narrower context is there a need use it instead of “Noahite”, which means all non-Jews?
In the early 16´00s, several European Gentile scholars looked for Torah sources, both Scriptural and Rabbinical, to provide a system of Hebrew law (Hebraica veritas) that were applicable to all non-Jews. They reasoned that this could be an ideal basis for international law. There were a few pioneering jurists who immersed themselves in this subject. Most prominent were Hugo de Groot (15´83-16´45) in the Netherlands, and John Selden (15´84-16´54) in England. Their writings were in the scholarly language of Latin.
Hugo de Groot authored De jure belli ac pacis (On the Law of War and Peace). In this book, he presented the Seven Laws of Noah as ius Gentium – the law of Nations.
Selden authored a monumental work titled De Jure Naturali et Gentium Juxta Disciplinam Ebraeorum (On Natural Law and Nations According to the Discipline of the Jews).[4] He took a much deeper personal and faith-based interest in the spiritual importance of the Seven Laws for non-Jews. He studied the Oral Tradition of the Seven Laws in the Talmud, and in Rambam’s Mishneh Torah. Melding Hebrew with Latin, he referred to the Gentile nations as Noachidarum, to the descendants of Noach as Noachidae, and to a non-Jew as a Gentili or a Noachide. We see clearly that the “-ite” suffix in English corresponds to this use of the “-ides” suffix in Latin.
Noachida in The Consitutions of the Free-Masons
In the early 17´00s, Dr. James Andersen, a Scottish minister and freemason leader, authored The Consitutions of the Free-Masons. In it, he extolled Noah as a Patriach for non-Jews. In the 17´38 edition, he wrote , “A Mason is obliged by his tenure to obey the moral law as a true Noachida,” using the Latin form of the word, which he used synonymously with the English equivalent, Noachite. This became so popular that Noachida and Noachite became synonymous terms for Freemason, even though Freemasonry contains elements that diverge from some fundamental precepts of the Seven Commandments.
The short-lived “Noachide campaign” of Rabbi Elijah Benamozegh
In the late 18´00s, Rabbi Elijah Benamozegh in France authored a treatise promoting a faith-based path for non-Jews that is focused on observance of their Seven Commandments in the Torah. His book, titled Israël et l’humanité, was not published until 19´14, which was 14 years after his death.[5] In his French text, he used the word “Noachism” for a religious path based on the “Noachide” law for Gentiles. He also used “Noachide” as a synonym for Gentile.
The attempt to publicize Rabbi Benamozegh’s teachings in Europe was halted by World War I. In the English translation that was published in 19´95, those words were retained with those spellings.[6]
In the Schottenstein edition of the Talmud in Hebrew and English from Artscroll (19´94), the English text and notes resolve the grammatical issue by using “Noahite” as a noun which means “non-Jew”, and “Noahide” as an adjective. Some examples from their text are: “Noahide commandments”, “Noahide prohibition”, “Noahide law”, etc.
In this grammatical format, a righteous non-Jew would say, for example: “I am Noahide, since I follow the Seven Noahide Commandments” (or, “the Noahide path”). Nevertheless, the word Noahide (or Noachide) has entered English and other languages as the title for a non-Jew who accepts to follow the Seven Commandments. This especially applies for one who follows them piously as they are given in the Torah through Moses.
Finally, we mention that in the Talmud and later Torah-law texts in Hebrew, the terms Bnei (or Bnai) Noach and Ben Noach correspond to Noachites and Noachite in English. However, those terms are now being used in a narrower sense by many people, as titles for non-Jews who take on faithful observance of the Seven Commandments. In other words, they are used as a synonym for the title “Noahide”.
By Dr. Michael Schulman and Angelique Sijbolts
Footnotes
[1] Rambam, Mishneh Torah, Laws of Kings 8:11. Although pious observance of the Seven Commandments is necessary for a Gentile to have a part in the World to Come, that alone is not sufficient. See the talk by the Lubavitcher Rebbe, titled Two Types of Obligations in the Noahide Code.
[2] Likkutei Sichot v. 26, Yitro Sicha #3.
[3] Rambam ibid., according to the Yemenite text.
[4] On line and fully searchable at https://books.google.co.il/books?id=eoKInhkwdeMC
[5] Eliyahu Benamozegh, Israel et L’Humanite: Etude Sur Le Probleme De La Religion Universelle Et Sa Solution, (in French), 19´14. The extensive table of contents in the original French can be accessed in the “Read Sample” view at https://www.amazon.com/Israel-LHumanite-Probleme-Religion-Universelle/dp/B08H6RKM9S
[6] Israel and Humanity, Paulist Press, 19´95.
Authored and Copyright © 20’25 by Dr. Michael Schulman and Angelique Sijbolts
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