בס”ד


The purpose of this class is to explain a rule in the Talmud regarding learning laws from before the Giving of the Torah to apply now.

Can We Learn from Before the Giving of the Torah?

The question

If Avraham did something, must we do it today? If Noach did something, is that a law for us? For Jews this is easier, because the Torah was given at Mount Sinai and Jews must keep it. But what about non-Jews, the Bnei Noach? Can they learn laws from the people who lived before the Torah was given?

By “forefathers” I mean everyone who lived before Sinai: Noach, Shem, Ever, Avraham, Yitzchak, Yaakov and others. I do not only mean the forefathers of the Jewish people.

The short answer is this: we can learn behaviors from them, but not laws. Let us see why.

Before Sinai

Our sages say that the forefathers kept the whole Torah, even before it was given.1 They learn this from a verse in which G-d says: “Because Avraham listened to My voice, and kept My guard, My commandments, My rules and My Torot.”2

Our sages also say that if the Torah had not been given, we would still have learned good behavior from the animals.3 This comes from the verse: “Teach us from the animals of the earth.”4 The Talmud gives four examples:

If we can learn from animals, then of course we can learn from Avraham and the others. So there is certainly something to learn from them.

Aroma and oil

Still, our sages teach that the commandments of the forefathers were different from our commandments. They compare it to aroma and oil. The verse says: “The aroma of your oils is good; your oil is like poured oil.”5

The aroma comes from the oil, but it is not the oil itself. It only spreads out from it, and it fades quickly. The oil is the real substance. The forefathers kept commandments, but their commandments were like the aroma. Our commandments, after the giving of the Torah, are like the oil.

Why is this? Before Sinai, there was a separation between the upper (spiritual) worlds and our lower (material) world. A human being wants to rise above himself, but he cannot do it alone. Our sages say: “A prisoner cannot free himself from jail.” We are, in a way, “in jail” inside our own physical world. To get out, we need something that comes from outside, from G-d. A commandment is exactly that: a channel of connection that G-d gives us.

So the forefathers, though very great, could only reach as far as their own source. Their commandments stayed on the level of the aroma. They could not go beyond themselves, because G-d had not yet opened the connection.

This also explains something about Avraham. He kept the whole Torah, but he did not circumcise himself until G-d told him to. He waited because a commandment from G-d is what makes the connection. If a person does an act that G-d did not command, nothing happens. If I raise my cup three times and say I have risen above myself, who told me that? I made it up.

Mount Sinai

Think of a king with a north and a south in his kingdom, with no way to travel between them. Then the king says: “Now people from the north may go south, and people from the south may go north.”

That is what the giving of the Torah did. G-d came down on Mount Sinai and Moshe went up. The separation between the upper and the lower worlds was removed. Even the forefathers could not cross it, but now it was open. This happened in the year 2448 from Creation.6

“The Torah was given and the law was renewed”

The Talmud says: “From the time the Torah was given, the law was renewed.”7 This is the heart of the question. If the law is new, then what happened before Sinai is not our law anymore. Let us see what this means.

First explanation: Ramban and Ritva

According to the Ramban and the Ritva, there is a new commandment for the Bnei Noach after Sinai.8 The Talmud brings a verse: G-d “saw and untied the nations.”9 G-d saw that the nations did not keep the seven commandments, so He “untied” them.

This does not mean a non-Jew may now kill or steal. G-d still wants them to keep the commandments. What changed is the level of reward. Before Sinai, they were commanded, so they received reward as people who were commanded. After Sinai, they receive reward as people who were not commanded and kept the laws anyway.

There is one more point in this opinion. If a non-Jew accepts the commandments in front of a rabbinical court, he receives the higher reward again.

This sounds backwards. Usually we think that doing something you did not have to do earns more reward. But in Judaism it is the other way around. A commandment is a channel to G-d. Someone who is commanded and does it uses that channel and connects to G-d. Someone who is not commanded does something nice, and G-d rewards it, but it is not the same connection. A person cannot create the channel alone. G-d must give it.

An important clarification: accepting the Seven Commandments before a Beit Din

The Ramban and Ritva distinguish between three categories of non-Jews in their commentaries on Makkot 9a:

However, we must be careful not to draw conclusions beyond what these sources actually say. The Ramban and Ritva do not explicitly discuss whether accepting the Seven Commandments before a Beit Din today gives a Ben Noach a special status or a higher level of reward.

Furthermore, accepting the Seven Commandments before a Beit Din should not automatically be confused with receiving the formal halachic status of Ger Toshav. According to most contemporary halachic authorities, we do not accept Ger Toshav today, since the laws of Yovel (the Jubilee year) are no longer in effect.

Therefore, although the Ramban and Ritva discuss the category of Ger Toshav, we cannot conclude from their words alone that a formal acceptance before a Beit Din nowadays gives a Ben Noach the status of Ger Toshav or the particular reward associated with it.

This distinction is important when understanding the different opinions concerning the status of Bnei Noach after the giving of the Torah.

Rambam: Laws of Kings 8:11

The Rambam writes:

Anyone who accepts the seven commandments and is careful to observe them is considered one of the righteous among the nations of the world, and he has a share in the World to Come. This applies provided that he performs them because the Holy One, blessed be He, commanded them in the Torah—having made it known to us, through Moses our Teacher, that the descendants of Noah were previously commanded regarding them.10

A question come up here:

If a non Jew has to keep his laws because they were given in Mount Sinai, what does the Rambam say  “were previously commanded”? Why does he add “commanded them in the Torah”?

The Rebbe gives two answers.

First answer: a continuing commandment

According to the Rambam, there is no new commandment for the Bnei Noach. The seven laws never stopped. The Rambam does not agree with the idea that G-d “untied” the nations. The Bnei Noach were commanded before Sinai, and they are still commanded after Sinai.11

What changed at Sinai? The Bnei Noach now have a relationship with the Torah. Their commandments are not “a thing by themselves,” separated from G-d.12 It is not the same as the relationship of the Jews. A non-Jew who wants to keep a Jewish commandment must ask a rabbi. But the relationship exists. Our sages even say that a non-Jew who learns Torah about his seven commandments is like a high priest in the Holy of Holies.

A practical result: a non-Jew should not receive the blessing for learning Torah that says that G-d “chose us from all the nations and gave us His Torah.” A non-Jew cannot say this, because it would not be true. The same is true for Birkat Hamazon, which thanks G-d for the land of Israel, the Torah and circumcision.

Second answer: human reason is not enough

It is not enough for a person to keep the commandments because his own healthy mind says so. A mind can fool itself.

The Jewish soul, received at Sinai, has a “pull toward spiritual refinement,” because the G-dly soul creates bittul (self-nullification). (This is the language of the Previous Rebbe, as the Rebbe often repeats.) A non-Jew does not have this by nature. His mind can lean toward self-feeling and coarseness.13

But a non-Jew can acquire it. When he learns Godly wisdom together with a Jew, he gets a connection to G-d and can refine his mind and his feelings.

So today, a non-Jew can go even beyond Avraham in his keeping of the commandments. Avraham had only the “aroma.” The giving of the Torah opened a channel, and learning with a Jew gives a non-Jew access to it.

What can we learn from before Sinai?

Now we can answer our question. Of course we can learn behaviors from the forefathers: kindness from Avraham, righteousness from Yitzchak, truth from Yaakov. Their actions were not meant as a lesson for future generations. They acted for themselves.14

But we cannot learn laws from them. Here is why:

The one exception is the seven laws that G-d told Noach and what comes from them.

An example: hosting guests

Avraham welcomed guests in the desert. He gave them food and drink and spoke to them about one G-d. When they thanked him, he said: “Do not thank me, thank G-d.” Under his pressure, the guests would finally say: “Fine, thank G-d.”

Does a Ben Noach today have a commandment to host guests? There is an opinion that says yes.16 But even then, the reason is not that Avraham did it. It is that G-d commanded kindness at Sinai. Avraham’s behavior is a beautiful example, not a source of law.

Conclusions

Shiur from Rabbi Tuvia Serber

Sources:

  1. Talmud Yoma 28b. ↩
  2. Bereshit (Genesis) 26:5. ↩
  3. Talmud Eruvin 100b. ↩
  4. Iyov (Job) 35:11. ↩
  5. Shir HaShirim (Song of Songs) 1:3. ↩
  6. Midrash Shemot Rabbah 12:3. ↩
  7. Talmud Shabbat 135b 
  8. Ramban and Ritva 
  9. Chavakuk (Habakkuk) 3:6. Talmud Bava Kamma 38a. ↩
  10. Rambam, Mishneh Torah, Laws of Kings 8:11. ↩
  11. Likkutei Sichot, vol. 26, p. 133 ff. ↩
  12. Likkutei Sichot, vol. 20, p. 140. ↩
  13. Likkutei Sichot, vol. 15, p. 61. ↩
  14. Torat Nevi’im, ch. 11 
  15. Moreh Nevuchim 1:63 and 2:39. 



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