WHAT CHANGES WHEN A BEN NOACH ACCEPTS THE SEVEN MITZVOT?

בס”ד

This is the second post in the series on Noahide identity. Last time we saw that a non-Jew already is a Ben Noah from birth. It is not a status you get through a ceremony.

Abraham and Nimrod were both Ben Noah. So were Joseph and Potiphar’s wife. But we do not see them as spiritually equal. What was the difference? Abraham and Joseph cared about what G-d wanted. When Joseph was tempted, he asked: “How could I do this great evil and sin against G-d?” (Genesis 39:9).[1] He saw that the act was evil in itself, and that it was a sin against G-d.

So what changes when a Ben Noah starts to keep the seven mitzvot on purpose? To answer this, we look at two passages from the Rambam (Maimonides).

Two honest men

Imagine two honest businessmen. Neither steals or cheats. One says: “Theft is wrong. Society cannot work without honesty.” The other says: “I agree, and G-d has also commanded me not to steal.” They do exactly the same thing. So why would the Torah see them differently?

First passage: character

In chapter 6 of the Shemoneh Perakim, the Rambam asks: who is better, the person who wants to steal but holds himself back, or the person who does not even want to steal?[2] The philosophers say the second. The Rambam brings a verse: “The soul of the wicked desires evil” (Proverbs 21:10).[3]

But our Sages seem to say the opposite. “The greater a person is, the greater his evil inclination” (Sukkah 52a),[4] and “According to the difficulty is the reward” (Pirkei Avot 5:23).[5] A person should not say, “I have no desire for milk and meat together.” He should say, “I would like to, but my Father in heaven has decreed otherwise.”

The Rambam’s answer is that these are two kinds of prohibitions:

Things that everyone can see are wrong, such as murder, theft, and fraud. Here the philosophers are right. A person who longs for these things has a flaw in his character.
Divine statutes above human reason, such as milk and meat or shaatnez (wool and linen). Here the person’s virtue is that he obeys even though he feels the desire.

These laws are only for Jews. A Ben Noah does not need to take them on. Obeying G-d means keeping what He actually commanded you.

The seven mitzvot are mostly of the first kind. They are about human life, property, justice, and recognizing the Creator. People can see much of this by reason, and this was true long before Sinai. Cain was held accountable for murder. The generation of the Flood was held accountable. Abraham asked, “Shall the Judge of all the earth not do justice?” (Genesis 18:25).[6]

Even in the 17th century, the jurists Hugo Grotius and John Selden turned to these Jewish sources when they looked for a law that binds all humanity.[7]

Second passage: authority

In the Laws of Kings 8:11, the Rambam writes that anyone who accepts the seven commandments and is careful to keep them is among the “pious of the nations” and has a portion in the World to Come.[8] But there is a condition: he must keep them because G-d commanded them in the Torah, which He gave through Moses. If he keeps them only because his reason tells him to, he does not earn this title.

Notice what the Rambam does not say. He does not say the person becomes Jewish. He does not say he joins a new group. It is a religious achievement within his existing place among the nations.

Putting them together

These two passages are not in conflict. They answer two different questions:

The Shemoneh Perakim asks: what kind of person are you? This is about character.
The Laws of Kings asks: on whose authority do you act? This is about serving G-d.

Sinai did not make murder wrong for the first time. But the Torah tells us that these old duties are G-d’s commands. This changes the relationship behind the same good deed. The second businessman does not steal because he faces G-d, not only his own judgment. That matters, because we are very good at making exceptions for ourselves. The question becomes: What does G-d require of me? and not only What can I convince myself is acceptable?

Growing without adding more

Real growth does not mean adding more practices or a bigger religious identity. It means being changed more deeply by the commandments you already have. “Do not steal” does not only mean no shoplifting. It also means paying debts on time, keeping promises, not misleading customers, and not wasting your employer’s time. “Justice” is not only about courts. It is also about how we treat people who have less power. This is how a person becomes a better servant of G-d, by becoming a better person.

What changes, and what does not

When a Ben Noah accepts the seven mitzvot, his awareness, his responsibility, and his conduct change. He sees the Torah as the authority behind these duties. But he does not become Jewish, and he does not become part of a new people. He also does not automatically get the status of ger toshav (“resident alien”). That is a separate legal category, and we will look at it next time.

Righteousness is not inherited

A Kohen is a Kohen because of his family. But the Midrash says that even a non-Jew can become righteous, because righteousness is not inherited.[9] The Sifra on Leviticus 18:5 teaches that the verse speaks of ha’adam, “the human being.” A non-Jew who fulfills the Torah that applies to him is compared to the High Priest.[10]This does not mean he gets the legal status of a High Priest. It means he can reach great spiritual stature. Sanhedrin 59a limits his Torah study to the seven laws.[11]

These sources do not describe a ladder of becoming more Jewish. They describe becoming more righteous. And a label can never replace that. A person can call himself a Ben Noah and still be dishonest. Another person can live quietly, keep his duties to G-d, and treat people with dignity.

In short

The goal of accepting the seven mitzvot is not to become a different kind of human being. It is to become a better human being, and to do it in conscious service of G-d. That is the work of a lifetime.

This is a summary of the class. I recommend watching the whole class.

By Rabbi Tani Burton

Footnotes

1. Genesis 39:9.
2. Rambam, Shemoneh Perakim, chapter 6.
3. Proverbs 21:10.
4. almud Bavli, Sukkah 52a.
5. Pirkei Avot 5:23.
6. Genesis 18:25.
7. Hugo Grotius, De Jure Belli ac Pacis (1625); John Selden, De Jure Naturali et Gentium juxta Disciplinam Ebraeorum (1640).
8. Rambam, Mishneh Torah, Laws of Kings 8:11.
9. The Midrash on Psalms 146:8 (“G-d loves the righteous”). The spreker noemt de naam van de Midrash niet duidelijk, dus controleer deze bron even.
10. Sifra on Leviticus 18:5; Isaiah 26:2; Psalms 118:20.
11. Talmud Bavli, Sanhedrin 59a.

More shiurim of Rabbi Tani Burton

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