#noahide

Ten hut, mazel tough! 🫡

Lilith is closed.

The Kabbalah is not an occult-y thing you can just use, It is closed to Judaism, always has been, always will be.

The Jewish G-d is not just every other abrahamic deity, they are not the same.

Abrahamic religions are not evil, stop generalizing, if you had a bad experience with Christianity or Judaism or Islam, that is not the whole religion, do not put others down because of it.

In theory, a non-jew is held responsible fully for not keeping the obligations set out for them in the 7 Noahide Laws, regardless of whether or not they’ve had a chance to learn about them. This is outlined in many places in the Talmud, as well as in midrash, such as the section regarding the stones placed by the Jordan River by the Jewish people in their passage, on which the torah was written in 70 languages so that the non-jews could come and learn for themselves, and seek out the correct action. The midrash then comments that the Goyim will come before Hashem when Moshiach comes to judge them, and complain that they weren’t told the proper course of action, and that the answer to them is that the Torah was made public to them, and the responsibility of “not knowing” ultimately falls on them. This theoretical, higher expectation for responsibility comes in stark contrast to the responsibility placed on a Jew who does not know about the 613 commandments we have been charged with, as a Jew who does not know about the 613 is not held responsible. There may be a variety of reasons behind this, I’ll leave that issue for another day.

The practicality of the matter is quite different. The Rambam in Hilchos Malachim (The Laws Concerning Kings) discusses that in order for a non-jew to be considered among the Chasidei Umos Haolam, they must not only keep the 7 laws according to their proper details, but that they must do so because they were (re)received by Moshe at Mount Sinai in order to teach to the nations. Keeping them because they are logical, or because they are forced to keep them by their government (an unusual possibility indeed, as I don’t believe there is any government on Earth who enforces all of the 7 equally and without exception) does not qualify them as “Chasidei Umos Haolam”, and they will still be considered among idolaters in halachos which govern the way we interact with them.

There are other poskim which argue on the Rambam concerning the importance of intent to the classification of non-Jews in their observance of the 7 Laws, all agree that theoretically a non-Jew must keep all the laws, including all of their details (which are far more than 7), in order to be classified as “Righteous Among the Nations”. Ergo, someone who does follow the 7 commandments in all of their details, while they are classified as a noahide (insofar as the technicality of not being responsible for the violation of those commandments), they aren’t classified as “righteous among the nations”.

Nevertheless, many poskim (such as the Chazon Ish in Yoreh Deah) suggest by implication that there may not be a difference - in terms of Hashem’s mercies - between a Jew who was raised with the knowledge of a goy (no knowledge of halacha or torah), and a non-jew who lives in a situation where there is no accessibility or knowledge base for accessing the Torah, conceptually or practically. Hashem ultimately holds someone only responsible if they have the ability to learn, or if they have access to someone who can teach. If a non-jew in a corner of the world separates from and nullifies his idolatry and expresses his belief in the one G-d, they may still be considered a noahide, even if they have no access to a learning base to understand that they have an obligation of the 7 noahide laws. In modern times, there is certainly more access and learning opportunities than any other era, with the advent of the internet. However, as we have seen socially and politically, it can sometimes be extremely difficult to sort through information and disinformation on the internet to come to a single, true set of facts, so the existence of the internet may not, in fact, alter the equation in this situation.

(Cont) I realize now that most Christians worship Jesus and pray to him, but I do not and I find this conflicting with both scripture and Jesus's own teachings. I talk directly to G-d entirely apart from Jesus, am only concerned with G-d, and ground my faith in G-ds promises in old scripture and personal promises in prayer with me. I do not worship Jesus but see him more as Mary, the archangels and saints - of high divinity and respect, but not to be confused or conflated with G-d (cont) 

(Cont) for most of my life I have just created my own faith, being unable to fit into any defined religion as I don't feel that I'm a Christian at all. Because of this I have become very independent and biblically "lawless", focusing on what I feel is morally right and ignoring the laws of scripture, traditions or teachings - for this reason I don't feel like I'm a good enough candidate for Judaism conversion either, but am I correct in saying that or is there a potential home for me here? 

Mod here. Respondents should only speak for whether they can identify place in their own community (please identify that community however relevant, e.g. denomination, minhag) for @village-vvitch.

Respondents can of course consider conversion as an option but may want to consider whether there might be a Jewish-adjacent (e.g. Noahide) role or space within or endorsed by their community may be a good fit.