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October 19, 2001/Cheshvan 2, 5762, Vol. 54, No. 6
Noahide laws help perfect the world
Torah Study
RABBI SHLOMO RISKIN
Noah/Genesis 6:9-11:32
The climax to the biblical story of the divine rescue of Noah and his family from the flood is the covenant between God and Noah: Humanity must refrain from consuming the limbs of living animals and must avoid the shedding of human blood. Then God will guarantee that never again will a flood be sent to destroy the world.
I believe that a proper understanding of the festival season which we have just celebrated - especially in the light of the cosmic drama which is quickly engulfing the world - will give urgency to the biblical text as well as explain why Israel is occupying center stage.
The seventh month of Tishrei opens with Rosh Hashana; it is described by the Bible as the "day of the sounding of the teruah" - the short, staccato sounds of the ram's horn which are reminiscent of sighing and sobbing.
What have such cries to do with Rosh Hashana? The prophet Isaiah teaches that God created an imperfect, incomplete world. The assumed purpose in doing so was to make us partners in remaking the world in the image of the God of love, justice and compassion.
The liturgy of Rosh Hashana emphasizes the fact that eventually God will suffuse our entire planet, that the various nations and individuals of the world are each respectively expected to do their part in perfecting the world, with Israel's task being to teach ethical monotheism. The prescription for proper human moral conduct is expressed in the Torah's 613 commandments for Israel and the seven Noahide commandments for all of humanity.
Since those who must lead others on the road to greater perfection must first endeavor to perfect themselves, Rosh Hashana ushers in the ten days of reflection and repentance, culminating in Yom Kippur; it is a period when Jews turn inward.
We turn inwards so that we are sufficiently imbued and inspired to reach outwards. So only four days after Yom Kippur comes the festival of Sukkot, wherein we sanctify all of life including the fruits and vegetables, we live in booths roofed by that which grows from the ground and sufficiently exposed so that we can look up at the stars of the sky.
Fascinatingly enough, there is a special event associated with Sukkot which is biblically ordained known as Hakhel (The Gathering): "It is a positive commandment to gather all of Israel, men, women, and children, at the conclusion of the Sabbatical Year. ... Everyone should listen with fear and joy amidst trembling, as on the day in which the Torah was given at Sinai ... and should see himself as if he were now being commanded and were hearing the words from the mouth of God." (Maimonides, Laws of Hagiga)
Maimonides understands Hakhel as a reacceptance of the covenant at Sinai. Apparently, however, it is linked to Sukkot, because it involves not only Jews but the Gentile world as well.
Our prophetic vision never insists that everyone become Jewish; but it does insist that everyone accept the Noahide laws of morality. On Rosh Hashana we sound not only the teruah of sigh-sobs, but also the tekiyah of joyous victory.
God guarantees that we will not only survive but we will prevail - as long as we understand how high are the stakes and that whoever is silent in the face of terror becomes an accomplice to terror. May God grant courage to the nations which revere life and freedom, and then God will grant Israel and the entire world true peace.
Rabbi Shlomo Riskin is the spiritual leader of Efrat, Israel.
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