I would go so far as to suggest that if Noahides want to light candles in honor of the Jewish Sabbath or Holy Days, they can do so but in context of adding festivity to the day (since it is a custom of the world in general to light candles for festive occasions), and to do so when sitting down to have a special meal (thus after sunset - unless it is summer and they have their meal much earlier, or alternatively, have then a special "festive snack" after sunset - if they ate before - to mark the seventh day which begins after sunset).

This post was last modified: 07-27-2010 08:56 PM by Director Michael.

Concerning mitzvot that are not to be kept by an observant Noahide or Noahide chassid. . . Three of the mitzvot concern the seventh day Sabbath: 1.) rest. 2.) to not leave your house. 3.) to keep it holy. Can we Noachides choose to not leave our house on Shabbat? Are we able to keep shabbat holy?

Also concerning the Sabbatical year: although Jews are not obligated to forgive our debts in the Sabbatical year, can we Noahides choose to forgive our debtors in the Sabbatical year? and also refrain from agriculture if we live in Israel?

This post was last modified: 03-03-2010 04:55 AM by Director Michael.

It is very important to understand that the Torah uses technical Hebrew terms that do not necessarily have a simple correspondence in English. The "rest" which a Jew is commanded for the 7th day is to deliberately refrain from 39 specific creative activities that were required for the construction of the Tabernacle and its vessels, and some specific offshoots of these activities. Most of these don't involve any significant physical exertion. Many types of significant physical exertion are not included in this list, and are therefore allowed for a Jew to do on the 7th day. See http://www.asknoah.org/HTML/seventh_day.html
A Noahide is certainly allowed to take a physical rest and relaxation time, as long as he's not neglecting some job responsibility that he is under hire or moral responsibility to perform. But physical resting doesn't require refraining from switching on an electric light, writing a few words, having some small object in one's pocket when walking outside, running hot water for a bath or shower, etc.

You are not correctly understanding the Torah. The commandment to a Jew of "not leaving one's place" means not travelling (by foot) more than 2000 cubits beyond the boundary of the city, unless a special preparation for this is made before the start of the Sabbath.

No. A Jew keeps the Sabbath "holy" (literally, separated from the weekdays) by refraining from the 39 specific creative activities that were required for the construction of the Tabernacle and its vessels, and some specific offshoots of these activities.

Your question is very confusing. If one Jew loans money to another Jew, the start of the Sabbatical year automatically cancels the loan (the lending Jew is not allowed to collect the balance of the loan from the Jew who borrowed from him), unless the lender makes a special provision with a Beis Din (Jewish court) before the year starts. This does not apply to loans between Jews and Gentiles or between Gentiles, regardless of which is the lender and which is the borrower. As an act of charity a Gentile can cancel a loan that is owed to him, at any time.

A Gentile can refrain from agriculture whenever he wants, as long as he is not under hire to do the work.

This post was last modified: 08-13-2007 03:21 AM by Director Michael.

I am a Christian who just learned about these Noahide commandments. May I ask why the seventh day sabbath is not taught in any of these 7 laws? Is the Sabbath a creation ordinance?
Was it meant for all mankind to observe?

This post was last modified: 04-28-2009 04:58 AM by Director Michael.

BS"D

Dear Mr. Owen,

Thanks very much for your question. The observance of a Sabbath day, by setting it aside as an established time to refrain from specific weekday activities, in the manner that it is described in the Torah, was exclusively commanded upon Jews (as is clear from the authentic text of the Book of Exodus). The first time that the observance of the seventh-day Sabbath was commanded by G-d was when He commanded it to the Israelites after the Exodus, as they were travelling from Egypt to Mount Sinai. To train the Israelites in its observance, G-d gave it to them first in the context of commanding them about how to deal with the mannah, which fell from Heaven for them in a double portion on Friday, and none fell on the Seventh Day. G-d subsequently commanded it exclusively to them at Mount Sinai, as part of the 613 Jewish commandments. This topic is explained in more detail in our web page

http://www.asknoah.org/HTML/seventh_day.html

All mankind are commanded to eternally observe the Seven Noahide Commandments. Six of these were commanded to Adam, and the seventh (the prohibition of eating meat that was severed from a living animal) was commanded to Noah when he left the ark. When G-d gave the Torah and its 613 Jewish Commandments to the Israelites in the wilderness of Sinai, He also included the Seven Noahide Commandments within the Torah, as the part that must be observed by the rest of mankind.

This post was last modified: 04-28-2009 04:58 AM by Director Michael.

Hi -

My question concerns resting on the Sabbath. I do rest on the Sabbath; I do restrict my six year old son from watching TV or playing computer games. I also do not cook. My son and I have a big Friday night meal that we both look forward to all week. We have been doing this for probably two or three years now.

I do not specifically try to avoid doing any of the activities that are prohibited to jews. I know that there are specific things that jews do on the Sabbath, we don't do any of these.

This resting really helps me. I am a single mom who works a 40 hour week, and I am tired at the end of the week. If I rest all Friday night and Saturday, it really helps me to get through the next week. It refreshes me. My young son, after spending all Friday night and Saturday with no TV or computer allowed, always remembers his toys and crayons and spends all day happily playing with regular good old kid's toys. I think this is a really good thing.

However, I don't want to either intentionally or unintentionally infringe on things which are the special prerogative and obligation of the Jewish people, who have worked for thousands of years at fulfilling those obligations. I believe that being an observant jew is a life-encompassing endeavor, and one worthy of immense respect.

Is what I am doing okay? Should I make a point of performing some kind of action that in effect says, 'Hey, I am not a jew and I am not pretending to be one.'?

Please let me know. I would love to keep doing what I am doing on Saturdays, but if there is something I need to change, please tell me and give me some sort of guidelines for what I can do and what I should stay away from.

Thanks very much for taking your time to answer questions here.

Lisa

Sh'lom Lisa and thanks for your questions:

Simply physically resting on the 7th day of the week, to recuperate from the 40-hour, Monday-to-Friday work week that your employer set up, and to refresh yourself for the work week ahead, is OK. But you should consider it as a convenient day to rest up, instead of as a "Sabbath," which means the Divinely commanded weekly day of holiness for the Jewish people.

That makes plain good sense for any day of the week. (There are some of us who think that parents should ban TV sets from their households all together :-). You should not tell your son that he has to stop watching TV or stop playing computer games "because it's the Sabbath." You could tell him that from now on, time on the TV and computer games is only available at all as a reward on weekday evenings, in return for doing his weekday homework and weekday household chores, just like his evening dessert is his reward for his eating his dinner.

You should not refrain from cooking altogether. If you want to skip cooking full meals because you're resting up, that's OK.

That's OK. See Post #5 above in this thread, from Rabbi Immanuel Schochet, and our web page http://www.asknoah.org/HTML/seventh_day.html

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Just doing one deliberate bit of a "work" action, and then restricting yourself from other specific activities because it's the day of the Jewish Sabbath, does not get around the prohibition that non-Jews should not establish specific Sabbath-like restrictions for themselves. But resting and refreshening from and for work, and making a block of quality time for yourself and your family, is practical and logical, and not a problem.

You're welcome!

This post was last modified: 04-28-2009 12:22 PM by Director Michael.

Would there be anything wrong with any gentile watching or listening to any Jewish music or watching lectures tapes from rabbis or the like on the Sabbath or Yom Tov?

Watching (performances?) or listening to any Jewish music - this is OK for Gentiles, on any day. (Of course, in regard to live performances, Jews should not play instruments, or use electrical equipment such as microphones, on the Jewish Sabbath or the Jewish Holy Days).

Watching (or listening to) lecture tapes from rabbis or the like - this is OK for observant Noahides, on any day, if the lecture material is acceptable (i.e., if it is a Torah-based lecture that does not relate to subjects within the Noahide Code, it should not be too in-depth).

This post was last modified: 12-20-2009 08:57 PM by Director Michael.

Dear friends,

I have, and I am reading "The Divine Code," so I know the opinion is that non-Jews should NOT keep the Sabbath as Jews are commanded to. On a group, some of the members are pressing non-Jews to keep the Sabbath, assuring me that this is Biblical, and one cited Isaiah 56:1-8.
I have told them we (non-Jews) do MARK the day, but do NOT "Keep" it.
What can you tell me?
Perhaps this is the crux of the issue, but the person who posted the above began by undermining the rabbis. _I_ understand Deut. 17:8-13 has G-d designating the sages and rabbis of Israel as His experts on Torah, but the person who wrote the above is new to the group, and I do not yet know if they are aware of the passage or not.

This post was last modified: 03-05-2010 06:28 PM by Director Michael.