Approaching study of Written and Oral Torah

[Director Michael]

So,
Written Torah: All OK.
Oral Torah: Mishnah in.................Gemara out!
Kabbalah: Best left alone!

Avoid deep, all absorbing, probing, argumentative study of ANY text and if in doubt about the application or meaning.......... ask a learned, orthodox Jew.

Gotcha!

(1) "Mishnah in" - with some restrictions. The advice is that: (a) later books of straightforward codifications of Torah precepts (such as Mishneh Torah and Shulchan Aruch) are more recommended and more useful for Noahides than the original Mishnah text itself, and (b) the majority of Torah precepts discussed in the Mishnah (and Mishneh Torah and Shulchan Aruch) only apply to Jews, who have many more commandments.

In The Divine Code, 4th Edition, Part I, topic 5:2 and the footnotes there , Rabbi Moshe Weiner clarified the restriction for Gentiles in study of sources that are on the level of Mishnah (including the Mishnah itself):

It appears that the permission or prohibition to learn Torah in one way or another follows the general rule that was explained in Chapter 3...: for any Torah commandment that has a [logical] reason and benefit for a Gentile to perform, it is permitted for him to do (and also to learn the details of its performance), but if it is a purely spiritual Jewish precept, it is prohibited for Gentiles to do. Likewise, in regard to learning Torah, one who learns to obtain a [practical] benefit, like knowing the logical societal laws as given in Torah, is permitted to learn parts of Oral Torah that are connected to this – on the level of the Mishnah's Order of Damages (Nezikin), and the section Choshen Mishpat in the Code of Jewish Law (Shulchan Aruch) which deals with laws of finance, financial responsibilities, personal and financial damages, and rules for a Jewish court (Beit Din). Since he is learning this for his own benefit [in reality], and he is certainly not learning Torah "for its own sake" (lishmah in Hebrew), therefore this is not called "delving into Torah," and it is permitted.

Therefore, anyone who wants to learn specific parts of Torah in order to perform the logical commandments, such as honoring parents, returning lost objects, and giving charity, is not forbidden to do so, because he wants to [and is permitted to] perform these as righteous and upright actions, and not as spiritual statutes.

But [for the purely spiritual Jewish precepts], this should be limited to study of the Written Torah, and not the Oral Torah (Mishnah, etc.) (This is why Moses wrote the Five Books of Moses in the 70 languages, to inform Gentiles about the Torah, so that they would know the special distinctions of the Jews and the Torah they received from G-d...)

(2) "Gemara out" - with the exception that there are some parts of Gemara ([the general name for] Talmud and in-depth Torah-law commentaries) that apply to observance of the Noahide Code. Those parts may be learned by Noahides, but they are advanced Rabbinical texts. Guidance is very important, and [for the most part] this is *not* the proper source to go to for learning how to observe the Noahide precepts on a practical basis.

(3) "Kabbalah: best left alone" - with the exception that Kabbalah is like Gemara, in that there are some parts that relate to Noahides because they teach about G-d and His Unity. Again, the original sources (even in translation) are advanced texts, and must be learned from a qualified Jewish scholar of Kabbalah. But there are later Rabbinical works [in particular, Chassidus] that explain the inner teachings of G-d's Unity in a logical and non-mystical way, which can be read and understood by faithful Noahides.

Since non-Jews are commanded by G-d and responsible before G-d for observance of their Noahide Code, they have an obligation to learn these precepts on a practical basis, to guard themselves from making sins or mistakes, and to live a life that is pleasing to G-d. That includes teaching this information to their children and sharing it with others. This obligatory learning is much more important for Noahides than learning any other parts of Torah that are only learned just for one's interest.

For this primary need, Ask Noah International has sponsored and published the book The Divine Code, which gives English-literate non-Jews the practical guide to observing G-d's Will, as revealed from Mount Sinai in the Torah of Moses: https://asknoah.org/books/the-divine-code