Aaron Lichtenstein

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Rabbi Aaron Lichtenstein, Ph.D., teaches at the City University of New York (CUNY), and has taught at New York University, Yeshiva University, University of Denver, Jews' College (London), and Yeshiva Hechal HaTorah. He is the author of "The Seven Laws of Noah" (Rabbi Jacob Joseph School Press) and also "Noachide Communities Throughout the Ages", was staff editor at the Encyclopedia Judaica, and authored a dozen of its articles on the Marranos of Portugal. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Rabbi Aaron Lichtenstein, following the general consensus of halacha, sees the Seven Laws as Categories. In Rabbi Aaron Lichtenstein's opinion it is possible to look at all seven laws with the view towards establishing the extent to which they, severally, correspond to the Jewish law directed at Jews. His study seeks to resolve the question raised in the correspondence as to the categorization of the Laws of Noah. He sought to prove that the earliest sources on Noahism, and the writers who deal with these sources conscientiously, view the seven categories as subject heads for a mass of legal dicta.

The Seven Laws of Noah

His intention was not to simply define Noahide law in terms of an expanded list of sixty six laws, rather only to prove that the volume of Noahide Law is greater - when compared to the volume of Israelite Law - than a ratio of 7 to 613 would indicate. His book "The Seven Laws of Noah" demonstrates the breadth of Noahic legislation.[1]

His study of Noahism concentrates on those aspects of Jewish law which Jew and Gentile have in common. Rabbi Lichtenstein felt this was necessary in order to effect the comparison which comprised the essence of his study. In due course, however, he came across instances of point-blank dissimilarity in legislation for Noahide and Jew. Some of these dissimilarities were treated in passing.[2] Seen from the present vantage point, a systematic study of the why, where, when, what, and how of these varying legal dicta is the next necessary step toward gaining insight into the substance of Noahism.[3]

Further Study

Rabbi Lichtenstein suggests that further study center of the structure, not substance, of Noahide Law is needed at this time. Firstly, he points out, we are left wondering about the meaning of the "seven" in the Laws of Noah. Was it a matter of chance or was it meant to represent the Seven of Significance and Completion, rooted in the seven days of Genesis? Subsequent biblical literature contains hundreds of examples of this number of significance and completion, found throughout the Torah (e.g., the seven weeks of Shavuoth in Deuteronomy 15:9), the Prophets (e.g., the seven priests with seven horns making seven circuits around Jericho, of Joshua 6:4), and the Writings (e.g., the seven periods of Daniel 9:25). Rabbi Lichtenstein says if further study were to demonstrate that the latter meaningful number was intended, we would want to re-think our perception of Noahism in the light of this concept, since the result could well forge a solid link between Noahism and the pattern of biblical thought.

Further, Near Eastern texts, too, show over a hundred examples of the Seven of Significance and Completion, ranging in probable date of composition from Patriarchal times to the Flood epoch, with over a dozen samples in the Gilgamesh materials alone.[4] On this basis, one may attempt again to project the Laws of Noahl Fagainst a contemporaneous background around the Biblica lood and Mesopotamian Deluge by way of test, the initial such attempt by Philip Biberfeld having been criticized in our introductory chapter. Particular attention might be given to a citation such as the purported Prayer of Enheduanna (daughter of Sargon the Great, c. 2250 BC) which begins: "Queen of all the me (rules) ... who grasps in hand the seven me. " These me rules are understood by Sumerologists as being divine norms, duties, and powers assigned at Creation - a concept basic to the ancient world with a range from the dharma (laws) of the Upanishads to the divine Tablet of Destinies of early Assyria.[5] What historical relationship, if any, might be found between the Seven Laws and these seven rules?

What distinguishes these Law at their very core?

Rabbi Lichtenstein ends his work by noting that he had taken note earlier that the Talmud in Sanhedrin 58b, attests to the singular feature in its codification of Noahide law whereby the statutes are organized around a number of negative imperatives. This peculiarity may well be the distinctive mark setting off the structure of Noahide law from Israelite jurisprudence.[6] He says that a study geared to exploit this distinctive structural arrangement could uncover what it is that distinguishes the Laws of Noah from the Laws of Moses at their very core.

With the essence of Noahism in clearer focus, Rabbi Lichtenstein foresees, it may be possible to pursue further the vision that filled the hearts of Elijah Benamozegh and Aime Palliere for a universal ecumenism, based on the juristic and ethical principles of the Laws of the Sons of Noah.

Publications

  • Lichtenstein, Aharon, "Book of Psalms in Plain English: A Contemporary Reading of Tehillim", Urim Publications, 2006, ISBN 965-7108-86-1
  • Aaron Lichtenstein, "Noahide Laws from Genesis to Genizah", Dor leDor 14 (1985/86)
  • Lichtenstein, Aharon, "Noachide Communities Throughout the Ages (same as above?)
  • A. Lichtenstein, "The Seven Laws of Noah", New York: Rabbi Jacob Joseph School Press, 1981
  • Lichtenstein, Aharon, "Does Jewish Tradition Recognize an Ethic Independent of the Halakha?" in Marvin Fox, editor, Modern Jewish Ethics, Theory and Practice. Ohio State University Press, 1975, pages 62-88.

References

  1. Lichtenstein, Aaron. "The Seven Laws of Noah". New York: The Rabbi Jacob Joseph School Press and Z. Berman Books, 2d ed. 1986
  2. See "Seven Laws of Noah" Notes 43, 56, 66, 80, 81, 85, 134, 135, 136.
  3. A recent, limited example of this approach is Aaron Kirshenbaum's "The Rule 'no man may incriminate himself' in the Noahide Laws," Dine Israel, Annual of Jewish Law and Israeli Family Law. (Z. Falk and A. Kirshenbaum editors), Tel Aviv University, Volume 2 pages 71-82
  4. James Pritchard, Ancient Near Eastern Texts. 2nd edition (1955) pages 48-49: the seven heroes sons of one mother, finished off the seventh, crossing the seventh mountain. Pages 72-92: six days and seven nights Enkidu came, seven pits and seven, seven years of barren husks, the forsaken wife though a mother of seven, seventh day he set free a dove, the seventh day he awoke, the seven Wise Ones laid Uruk's foundation.
  5. Pritchard, op. cit., 3rd edition (1969) pages 579-582, 514-517, 112-113. Perhaps also "the seven ordinances" (me) of the so called Manna's Descent to the Nether World, pages 53-57 (second edition). On dhar"M see Note 12 above.
  6. See previous note and the related paragraphs of the text, above.