Ger toshav
Encyclopedia
- "Righteous gentiles" redirects here. See Righteous among the NationsRighteous Among the NationsRighteous among the Nations of the world's nations"), also translated as Righteous Gentiles is an honorific used by the State of Israel to describe non-Jews who risked their lives during the Holocaust to save Jews from extermination by the Nazis....
for the honorary title awarded by Israel in connection with the Holocaust.
Ger toshav ( ger "foreigner" + toshav "resident"), is a term used in Judaism
Judaism
Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...
to refer to a gentile
Gentile
The term Gentile refers to non-Israelite peoples or nations in English translations of the Bible....
who is a "resident alien", that is, one who lives in a Jewish state and has certain protections under Jewish law, and is considered a righteous gentile ( hassid umot ha-olam "righteous among the nations").
Definition
A ger toshav is a Gentile who accepts the authority of the Torah and the Rabbis upon himself, but specifically as applied to Gentiles. There are two kinds of ger toshav: a formal and an informal ger toshav. A formal ger toshav is a Gentile who has made certain legal statements in a beth dinBeth din
A beth din, bet din, beit din or beis din is a rabbinical court of Judaism. In ancient times, it was the building block of the legal system in the Biblical Land of Israel...
(Jewish rabbinical court). There are three opinions (Avodah Zarah
Avodah Zarah
Avodah Zarah is the name of a tractate in the Talmud, located in Nezikin, the fourth Order of the Talmud dealing with damages...
64b) as to what those statements promise:
- To abstain from idolatrousIdolatryIdolatry is a pejorative term for the worship of an idol, a physical object such as a cult image, as a god, or practices believed to verge on worship, such as giving undue honour and regard to created forms other than God. In all the Abrahamic religions idolatry is strongly forbidden, although...
practices (detailed in ). - To uphold the seven Noahide LawsNoahide LawsThe Seven Laws of Noah form the major part of the Noachide Laws, or Noahide Code. This code is a set of moral imperatives that, according to the Talmud, were given by God as a binding set of laws for the "children of Noah" – that is, all of humankind...
. - To uphold all the 613 commandments613 mitzvotThe 613 commandments is a numbering of the statements and principles of law, ethics, and spiritual practice contained in the Torah or Five Books of Moses...
in rabbinical enumeration, except for the prohibition against eating kosher animals that died by means other than ritual slaughter, or possibly (Meiri) any prohibition not involving karethKarethIn Judaism, Kareth is a divine punishment for transgressing Jewish law.It is the punishment for serious crimes that were not brought to justice by a human court...
.
The accepted legal definition is the second. Such a ger toshav receives certain legal protections from the community, the rules regarding Jewish-Gentile relations are modified, and there is a Biblical obligation to render him aid when in need. The restrictions on having a Gentile do work for a Jew on the Sabbath are also stricter when the Gentile is a ger toshav.
The second kind of ger toshav is an informal one, namely someone who accepts the Noahide Law on his own, or alternatively, simply rejects idolatry. (The latter issue is in particular brought up regarding Moslems.) There is discussion among the halakhic authorities as to which of the rules regarding a ger toshav would apply to the informal case.
The procedure has been discontinued since the cessation of the Year of Jubilee
Jubilee (Biblical)
The Jubilee year is the year at the end of seven cycles of Sabbatical years , and according to Biblical regulations had a special impact on the ownership and management of land in the territory of the kingdoms of Israel and of Judah; there is some debate whether it was the 49th year The Jubilee...
, and hence, there are no formal gerei toshav (plural) extant today (although it can be argued that a great deal are "informal" ones).
Modern times and views
Judaism encourages non-Jews to adhere to the Noahide Laws.Some groups, notably Chabad Lubavitch, have set up classes and networks for Gentiles who commit themselves to this legal system (see Noahide Campaign
Noahide Campaign
The Noahide Campaign refers to a campaign by Orthodox Jews of the Chabad movement to influence all non-Jews to follow the Noahide Laws. This was one of the Mitzvah campaigns of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, leader of Chabad....
). The Lubavitcher Rebbe himself encouraged his followers on many occasions to teach the Seven Laws of Noah, devoting some of his addresses to the subtleties of this code.
Others, largely among stricter students of the Maimonides
Maimonides
Moses ben-Maimon, called Maimonides and also known as Mūsā ibn Maymūn in Arabic, or Rambam , was a preeminent medieval Jewish philosopher and one of the greatest Torah scholars and physicians of the Middle Ages...
, sometimes inaccurately referred to as Dor Daim
Dor Daim
The Dardaim or Dor daim , are adherents of the Dor Deah movement in Judaism. That movement was founded in 19th century Yemen by Rabbi Yiḥyah Qafiḥ, and had its own network of synagogues and schools.Its objects were:...
, have devoted a number of websites to issues of importance relating to the Noahide Laws
Noahide Laws
The Seven Laws of Noah form the major part of the Noachide Laws, or Noahide Code. This code is a set of moral imperatives that, according to the Talmud, were given by God as a binding set of laws for the "children of Noah" – that is, all of humankind...
.
In 2008, a new code of law, written by Rabbi Moshe Weiner specifically for Noahides, was published under the auspices of Ask Noah International. The book's stated intention is to serve as the first ever "Shulchan Aruch
Shulchan Aruch
The Shulchan Aruch also known as the Code of Jewish Law, is the most authoritative legal code of Judaism. It was authored in Safed, Israel, by Yosef Karo in 1563 and published in Venice two years later...
for all the laws of the Children of Noah," and is entitled Sefer Sheva Mitzvot Hashem. To grant it authority, it bears letters of endorsement from Rabbi Zalman Nechemia Goldberg
Zalman Nechemia Goldberg
Rabbi Zalman Nechemia Goldberg is a rabbi, posek, and Rosh Yeshiva in Israel. The scion of a Lithuanian Jewish family, Rabbi Goldberg is also a son-in-law of Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Auerbach....
of the Supreme Rabbinical Court of Israel, both the Chief Rabbis of Israel, and letters of blessing and approbation from various other notable rabbis around the world. In the code itself, it states that "... at this time, while we do not accept geirim toshvim for the sake of (granting) the privileges (of the ger toshav) [for example, to live in the Land of Israel], nevertheless, if he comes before a rabbinical court of three of his own free will to accept upon himself to be a ger toshav and one of the Pious Among the Nations, for the sake of accepting his mitzvot, we accept him." Later however, it notes that one of the ""Pious Among the Nations" (chasid umot ha'olam) is not necessarily also a ger toshav, and it is possible to be a chasid umot ha'olam despite not being a ger toshav." In fact, it lists four levels among the Gentiles:
- Completely separated from G‑d's Will
- Upholding the Seven Mitzvot of the Children of Noah, i.e. chasid umot ha'olam
- Ger toshav
- Having himself circumcised
A gentile is thus obligated to accept the Seven Mitzvot (level 2), but is not required to appear before a rabbinical court to become a ger toshav (level 3); that is a personal choice.
According to Kellner (1991) on Maimonides
Maimonides
Moses ben-Maimon, called Maimonides and also known as Mūsā ibn Maymūn in Arabic, or Rambam , was a preeminent medieval Jewish philosopher and one of the greatest Torah scholars and physicians of the Middle Ages...
, a ger toshav (or Noahide) could be a transitional stage on the way to becoming a ger zedek or "righteous alien", a convert to Judaism. However, only a full ger zedek would be found at the time of the Messiah.