On today’s daf, the Talmud lists the seven Noahide laws which non-Jews are expected to observe.
The sages taught: The descendants of Noah (i.e., all of humanity) were commanded to observe seven mitzvot: to establish courts of law; and the prohibitions against “blessing” (i.e., cursing the name of God), idol worship; forbidden sexual relations; bloodshed; robbery; and eating a limb from a living animal.
The rabbis explain this list of commandments by parsing the biblical text. Following the exit of Noah’s family from the Ark, God tells Noah: “I now establish My covenant with you and your offspring to come.” (Genesis 9:9) The rabbis derive that the word “covenant” is used here to convey that all humanity — not only Jews — have a relationship with God that requires certain behaviors and prohibits others.
The Talmud then looks at how these seven specific laws were mandated as part of the covenant of the children of Noah, beginning with Adam and Eve.
From where are these matters derived? Rabbi Yohanan says: It is from that which the verse states: “And the Lord God commanded the man, saying: Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat …” (Genesis 2:16–17).
With regard to the term “and … commanded,” these are the courts of judgment. And so it states in another verse: “For I have known him, to the end that he may command his children and his household after him, that they may keep the way of the Lord, to do righteousness and justice” (Genesis 18:19).
The Talmud utilizes two biblical verses as prooftexts that God intended all humans to have courts of law: Genesis 2:16-17, in which God instructs Adam and Eve to stay away from the Tree of Knowledge, and Genesis 18:19, in which God decides to tell Abraham of God’s plans to destroy the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. Because the word “commandment” is used in both, the rabbis use the hermeneutical principle of gezeira shava to prove that courts of law are incumbent upon non-Jews and Jews alike.
This analysis continues on tomorrow’s daf, with the Talmud using biblical verses to prove that the six other Noahide commandments – prohibitions against blasphemy, idol worship, forbidden sexual relations, murder, theft and eating a limb from a live animal — are those that every human, Jewish or not, must observe in order to create a functioning society.
How do these laws differ from the much larger number of commandments incumbent upon Jews? For one thing, we don’t find in this list any ritual commandments that set Jews apart from non-Jews in their special relationship with God, such as the laws of kashrut and observance of Shabbat and holidays. By contrast, the seven Noahide laws are meant to create a harmonious relationship between people, setting a moral baseline that all must observe in order for a society not to fall into dysfunction and chaos.
In his essay, Jeffrey Spitzer notes: “The Noahide laws separated humanity after the flood from the lawless violence which brought God to the point of destroying the world. The Noahide laws stand as a testament to the Jewish belief in the need for the rule of law to protect all peoples.”
It’s significant that non-Jews living in a Jewish society are not only bound by a set of laws, but protected by them as well — a wider principle seen throughout the Torah. The six negative commandments all set the rules for people to live in community without infringing on each other’s rights. This includes the last one, the prohibition against eating a limb torn from a living animal, which extends those rules even to non-humans, acknowledging that all of God’s creatures deserve ethical treatment. And with the commandment to set up courts of judgment for all, the Talmud cements the rule of law as society’s governing principle for every inhabitant — the very opposite of chaos.
Read all of Sanhedrin 56 on Sefaria.
This piece originally appeared in a My Jewish Learning Daf Yomi email newsletter sent on February 11, 2025. If you are interested in receiving the newsletter, sign up here.
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