The Soul of the 7 Commandments

The Soul of the 7 Commandments

Each of the seven Noahide laws possesses an inner dimension. These are the seven principles of faith and Divine service to which we shall now turn our attention.

To begin with, we must take note of a general tenet. The tikun, or "rectification," of the world is dependent upon how the non-Jew relates to the Jew. A non-Jew cannot be a righteous gentile if in his heart he feels no affinity for God's People, multitudes of good deeds and fine character traits notwithstanding. If a non-Jew hates Jews to the extent that he is sworn to destroy them, the Torah considers him part of the nation of Amalek, the archenemy of Israel, whom the Jewish People are commanded to annihilate.

When a person possesses a sense of affinity towards Jews, he merits inspiration from the source of the soul of Israel. He becomes motivated to be a good person in all relations with his fellow man, and to devote his life to the service of God. The rectification of the non-Jewish world in general depends upon the inspiration and insight it receives from the Jewish People in its role as "a nation of priests."

One can always extract a "spark" of good from evil. For example, the major non-Jewish religion of Western culture believes in an individual Jew, and worships him as God.

This is certainly a great transgression of the fourth Noahide commandment. Nonetheless, within this evil context we can perceive an element of good. The true rectification of the non-Jewish world will come when it recognizes the Divinely ordained purpose of every Jew–to enlighten the world and bring about universal peace and prosperity. The non-Jew will then be drawn, in love, to the Jew. With an existential feeling of shiflut ("lowliness") with regard to the Jewish People (who in their own consciousness represent the epitome of lowliness before God and man) the world will acknowledge the yoke of the kingdom of heaven as expounded in the Torah. It will then merit true insight.

The following discussion of the seven spiritual principles of faith and Divine service for the non-Jew will shed light on his dependence on the soul of the Jew for rectification. The initial function of each principle is to elevate the consciousness of the non-Jew to a higher level. Together with the elevation of his consciousness comes a greater ability to express free will.

Each of the seven emotive powers of the soul enumerated above–lovingkindness, might, beauty, victory, splendor, foundation, and kingdom–itself possesses an inner dimension. They are (respectively): love, fear, mercy, trust, sincerity, truth, and humility. We will now see how each of these relates to a state of consciousness, a principle of faith and Divine service.

The Seven Noahide Commandments correspond to the seven emotive powers of the soul. These, in turn, correspond to the seven major parts of the body.

Sefirah	Commandment	Body part
chesed" loving kindness"	prohibition against adultery	right arm
gevurah"might"	prohibition againstmurder	left arm
tiferet"beauty"	prohibition against theft	torso
netzach"victory," "eternity"	prohibition against idol worship	right leg
hod"splendor," "acknowledgment," "thanksgiving"	prohibition against blasphemy	left leg
yesod"foundation"	prohibition against eating flesh torn from a live animal or drinking its blood	organ of procreation
malchut"kingdom"	establishing a legal system	mouth

That adultery is a perversion of love and murder is a perversion of might is obvious. Theft is a perversion of beauty, since beauty is the trait that enables one to relate to another with concern and consideration.

True faith in one G-d represents man's ultimate victory over evil (whose only real power is its ability to misdirect one's faith), and the gateway to eternity. The perversion of faith is idol worship. Blasphemy, the "partner" of idol worship, is a perversion of the soul's acknowledgment and expression of thanks to G-d.

While the first five and the last one of the Noahide commandments were given to Adam at the outset of creation, the sixth was first given to Noah after the Flood. The Torah refers to Noah as the tzadik ("righteous one"), the "foundation" (yesod) of his generation. The first 10 generations of mankind had been instructed by G-d to be vegetarian. After the Flood, G-d permitted Noah and his descendants to eat animal flesh in general, but forbade them to eat limbs amputated from a living animal, or to drink blood from a living animal.

The seventh Noahide commandment is explicitly formulated in a positive frame. It is the commandment to establish a legal system in order to judge those who transgress the previous six commandments, and in this way to regulate and rectify society. This commandment corresponds to the power of malchut ("kingdom"), for law is the foundation of any kingdom. As our sages say, "the law of the kingdom is the law to be obeyed." Malchut receives input from the other powers of the soul, as it is said: "All the rivers [the six powers] flow into the sea [malchut]." In the body of man, malchut corresponds to the mouth, whose function is to direct and control society.

When these seven commandments are arranged in the sefirotic structure and they are not observed we get the dramatic results of:

Gevurah-"Might" Murder		Chesed"Loving kindness"Adultery
	Tiferet"Beauty"Theft
Hod"Eternity"Blasphemy		Netzach"Victory"Idol worship
	Yesod"Foundation"Eating amputated limbs from a live animal
	Malchut"Kingdom" Establish a ilegal system

Composed by Rabbi Ytshak Ginsburg

Brought by Rabbi Moshe Perets

---

Rabbi Moshe Perets is the President of the Noahide Academy of Israel, Founder and Executive Director of NoahideAcademy.org, the world’s largest Noahide informational website. He accomplished his Rabbinical Studies at the Chabad Yeshiva and his medical studies at the University of Louvain in Brussels, Belgium.

© Copyright, all rights reserved. If you enjoyed this article, we encourage you to distribute it further according to the NoahideAcademy.org's copyright policy.