Who is Getting a Portion in the World to Come?
- Rabbi Moshe Perets
- Jul 7, 2022
- 2 min read
Updated: Aug 3, 2022
Any Gentile who accepts these Seven Noahide Commandments,
and is careful to observe them, is truly a pious individual of the nations of the world, and merits an eternal portion in the future World to Come.
And with this merit, the person will be included in the Resurrection of the Dead.
This applies only if he accepts them and does them because the Holy One, blessed be He, commanded them in the Torah, and made it known through Moses our teacher, that the Children of Noah were previously commanded to fulfill them.
However, if one fulfills the commandments of the Noahide Code
only out of intellectual conviction (because his logic dictates them), he
is forbidden by Torah Law to settle in the land of Israel, and he is
not counted among the pious individuals of the nations of the world.
Any Gentile who accepts the seven commandments and is careful to
observe them is of the “pious of the nations of the world” and will
have a portion in the World to Come.
This is so provided that one accepts them and observes them because the Holy One, blessed be He,commanded them in the Torah and informed us through Moses ourteacher that the descendants of Noah were originally commanded
about them.
But if one observes them only by virtue of common sense,he is not a Ger Toshav (Gentile “Resident,” the Written Torah’s term
for one who takes on the Noahide Code), or one of the “pious of the
nations of the world,” but rather, one of their wise people.
Brought by Rabbi Moshe Perets
Rabbi Moshe Perets is the Founder and Executive Director of NoahideAcademy.org, the world’s largest Noahide informational website. He has established the Noahide Academy of Israel website under the non-profit organisation - אור לעמים - Light Unto the Nations since 2016. He accomplished his Rabbinical Studies at the Chabad Yeshiva of Brussels in 2011. He has a medical degree by the University of Louvain in Brussels as well a Masters in Biomedical Research by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He has for the past years focused on Psychotherapy and developed a new approach: Deep Soul Therapy. He is a spiritual mentor, teacher, coach, and healer who has helped facilitate profound shifts for hundreds of people around the globe. His teaching activities at the Noahide Academy allowed students from all over the world to live passionate, purposeful lives, connect more intimately with G-d, and reveal the hidden light and power of their souls. Rabbi Moshe Perets lives currently in Israel with his wife and 5 children.
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Rambam (Maimonides), Laws of Kings 8:11. This ruling is based on the
very early Rabbinic text Mishnat Rabbi Eliezer, section VI (ed. New York
1933, p. 121), as noted by Rambam himself in one of his responsa (Teshuvot
Ha’Rambam, ed. Blau, vol. I, no. 148): “The pious of the nations of the
world are deemed pious if they observe the seven commandments enjoined
upon the descendants of Noaĥ, in all their details.”
Rambam, Laws of Kings 8:11. However, if he fulfills the Noahide Code in
practice, he is not liable to any punishment for this lack of belief.
According to Rambam’s Laws of the Worship of Stars [and Idols] 10:6,
during the temporary diaspora of the Jewish people, no one can be accepted
into the legal status of a Gentile “Resident” (Ger Toshav
in Hebrew). This
means that we cannot confer upon a Gentile the legal status of a Ger Toshav,
even if he makes a declaration before three Torah-observant adult Jewish
males that he accepts and abides by the Noahide Code. Nevertheless, for any
Gentiles who are not accepting and observing of the Noahide Code, the Jews
are commanded to expel them from the Holy Land of Israel, and they are
forbidden by Torah Law to dwell there (whether they are expelled or not).
See Rashi and Tosafot on Tractate Rosh Hashanah 16b-17a. They state
that the Talmud’s words beginning, “There are three groups for the Day of
Judgment,” refer to the Resurrection of the Dead. The Talmud is speaking in
reference to Gentiles and Jews, so it is apparent that Gentiles can have not
only a part in the future World to Come, but also in the Resurrection of the
Dead. Ra’avad, Ramban, and teachings of Ĥassidic leaders, are of the
opinion that the main, eternal reward and revelation of Godliness in the
future will be in the physical world, after the Resurrection of the Dead.