Rabbi Dr Zvi Aviner
Noahidesevencommandments.com
Ó Copy Right 2022
Rabbi Dr Zvi Aviner
BLOODSHED-4/Rainbow Covenant for Humanity (2022)
A Noahide person, a Child of Noah, is a modern person
who relies on logic rather than on mysticism,
who believes in the truthfulness of the Torah
and trusts science, seeing no real clash between them
A Noahide person realizes how truthful the story of Genesis is,
how accurately it describes the history of our planet,
as well as the creation of Mankind.
There are many ancient stories about a Great Flood,
most of them composed around 2500 BC, like the famous
story of Gilgamesh, the Babylonian hero that survived a Flood
along with a bunch of animals on a boat.
But the story of the Biblical Noah is much older than that,
preceding it by thousands of years.
Moreover, while the story of Gilgamesh carries no moral message,
the Biblical story of Noah comes with the Rainbow Covenant
in which G-d lays out the BLOODSHED Laws to Mankind,
as a continuation of the ADULTERY Laws given to Mankind in the story Eden
and the concept of IDOLATRY laid out to Mankind in Chapter One.
In the Rainbow Covenant,
which is the moral charter of the Noahide Movement
the Heavenly Court addresses the issue of BLOODSHED
and the evil nature of the human heart.
The question it addresses is:
Can we, Mankind, ever escape BLOODSHED and WARS?
Are we destined to repeat the errors of Noah’s generation
that began with IDOLATRY and ended up with sexual corruption
and Hamas, a deadly mixture of BLOODSHED and THEFT?
As we said in the last class,
Noah himself was very realistic and pessimistic,
so much that he refused to procreate and start civilization again
He prayed to G-d on Mt Moriah, and G-d appeared to him
In the form of the Heavenly Court comprised of two symmetrical Wings,
the Wing of YHVH followed by the Wing of ELKM
where each Attribute expresses its terms for the new Covenant.
Every Noahide, every person on Earth,
should be familiar with the Rainbow Covenant and its terms
under which we, all Mankind, still lives
As we’ve said, the Rainbow Covenant
addresses the issues that were burning in Noah’s heart
He was concerned about the IDOLATRY of his generation coming back.
In his time, humanity split into two major spiritual camps.
The first Camp had begun with Enosh, Adam’s grandson,
on whom the verse says:
It was then that they began calling in the name of YHVH (4:26)
Here the Hebrew word for begun, huchal, also means “profaned”
Implying that Enosh, the best orator Mankind has ever had,
desecrated YHVH Name by calling, or praying to YHVH alone
without mentioning ELKM.
Enosh preached that the Kingdom of Mercy, the Sabbath,
is about to enter the world, therefore Mankind should
pray to YHVH, forgetting ELKM and His Laws
The second spiritual camp in Noah’s generation
comprised of Cain’s descendants, who in great piety took
upon themselves to follow the harsh laws of ELKM,
attempting to atone for their forefather Cain’s deed.
They followed ELKM and neglected the merciful YHVH.
Hence their name the Children of ELKM.
Now,
Splitting the Attributes, preferring one over another,
is considered a form of IDOLATRY, as we’ve learned from Chapter One.
And as the rule says, once a person breaches one Commandment
He or she would stumble over the next one on the list.
So, despite the fact that each camp started in piety, following its own faith,
soon both degenerated into ADULTERY and then to BLOODSHED
and THEFT in that order
On Cain’s camp for instance, it is said
And the Children of ELKM saw that the daughters of Adam are good,
And they took for themselves women from whoever they chose,” (6:2)
Meaning they took by force women, married or not.
In addition, they corrupted with all sorts of sexual promiscuity
Including bestiality, cohabiting with animals (rashi)
The Torah also mentions in their line
Tubal Cain, the forger of metal weapons
whose gangues robbed and killed people
under the watching Sun with no shame,
committing Violating Hamas, BLOODSHED and THEFT
The other camp of Enosh also degenerated into heinous crimes
Believing that since Mercy is about to come, they fear no more ELKM
And that their sins would be all forgiven by YHVH
Soon both camps blamed each other for heresy
And they fought each other to the death,
banning all intermarriages between them
Amazingly, Noah came from Enosh’s camp,
while his wife Naama came from Cain’s camp
and yet they married each other despite the ban
and in their marriage, they united YHVH and ELKM
Yet, fearing the Flood, Naama and Noah refrained from
bearing children for many years, till just before the Flood
when they bore just three sons and no more,
and their sons too refrained from bearing children of their own
In the Rainbow Covenant, the HC addresses
Noah’s worries and tribulations
First, the HC appeared as One unite of YHVH and ELKM
(whereas before the Flood each Wing appeared alone, united by Noah)
By this the HC said to Noah:
teach your children to believe in YHVH ELKM Oneness
and that they should not prefer Mercy over Judgment or or vice Versa
Then we read in each Wing its message
For the Rainbow Covenant
The Wing of YHVH says that
“And YHVH smelled the sweet aroma, and YHVH said
to His heart, I shall not again curse the ground
any more for Adam
YHVH spoke to Her Heart,
teaching Noah that he should teach his children
to talk TO their heart, control their heart
and not let their heart talk to them, control them!
For the drive of
Adam’s heart Is evil from his youth
YHVH said: Noah, do not despair,
though the human heart is currently evil and bloodthirsty
Yet Mankind will grow in history, and his heart will mature
and will be able to overcome his evil natural impulse
As YHVH finished, ELKM stepped in
Telling Noah His aspect of the Rainbow Covenant
“And ELoKiM blessed
Noah and his sons and saidto them, be fruitful and multiply
FIRST, ELKM repeats here the order to procreate
while adding a blessing to Noah, meaning
that natural condition like climate would be changed
in our favor – unless we breach the Covenant terms
ELKM proceeds by giving Noah a new Law
To overcome BLOODSHED
And I give you permission to eat any living creature
But flesh with its soul, its blood you shall not eat!
To prevent BLOODSHED from coming back
ELKM adds to Noah a new Commandment, the Seventh,
prohibiting the eating of blood and a limb torn from a living creature
teaching Noah and his children to overcome cruelty and BLOODSHED
Hence Noah’s Law number 7
Came to enforce Law number 3
Now ELKM addresses all aspects of BLOODSHED:
LINE 1 :
And surely the blood of your soul
shall I require (9:5)
No Suicide!
The first BLOODSHED Law addresses as a person who kills “his own soul,” committing Suicide. In ELoKiM’s eyes, this person is considered a murderer and his punishment would be sever, in the hands of Heavens, as it says: “I shall demand…” ELoKiM would demand retribution. But where? When? The person who has committed suicide is already dead!
The rabbis therefore said: IN THE AFTER LIFE.
Line 2:
from the hands
Of every beast, I shall require (Man’s soul)
From Suicide, ELoKiM steps up the ladder
and discuss killing people by indirect methods;
like placing a victim before vicious animals.
The perpetrator might claim less responsibility
But ELKM would deem him a killer nevertheles
The Talmud distinguishes several sub categories
of such indirect killing in ascending order of responsibility
(1) A beast like a lion, that may or may not devour the victim
(2) A beast like a snake, that most likely kill
(3) A beast like killer bees that would certainly kill
The liability of the perpetrator would change accordingly.
In modern time these categories are:
- Starving people, is like placing before a lion (that may or may not devour)
2. Denying people essential medications is like placing before snakes (more likely to kill)
3. Disconnecting life-supporting breathing machine (the victim would surely die.)
In all cases, ELoKIM would deem the killer responsible in the HC
but the perpetrator should not be executed by the human court!
(unless the government decides otherwise
BLOODSHED lin3
and from the hands of man
No Killing by Mercenaries
ELoKiM moves to discuss killing by ‘another Man,’ mercenaries.
The mercenary is considered by ELKM a murderer,
As well as the person who has hired h
BLOODSHED line 4
from the hands of man’s brother
I shall require the blood of man
No Killing in MERCY
Here ELoKiM discusse one who kills “his brother,”
referring to ‘merciful killing,’ euthanasia.
Note that such a case is earthshaking.
For the killer acts in passion, with mercy.
Yet ELKM says that one who kills in mercy
Would be considered a murderer, punished by the Heavenly Court.
But not by human court, lest the government decides otherwise.
BLOODSHED Line 5:
whoever shed blood of man, in man will his blood be shed
Abortion is Murder!
Killing ‘Man in Man,’ abortion, is considered a murder
Punishable by execution by human court
Provided the perpetrator is warned before
and provided there are witnesses
The embryo is at least 40 days old (Talmud.)
The Jewish Court should consist of 23 or 71 experienced judges.
Bloodshed Line 6
whoever shed blood of man, by man will his blood be shed
For in the image of ELoKiM He made the Adam… ”
Direct murder
A KILLER who acts intentionally with full awareness
should be EXECUTED by human court
Provided he is warned and provided there are witnesses
YHVH spoke first, then ELoKiM.
Each Attribute expressing its own perspectives of BLOODSHED,
each addressing Noah’s concerns from its own perspectives:
YHVH spoke about the human evil heart, giving Noah a hope
That Man would mature and change for the better
ELoKiM added to Noah another Law,
enforcing Noah’s stance against cruelty
then adding to Noah the BLOODSHED Laws in details.
Henceforth,
Noah children would learn
IDOLATRY from Genesis Chapter One
ADULTERY from the Story of the Garden of Eden
BLOODSHED from the Rainbow Covenant
Noahide message to the world,
based on the Rainbow Covenant
says:
Keep YHVH ELKM Oneness, do not prefer one Attribute over another
Teach yourself to TALK TO YOUR HEART, and do not let your heart talk to you
Obey the Seven Commandments in full, fight against cruelty
Spread the knowledge of the Covenant BLOODSHED Laws to prevent WARS
Struggle for Peace on Earth, in the spirit of Noah
Therefore
A Nohide person is not a “visitor” to Mt Moriah in Jerusalem
and not a mere spectator,
but rather a viable participant in the service of G-d done on that Place
After all, it was Noah who first prayed to G-d on that Place
the first one to pour his heart here by a burnt-offering,
and the first person whose prayer and sacrifice were accepted by G-d
on that holy Place
And in the same way that Israel honors our priests
by not entering their realm, their courtyard on that Place,
So does the congregation of Noahide Nations respect
their “holy nation of priests,” Israel,
by not entering Israel’s courtyard on that Place.
Noahide Camp is the largest camp,
their courtyard is the entire world
beyond Jerusalem, beyond the Holly Land
stretching over the entire Cosmos,
encompassing far away Galaxies
even multiple, alternative Universes
with no limit, with no border