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Exposing Misinformation about Ger, Ger-Toshav & Ger-Tzedek
#7
Hi AskNoah,

I've got another question.

Chapter 8 of Laws of Kings and Wars in Mishneh Torah ends with this:

"However, if he fulfills them out of intellectual reasoning, he is not a resident alien [ger toshav] and he is not of the pious among the gentiles, nor of their wise men."

Rambam separates ger toshav from pious of the nations, as if a person can be one and not the other, i.e., a person is not a ger toshav, but he is a pious of the nations. It makes sense to me that a Gentile who has no ties with Israel, who is not a resident of Israel nor wants to reside in Israel, but this person keeps the Seven Commandments because God commanded them to Moses, this person is a pious of the nations without taking the extra step of some residence status in Israel (i.e., ger toshav).

I can also understand that Rambam says that a ger toshav keeps the Seven Commandments because he has vowed to do so in order to get residency status in Israel. Rambam also stated that this no longer exists in our day, so ger toshavim should strictly be a theoretical concept.

So that makes two classes of Gentile that can be "pious": the Gentile that wants residency and formality in some affiliation to Israel, the ger toshav; and the Gentile who just keeps the Seven Commandments informally whilst living in their own land who has no residency connection or desire.

On page 50 of the Divine Code, in footnote 11, it states that the title of ger toshav applies to any gentile in any land who keeps the Seven Commandments because God commanded them to Moses. Doesn't this conflate the term the theoretical but non-existent (according to Rambam) entity, "ger toshav", with the still existing concept that anyone in the world who can be "pious", especially when Rambam is the one who appears to separate the two entities?

Regards,
David
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Messages In This Thread
RE: Ger Toshav - by rabbiyitz - 03-02-2008, 07:17 AM
What is a Ger Tzedek? - by amenyahu - 09-21-2013, 07:52 AM
RE: What is a Ger Tzedek? - by Director Michael - 09-22-2013, 07:50 PM
Distinguishing Ger Toshav and Pious Noahide - by GentileLaw - 07-20-2015, 02:54 AM

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