A Noahide should
not observe the Shabbat in the manner that a Jew does.
Nor should he make a point of abstaining from hard
physical work on the Shabbat. A Noahide should not
give occasion for a Jew to break the Shabbat.
There are those who
say that every Ger Toshav (a non-Jew living in Eretz
Yisrael in the time of the Jewish Temple, who has
formally accepted the obligation to observe the Noahide
laws in front of a Jewish court) has to uphold and
keep the Sabbath (Rashi, Kritot 9, Yevamot 40). There
is room to suggest that the Noahides, even nowadays,
by accepting to fulfill the seven commandments, are
in the same category as a Ger Toshav and should, according
to Rashi, be required or at least allowed to keep
the Shabbat.
So I (Rav Schwartz)
would like to suggest that this is the way that the
Noahides could celebrate the Seventh Day, a day of
refraining from his vocation. On the eve of the Sabbath
(Friday night), they might have a festive family dinner
with special food and light candles after sundown
in honor of the Seventh Day, which was given to Adam
and Noah (and to make the Noahide celebration of the
Shabbat distinct from the Jewish Shabbat observance).
During the meal they may sing songs to strengthen
their belief, including songs about the creation.
They may read from the Torah. They should not call
this day the Sabbath, but the Seventh Day as it is
written in Genesis.
On the Seventh Day
itself, if they can arrange it without difficulty,
they should refrain from going to work. If possible,
they should go out to the fields or a park so as to
feel close to the Creator of the world. If the congregation
holds a prayer session, they may recite the Psalms
connected to the Sabbath and to the creation (like
Psalm 104). Also they should study portions of the
Torah connected to commandments of the children of
Noah. They can study from the weekly portion of the
Torah being read that Sabbath in the synagogues those
subjects which concern all mankind and skipping those
topics that concern specifically the Jews.
At the end of the
Sabbath (Motzai Shabbat), the end of the Seventh Day
and the beginning of the new week, they can recite
the prayer for the new week (Havdalah) after having
lit a havdalah candle, to thank G-d for having taught
Adam how to make fire, which is the source of all
energy that enabled man to make changes in this world.
This Havdalah prayer, that separates the Seventh Day
from the beginning of the week, can be recited as
a Noahide wishes and can go something like this.
Blessed are you
our G-d, King of the Universe, Who differentiates
between darkness and light, between day and night,
between the seventh day from the first day of the
week, between the clean and the unclean, between the
sacred and secular, between holy days and regular
days, between Israel and the rest of the nations,
who together are partners in one holy objective, to
make Your Name holy in this world. AMEN.
It is stated in
the book of Zechariah that after the Temple will be
restored, during the holiday of Succoth all the nations
of the world will make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem to
bow down before G-d. Zechariah 14:1-21 states:
"And it
shall come to pass that every one that is left of
all the nations which come against Jerusalem shall
even go up from year to year to worship the King,
the L-rd of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles.
And it shall be that whoever will not come up of
all the families of the earth unto Jerusalem to
worship the King, the L-rd of hosts, even upon them
shall be no rain. And if the family of Egypt go
not up, and come not, that have no rain, there shall
be the plague, which with which the L-rd will smite
the nations that come not up to keep this feast
of Tabernacles. This shall be the punishment of
Egypt, and the punishment of all nations that come
not up to keep the feast of tabernacles. In that
day shall there be upon the bells of the horses
Holiness Unto the L-rd; and the pots in the L-rd’s
house shall be like the bowls before the altar.
Yea every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah shall be
holiness unto the L-rd of hosts; and all they that
sacrifice shall come and take of them and boil them;
and in that day there shall be no more a Canaanite
in the house of the L-rd of hosts."
It is worthwhile
for a person to take his vacation during this time.
By doing so, a Noahide can use this free time to study,
to observe nature and to meet with fellow Noahides
for mutual prayer with emphasis on world peace just
as Israelites did when the Temple existed and, as
sacrifices were made for the welfare of all the nations,
to pray for the coming of the Messiah who will amend
the ways of the world.
