Kuzari – Rabbi Yehuda HaLevi

Kuzari 1:83:5,

«Their leader and their priest, namely, the Divinely favored elders Moshe and Aharon respectively, were eighty or more years old when they prophesied. Up until that time, the people did not have any commandments other than the few commandments that they had inherited from the superior individuals [in the generations] from Adam to Noach. [79] Moshe did not nullify those commandments; rather, he added to them. [80]

79. This refers to the seven Noachide laws. According to tradition, Adam was given six of the Noachide laws. These were passed down by the elite individuals in each generation until Noach, who was given the seventh law, the prohibition of eating from a live animal (ever min hachai). See M.T., Melachim, Ch. 9.

80. The Rabbi feels it necessary to point this out, based on what he stated in Kuzari 1:81, that Judaism, unlike other religions, sprouted instantaneously. One may challenge this by arguing that first there existed seven commandments, which then evolved into many more. But the Rabbi rejects that. The original seven were not given exclusively to the Jewish nation as part of their new religion (unlike the new laws that Moshe introduced); rather, the Noachide laws are binding on all mankind, and were therefore not part of the new Jewish religion. So it would be incorrect to say that seven laws «evolved» to become more later on (O.N.).

Kuzari 1:111,

The Rabbi said: «We [on the other hand] do not deprive any person of his just reward for his good deeds, regardless of which nation he hails from. At the same time, the ultimate good is reserved for the [people of the chosen] nation, who are closest to G-d during their lifetimes. [177] After death the degree of a person’s closeness to G-d is assessed according to his level before death.»

177. It is therefore Judaism’s belief that a righteous gentile also has a share in the World to Come. See T.B., Sanhedrin 105a (we follow the opinion of R. Yehoshua), and M.T., Teshuvah 3:5. However, that share is not comparable to the share of a righteous Jew, which is called here the «ultimate good.»

 

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