Ger toshav

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Ger toshav (hébreu : גר תושב, ger: "étranger" + toshav: "résident", lit. "résident étranger"[1],[2],[3],[4]) est un terme halakhique utilisé dans le judaïsme pour désigner le statut d'un non-juif vivant sur la Terre d'Israël, ne souhaitant pas se convertir au judaïsme mais acceptant d'observer les lois noahides[1],[2],[4],[5], une liste de sept impératifs moraux qui, d'après la tradition juive, auraient été donnés par Dieu à Noé comme alliance éternelle avec toute l'humanité[5],[6],[7],[8],[9],[10],[11].

Il peut désigner aujourd'hui la personne non-juive intégrée dans une communauté sans vouloir ou pouvoir être convertie.

Définition[modifier | modifier le code]

Point de vue actuel[modifier | modifier le code]

Notes et références[modifier | modifier le code]

  1. a et b Geoffrey W. Bromiley, The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, vol. 3, Grand Rapids (Michigan), Wm. B. Eerdmans, , Fully Revised éd., 1100 p. (ISBN 0-8028-3783-2, lire en ligne), p. 1010

    « In rabbinic literature the ger toshab was a Gentile who observed the Noachian commandments but was not considered a convert to Judaism because he did not agree to circumcision. …some scholars have made the mistake of calling the ger toshab a "proselyte" or "semiproselyte." But the ger toshab was really a resident alien in Israel. Some scholars have claimed that the term "those who fear God" (yir᾿ei Elohim/Shamayim) was used in rabbinic literature to denote Gentiles who were on the fringe of the synagogue. They were not converts to Judaism, although they were attracted to the Jewish religion and observed part of the law. »

  2. a et b J. David Bleich, Contemporary Halakhic Problems, vol. 4, New York, KTAV Publishing House (Yeshiva University Press), , 436 p. (ISBN 0-88125-474-6, lire en ligne), p. 161

    « Rashi, Yevamot 48b, maintains that a resident alien (ger toshav) is obliged to observe Shabbat. The ger toshav, in accepting the Seven Commandments of the Sons of Noah, has renounced idolatry and […] thereby acquires a status similar to that of Abraham. […] Indeed, Rabbenu Nissim, Avodah Zarah 67b, declares that the status on an unimmersed convert is inferior to that of a ger toshav because the former's acceptance of the "yoke of the commandments" is intended to be binding only upon subsequent immersion. Moreover, the institution of ger toshav as a formal halakhic construct has lapsed with the destruction of the Temple. »

  3. David Novak, « The Doctrine of the Noahide Laws », dans Jewish-Christian Dialogue: A Jewish Justification, Oxford & New York, Oxford University Press, (1re éd. 1989) (ISBN 978-0-19507273-0, DOI 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195072730.003.0002, lire en ligne), p. 26–41
  4. a et b Joseph Jacobs et Emil G. Hirsch, « Proselyte: Semi-Converts », dans Jewish Encyclopedia, Kopelman Foundation, (lire en ligne) (consulté le )

    « In order to find a precedent the rabbis went so far as to assume that prosélytes of this order were recognized in Biblical law, applying to them the term "toshab" ("sojourner," "aborigine," referring to the Canaanites; see Maimonides' explanation in "Yad," Issure Biah, xiv. 7; see Grätz, l.c. p. 15), in connection with "ger" (see Ex. xxv. 47, where the better reading would be "we-toshab"). Another name for one of this class was "proselyte of the gate" ("ger ha-sha'ar," that is, one under Jewish civil jurisdiction; comp. Deut. v. 14, xiv. 21, referring to the stranger who had legal claims upon the generosity and protection of his Jewish neighbors). In order to be recognized as one of these the neophyte had publicly to assume, before three "ḥaberim," or men of authority, the solemn obligation not to worship idols, an obligation which involved the recognition of the seven Noachian injunctions as binding ('Ab. Zarah 64b; "Yad," Issure Biah, xiv. 7). [...] The more rigorous seem to have been inclined to insist upon such converts observing the entire Law, with the exception of the reservations and modifications explicitly made in their behalf. The more lenient were ready to accord them full equality with Jews as soon as they had solemnly forsworn idolatry. The "via media" was taken by those that regarded public adherence to the seven Noachian precepts as the indispensable prerequisite (Gerim iii.; 'Ab. Zarah 64b; Yer. Yeb. 8d; Grätz, l.c. pp. 19–20). The outward sign of this adherence to Judaism was the observance of the Sabbath (Grätz, l.c. pp. 20 et seq.; but comp. Ker. 8b). »

  5. a et b Liliane Vana, « Les lois noaẖides: Une mini-Torah pré-sinaïtique pour l'humanité et pour Israël », Pardés: Études et culture juives, Paris, Éditions In Press, no 52,‎ , p. 211–236 (ISSN 0295-5652, e-ISSN 2271-1880, DOI 10.3917/parde.052.0211 Accès libre)
  6. Bruce R. Barnes, « The Noahide Laws and the Universal Fellowship with God », Rocznik Teologii Katolickiej, Białystok, International Institute for Hermeneutics (en) on behalf of the University of Białystok, vol. XX,‎ , p. 5–32 (ISSN 1644-8855, DOI 10.15290/rtk.2021.20.01, hdl 11320/12441, S2CID 246335626, lire en ligne, consulté le )
  7. Steven Schwarzschild, « Noachide Laws », dans Encyclopaedia Judaica, vol. 15, Farmington Hills, Macmillan Reference USA/Keter Publishing House, , 2e éd. (ISBN 978-002-865-928-2, lire en ligne), p. 284 (consulté le )
  8. « Noahide Laws », dans Encyclopædia Britannica, Édimbourg, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., (lire en ligne) (consulté le )

    « Noahide Laws, also called Noachian Laws, a Jewish Talmudic designation for seven biblical laws given to Adam and to Noah before the revelation to Moses on Mt. Sinai and consequently binding on all mankind. Beginning with Genesis 2:16, the Babylonian Talmud listed the first six commandments as prohibitions against idolatry, blasphemy, murder, adultery, and robbery and the positive command to establish courts of justice (with all that this implies). After the Flood a seventh commandment, given to Noah, forbade the eating of flesh cut from a living animal (Genesis 9:4). Though the number of laws was later increased to 30 with the addition of prohibitions against castration, sorcery, and other practices, the “seven laws,” with minor variations, retained their original status as authoritative commandments and as the source of other laws. As basic statutes safeguarding monotheism and guaranteeing proper ethical conduct in society, these laws provided a legal framework for alien residents in Jewish territory. Maimonides thus regarded anyone who observed these laws as one “assured of a portion in the world to come. »

  9. (en) Isidore Singer et Julius H. Greenstone, « Noachian Laws », dans Jewish Encyclopedia, Kopelman Foundation, (lire en ligne) (consulté le )

    « The Seven Laws. Laws which were supposed by the Rabbis to have been binding upon mankind at large even before the revelation at Sinai, and which are still binding upon non-Jews. The term Noachian indicates the universality of these ordinances, since the whole human race was supposed to be descended from the three sons of Noah, who alone survived the Flood. [...] Basing their views on the passage in Genesis 2:16, they declared that the following six commandments were enjoined upon Adam: (1) not to worship idols; (2) not to blaspheme the name of God; (3) to establish courts of justice; (4) not to kill; (5) not to commit adultery; and (6) not to rob (Gen. R. xvi. 9, xxiv. 5; Cant. R. i. 16; comp. Seder 'Olam Rabbah, ed. Ratner, ch. v. and notes, Wilna, 1897; Maimonides, "Yad," Melakim, ix. 1). A seventh commandment was added after the Flood—not to eat flesh that had been cut from a living animal (Genesis 9:4). [...] Thus, the Talmud frequently speaks of "the seven laws of the sons of Noah," which were regarded as obligatory upon all mankind, in contradistinction to those that were binding upon Israelites only (Tosef., 'Ab. Zarah, ix. 4; Sanh. 56a et seq.). [...] He who observed the seven Noachian laws was regarded as a domiciled alien, as one of the pious of the Gentiles, and was assured of a portion in the world to come (Tosef., Sanh. xiii. 1; Sanh. 105a; comp. ib. 91b; "Yad," l.c. viii. 11). »

  10. « BEN NOAH », dans Meyer Berlin et Shlomo Yosef Zevin, Encyclopedia Talmudica: A Digest of Halachic Literature and Jewish Law from the Tannaitic Period to the Present Time, Alphabetically Arranged, vol. IV, Jérusalem, Yad Harav Herzog (Emet), (1re éd. 1969) (ISBN 0873067142, lire en ligne), p. 360–380
  11. (en) Jeffrey Spitzer, « The Noahide Laws », sur My Jewish Learning, (consulté le )