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Personal story & question. Signed up just to ask this. I'm a non-Jew (that's why I'm posting this on Shabbat) and I've been learning about Judaism for the last couple of years or so. There isn't much reliable learning material in my native language. So I have to learn everything online. I read the whole Chumash with Rashi's commentary on chabad website (because I couldn't afford the physical book), and Mesilat Yesharim on dafyomireview website. And I've listened to hundreds of hours of shiurim on youtube. And I read every Q&A on torasavigdor website, and I even got involved with kiruv. Then a rabbi gifted me an ArtScroll Stone Ed. Chumash and I'm on page 675 right now.

My question is this: Right now I'm reading Sefer Vayikra and I'm forcing myself to read it. I don't feel like it's relevant to me. Is it my yetzer hara or should I continue reading it? I mean it's not just the Chumash. Most of Judaism doesn't apply to me, that's for sure. BUT I must say that thanks to all my mussar and hashkafah studies (and thanks to Hashem obviously) I became a much better person (bli ayin hara)😊, I can't deny that . Should I continue learning Torah? I try very hard to find an alternative to Torah but I fail everytime. It's mamash ingrained in my soul. But I feel like most of it is not relevant to me. Also I got no problems with Jews being Am HaNivchar, etc. but it makes me feel weird that I'm not a member of the nation I support... Any advice?

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    You could (1) speak to a Rav in person who would get to know you and advise the right course of action, (2) learn about Bnei Noach (righteous gentiles) and get close to such groups. In the meantime, welcome to MiYodeya. Great to have you learn with us!
    – mbloch
    Mar 5, 2022 at 17:15
  • Thank you very much for the warm welcome. Unfortunately there are no rabbis here where I live.
    – fuggetaboutit
    Mar 5, 2022 at 17:49
  • you do not need to be jewish to have a relationship with the creator and live a moral life. non-jews are encouraged to follow the seven noahide laws. the gemara is pretty clear in its ruling that a non-jew is forbidden from keeping shabbat or learning torah (sanhedrin 58b, 59a), although there are varying cases and different rulings dependent on an individual situation. if you don't feel conviction to read sefer vayikra, why put yourself thru the pain when there is no obligation? live righteously that is all you need to do
    – ezra
    Mar 6, 2022 at 13:10
  • have u also seen the kehos chumash on chabad.org? thats one of the places I started as well, its easy reading for most of the torah
    – Yaakov5777
    Mar 6, 2022 at 13:22
  • @ezra Thank you very much. Turns out it was my yetzer hara. Just finished it now. Well I'm not delving into sugiyot or anything, I'm just reading the Chumash with pshat commentary. Every rabbi I asked told me it's allowed to do this. They say "focus on mussar", and that's what I'm doing.
    – fuggetaboutit
    Mar 7, 2022 at 13:13

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I'm an Italian ben Noach.

The Jewish tradition teaches that the Creator traced two distinct paths of justice for humanity: the Jews are called to observe all the precepts of the Torah; the Benei Noach, that is, all non-Jews, are called to observe a limited part of Torah: the "Noahide Precepts". The ben Noach who observes these precepts with the conviction that they have been revealed by the Almighty in the Torah is a "pious among the nations of the world", and will have part in the World to Come.

To learn more, I recommend purchasing the following books on Noahide Law, both approved by the Chief Rabbinate of Israel:

'The Divine Code ", written by Rav Moshe Weiner;

"Brit Shalom", written by Rav Oury Cherki.

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  • Baruch Hashem, it's fantastic to see people from all over the world learning the Emet. Kein yirbu. Thank you very much for your advice. The NWC organization has a post on their facebook page that says Noahides can keep the 'full' Shabbat. That's why I hesitated to learn from them.
    – fuggetaboutit
    Mar 5, 2022 at 18:01
  • @fuggetaboutit Not at all! According to Gemara-Sanhedrin 58b, the vast majority of poskim argue that non-Jews are prohibited from observing Shabbat ( but we speak of the observance conforming to the Halakhah, which is very different from the generic "rest" that we mean in the Gentile Nations); however, the authoritative Rav Yoel Schwartz states that this prohibition does not apply to the Gentiles who observe Noahide Law.
    – Amos74
    Mar 5, 2022 at 18:14
  • So there's a machloket between the poskim then. Either way I wouldn't keep it though. No need to take a risk.
    – fuggetaboutit
    Mar 5, 2022 at 18:28

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