Tikvah Scholar
Academic Year 2010-2011
Erick Rabin
Erick Rabin is a graduate student in the Philosophy PhD program at Boston University. He graduated from Duke University in 2009 with a concentration in philosophy and economics, earning high distinction for his senior honors thesis entitled "Modern Cosmopolitanism." His primary academic interests include the History of Early-Modern Philosophy, Political Theology, Philosophy of Law, and Jewish Ethics.
Research
(Mentored by Professor Elisheva Carlebach, Tikvah Fellow)
My project will focus on the role and status of gentiles within Jewish law, specifically with regard to the Noachide commandments. I will study the classic Hebrew texts surrounding Noachide law, including selections from the Babylonian Talmud, Maimonides’ Mishneh Torah, and responsa literature, as well as some more recent secondary literature.
I aim to research the function and significance of the Noachide code as conceived in the history of Jewish thought: Was it seen merely as a mechanism for accommodating the political power of gentiles, or more deeply as a way of recognizing other valid albeit non-Jewish political orders? If it was indeed a tool for differentiating between legitimate and illegitimate moral communities, then a kind of pluralism emerges—after all, many forms of political life can accommodate these minimalist commandments. I will also examine some of the debates regarding whether or not Jews have a duty to teach the code to their gentile neighbors, and whether this tradition further recommends political tolerance insofar as non-Jews did not need to convert to Judaism in order to be openly accepted as righteous gentiles (“ger toshav”).
My goal is thus to elucidate various approaches to the issue of legal pluralism within the confines of a religious system as reflected in the Jewish hermeneutic tradition of the Noachide Code. I will also address the ramifications of this study to our contemporary issues—for example, if and how such approaches can provide guidance for the co-existence of Jews and gentiles within the state of Israel, representing a value that may allow Israel to construe itself Jewishly without making itself into the equivalent of an exclusive religious community.
