Turn to G-d, or Return to G-d?
For September 22, 2022
Deuteronomy 30:10
כִּ֣י תִשְׁמַ֗ע בְּקוֹל֙ יְהֹוָ֣ה אֱלֹהֶ֔יךָ לִשְׁמֹ֤ר מִצְוֺתָיו֙ וְחֻקֹּתָ֔יו הַכְּתוּבָ֕ה בְּסֵ֥פֶר הַתּוֹרָ֖ה הַזֶּ֑ה כִּ֤י תָשׁוּב֙ אֶל־יְהֹוָ֣ה אֱלֹהֶ֔יךָ בְּכׇל־לְבָבְךָ֖ וּבְכׇל־נַפְשֶֽׁךָ׃
"When you obey the L-rd, your G-d, to observe His commanments and His statutes written in this Torah scroll, [and] when you return to the L-rd, your G-d, with all your heart and with all your soul."
Does a Noahides turn to G-d or does a Noahides return to G-d?
After all, many Noahides were born into an idolatrous environment and have not had a point in their life history where they have actively turned away from G-d?
Every human being has a Divine spark and the moment we return to G-d as Noahides by carefully observing our 7 Noahides Laws... (statues - the chukkim are those mitzvot, such as the dietary laws or the laws of family purity, which the Jews accept as divine decrees, despite their incomprehensibility and — in the most extreme of chukkim — their irrationality. They do not apply to Noahides,)... we return with our soul, with the Divine spark, back to G-d.
We return to God with our hearts:
Developing a love for G‑d to the point that we are excited to fulfill His wishes, realizing that this is for our own benefit and good.
And with our souls:
To "kill" our ego and self-centeredness. At the point that it is not about what's best for us, but an all-encompassing love that allows us to transcend ourselves.
We do His commandments because we know they are good for us and because we know they are good for Him.
Brought By Angelique Sijbolts
Angelique Sijbolts is one of the main writers for the Noahide Academy. She has been an observant Noahide for many years. She studies Torah with Rabbi Perets every week. Angelique invests much of her time in editing video-lectures for the Rabbis of the Academy and contributes in administrating the Academy's website in English and Dutch. She lives in the north of the Netherlands. Married and mother of two sons. She works as a teacher in a school with students with special needs. And is a Hebrew Teacher for the levels beginners and intermediate. She likes to walk, to read and play the piano.
Sources
Chabadapp: chumash with Rashi
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Awesome. The highest degree of return is to return to G-d out of love because actually he is your life.