Traditionally, rabbinic literature referred to the set of laws granted to humanity after the flood as the Sheva Mitzvot Benei Noach, the seven commandments of Noach's children or the Noachide code. The commandments include prohibitions against stealing, killing, eating the limb of live animals, acts of sexual immorality, idolatry, blasphemy, and a requirement to establish courts of law.
In this week's study, we will speculate regarding what occurred after the flood that required that these commandments be explicitly stated, and we will concentrate on the nature of the central prohibition, the prohibition against taking another life.
