The experience of a noahide for 12 years

Shalom everyone

I’ve been a Noahide for 12 years now, and it has been a “good but strange” journey, to say the least.

To clarify a few things: I don’t want to offend any religion, and I respect everyone. Everything here is just my personal experience and point of view.

Before becoming a Noahide, I was a Christian, but honestly, not a very religious one—I barely went to church or thought much about it. Kind of a “let it be” attitude.

In high school, I started to become more conscious of my life, and at that moment, I discovered Judaism. It felt like a punch in the face, because the rabbi I first encountered wasn’t very soft-spoken, so to speak. It had such an impact on me that I denied it at first, thinking: “How can my beliefs not be the truth?” But curiosity brought me back, and I started to think: “Well, this might actually make sense.”

After some time, I found myself no longer a Christian, and now I guess maybe I was never really one. It took me a while to “label” myself as a Bnei Noach, because where I come from, people usually have no idea what a Noahide is. At first, it was easier to explain by saying: “I’m like a Jew, but not a Jew” (please don’t arrest me, I was naive!).

From that time on, being a Noahide and believing in Judaism allowed me to see the world without filters. I was able to recognize the oneness of Hashem in everything, with love for Him, trying always to be a good person, worthy of the life I was given.

In the beginning, I made the mistake of trying to convince and debate with others to remove their “lenses” too. Little did I know that most people don’t want to remove them, and even when they do, they are left myopic.

It’s actually funny, looking at it from this angle, because like many other Bnei Noach, we often find ourselves isolated from the world. Similar to the story of Noach, many times we need to build barriers or “arks” to protect ourselves. Every Noahide has a story like this. Even within small communities, we still live apart, as a minority, and face a small share of the same prejudice and antisemitism that our Jewish friends experience every day.

Time has taught me that in many cases, it’s pointless to insist on focusing on the “right” or “wrong” religion. It is more important to care about the person behind it. I’ve also realized that these discussions usually end up like this: we’re talking apples while they’re talking bananas, mixed with personal beliefs at the end of the debate.

So I stopped trying to convince everyone. Even if, hypothetically, I had the “right” answers, it’s better to help those who are still lost on their own path to truth.

Finally, my advice would be: strengthen yourself, be a righteous person according to Hashem, and serve as an example to others. Only then consider helping them find their path. Avoid unnecessary debates, but always seek to offer genuine help.