toshav

Toshav is a Hebrew word meaning "resident" or "dweller." In Biblical Hebrew it describes a person who resides in a land among a population that may include natives and newcomers, without necessarily implying full citizenship or native status. In modern Hebrew, toshav simply denotes a resident of a place and is used in everyday and administrative speech, such as “toshav ha-ir” (resident of the city).

In biblical and rabbinic literature, the term exists alongside other categories describing non-native inhabitants. The key rabbinic concept related to toshav is the ger toshav, or “resident alien.” A ger toshav is a non-Israelite who resides among the Israelites and accepts certain obligations, rather than undergoing full conversion to Judaism. Rabbinic sources describe the ger toshav as being bound by a limited set of commandments, often associated with the Seven Laws of Noah, and subject to certain protections and restrictions within the community. The exact scope of obligations and privileges for a ger toshav is discussed with varying opinions across classical authorities, and there is no single, universally accepted legal framework in the sources.

The term toshav has little direct contemporary legal meaning in Israeli law, but it remains an important term in the study of biblical law and Rabbinic literature. In modern usage, the word is primarily descriptive, contrasting with terms such as oleh (immigrant) or ger (convert). As a lexical and scholarly category, toshav helps illuminate how ancient Jewish law and society conceptualized non-Israelite presence within a community.