Judaic attitudes to non-Jews ...................................
Israel Shamir: shamir@home.se
Often one encounters discussions about Jewish faith and its attitude to a non-Jew. Often quotes provided by various sources including that of Shahak are doubted and denied. Now for a first time you are offered an attempt of complete presentation of Jewish Orthodox sources on the subject. The one-hundred pages long treaty includes the Hebrew and Aramaic quotes in full in original and in translation; it allows full refutation of Jewish apologists and brings a lot of bright light into the situation. Written by a team of religious Jews, this treaty is still undergoes redactions, that is why it probably won't be displayed on the www.israelshamir.net site. In order to receive this document download it from
groups.yahoo.com or write to shamir@home.se with subject "attitude". It is also available in Russian; to receieve in Russian, write with subject "Russian attitude".
As a glimpse here is the summary of halachic decrees illustrating the attitude of Judaism to ... not to an ordinary goy, but to an ideal goy, as good as they come, and many rabbis say they are never that good as to deserve the caring relationship as described below. This ideal goy is called GT (ger toshav) in the summary:
1) Killing a GT (as well as any other Gentile, in principle, without a court hearing, at least in peaceful times) is forbidden. However, a Jew who murders a gentile (even in peaceful times and even intentionally) is not punishable by death in the human courts. According to some opinions he is not punishable at all by the human courts. But a GT who kills a Jew, purely by accident and unintentionally, must be put to death.
2) According to some opinions it is forbidden to desecrate the Shabbat to save the life of a GT unless there is a danger of animosity.
3) In all situations where one must choose to save either a Jew's or a GT's life or where only one of these two lives can be saved, the Jewish life must be chosen. It applies even in a situation where a criminal who is Jewish threatensing the GT's life - even then it is forbidden to kill the Jew in order to save the GT's life.
4) According to some opinions, if a Jew charges an exorbitant price or conceals the low quality of goods from a GT customer he does not owe the GT any compensation (as he would owe a Jewish customer). In any case, it is clear that if a GTgentile charges an exorbitant price or conceals the low quality of goods from a Jewish customer, he owes the Jew compensation.
5) According to most opinions it is forbidden for a Jew to consume some food products made by a GT.
6) According to most opinions, in all business transactions a Jew must be given precedence over a GT, even when this causes minor financial losses.
7) According to many opinions it is forbidden to lend money to GT without interest.
8) It is forbidden to delay the payment of the wages of a GT, but the prohibition is less severe than that of delaying a Jew's wages.
9) A GT may not be appointed to any ruling position over Jews. For example, he cannot be a judge in a Jewish court of law.
10) A GT is not considered a valid witness in a Jewish court of law.
11) A GT, as opposed to a Jew, may be easily sentenced to death in a court of law. This may be done by a single judge, based on the testimony of a single witness or his own admission of guilt, with no prior warning, even if the witness is a relative [of either the judge or the victim].
12) According to some opinions, if an animal owned by a Jew damages a GT's property the Jew is not required to pay any indemnity. But when an animal owned by a GT damages a Jew's property, the GT is obliged to pay full compensation.
13) A GT who robs or steals from a Jew (or anyone else) must be sentenced to death, whereas no Jew who robs or steals from anyone is ever sentenced to death. A Jew who steals from a GT must pay back only the sum that he stole, whereas a Jew who steals from a Jew must pay back at least twice the sum he stole.
14) The death penalty may be imposed on a GT who abducts a Jew, but not on a Jew who abducts a GT.
15) A GT must not observe the Shabbat, and he also must not establish for himself a religious festival or a religious day of rest. If he does he is to be beaten in punishment (and according to one opinion he is to be executed in punishment). According to one opinion he must not even establish for himself a secular day of rest or intentionally rest for a whole day.
16) A GT must not study the Torah. If he does he is to be beaten in punishment.
17) A Jew is not required to mourn (e.g. sit shiva) for his GT brother, sister (that is, the offspring of his father from a gentile woman), son or daughter (that is, his offspring from a gentile woman).
18) A Jew and a GT mustn't be buried side by side.
19) A Jew is not allowed to eat an animal that was slaughtered by a GT, even if it was done according to all the other rules of the Jewish law.
|
