The Jewish Attitude Toward Gentiles (4)

   The Image of God

 

            The rabbinic injunction to "select an easy death" for the person sentenced to capital punishment demonstrates that our behavior under extreme circumstances is indicative of the underlying principles of our faith.  Joshua commanded the Jews to hang the five kings that he had bested in battle, "and let them be hung upon the trees until evening" (Joshua 10:26).  Joshua took them down in the evening, thereby maintaining their human dignity since all people, including Gentiles, were created in the divine image.  The author of the eighteenth-century Mishna commentary Tif'eret Yisrael, in a special composition which he included in his commentary on Ethics of the Fathers (3:14), explains the mishna which states that mankind is beloved to God because they were created in God's image, and the Jews are beloved since they are called God's children.  This contrast teaches us that the term 'Adam' (Man) includes the children of all nations, all of whom were created in God's image.

 

            As we know, the law regarding the ritual impurity of a Gentile dead body is dependent upon the words of Rabbi Shimon, 'You [the Jewish people] are called Man' (which interprets the verse, "When a man shall die in a tent... all that is in the tent shall become ritually impure").  The Chida, in his work "Yair Ozen," states that the halakhic ruling in this issue is dependent upon the outcome of an additional debate.  The Rambam rules according to Rabbi Shimon's view, while Rabbenu Tam disagrees with him.  The Chida logically concludes that this is due to Rabbenu Tam's well-known opinion that '[the term] Man includes Gentiles as well.'  And it is interesting to note that that even the Rambam, who rules in accordance with Rabbi Shimon, refrains from explicitly using the statement 'You [the Jews] are called Man' as his rationale.

 

            Thus, we must not imbue the assertion  'You are called Man' with significance beyond its precise halakhic meaning.  In contrast to Rabbi Shimon, Rabbi Meir interpreted the verse 'that which Man [Ha-adam] shall do' to mean that a Gentile who is involved in the study of Torah is equal to a high priest.  And based upon this, Rabbenu Tam distinguished between the terms 'Adam' [the indefinite article] which refers to Israel and 'Ha-adam' [the definite article] which includes Gentiles as well.  We differentiate between Israel and the nations.  The Torah sets aside a unique destiny for the Jew.  In this sense, we believe ourselves to be a chosen people.  One who believes in the truth of the Torah is bound to distinguish between the person who possesses its truth and the person who does not.  However, this inequity is built upon a universal common denominator: the belief that all of mankind were created in the image of God.  For Jew and Gentile alike share the title of Man.

 

Civilized Nations:

 

            I do not intend to discuss the halakhic aspects of the problem of our attitude toward Gentiles.  I am not qualified to discuss practical halakhic questions.  However, we are morally obligated to respond to statements made by unqualified persons, when these affirmations cause a desecration of God's name.  These people's mistake is grounded not in a lack of knowledge of the sources; it stems rather from lack of application of these sources, which necessarily causes a lack of understanding.  Oftentimes, the halakha contains implicit conditions, in which case a person who is guided by the books alone and is uninvolved with the living oral tradition of our rabbinic giants, will not extract these conditions, which are often only explicitly stated in obscure commentaries and responsa.  The Meiri (13th-century Talmud commentator) wrote in many places that one must distinguish between idol worshippers and "the nations who are bound by religious behavior and civility."  At times, halakhic rulings are brought which contain an implicit condition: the existence of a state of war with idol worshippers who live outside of civilization and 'culture.'  A contemporary example would be of course the situation of the Jew living in Nazi-occupied Europe, under the rule of nations who were not "bound by civility," meaning without a reign of law and justice, who "are not concerned with societal responsibilities."  In contrast, the Meiri writes in his commentary on tractate Bava Kama 113:2: "Any person who is a member of the nations who are bound by religious behavior and worship the one God in some form, although their faith is far from ours, are not included in this category [of idol worshippers], but rather are considered as complete Jews regarding these issues, including [the laws of returning a] lost object ...and all other things without exception."  These words were not written because the Meiri feared the censor; they stem from a deep understanding of halakha. And similar examples can be found in the hundreds in the responsa and the writings of the mussar teachers, such as Rabbi Eliezer Azkari, who stressed that whoever keeps the seven Noachide laws is not considered an idol worshipper, or the Chavot Yair, who states simply that "Gentiles of our day are not [in the category of] idol worshippers with regard to every issue, since they believe in the Creator of heaven and earth..."(Frankfurt edition, pg. 5:2).

 

            Discriminatory behavior is sometimes the result of a historical situation.  We are not obligated to listen to preachers of morality who belong to nations which discriminate between one person and another, and determine fates according to the color of one's passport, which is the current state of affairs in all the countries of the world.  However, we must heed the call of Jewish morality, which is also part of the halakha, and which says that the representative angel of the Gentile cries out when a Jew misleads a Gentile, and that God does justice to the oppressors whether they be Jews or Gentiles (Sefer Chassidim, Mekitzei Nirdamim edition, section 133).  Rav Kook summarized this as follows:

 

"This [concept of] 'ways of peace' is founded upon the depth of the truth from every angle.  And in no shape or form is there justification for any nation to curtail the rights of its neighbor without a general exalted aim.  Therefore, the advocates of Israel were right in their claim that we are all 'children of one father,' besides the fact that the truth lies with the Meiri's opinion that all the nations that are bound by just behavior between man and his fellow man are considered proselytes with regard to all human obligations" (Igrot Ha-ra'aya 89, part 1:99).

 

Between Ethics and Esthetics

 

            Regrettably, there are times when the use of violence is inevitable.  The Rambam teaches us that this violence must never become a character trait.  The Shulchan Arukh states that "he who is insolent and cruel and hates PEOPLE and does not behave kindly towards them, we fear greatly for him."  We are forbidden to be cruel to merciful people and one must protect the innocent at the cost of the lives of many murderers.  And yet, the spilling of blood - any blood - maintains its severe character and demands atonement.  In the words of the famed rabbi of Brisk, the Griz (Rabbi Yitzchak Ze'ev Soloveitchik), man must make a judgment and an accounting.  He must judge whether his reaction to the situation was appropriate, and he must account for the fact that he found himself in the situation in the first place.  Judgment and accounting must be given by those who distort the Torah by using holy words as political slogans.  Yet, an accounting must also be rendered by the person who is not motivated by ethics but by the esthetics of ethics, and is more concerned with 'how we look' than by determining the correct course of action.  This is the revolting syndrome particular to those people who take lessons in morality from the pages of the world's newspapers.  In the esthetics of ethics the battle is lost in advance.  For there are many nations indeed who cannot forgive us for the fact that they have murdered us.

 

            I would like to conclude this section with the words of the revered Rabbi Avraham Grodzinsky, may he rest in peace, the spiritual leader of the Slobodka yeshiva at the time of its destruction in the Holocaust (Torat Avraham, pg. 139):

 

"Not only Israel, but also all other nations, since they were created in the image of God, have the potential to reach the highest levels.  How wonderful are the words of the [midrash] Tana Debei Eliyahu, which says: I bear witness before heaven and earth, that Jew or Gentile, man or woman, slave or maidservant, all receive holy revelation according to their actions."

 

(This lecture was translated by Gila Weinberg.)

 

Copyright (c)1996 Prof. Shalom Rosenberg, Yeshivat Har Etzion.  All rights reserved.