Encountering the other – a halachic exploration
Rabbi Dr Raymond
Apple over at www.oztorah.com is Rabbi Emeritus of the Great Synagogue of
Sydney, Australia. He has also been involved with the Australian Council of
Christians and Jews. In
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| Image credit: www.pillar-of-enoch.com |
his recent paper delivered to that organisation, Rabbi
Dr Apple highlights some of the historic traditions concerning Jewish beliefs
and practices towards Gentiles—in particular, Gentile Christians.
One fascinating point he makes is that originally
the term “gentile” referred to someone who belonged to any people, including
the Jewish people, since according to the Tanach,
even an Israelite was a goy. Rabbi
Dr Apple goes on to highlight Jewish trading with Gentiles on their festivals; saving
the life of a Gentile; accepting a gift from a Gentile; participating in the
wedding feast of a Gentile; pikku’ach nefesh [saving the life in an
emergency] of a Gentile. In his conclusion, the rabbi states that one of the key
questions regarding relations with the two other monotheistic religions was
whether or not they were idolaters—if so, then their religions and theology
were false and that would prevent them from engaging in relations with such
idolaters. However: “Thanks to Menachem Me’iri and similar
teachers, Judaism decided that the other monotheistic faiths fostered morality
and uprightness and Jews could work with them.” You can read the whole paper
here.
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