Our Attitude Toward Gentiles, and the Decrees to Prevent Assimilation
היחס לגויים והגזירות למניעת התבוללות
As a safeguard against assimilation, the Sages decreed that Jews may not eat pat akum (gentiles’ bread), bishulei akum (gentiles’ cooking), or yayin akum (gentiles’ wine). Admittedly, there is a mitzva to love every person without distinction of race or religion, as Avraham Avinu did when he opened his tent to all passersby. This is the destiny of the Jewish people: to bring blessing to all the nations, as was said to Avraham Avinu (Bereishit 12:2-3): “I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you shall be a blessing…. And all the families of the earth shall be blessed through you.” Likewise, it was said to Yitzḥak Avinu (ibid. 26:4): “And all the nations of the earth shall bless themselves by your offspring.” And it was said to Yaakov Avinu (ibid. 28:14): “All the families of the earth shall be blessed through you and your offspring.” As our master Rav Kook wrote, love of humanity “must extend to all of mankind, despite all differences of opinion, religion, and faith, and despite all the distinctions of races and climates.” “Love of humanity must be alive in the heart and soul – love of every individual person, and love of all the nations…. For a point of life, light, and holiness never departs from the Divine image with which man as a whole was graced, and with which every nation and tongue was graced, each according to its level.” Hatred should be directed only toward the wickedness that binds the nations together and sweeps the wicked into acts of evil and corruption (Midot Ha-Re’aya, Ahava, sections 5 and 10).
However, in order for the Jewish people to be able to bring blessing to all human beings, it must cleave to the Torah and mitzvot, establish a kingdom of priests and a holy nation, and reveal the sacred value in every realm and every thing in the world, so that the Divine light and its blessing will extend to all spheres of Israelite life, and from that, inspiration and blessing will spread to all the nations. For this purpose, the Jewish people must preserve its uniqueness and set up a fence that will prevent its children from assimilating among the nations and forgetting their destiny. Since food brings hearts closer, the Sages established decrees intended to distinguish Israel from the gentiles, that Jews should not eat gentiles’ food such as wine, bread, and cooked dishes, even when they are made from kosher products.
Regarding this kind of matter, our master and teacher Rav Tzvi Yehuda would repeatedly emphasize: “Distinction is not separation.” He added that when this statement becomes widely known, redemption will come to the world. For this understanding makes it possible to reveal the uniqueness of every person and nation in a moral way, without harming the dignity of other nations and the good relations that should exist among all human beings.
Sometimes, however, a respectful distinction between Israel and the nations is not sufficient, because when nations and groups are drawn after evil and choose wickedness, there is a need to denounce them and to distance and separate oneself from them and their wickedness. In order to fence Israel off from their influence, the Sages issued a severe decree on wine touched by an idolater, that it be forbidden even for benefit. Thus, all the distancing measures from gentiles’ food serve these two purposes: to create the distinct space unique to Israel, and to distance Israel from cultures in which wickedness is prominent.
This principle is explained in the Torah with regard to all the food prohibitions, which are meant to distinguish Israel and sanctify them, as it states (Vayikra 20:24-26): “… I the Lord am your God who has set you apart from the peoples. So you shall set apart the clean beast from the unclean, the unclean bird from the clean. You shall not make yourselves abominable through beast or bird or anything with which the ground is alive, which I have set apart for you to treat as unclean. You shall be holy to Me, for I the Lord am holy, and I have set you apart from the peoples to be Mine.” We likewise learn that Jews eating gentiles’ food can lead to assimilation and idolatry, as it states (Shemot 34:15-16): “Lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they go astray after their gods and sacrifice to their gods, and one invites you and you eat of his sacrifice. And you take of his daughters for your sons, and his daughters go astray after their gods and cause your sons to go astray after their gods.”¹
Notes (1)
- Admittedly, the prohibition of eating from the gentiles’ sacrifices (Shemot 34:15) applies in its plain sense to eating from idolatrous sacrifices (so write Ramban, Semag, and Ḥinukh in explaining the verse). However, the Sages learned that the prohibition also applies to participating in a feast of idolatrous gentiles, even though the food there is kosher (Ḥullin 8a; Rambam, Hilkhot Avoda Zara 9:15; SA YD 152:1). Similarly, Rambam (Hilkhot Sheḥita 4:11-12) learned from this verse that a gentile’s slaughter, even when performed properly, is invalid. Rashba (Torat Ha-bayit Ha-katzar 3:7) and Issur Ve-heter He-arukh (43:1) based the prohibition of gentiles’ bread and cooking on this verse. It is worth noting that the decree of bishulei akum also set a safeguard against eating forbidden foods, such as neveilot, pork, sheratzim (creeping creatures), and mixtures of meat and milk, which are commonly found in gentiles’ kitchens (Rashi, Avoda Zara 38a).