The Conservative sources listed on Lookjed that propose teaching positive things about "the goyim" are part of a long tradition of Jewish apologetics on the issue. A longer presentation of this type of view is eloquently presented by Rabbi Brad Hirschfield in his book, "You Don't Have to be Wrong for Me to be Right" that describes his transition from a self described Gush Emunim type settler to Clal trained JTS ordained Rabbi.
Of course the Torah does say some negative things against idolators, but many Poskim differentiate between modern non-Jews including Christians and the idolators mentioned in the Bible. There are also some Talmudic statements that can be explained the same way. One of the earliest written apologetic works answering the accusation of Judaism espousing negative views about non-Jews is "Against Apion" by Josephus.
Later Christian writers painted Pharisaic Judaism as being against non-Jews in ways that can easily be explained as well. When Jesus famously calls the Pharisees (Prushim) a "den of vipers" for their views of their opponents, modern authors show how this merely paraphrases a classic Talmudic insult of a small group of colleagues in an internal (Beit Hillel versus Beit Shamai) rather than external (Pharisee versus Nazarene) type dispute.
The modern Sage perhaps most responsible for promoting a Torah perspective viewing gentiles in a positive light was Italian Rabbi Elijah Benamozegh in the mid 1800's who first articulated a cogent vision of modern Noahidism. See [
www.wikinoah.org]
In a most impenetrable but powerful way Franz Rosensweig deconstructed the "You don't have to be wrong for me to be right" approach to Judaism. In his "Star of Redemption" he espouses a provocative doctrine of multiple revelations that maintains each nation receives God's revelation based on their spiritual capacity and makeup in unique ways.
Perhaps the most misunderstood phrase about non-Jews is the previously quoted section in the Conservative assembly's article of the Chabad classic Sefer Tanya where the Baal HaTanya quotes mystical sources implying the souls of Jews and non-Jews are quantitatively different. Some Chabad sources make the point that these differences are qualitative nuanced statements about the ease of actualizing and refining the spiritual potential of the soul of a person. See Rav Uri Sherki's commentary on the Shmoneh Perakim of the Rambam for further explanation of this subtle Kabbalistic idea that is not to be superficially taken at face value.
One could easily assume that the Baal HaTanya wanted to discourage assimilation for the masses of Jews being attracted to secular culture after the ghetto walls started coming down so the simple wording of his thoughts served a more pragmatic purpose to prevent intermarriage and was left unexplained for this reason. None other than the spiritual heir of the Baal HaTanya, the late Lubavitcher Rebbi, launched a world wide focus on teaching non-Jews the seven Noahide commandments to fulfill our goal to be a light unto the nations.
In an era of some extremist interpretations of Islam that espouse 'us right everyone else wrong' theology threatening the very existence of human civilization, the Dalai Lama has written extensively in his "Ethics for the New Millennium" about the very real existential threat to humanity such approaches could have on the world. A great short universal text to teach students what common values (should) run through all of humanity is "The Abolition of Man" by C.S. Lewis.
Any normative reading of Orthodox Jewish Halacha would not espouse harming others unless it is self defense. The extremist views espoused in the books quoted in the Assembly article are not Halachic responsum. It should be noted that even during the Eichman trial there were Rabbinic opinions that said we do not have the power to administer the death penalty nowadays without a Sanhedrin even for someone as loathsome as Eichman. Even Rav Avraham Yitzchak HaCohen Kook himself when interviewed by the British mandate authorities about Jewish aspirations for the future was very cautious about responding negatively about non-Jews.
Shalom,
Elisha Paul
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/19/2016 12:35PM by mlb.
