It seems to me that Hillel's principle that "what is hateful to you, you should not do to others" should apply to our relations to non-Jews. How would we feel if in Canon Law we read that on Sunday one can save the life of a Christian, but not of a Jew, or that it was forbidden to steal from a Christian but not for a Jew? Therefore any Jewish law that permits that type of discrimination against a non-Jew or that states that non-Jews are inferior to Jews should be prohibited. However in matters of ritual and participation in Jewish services it is permitted to place limits on the place of non-Jews and in matters concerning the future of the jewish people such as intermarriage it is permissible to state that this is prohibited. Since Christians and Muslims are not idolaters, laws that prevent our being in contact with them have no place. In all our teaching we must be careful to make it clear that texts that teach hatred of non-Jews are not authoritative. We can hate evil actions by non-Jews just as we hate evil actions by Jews - that is what the prophets did. Concerning stam yanom etc. this is a ruling that the Law Committee make some years ago and therefore had to be included. It is not something new.
Reuven Hammer
