Hi everyone.
I’m not Jewish myself, but I am a Zionist from South America with Jewish heritage (my grandparents on both sides were Jewish). I support Israel for a variety of reasons, including opposition to terrorism. However, I often face harsh criticism and stereotypes from people who say things like, ‘Jews hate everyone besides their own,’ or ‘Jews wouldn’t accept you as an ally.’
I’m reaching out to understand more about how Judaism views non-Jews. I’ve read some things, but I want to hear from those who practice or are part of the community: is there any basis to these stereotypes? Are non-Jews looked down upon in Judaism? From my perspective, the Jewish community has always seemed inclusive and supportive, but I’d really like to hear your thoughts and experiences.
Jews on non-jews
Does Judaism insult the gentiles? - Mi Yodeya - Stack Exchange
Heard the phrase "Jewish people see other non jewish people as cattle."
Question About Jewish Perspectives on Non-Jews
Videos
Like everyone else I had the perception that non-jews are generally considered below Jews in Judaism. However I googled what was the jewish stance on "goy" or whatever and read up on that on a website called jew101 or something similar and found out that it was a false perception.
However, what I see in real life definitely supports that "misconception", jews are not allowed to loan money with interest to jews but it's okay ( or to be precise, debatable but not outright unacceptable ) to take interest from non-jews, also black jews are definitely not treated the same as Ashkenazis. So what's going on?
I am a Gentile like you.
Maimonides himself states, in Mishneh Torah-Hilchot Melachim 8:11
"Anyone (Gentile) who accepts upon himself and carefully observes the Seven Commandments is one among" the Righteous of the Nations of the World ", and he has a portion in the World to Come. This is if he accepts and performs them because the Holy One, Blessed Be He, Who commanded them in the Torah, and that is was through Moses our Teacher we were informed that the Sons of Noah had already been commanded to observe them. But if he observes them because he convinced himself logically, then he is not considered a Resident Convert and is not of the Righteous of the Nations of the World, but one of their wise men. "
Maimonides is one of the greatest figures of the Jewish tradition: an exceptional rabbi, jurist and philosopher, profound connoisseur of Halakhah (Jewish Law). His Mishneh Torah is one of the most important Jewish legal codes.
As you can see, in the passage quoted by me this master highlights that, according to the Torah, a Gentile can aspire to be a just man without converting to Judaism, but by observing the "Noachid precepts", that is, those commandments that the Creator has given to whole humanity.
With all due and great respect that I have towards all religious traditions, I do not believe that such a universalistic vision exists in them. These words of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, if actually spoken, are not in my opinion against tradition: they are against the Torah, which teaches that we are all brothers, since we are all descended from the same ancestors. And in fact, the great master Simeon ben Azzai states that the greatest principle of the Torah is contained in Genesis 5.1:
"This is the record of Adam's line.When G-d created man, He made him in the likeness of G-d".
Rav Azzai in fact states that this passage from the Torah demonstrates how our neighbor is any human being,since every human being was created in the image of the Almighty.
A warm greeting
Rabbi Tovia Singher and Jews for Judaism both brought me back to my heritage. Judaism is the only religion I have found that does not think you need to be converted to be saved or you are devil possessed if you don't believe what we do. The Torah and commandments are universal. Jews of course have a different standard than non Jews but that is a choice any can make or not.
I for one am proud that I have a religion that can respect others belief's as long as they are within reason such as not being an idol worshipper, which unfortunately most Christian's are although not all.
With that said you have bad apples everyone, are there Jews that are not representative of Judaism as a whole? Of course that is just reality. The truth is most Jews are respectful of other's and actually see themselves as servants to the world not masters to be served.
Shalom
I am not jewish, just seeking clarification.
Had a classmate (who as far as Im aware is Christian) speak in class about how " Jewish people see non jewish as Cattle.", which directly contradicts a lot of what I understand about the jewish faith, ontop of just sounding/being antisemitic. Upon confronting them about this they claim this statement comes directly from there jewish freinds.
Upon looking up myself on both reddit, and just doing google searches I cant find anything that suggests this isn't anything other than antisemitism, but I do recognize that a lot of faith communities can be widely diverse in there beliefs. Are there Jewish people who believe that non jewish people are cattle? Is there anything within the Torah or any other book that would support this belief? or does this person just not know what they are talking about?
Edit:Thank you everyone so much for responding. When I initially posted I had just gotten out of an argument with this classmate over what they'd said - cause I knew instinctually that it was wrong, but I didn't have the proper words to articulate why. Collecting a bunch of information and piling it into a response for them, I'm hoping they're receptive.