The Pete Quiñones Show - Pete Reads 'Jewish History, Jewish Religion' by Israel Shahak Part 6
Episode Date: June 26, 202445 MinutesPG-13Pete continues reading of Israel Shahak's 1994 book, "Jewish History, Jewish Religion - The Weight of Three-Thousand Years." In this episode he reads the first half of chapter 5.Antelop...e Hill - Promo code "peteq" for 5% off - https://antelopehillpublishing.com/FoxnSons Coffee - Promo code "peter" for 18% off - https://www.foxnsons.com/Jewish History, Jewish ReligionVIP Summit 3-Truth To Freedom - Autonomy w/ Richard GroveSupport Pete on His WebsitePete's PatreonPete's Substack Pete's SubscribestarPete's GUMROADPete's VenmoPete's Buy Me a CoffeePete on FacebookPete on TwitterBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-pete-quinones-show--6071361/support.
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lending criteria. Terms and conditions apply. Volkswagen Financial Services Ireland Limited. Trading as
Cooper Financial Services is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland. I want to welcome everyone back to
part six of my reading of Israel Shahawks' Jewish history, Jewish religion, the weight of 3,000 years.
First, a reminder that Thomas and I are doing movie reviews, talking about the movies,
their cultural significance,
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All right?
Let's jump into it.
This is chapter 5,
the laws against non-Jews.
As explained in chapter 3,
the halakha, that is,
the legal system of class
Judaism as practiced by virtually all Jews from the 9th century to the end of the 18th,
and as maintained to this very day in the form of Orthodox Judaism, is based primarily on the Babylonian
Talmud. However, because of the unwield the complexity of the legal disputations recorded in
the Talmud, more manageable codifications of Talmudic law became necessary and were indeed
compiled by successive generations of the rabbinical scholars.
Some of those have acquired great authority or in general use.
For this reason, we shall refer, for the most part, to such compilations and their most reputable
commentaries rather than directly to the Talmud.
It is, however, correct to assume that the compilation referred to reproduces faithfully
the meaning of the Talmudic text and the addition made by later scholars on the basis of
that meaning.
The earliest code of Talmudic law, which is stated in the meaning.
which is still of major importance is the Mishnah Torah written by Moses Maimonides
in the late 12th century.
The most authoritative code widely used to date as a handbook is the Shulan Arouk, composed by R. Yosef Caro
in the late 16th century as a popular condensation of his own much more voluminous
Bait Yosef, which was intended for the advanced scholar.
The Shalhon Arok is much commented upon.
In addition to classical commentaries dating from the 17th century,
there is an important 20th century one,
the Mishna Beruah, Beruera.
Finally, the Talmudic Encyclopedia,
a modern compilation published in Israel from the 1950s,
and edited by the country,
country's greatest Orthodox rabbinical scholars is a good compendium of the whole Talmudic literature.
Murder and genocide
According to the Jewish religion, the murder of a Jew is a capital offense and one of the three most heinous sins, the other two being idolatry and adultery.
Jewish religious courts and secular authorities are commanded to punish, even beyond the limits of the ordinary administration of justice, anyone guilty of.
of murdering a Jew.
This is very interesting here that they say beyond the limits of the ordinary administration
of justice, because if you read the authoritarian personality, which was written by four Jews
and commissioned by the American Jewish Committee, which was basically designed to try to figure
out how white people become fascist and how to stop them from becoming fascist,
one of the questions they ask is, do you believe that somebody who hurts a child should be punished beyond the, what does it say here?
The ordinary administration of justice.
I call that the Leo Frank question, but it also raises a lot of questions.
Let's just put it that way, specifically when it comes to hurting a child.
I found that very odd the first time I read it.
A Jew who indirectly causes a death of another Jew is, however, only guilty of what Talmudic law calls a sin against the laws of heaven to be punished by God rather than by man.
When the victim is a Gentile, the position is quite different.
A Jew who murders a Gentile is guilty only of a sin against the laws of heaven, not punishable by a court.
to cause indirectly the death of a Gentile is no sin at all.
Thus, one of the two most important commentators on the Shulhan Aruk explains that when it comes to a Gentile,
quote, one must not lift one's hand to harm him, but one may harm him indirectly,
for instance, by removing a ladder after he had fallen into a crevice.
There is no prohibition there, because it was not done directly.
end quote.
He points out, however, that an act leading indirectly to a Gentile's death is forbidden if it may cause the spread of hostility towards Jews.
A Gentile murderer who happens to be under Jewish jurisdiction must be executed whether the victim was Jewish or not.
However, if the victim was Gentile and the murderer converts to Judaism, he is not punished.
That's...
all this has a direct and practical relevance to the realities of the state of Israel.
Although the state's criminal laws make no distinction between Jew and Gentile,
such distinction is certainly made by Orthodox rabbis,
who in guiding their flock follow the halaka of special importance is the advice they give to religious soldiers.
Since even the minimal interdiction against murdering a Gentile outright applies only,
to Gentiles with whom we, the Jews, are not at war. Various rabbinical commentators in the past
drew the logical conclusion that in wartime, all Gentiles belonging to a hostile population
may or even should be killed. He provides a footnote. It all sound familiar. Since 1973,
this doctrine is being publicly propagated for the guidance of religious Israeli soldiers.
The first such official exhortation was included in a booklet published by the Central Region Command of the Israeli Army, whose area includes the West Bank.
In this booklet, the command's chief chaplain writes, quoting,
When our forces come across civilians during a war or in hot pursuit or in a raid,
so long as there is no certainty that those civilians are incapable of harming our forces,
then according to the halakha, they may or even should be.
killed. Under no circumstances should an Arab be trusted, even if he makes an impression of being
civilized. In war, when our forces storm the enemy, they are allowed and even enjoined by the
halakha to kill even good civilians, that is, civilians who are ostensibly good, provides a
footnote. The same doctrine is expounded in the following exchange of letters between a young
Israeli soldier and his rabbi published in the yearbook of one of the country's most prestigious
religious colleges. Merashit Noam, where many leaders and activists of the National
Religious Party and Gush Eminum have been educated. Ready for huge savings? We'll mark your
calendars from November 28 to 30th because the Liddle Newbridge Warehouse sale is back. We're talking
thousands of your favourite Lidl items
all reduced to clear. From home
essentials to seasonal must-habs
when the doors open, the deals go
fast. Come see for yourself.
The Liddle Newbridge Warehouse Sale
28th to 30th of November.
Liddle, more to value.
You catch them in the corner
of your eye. Distinctive
by design. They move you
even before you drive.
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for Mentor, Léon and Tate.
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Finance provided by way of higher purchase agreement from Volkswagen Financial Services
Ireland Limited.
Subject to lending criteria.
Terms and conditions apply.
Volkswagen Financial Services Ireland Limited.
Trading as Cooper Financial Services is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland.
Those people who love going out shopping for Black Friday deals,
They're mad, aren't they?
Like, proper mad.
Brenda wants a television and she's prepared to fight for it, if you ask me.
It's the fastest way to a meltdown.
Me, I just prepare the fastest way to get stuff,
and it doesn't get faster than Appliances Delivered.aE.
Top brand appliances, top brand electricals,
and if it's online, it's in stock.
With next day delivery in Greater Dublin.
Appliances delivered.orgia, part of expert electrical.
See it, buy it, get it tomorrow.
Or you know, fight Brenda.
Letter from the soldier Moisha,
to Rabbi Shimon Weiser.
With God's help, to his honor, my dear rabbi.
First, I would like to ask how you and your family are.
I hope all is well.
I am, thank God, feeling well.
A long time I have not written.
Please forgive me.
Sometimes I recall the verse,
When shall I come and appear before God?
I hope without being certain that I shall come during one of the leaves.
I must do so.
In one of the discussions in our group, there was a debate about the purity of weapons,
and we discussed whether it is permitted to kill unarmed men or women and children.
Or perhaps we should take revenge on the Arabs.
And then everyone answered, let me phrase that in a question, because it is a question,
or perhaps we should take revenge on the Arabs?
And then everyone answered according to his own understanding.
I could not arrive at a clear decision whether Arabs should,
be treated like the Amalekites, meaning that one is permitted to murder them until their remembrance
is blotted out from under heaven, or perhaps one should do as an a just war in which one kills only
soldiers. A second problem I have is whether I am permitted to put myself in danger by allowing a woman
to stay alive, for there have been cases where women through hand grenades, or am I permitted to give water to an
Arab who put his hand up.
For there may be reason to fear that he only means to deceive me and will kill me,
and such things have happened.
I conclude with a warm greeting to the rabbi and all his family.
Moisha.
Reply of our Shimon, Arshimon, Weissar, to Moisa.
With the help of heaven, dear Moisha, greetings.
I am starting this letter this evening, although I know I cannot finish it this evening.
both because I am busy and because I would like to make it a long letter to answer your question in full,
for which purpose I shall have to copy out some of the sayings of our sages of blessed memory and interpret them.
Quote, these non-Jewish nations have a custom according to which war has its own rules,
like those of a game, like the rules of football or basketball.
But according to the sayings of our sages of blessed memory,
War for us is not a game but a vital necessity, and only by this standard must we decide how to wage it.
On the one hand, we seem to learn that if a Jew murder is a Gentile, he is regarded as a murderer,
and except for the fact that no court has the right to punish him, the gravity of the deed is like that of any other murder.
But we find in some of the very same authorities in another place that Rabbi Shimon used to say,
the best of Gentiles kill him, the best of snakes, dash out its brains.
It might perhaps be argued that the expression, kill, in the saying of Archimon, is only figurative
and should not be taken literally, but as meaning oppress, or some similar attitude,
and in this way we also avoid a contradiction with the authorities quoted earlier.
Or one might argue that this saying, though meant literally, is merely his own personal
opinion disputed by other sages quoted earlier. But we find the true explanation in the
Tosophot, in the Tosophot. There we learn the following comment on the Talmudic pronouncement
that Gentiles who fall into a well should not be helped out, but neither should they be pushed into the
well to be killed, which means that they should neither be saved from death nor killed directly.
And the Tosophat writes as follows, and if it is queried because in another place it was said the best of Gentiles kill him, then the answer is that this saying is meant for wartime.
According to commentators of the Tosophat, a distinction must be made between wartime and peace, so that although during peacetime it is forbidden to kill Gentiles, in a case it occurs in wartime, it is a mitzvah, impasseh, impasseh,
imperative religious duty, to kill them.
And this is the difference between a Jew and a Gentile,
although the rule, whoever comes to kill you, kill him first, applies to a Jew,
as was said in Tractate Sanhedron of the Talmud, page 72A,
still it only applies to him if there is actual ground to fear that he is coming to kill you.
But a Gentile during wartime is usually to be presumed so,
except when it is quite clear that he has no evil intent.
That is the rule of purity of weapons, according to the halakha,
and not the alien conception which is now accepted in the Israeli army
and which has been the cause of many Jewish casualties.
I enclose a newspaper cutting with the speech made last week in the Knesset by Rabbi Kalman Kahana,
which shows in a very lifelike and also painful way how this purity of weapons has caused.
deaths.
I conclude here, hoping that you will not find the length of this letter irksome.
This subject was being discussed even without your letter, but your letter showed,
your letter caused me to write up the whole matter.
Be in peace, you and all Jews, and I hope to see you soon, as you say yours, Shimon.
Here's a reply of Moisha back to our Shimon Vicer.
to his honor, my dear rabbi.
First, I hope that you and your family are in health and are all right.
I have received your long letter and I'm grateful for your personal watch over me,
for I assume that you write to many,
and most of your time is taking up with your studies in your own program.
Therefore, my thanks to your doubly deep.
As for the letter itself, I have understood it as follows.
In wartime, I am not merely permitted, but in july,
join to kill every Arab man and woman who I come upon if there is reason to fear that they
help in the war against us directly or indirectly. And as far as I am concerned, I have to
kill them even if that might result in an involvement with the military law. I think that this matter
of the purity of weapons should be transmitted to educational institutions, at least to religious
ones so that they should have a position about this subject and so that they will not wander
in the broad fields of logic, especially on this subject, and the rule has to be explained
as it should be followed in practice, for I am sorry to say I have seen different types of logic
here among the religious comrades. I do hope that you shall be active in this, so that our boys
will know the line of their ancestors clearly and unambiguously. I conclude here hoping
that when training course ends in about a month,
I shall be able to come to the Yashivavah Talmudah College.
Greetings, Moisha.
We're back to Shahak writing.
Of course, this doctrine of the holoca on murder clashes, in principle,
not only with Israel's criminal law,
but also, as hinted in the letters just quoted,
with official military standing regulations.
However, there can be little doubt that in practice,
doctrine does exert an influence on the administration of justice, especially by military authorities.
The fact that in all cases where Jews have, in a military or paramilitary context, murdered Arab
non-combatants, including cases of mass murders such as the Khafer Qasim in 1956, the murderers,
if not let off altogether, receive extremely light sentences or one far-reaching remissions,
reducing their punishment to next to nothing.
New heading, saving of life.
This subject, the supreme value of human life and the obligation of every human being to do the utmost to save the life of a fellow human, is of obvious importance in itself.
It is also a particular interest in a Jewish context in view of the fact that since the Second World War, Jewish opinion has, in some cases justly and others unjustly, condemned the whole world, or at least all Europe, for standing by when Jews were being massacred.
let us therefore examine what the halukah has to say on this subject
according to the halakah the duty to save the life of a fellow jew is paramount
it supersedes all other religious obligations and introductions
accepting only the prohibitions against the three most heinous sins of adultery
including incest murder and idolatry
and if you're thinking about what's called the hannibal protocol
where if Jews are taken hostage that they become a liability and that the IDF or whoever is responding is allowed to kill them.
You may have thought of that.
I know I did when I read that.
As for Gentiles, the basic Talmudic principle is that their lives must not be saved,
although it is also forbidden to murder them outright.
The Talmud itself expresses that in the Maxim Gentiles are neither to be lifted out of,
the well, nor hauled down into it.
Maimonides explains, as for Gentiles with whom we are not at war, their death must not be caused,
but it is forbidden to save them if they are at the point of death.
If, for example, one of them is seen falling into the sea, he should not be rescued,
for it is written, neither shalt thou stand against the blood of thy fellow.
But a Gentile is not thy fellow.
End quote.
In particular, a Jewish doctor must not treat a Jewel.
gentile patient. Maimonides, himself an illustrious physician, is quite explicit on this.
In another passage, he repeats the distinction between thy fellow and a Gentile, and concludes,
and from this, learn ye, that it is forbidden to heal a Gentile, even for payments.
That's got to hurt. However, the refusal of a Jew, particularly a Jewish doctor, to save the
life of a Gentile may, if it becomes known, antagonize powerful Gentiles and so put Jews in danger.
Where such danger exists, the obligation to avert it supersedes the ban on helping the Gentile.
Thus, Maimonides continues, but if you fear him or his hostility, cure him for payment,
though you are forbidden to do so without payments.
There it is.
In fact, Maimonides himself was Saladin's personal physician.
His insistence on demanding payment, presumably in order to make sure that the act is not one of human charity but an unavoidable duty, is however not absolute.
For in another passage, he allows a Gentile whose hostility is feared to be treated, even grotes, if it is unavoidable.
The whole doctrine, the ban on saving a Gentile's life for healing him, and the suspension of this ban, the suspension of this ban, in cases where there is fear of hostility,
is repeated virtually verbatim by another, by other major authorities, including the 14th century Abar Torem and Karros Bait Yosef and Shavan Arok.
Bait Yosef adds, quoting Maimonides, and it is permissible to try out a drug on a heathen if this serves a purpose.
And this is also repeated also by the famous R. Moses Isserdes.
I'll just leave that alone so that this can stay on YouTube.
The consensus of halakhic authorities is that the term Gentiles and the above doctrine refers to all non-Jews.
A lone voice of dissent is that of Aramoses Rufkis, author of a minor commentary on the Shalun Aurok, who writes, quoting,
Our sages only said this about heathens, who in their day worshipped idols and did not believe in the Jewish exodus from Egypt.
or in the creation of the world ex nihilo, out of nothing.
But the Gentiles in whose protective shade, we, the people of Israel, are exiled,
and among whom we are scattered do believe in the creation of the world ex nihilo,
and in the ex-Nihilo, and in several principles of our own religion,
and they pray to the creator of heaven and earth.
Not only is there no interdiction against helping them,
but we are even obliged to pray for their safety.
This passage dating from the second half of the 17th century is a favorite quote of apologetic scholars.
Actually, it does not go nearly as far as the apologetics pretend, for it advocates removing the ban on saving a Gentile's life, rather than making it mandatory, as in the case of a Jew, and even this liberality extends only to Christians and Muslims, but not the majority of human beings.
Rather, what it does show is that there was a way in which the harsh doctrine of the halakhah
could have been progressively liberalized.
But as a matter of fact, the majority of the later halukic authorities, far from extending
Rifke's leniency to other human groups, have rejected it altogether.
Ready for huge savings?
Well, mark your calendars from November 28 to 30th, because the Liddle Newbridge Warehouse sale is back.
We're talking thousands of your favourite
Liddle items all reduced to clear
From home essentials to seasonal must-habs
When the doors open
The deals go fast
Come see for yourself
The Liddle Newbridge Warehouse Sale
28th to 30th of November
Lidl, more to value
Those people who love going out shopping
for Black Friday deals
They're mad, aren't they? Like proper mad
Brenda wants a television and she's prepared to fight for it
If you ask me
It's the fastest way to a meltdown
Me, I just prepare the fastest way to get stuff
and it doesn't get faster than Appliances Delivered.aE.
Top brand appliances, top brand electricals
and if it's online, it's in stock.
With next day delivery in Greater Dublin.
Appliances delivered.aE, part of expert electrical.
See it, buy it, get it tomorrow.
Or you know, fight branda.
You catch them in the corner of your eye.
Distinctive, by design.
They move you.
Even before you drive.
The new Cooper plugin hybrid.
range. For Mentor, Leon and Terramar. Now with flexible PCP finance and trade-in boosters of up to
2000 euro. Search Coopera and discover our latest offers. Coopera, design that moves. Finance provided by
way of higher purchase agreement from Volkswagen Financial Services Ireland Limited, subject to
lending criteria. Terms and conditions apply. Volkswagen Financial Services Ireland Limited,
trading as Cooper Financial Services is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland.
New heading, desecrating the Sabbath to save life.
Desecrating the Sabbath, that is, doing work that would otherwise be banned on Saturday,
becomes a duty when the need to save a Jew's life demands it.
The problem of saving a Gentile's life in the Sabbath is not raised in the Talmud as a main issue,
since it is in any case forbidden even on a weekday.
It does, however, enter as a complicating factor into connections.
First, there is a problem where a group of people are in danger, and it is possible, but not certain, that there is at least one Jew among them.
Should the Sabbath be desecrated in order to save them?
We're getting real tumultic here.
There is an extensive discussion of such cases.
Of course there is.
Following earlier authorities, including my mom, my momenides, my mom, how could I pronounce it like two minutes ago?
Well, and now I'm stumbling over it.
my mom and the Talmud itself, the Shalhun Aduk, decides these matters according to the weight of probabilities.
For example, suppose nine Gentiles and one Jew live in the same building.
One Saturday, the building collapses.
One of the ten that is not known which one is away, but the other nine are trapped under the rubble.
Should the rubble be cleared, thus desecrating the Sabbath, seeing that the Jew may not be under it.
He may have been the one that got away.
The Sholan Aruk says that it should, presumably because the odds that the Jew is under the rubble are high, nine to one.
But now, but suppose that nine got away and only one again, it is not known which one is trapped.
Then there is no duty to clear the rubble, presumably because this time there are long odds,
nine to one, against the Jew being the person trapped.
similarly, if a boat containing some Jews is seen to be in peril upon the sea,
it is a duty incumbent upon all to desecrate the Sabbath in order to save it.
However, the great R. Akiva Iger died 1837, comments that this applies only when it is
known that there are Jews on board. But if nothing at all is known about the identity of those
on board, the Sabbath must not be desecrated for one acts according to the weight of probabilities
and the majority of the people in the world are Gentiles.
Thus, since there are very long odds against any of the passengers being Jewish, they must be
allowed to drown.
Secondly, the provision that a Gentile may be saved or cared for in order to avert the danger
of hostility is curtailed on the Sabbath.
A Jew called upon to help a Gentile on a weekday may have to comply because to admit that
he is not allowed, in principle, to save the life of a non-Jew, would be to invite hostility.
but on Saturday the Jew can use Sabbath observance as a plausible excuse.
A paradigmatic case discussed at length in the Talmud is that of a Jewish midwife invited to help a
Gentile woman in childbirth. The upshot is that the midwife is allowed to help on a weekday
for fear of hostility, but on the Sabbath she must not do so because she can excuse herself by saying
we are allowed to desecrate the Sabbath only for our own who observe the Sabbath, but for your people,
who did not keep the Sabbath, we are not allowed to desecrate it.
Is this explanation a genuine one or merely an excuse?
My mom in Nadez clearly thinks that it is just an excuse, which can be used even if the
task that the midwife is invited to do, does not actually involve any desecration of the Sabbath.
Presumably, the excuse will work just as well, even in this case, because Gentiles are generally in the
dark as to precisely which kinds of work are banned for Jews on the Sabbath.
At any rate, he decrees, a Gentile woman must not be helped in childbirth on the Sabbath,
even for payment, nor must one fear hostility, even when such help involves no desecration
of the Sabbath.
The Shohan Aruk decrees likewise.
Nevertheless, this sort of excuse could not always be relied upon to do the trick and avert Gentile
hostility.
Therefore, certain important rabbinical authorities had to relax the rules to some extent
and allowed Jewish doctors to treat Gentiles on the Sabbath, even if this involved doing
certain types of work normally banned on that day.
This partial relaxation applied particularly to rich and powerful Gentile patients
who could not be fobbed off so easily and whose hostility could be dangerous.
Thus, R. Yol Circus, author of Bayet Hadash, and one of the greatest rabbis of all time, Poland's 17th century,
decided that mayors, petty nobles, and aristocrats should be treated on the Sabbath
because of the fear of their hostility, which involves some danger.
But in other cases, especially when the Gentile can be fobbed off with an evasive excuse,
a Jewish doctor would commit an unbearable sin by treating him on the Sabbath.
Later in the same century, a similar verdict was given in the French city of Metz, whose two parts were connected by a pontoon bridge.
Jews are not normally allowed to cross such a bridge on the Sabbath, but the rabbi of Metz decided that a Jewish doctor may nevertheless do so if he is called to the great governor.
Since the doctor is known to cross the bridge for the sake of his Jewish patients, the governor's hostility could be aroused if the doctor refused to do so for his sake.
Under the authoritarian rule of Louis XIV, it was evidently important to have the goodwill of his intendant.
The feelings of lesser Gentiles were of little importance.
Hachmahat Shlomo, a 19th century commentary on the Shalhoun Aruk, mentions a strictly, a similarly strict, a similarly strict interpretation of the concept hostility in connection with the Karaites, a small heretical Jewish sect.
According to this view, their lives must not be saved if that would involve desecration of the Sabbath.
For hostility applies only to the heathen, who are many against us, and we are delivered into their hands.
But the Carriites are few, and we are not delivered into their hands.
So the fear of hostility does not apply to them at all.
In fact, the absolute ban on desecrating the Sabbath in order to save the life of a carriot is still in force today, as we shall see.
The whole subject is extensively discussed in the response of R. Moisha Sofer, better known as Hatam Sofer, the famous rabbi of Presberg, Bratislava, who died in 1832. His conclusions are of more the historical interests since in 1966, one of his responsea was publicly endorsed by the then-Chief Rabbi of Israel as a basic institution of the halaka.
The particular question asked of Hatam Sofer concerned the situation in Turkey, where it was decreed during one of the wars that in each township or village, there should be midwives on call ready to hire themselves out to any woman in labor.
Some of these midwives were Jewish.
Should they hire themselves out to help Gentile women on weekdays and on the Sabbath?
In his response, Hatam Sofer first concludes after careful investigation that the Gentile's concern,
that is, Ottoman Christians, and Muslims are not only idolaters who definitely worship other
gods and thus should neither be lifted out of the well nor hauled down, but are likened by him
to the Amalekites, so that the Talmudic ruling, it is forbidden to multiply the seed of Amalek,
applies to them. In principle, therefore, they should not be helped even on weekdays. However,
in practice, it is permitted to heal Gentiles and help them in labor if they have doctors
and midwives of their own, who could be called instead of the Jewish ones.
For if Jewish doctors and midwives refused to attend to the Gentiles,
the only result would be lost of income to the former, which is, of course, undesirable.
This applies equally on weekdays and on the Sabbath, provided no desecration of the Sabbath
is involved. However, in the latter case, the Sabbath can serve as an excuse to mislead the
heathen women and say that it would involve desecration of the Sabbath. In connection with cases
that do actually involve desecration of the Sabbath, Hatam-Safir, like other authorities, makes a
distinction between two categories of work banned on the Sabbath. First, there is work banned by the
Torah, the biblical text, as interpreted by the Talmud. Such work may only be performed in very
exceptional cases, if failing to do so would cause an extreme danger of hostility toward Jews. Then there
types of work which are only banned by the sages who extended the original law of the Torah.
The attitude towards breaking such bans is generally more lenient.
Another response of Hatzim Sufer deals with the question of whether it is permissible for a Jewish
doctors to travel by carriage on the Sabbath in order to heal a Gentile.
After pointing out that under certain conditions traveling by horse-drawn carriage on the Sabbath
only violates a ban imposed by the sages rather than by the Torah, he goes on to recall,
my momenides pronouncement that Gentile women in labor must not be helped on the Sabbath,
even if no desecration of the Sabbath is involved, and states that the same principle applies to all
medical practice, not just midwifery. But he then voices the fear that if this were put into
practice, it would arouse undesirable hostility, for the Gentiles would not accept the excuse
of Sabbath observance, and would say that the blood of an idolater has little worth
our eyes. Also, perhaps more importantly, Gentile doctors might take revenge on their Jewish patients.
Better excuses must be found. He advises a Jewish doctor who is called to treat a Gentile patient
out of town on the Sabbath to excuse himself by saying that he is required to stay in town
in order to look after his other patients, for he can use this in order to say, I cannot move
because of the danger to this or that patient who needs a doctor first, and I may not desert my charge.
With such an excuse, there is no fear of danger, for it is a reasonable pretext commonly given by doctors who are late in arriving because another patient needed them first.
Only if it is impossible to give any excuses a doctor permitted to travel by carriage on the Sabbath in order to treat a Gentile.
In the whole discussion, the main issue is the excuses that should be made, not the actual healing or the welfare of the patients.
And throughout, it is taken for granted that it is all right to deceive Gentile.
rather than to treat them so long as hostility can be averted. Two sentences right there that
really should look at. In the whole discussion, he's talking about all of this. Basically,
in summary, he's saying, the main issue is the excuses that should be made. So the argument is
over what excuses, not should they actually be healed?
it's just how do I get out of this?
How do we get out of it without?
And then the second sentence
and throughout it is taken for granted
that it is all right to deceive Gentiles
rather than treat them so long as hostility can be averted.
So basically,
it's our right to deceive,
it's our right to lie,
all we're worried about is the excuses,
and the only thing that we have to worry about is hostility.
So basically,
all of this discussion is about how to avoid hostility. Of course, in modern times, most Jewish
doctors are not religious and do not even know of these rules. I knew he was going to get to this.
I was going to comment on this earlier. So of course, in modern times, most Jewish doctors are not
religious and do not even know these rules. Moreover, it appears that even many who are religious
preferred to their credits who abide to the Hippocratic oath rather than by the precepts of their
fanatic rabbis. However, the rabbi's guidance cannot
fail to have some influence on some doctors, and there are certainly many who, while not actually
following that guidance, choose not to protest against it publicly. All this is far from being a dead
issue. The most up-to-date Halakic position on these matters is contained in a recent, concise,
and authoritative book published in English under the title Jewish Medical Law. This book, which
bears the imprint of the prestigious Israeli Foundation,
Masad Harav Khukh,
is based on the response of R.
Eliezer Yehuda Waldenberg,
Chief Justice of the Rabbinical District Court of Jerusalem.
A few passages of this work deserve special mention.
First, quoting,
It is forbidden to desecrate the Sabbath for a Chiarite.
That is stated bluntly,
absolutely without any further qualification.
presumably the hostility of the small sect makes no difference so they should be allowed to die rather than be treated on the Sabbath.
As for Gentiles, quote, according to the ruling stated in the Talmud and codes of Jewish law, it is forbidden to desecrate the Sabbath, whether violating biblical or rabbinic law in order to save the life of a dangerously ill Gentile patient.
It is also forbidden to deliver the baby of a Gentile woman on the Sabbath, close quote.
But this is qualified by a dispensation.
However, today it is permitted to desecrate the Sabbath on behalf of a Gentile by performing
actions prohibited by rabbinic law, for by so doing one prevents ill feelings from arising
between Jew and Gentile.
Is this liberalizing?
This does not go very far because medical treatment very often involves acts banned on the Sabbath
by the Torah itself, which are not covered by this dispensation. There it is. There are, we are told,
some halakic authorities who extend the dispensation to such acts as well, but this is just another
way of saying that most halactic authorities and the ones that really count take the opposite view.
However, all is not lost. Jewish medical law has a truly breathtaking solution to this difficulty,
because, like he said, the argument's more important than saving someone's
life or morality, basically.
The solution hangs upon a nice point of Talmudic law.
A ban imposed by the Torah on performing a given act on the Sabbath is presumed to apply
only when the primary intention in performing it is the actual outcome of the act.
For example, grinding wheat is presumed to be banned by the Torah only if the purpose
is actually to obtain flour.
On the other hand, if the performance of the same act is merely incidental to some other
purpose, I'm not going to pronounce that, then the act changes its status. It is still forbidden to be
sure, but only by sages rather than by the Torah itself. Therefore, quoting,
in order to avoid any transgression of the law, there is a legally acceptable method of rendering
treatment on behalf of a Gentile patient, even when dealing with violation of biblical law.
It is suggested that at the time that the physician is providing the necessary care,
his intention should not primarily be to cure the patient, but to protect himself and the Jewish people
from accusations of religious discrimination and severe retaliation that may endanger him
in particular and the Jewish people in general.
With this intention, any act on the physician's part becomes an act whose actual outcome is not its primary
purpose, which is forbidden on the Sabbath only by rabbinic law.
This hypocritical substitute for the Hippocratic Oath is also proposed by a recent authoritative
Hebrew book. Although the facts were mentioned at least twice in the Israeli press, the Israeli
Medical Association has remained silent. Having treated in some detail the supremely important
subject of the halika to a Gentile's very life, we shall deal much more brief. We shall deal much more
briefly with other halakhic rules which discriminate against Gentiles.
Since the number of such rules is very large, we shall mention only the more important ones.
And that's where we're going to leave it for today.
So that short two sentences, that paragraph basically sums up everything here.
The argument is more important than saving life.
So I'm not going to
I'm not going to crap all over somebody for
their religious customs.
Okay.
But if they're
the restrictions that are put upon them
specifically say you may do for your own group
but not for the outside group
and this is hidden.
This is something that
you know, they don't really want us to know.
It just sounds devious.
And you can say what you want.
It's just the attitude,
the attitude that you wouldn't,
you're basically looking for an excuse
not to do something that they don't really want you to do
even when it's not the Sabbath,
except for money.
And even then, I don't know.
People will say, I know a Jewish doctor and he works.
Of course.
Of course we do.
Of course we do.
And he makes the point about non-religious Jews who don't even know these things.
And that would be like, I would assume that would be like in this country or something like that.
But there are, you know, in that kind of in Israel,
I assume that this is taken very seriously in certain parts.
I mean, but Tel Aviv sounds kind of odd.
But, yeah, I mean, I just think that if these are the people influenced our foreign policy, banking, press, culture, Hollywood, and everything else,
what they believe and even what they may be hiding might not be the worst thing and getting it from
somebody who,
an Israeli Jew himself,
who is critical of these things.
I think that's probably best.
All right.
So there were ads during this,
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Substack. I should mention
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videos for substack during
the week for substack only.
And
people have been subscribing to
getting a few more subscribers to substack.
You also get the RSS feed there.
and yeah i'm enjoying doing those because i you normally do them around 7 730 in the morning
and really it's just me working out my thoughts for that i've been my brain starts working as soon as i
wake up and it just in the morning it goes haywire and basically you're seeing me work through
thoughts that i'm having in that that morning and um i'm recording i mean you get to see them
You get to hear them and see them if you watch the video.
That does come through the RSS feed too.
So, yeah, like I said, early in ad-free substack, you get some more content there.
So yeah, that's it.
Be back for Part 7, which will be the second half.
We'll be finishing the second half of Chapter 5, and then only Chapter 6 remains after that.
And we'll move on to the next book.
we'll see. I have some ideas, but, you know, I didn't decide to read this book until, like,
the day, I'm like, yeah, I need to start reading another book. I'm like, eh, this one will work.
This one, this one should be good. So, all right. See you on episode seven. Take care.
