Q&A: Intermarriage Nowadays
Intermarriage Nowadays
Question
Hello Rabbi, the Rabbi writes many times that one should relate differently to the gentiles of the geonic period than to those of the time of the Sages; among other things, the Rabbi relies on the view of the Meiri that the gentiles of today are not defined at all as idol worshippers.
In the Daf Yomi we learned not long ago that “they decreed against their bread and their oil because of their wine, and against their wine because of their daughters, and against their daughters because of something else.” That “something else,” the Talmud later says, is idolatry.
If so, then nowadays is there really no longer any need for any of the above decrees?
Answer
Those decrees remain in force. The Meiri himself writes that everything forbidden because of intermarriage remains in force, because the prohibition of intermarriage remains in force. And whatever was forbidden because of their wine is forbidden as well, because even the Meiri says that they are idol worshippers, except that they are restrained by civilized norms (=they behave in a human way). True, nowadays most gentiles are not idol worshippers, but the prohibition of ordinary gentile wine was also stated regarding someone who is not an idol worshipper, such as a Jew who publicly desecrates the Sabbath.
See here: https://mikyab.net/%D7%9B%D7%AA%D7%91%D7%99%D7%9D/%D7%9E%D7%90%D7%9E%D7%A8%D7%99%D7%9D/%D7%94%D7%90%D7%9D-%D7%99%D7%A9-%D7%A2%D7%91%D7%95%D7%93%D7%94-%D7%96%D7%A8%D7%94-%D7%A0%D7%90%D7%95%D7%A8%D7%94-%D7%A2%D7%9C-%D7%94%D7%99%D7%97%D7%A1-%D7%9C%D7%92%D7%95%D7%99%D7%99%D7%9D-%D7%95/
Discussion on Answer
The prohibition of intermarriage is not because of a concern about idolatry. No halakhic decisor writes that among gentiles who do not practice idolatry there is no prohibition. On the contrary, it is completely clear that there is.
But that's exactly the question: why does the prohibition of intermarriage remain in force? If the concern is because of idolatry, that concern no longer exists.