Q&A: Equality Between Jew and Gentile
Equality Between Jew and Gentile
Question
Lately a question occurred to me: apparently there is no equality between a Jew and a gentile. A person born a gentile can remain a gentile and keep only the basic commandments, and the Holy One, blessed be He, will be perfectly pleased with him; and if he wants, he can also decide to draw closer to the Holy One, blessed be He, and become Jewish. By contrast, a person born Jewish does not have the option of becoming a gentile or deciding to keep only the Noahide commandments, and if he does that, the Holy One, blessed be He, presumably will not view it positively. So my question is whether the Rabbi has any direction for explaining why this should be so unfair. Why can’t I decide for myself what degree of closeness to the Holy One, blessed be He, I want?
Answer
I don’t know. In principle, we are bound because we committed ourselves at Mount Sinai and in Shushan. After the generation accepted it again, there is no longer any claim of coercion, and we cannot withdraw from the obligation to observe the commandments. If so, then there is no essential asymmetry here, only one that exists because of our commitment.
Discussion on Answer
Oren,
The prophet Ezekiel addresses that possibility:
“And what comes into your mind shall never happen—that you say: We will be like the nations, like the families of the lands, serving wood and stone. As I live, says the Lord God, surely with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm and with poured-out wrath I will rule over you” (Ezekiel 20:32–33).
Technically, it is always possible to assimilate among the nations, but it seems that from being Israel there is no escape. We signify the Master of the Universe whether willingly or unwillingly. Let each person decide for himself whether that is a blessing or a curse.
In general, I’m not sure there is much point in studying prophecy. There are a lot of old quarrels there that aren’t all that interesting, and it’s not for nothing that the Sages said that all prophecies will be nullified in the future. But it seems to me that this quotation is still important.
Oren, I didn’t understand the question. There is the acceptance at Sinai, without which we would not have been obligated at all. And there is “the generation accepted it again,” without which we could have retracted.
It may be possible to separate from the community. As is known, some of the medieval authorities held that one can convert out and become a gentile. The question whether this is permitted or forbidden is a bit tricky. It may be forbidden to do so because at the moment you decide on it you are still Jewish, and as a Jew you are forbidden to abandon your obligations. Once you’ve left, you’ve left. See Kovetz Shiurim, Ketubot, section 34.
The gentile did not leave Egypt.
It follows from your words that if not for the later acceptance by the generation, we could have withdrawn from the obligation to observe the commandments. Meaning, without a decision to withdraw, the obligation would have remained in force, even for later generations after the generation that accepted it upon itself. How does that fit with what you wrote elsewhere, that without the public’s acceptance, the obligation of future generations to observe the commandments would lapse on its own, because they were not commanded?
In addition, even after the generation’s acceptance, if a person decides to separate himself from the community, then the community’s acceptance also does not apply to him, and consequently neither does the obligation to observe the commandments. The question is whether one can separate from the community of the Jewish people altogether, and even if one can, whether it is permitted.