Dilemmas of Jewish Power: Non-Jews in a Jewish State

Rambam, Sefer HaMitzvot, Prohibition 49

The 49th prohibition is that we are forbidden from allowing any individual from the seven nations to live. [This is commanded] in order that they not ruin other people and cause them to err by following idolatry...

Rambam, Sefer HaMitzvot, Prohibition 51

The 51st prohibition is that we are forbidden from allowing idol worshippers to reside in our land, to prevent us from being influenced by their heresy. The source of this commandment is God's statement (exalted be He), "Do not allow them to reside in your land, since they may then make you sin against Me." Even if he just wants to pass through2 our land, we are not allowed to do so unless he accepts upon himself not to worship idols. Once he does so, he is allowed to reside in eretz Yisrael, and is called a ger toshav, meaning that he is considered a convert only to the extent that he is allowed to reside in our land. Our Sages said, "Who is a ger toshav? One who accepts upon himself not to worship idols. This is the opinion of Rabbi Yehuda." An idol worshipper, however, is not allowed to reside [in our land], and we do not sell him land nor rent to him. The [Oral] Tradition states clearly, "You may not allow him any residence in the land." The details of this mitzvah have been explained in Sanhedrin and in Avodah Zarah.

Rambam, Laws of Idolatry 10:6 with comments of Raavad

All the above matters apply only in an era when Israel is in exile among the idolaters or in an era when the idolaters are in power. When, however, Israel is in power over them, it is forbidden for us to allow an idolater among us. Even a temporary resident or a merchant who travels from place to place should not be allowed to pass through our land until he accepts the seven universal laws commanded to Noah and his descendants, as [Exodus 23:33] states: "They shall not dwell in your land" - i.e., even temporarily. A person who accepts these seven mitzvot is a ger toshav. A ger toshav may be accepted only in the era when the [laws of the] Jubilee Year are observed. In an era when the [laws of the] Jubilee Year are not observed, however, we may accept only full converts [to Judaism]. Raavad comments on the phrase “and even a temporary resident or a merchant who travels from place to place” – This is not found in any source, nor did we ever hear such a thing. The verse he cites regards only the Seven Canaanite nations and even regarding them, the prohibition is on letting them “dwell” not on “passing.” Raavad further comments on the phrase “we do not accept a ger toshav without the laws of yovel” – This has no bearing on dwelling in the land.

Babylonian Talmud, Avodah Zarah 64b

Who is a ger toshav? Anyone who pledges before three haverim that he will not worship idols – so says Rabbi Meir. The sages say: All who pledge to keep the Seven Commandments of the children of Noah. Others say: Neither of these standards rises to the level of the ger toshav. Rather, who is a ger toshav? A convert who eats non-kosher meat, meaning he has accepted upon himself all of the commandments mentioned in the Torah except for the prohibition against eating neveilah.

Rambam, Laws of Forbidden Sexual Acts, 14:7

What is meant by a resident alien? A gentile who makes a commitment not to worship false deities and to observe the other six universal laws commanded to Noah's descendants. He does not circumcise himself or immerse. We accept this commitment and he is considered one of the pious gentiles.

Why is he called a resident? Because we are permitted to allow him to dwell among us in Eretz Yisrael, as explained in Hilchot Avodah Zarah.

Rambam, Laws of Kings 8:10-11

Moses only gave the Torah and mitzvot as an inheritance to Israel, as Deuteronomy 33:4 states: 'The Torah... is the inheritance of the congregation of Jacob,' and to all those who desire to convert from among the other nations, as Numbers 15:15 states 'the convert shall be the same as you.' However, someone who does not desire to accept Torah and mitzvot, should not be forced to. By the same regard, Moses was commanded by the Almighty to compel all the inhabitants of the world to accept the commandments given to Noah's descendants. If one does not accept these commands, he should be executed. A person who formally accepts these commands is called a resident alien. This applies in any place. This acceptance must be made in the presence of three Torah scholars. Anyone who agrees to circumcise himself and allows twelve months to pass without circumcising himself is considered as one of the nations.

Halacha 11

Anyone who accepts upon himself the fulfillment of these seven mitzvot and is precise in their observance is considered one of 'the pious among the gentiles' and will merit a share in the world to come. This applies only when he accepts them and fulfills them because the Holy One, blessed be He, commanded them in the Torah and informed us through Moses, our teacher, that Noah's descendants had been commanded to fulfill them previously. However, if he fulfills them out of intellectual conviction, he is not a resident alien, nor of 'the pious among the gentiles,' nor (but rather) of their wise men.

Babylonian Talmud, Avodah Zarah 20a

“Do not show them favor” means do not give them any hold on the land. Alternatively “Do not show them favor” means do not show them grace. Alternatively, “do not show them favor” means do not give them gifts.

Meiri, Beit HaBehirah, Avodah Zarah 20a

You already know how strict the Torah is to keep idolatry far away from our land and our borders and from us. And in many instances it goes to great lengths to warn us and keep us away from their actions. And from this perspective, the Torah says “lo tehanem” – do not show them any grace. That is to say, to praise them or their actions or even their beauty or form. Similarly we are asked not to give them any hold on the land so that their dwelling among us will not be permanent and so do we are asked not to give them any presents so that we don’t indirectly steal them from a more worthy recipient, namely a ger toshav – which is a full descendent of Noah who keeps all the seven mitzvoth of Noah as the Torah says, “to the ger in your gates you shall give it to eat – or sell it to a foreigner.” Nonetheless, the Tosefta modifies and says that this only applies to a gentile one does not know or if he was passing from place to place. However, if he was a neighbor or a friend it is permissible for he is as one of those known to us as being from the nations that are bound by the boundaries of religious ethics. And one who acknowledges God, even if he is not personally known, it is permissible and appropriate to give him gifts as it says, “one may send a hind-leg to a gentile.”

Babylonian Talmud, Avodah Zarah 20b – 21b

Mishnah: We do not rent homes to them in Eretz Yisrael, and even the more so, fields. And in Syria, we can rent houses but not fields. And in the diaspora, we can sell them homes and rent them fields. So says Rabbi Meir. Rabbi Yossi says: In the Land of Israel we can rent them homes but not fields, and in Syria we can sell them homes and rent them fields, and in the diaspora we can sell both homes and fields. And even in a place where we are allowed to rent them homes, this is not for their use as a home for they will bring an idol into the home and Deuteronomy 6:7 states, “Do not bring any abomination into your home.” And one may never sell them a bathhouse for it will be called after your name.

Gemara: Why does the Mishnah say “even the more so” regarding fields? If you will say it is because there are two problematic elements, granting them a hold on the land, and also because the land would then become excluded from maser, if so – there are also two problematic elements from renting them homes. One, is the issue of a hold on the land, the other is that the house would not be exempt from mezuzah! Rav M’sharshya said: Mezuzah is an obligation of the dweller.

Rav Avraham Yitzhak Hakohen Kook, Mishpat Kohen 61, (Nissan, 1909).

…And regarding that which the Netziv wrote that Arabs do not have the status of a ger toshav, this is not clear within the position of the Raavad. See especially Raavad’s lengthy comment in Laws of Forbidden Sexual Acts chapter 14. It certainly isn’t clear that there is no law of ger toshav in this era. And so to in the Laws of Idolatry chapter 10, where Raavad says that overriding the prohibition against gentiles living in the land is not dependent on the yovel and the same could be true regarding a “hold on the land.” At least renting should be permissible for there is no doubt that a ger toshav can rent since this does not require the yovel. And even though becoming a ger toshav requires a beit din of three, nonetheless, that is only in order to publicize the matter that he has accepted those obligations upon himself. And one can say that an entire nation that lives according to an ethical code such as the Arabs do would be considered as gerei toshav.

Rabbi Yitzhak Halevi Herzog, (1888 – 1959), “Tehukah leYisrael al Pi HaTorah”

The question of minority rights, that is, those of Arabs and Christians living in the Land of Israel, which the United Nations insisted upon when empowering us to found the Jewish state, is the most problematic issue regarding the state’s democratic character…The United Nations will certainly insist most strenuously that at least in state, civil, and legal matters minority rights will not be infringed upon, and that minorities enjoy complete freedom to uphold their religions and the education of their communities…Against this background, we turn to the problem of minority rights, or better the rights of the minority, that is, the Arab populace, within the Jewish state.

...But all these grounds for leniency are superfluous…for even if the case at hand concerned real idolaters, in my opinion, legally speaking there is no transgression involved.

a) The commandments under discussion are public commandments. They are not addressed to particular individuals but to the governing body, that is a Jewish government, whatever its formal regime, that is powerful enough to discharge them…In the absence of this background, and given the realistic circumstances whereby this state is given to us, under this condition of minority rights and freedom of worship, these commandments do not apply. Such is the case in exile, or even in the Land of Israel “when the gentile’s power is predominant”...

b) We must also take into account the explicitly stated purpose of these laws as written in the Torah, “Lest they cause you to sin” (Exodus 23:33), that we should not be influenced by them and by their worship. Would any one deny that the danger of Jews being influenced by gentiles is greater when the Jews are subject to the gentiles, whether in exile or in the Land of Israel, than when the Jews are not subject ot the gentiles and in a certain manner even predominant as a nation?...

d) Finally, we must take into consideration the fact that the very founding of the state is a kind of partnership. It is as if gentiles, let us say even heathens…agree to allow us to create a joint government in which we have a recognized preeminence, and the state will still bear our name.

Rambam, Laws of Forbidden Sexual Acts, 14:8 with Raavad’s Comments

We do not accept any ger toshav other than when the yovel is operative. However, in this era, even if a convert accepts the entire Torah except for one detail, we do not accept him.

Raavad Comments: This opinion of Rambam’s is opaque and he does not explain what it means to not accept a ger toshav other than when the yovel is operative or what the mitzvoth of a ger toshav are that we do not let them dwell in cities…but we do have an obligation to feed and sustain them…Rather among the laws that do not apply other than when the yovel is operative are some which are lenient and some which are harsh for the ger toshav…

Israeli Declaration of Independence, 5th of Iyyar 5708 (May 15, 1948)
The Land of Israel was the birthplace of the Jewish people. Here their spiritual, religious and political identity was shaped. Here they first attained to statehood, created cultural values of national and universal significance and gave to the world the eternal Book of Books.

After being forcibly exiled from their land, the people kept faith with it throughout their Dispersion and never ceased to pray and hope for their return to it and for the restoration in it of their political freedom.

Impelled by this historic and traditional attachment, Jews strove in every successive generation to re-establish themselves in their ancient homeland. In recent decades they returned in their masses. Pioneers, defiant returnees, and defenders, they made deserts bloom, revived the Hebrew language, built villages and towns, and created a thriving community controlling its own economy and culture, loving peace but knowing how to defend itself, bringing the blessings of progress to all the country's inhabitants, and aspiring towards independent nationhood.

In the year 5657 (1897), at the summons of the spiritual father of the Jewish State, Theodore Herzl, the First Zionist Congress convened and proclaimed the right of the Jewish people to national rebirth in its own country.

This right was recognized in the Balfour Declaration of the 2nd November, 1917, and re-affirmed in the Mandate of the League of Nations which, in particular, gave international sanction to the historic connection between the Jewish people and Eretz-Israel and to the right of the Jewish people to rebuild its National Home.

The catastrophe which recently befell the Jewish people - the massacre of millions of Jews in Europe - was another clear demonstration of the urgency of solving the problem of its homelessness by re-establishing in Eretz-Israel the Jewish State, which would open the gates of the homeland wide to every Jew and confer upon the Jewish people the status of a fully privileged member of the community of nations.

Survivors of the Nazi holocaust in Europe, as well as Jews from other parts of the world, continued to migrate to Eretz-Israel, undaunted by difficulties, restrictions and dangers, and never ceased to assert their right to a life of dignity, freedom and honest toil in their national homeland.

In the Second World War, the Jewish community of this country contributed its full share to the struggle of the freedom- and peace-loving nations against the forces of Nazi wickedness and, by the blood of its soldiers and its war effort, gained the right to be reckoned among the peoples who founded the United Nations.

On the 29th November, 1947, the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution calling for the establishment of a Jewish State in Eretz-Israel; the General Assembly required the inhabitants of Eretz-Israel to take such steps as were necessary on their part for the implementation of that resolution. This recognition by the United Nations of the right of the Jewish people to establish their State is irrevocable.

This right is the natural right of the Jewish people to be masters of their own fate, like all other nations, in their own sovereign State.

Thus members and representatives of the Jews of Palestine and of the Zionist movement are here assembled on the day is the termination of the British Mandate over Eretz-Yisra'el and, by virtue of our natural and historic right and on the strength of the resolution of the United Nations General Assembly, HEREBY DECLARE THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A JEWISH STATE IN ERETZ-YISRAEL, TO BE KNOWN AS THE STATE OF ISRAEL.

WE DECLARE that, with effect from the moment of the termination of the Mandate being tonight, the eve of Sabbath, the 6th Iyar, 5708 (15th May, 1948), until the establishment of the elected, regular authorities of the State in accordance with the Constitution which shall be adopted by the Elected Constituent Assembly not later than the 1st October 1948, the People's Council shall act as a Provisional Council of State, and its executive organ, the People's Administration, shall be the Provisional Government of the Jewish State, to be called "The State of Israel".

THE STATE OF ISRAEL will be open for Jewish immigration and for the Ingathering of the Exiles; it will foster the development of the country for the benefit of all its inhabitants; it will be based on freedom, justice and peace as envisaged by the prophets of Israel; it will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex; it will guarantee freedom of religion, conscience, language, education and culture; it will safeguard the Holy Places of all religions; and it will be faithful to the principles of the Charter of the United Nations.

THE STATE OF ISRAEL is prepared to cooperate with the agencies and representatives of the United Nations in implementing the resolution of the General Assembly of the 29th November, 1947, and will take steps to bring about the economic union of the whole of Eretz-Israel.

WE APPEAL to the United Nations to assist the Jewish people in the building-up of its State and to receive the State of Israel into the comity of nations.

WE APPEAL - in the very midst of the onslaught launched against us now for months - to the Arab inhabitants of the State of Israel to preserve peace and participate in the upbuilding of the State on the basis of full and equal citizenship and due representation in all its provisional and permanent institutions.

WE EXTEND our hand to all neighbouring states and their peoples in an offer of peace and good neighbourliness, and appeal to them to establish bonds of cooperation and mutual help with the sovereign Jewish people settled in its own land. The State of Israel is prepared to do its share in a common effort for the advancement of the entire Middle East.

WE APPEAL to the Jewish people throughout the Diaspora to rally round the Jews of Eretz-Israel in the tasks of immigration and upbuilding and to stand by them in the great struggle for the realization of the age-old dream - the redemption of Israel.

PLACING OUR TRUST IN THE STRENGTH OF ISRAEL*, WE AFFIX OUR SIGNATURES TO THIS PROCLAMATION AT THIS SESSION OF THE PROVISIONAL COUNCIL OF STATE, ON THE SOIL OF THE HOMELAND, IN THE CITY OF TEL-AVIV, ON THIS SABBATH EVE, THE 5TH DAY OF IYAR, 5708 (14TH MAY, 1948).