ואמר ר' יוחנן עובד כוכבים שעוסק בתורה חייב מיתה שנאמר (דברים לג, ד) תורה צוה לנו משה מורשה לנו מורשה ולא להם
And Rabbi Yoḥanan says: A gentile who engages in Torah study is liable to receive the death penalty; as it is stated: “Moses commanded us a law [torah], an inheritance of the congregation of Jacob” (Deuteronomy 33:4),
Hashem specifically chose the Jewish people to keep His Torah and Mitzvot. A non-Jew has the 7 Mitzvot B'nei Noach to follow and should not try and learn beyond what is his. This is not to say that he cannot fall in love with the Torah and Hashem and then convert. But, as it says in Shemot 20:2, " אָֽנֹכִ֖י֙ יְהֹוָ֣ה אֱלֹהֶ֑֔יךָ אֲשֶׁ֧ר הוֹצֵאתִ֛יךָ מֵאֶ֥רֶץ מִצְרַ֖יִם מִבֵּ֣֥ית עֲבָדִ֑͏ֽים׃" Hashem is about to give over the Torah and He is specifically addressing Bnei Israel.
מה אסרו שכר של עובדי כוכבים רמי בר חמא אמר רבי יצחק משום חתנות
It was stated: For what reason did the Sages prohibit the beer of gentiles? Rami bar Ḥama says that Rabbi Yitzḥak says: It is due to the concern that Jews will befriend gentiles while drinking with them, which might lead to marriage with gentiles.
פת ושלקות שבתחלה גזרו על בישולי גוים ולא על הפת ולבסוף גזרו על הפת משום דבישולי גוים זהו הוא דבר הצריך אומן לבשל שיש לך אדם שיודע לתקן תבשילו ולבסמו. וכשיהודי רואה גוי שיודע לתקן מאכלו היטב מתאוה לתבשילו ונמלך אחריו ומתחתן בו
The bread and cooked foods: First they decreed against cooked foods and not bread. Eventually they decreed against bread because of “bishul goyim”, that is those things that need an expert to cook, as there are people who know how to prepare and spice food. When a Jew sees a non-Jew who knows how to prepare food well, he desires the food and follows him and marries him. (Tosafot Rid, Avodah Zarah 65b)
אי נמי כגון נכנס בבית גוי ומזג לו כוס שכר נראה דשרי משום איבה
Alternatively, if you go into the non-Jews house and he poured you a cup of beer, it seems as if it is permitted because of hatred. (or zarua 4;163, Hilchot Avodah Zarah)
It is clear then, that we are not dealing here with racial discrimination which is borne of a personal and subjective attitude that the Jew has vis-à-vis the gentile. What we are talking about here is an objective, Divine command that is accompanied by an explanation. If your son will marry a non-Jewish woman, the children born of this union are no longer considered to be your children. In the event that your daughter marries a non-Jew, inevitably your grandchildren will stray very far from the path of Judaism even though they will still be considered Jewish.
Taking into account the primary responsibility that the Jew has to fulfill the precepts of the Torah, it is evident that it is mandatory that Jews marry within the faith, because if not, it will be impossible to continue fulfilling the obligation that one has to manifest Divinity in this world which is possible only by fulfilling G‑d’s will. Intermarriage is a clear contradiction to G‑d’s stated will. (chabad.org. Rabbi Eliezer Shemtov)
Firstly, we see that the Torah strongly prohibits intermarriage. This restriction is not to say that the non-Jews are bad people, rather it is seemingly practical. If this would be the case then marrying a convert would be prohibited too. If the Torah allowed intermarriage, the Jewish nation would cease to exist. To qualify as a Jew, your mother has to be Jewish, and by adding intermarriage into the equation, the likelihood of this would become much less. Also, the Jewish people are already battling assimilation and loss of tradition, and with out this geder the fight would inevitably be lost.
(ג) כל הנחשלים אחריך. חַסְרֵי כֹחַ מֵחֲמַת חֶטְאָם, שֶׁהָיָה הֶעָנָן פּוֹלְטָן (תנחומא):
(3) כל הנחשלים אחריך [AND HE SMOTE THE HINDMOST OF THEE] EVEN THOSE THAT WERE FEEBLE BEHIND THEE — i.e., those who were enfeebled because of their sins and whom the clouds had expelled from the protection they afforded (Midrash Tanchuma, Ki Teitzei 10).
(8) Amalek came and fought with Israel at Rephidim. (9) Moses said to Joshua, “Pick some men for us, and go out and do battle with Amalek. Tomorrow I will station myself on the top of the hill, with the rod of God in my hand.” (10) Joshua did as Moses told him and fought with Amalek, while Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill.
(א) ויאמר. מֹשֶׁה: (ב) כי יד על כס יה. יָדוֹ שֶׁל הַקָּבָּ"ה הוּרְמָה לִשָּׁבַע בְּכִסְאוֹ לִהְיוֹת לוֹ מִלְחָמָה וְאֵיבָה בַעֲמָלֵק עוֹלָמִית, וּמַהוּ כֵּס וְלֹא נֶאֱמַר כִּסֵּא? וְאַף הַשֵּׁם נֶחֱלַק לְחֶצְיוֹ? נִשְׁבַּע הַקָּבָּ"ה שֶׁאֵין שְׁמוֹ שָׁלֵם וְאֵין כִּסְאוֹ שָׁלֵם עַד שֶׁיִּמָּחֶה שְׁמוֹ שֶׁל עֲמָלֵק כֻּלּוֹ, וּכְשֶׁיִּמָּחֶה שְׁמוֹ יִהְיֶה הַשֵּׁם שָׁלֵם וְהַכִּסֵּא שָׁלֵם,
(1) ויאמר AND HE SAID — i. e. Moses said. (2) כי יד על כס יה BECAUSE THE HAND IS UPON THE THRONE OF JAH — the hand of the Holy One, blessed be He, is raised to swear by His throne that He will have war and enmity against Amalek to all eternity. And what is the force of כס — why does it not say as usual כסא? And the Divine Name, also, is divided into half (יה is only the half of the Tetragrammaton)! The Holy One, blessed be He, swears that His Name will not be perfect nor His throne perfect until the name of Amalek be entirely blotted out.
"It is not an appropriate behavior for a Jew to busy himself with wishing non-blessings to the nations, If someone needs to do it; it's not a Jew's job, a Jew needs to preach the opposite! That helping Jews in Judaism is for the benefit of the nations. It will then be good both for them, and surely for the Jews." (The Lubbavitcher Rebbe)
B.) Rav Soloveitchik writes in his book, The Lonely Man of Faith, "In the story of the creation of Adam the first, it is told that the latter was created in the image of God, בצלם אלוקים, while nothing is said about how his body was formed." Humankind was created in the image of God and therefore we have the responsibility to guard it.
(יז) מוּטָב לָאָדָם לְהַרְבּוֹת בְּמַתְּנוֹת אֶבְיוֹנִים מִלְּהַרְבּוֹת בִּסְעֻדָּתוֹ וּבְשִׁלּוּחַ מָנוֹת לְרֵעָיו. שֶׁאֵין שָׁם שִׂמְחָה גְּדוֹלָה וּמְפֹאָרָה אֶלָּא לְשַׂמֵּחַ לֵב עֲנִיִּים וִיתוֹמִים וְאַלְמָנוֹת וְגֵרִים. שֶׁהַמְשַׂמֵּחַ לֵב הָאֻמְלָלִים הָאֵלּוּ דּוֹמֶה לַשְּׁכִינָה שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (ישעיה נז טו) "לְהַחֲיוֹת רוּחַ שְׁפָלִים וּלְהַחֲיוֹת לֵב נִדְכָּאִים":
(17) One should rather spend more money on gifts to the poor than on his Purim banquet and presents to his friends. No joy is greater and more glorious than the joy of gladdening the hearts of the poor, the orphans, the widows, and the strangers. He who gladdens the heart of these unhappy people imitates God, as it is written: "I am … to revive the spirit of the humble, and to put heart into the crushed" (Isaiah 57:15).
Loving the Stranger, Rabbi Jonathan Sacks (2008)
Why should you not hate the stranger? – asks the Torah. Because you once stood where he stands now. You know the heart of the stranger because you were once a stranger in the land of Egypt. If you are human, so is he. If he is less than human, so are you. You must fight the hatred in your heart as I once fought the greatest ruler and the strongest empire in the ancient world on your behalf. I made you into the world’s archetypal strangers so that you would fight for the rights of strangers – for your own and those of others, wherever they are, whoever they are, whatever the color of their skin or the nature of their culture, because though they are not in your image – says G-d – they are nonetheless in Mine. There is only one reply strong enough to answer the question: Why should I not hate the stranger? Because the stranger is me.
Ruth
כִּי אֶל אֲשֶׁר תֵּלְכִי אֵלֵךְ. מִכַּאן אָמְרוּ רַבּוֹתֵינוּ זִכְרוֹנָם לִבְרָכָה, גֵּר שֶׁבָּא לְהִתְגַּיֵּר מוֹדִיעִין לוֹ מִקְצַת עֳנָשִׁים, שֶׁאִם בָּא לַחֲזֹר בּוֹ יַחֲזֹר, שֶׁמִּתּוֹךְ דְּבָרֶיהָ שֶׁל רוּת אַתָּה לָמֵד מַה שֶּׁאָמְרָה לָהּ נָעֳמִי. "אָסוּר לָנוּ לָצֵאת חוּץ לַתְּחוּם בַּשַּׁבָּת". אָמְרָה לָהּ, "בַּאֲשֶׁר תֵּלְכִי אֵלֵךְ". "אָסוּר לָנוּ לְהִתְיַחֵד נְקֵבָה עִם זָכָר שֶׁאֵינוֹ אִישָׁהּ". אָמְרָה לָהּ, "בַּאֲשֶׁר תָּלִינִי אָלִין". "עַמֵּנוּ מֻבְדָּלִים מִשְּׁאָר עַמִּים בְּתַרְיַ"ג מִצְוֹת", "עַמֵּךְ עַמִּי". "אָסוּר לָנוּ עֲבוֹדַת כּוֹכָבִים, "אֱלֹהַיִךְ אֱלֹהָי"…
For wherever you go, I shall go. From here our Rabbis of blessed memory derived that if a [prospective] proselyte comes to convert, we inform him of some of the punishments [for violating the commandments] so that is he decides to renege [from his intention to convert], he can renege; for out of the words of Rus, you can learn what Naomi said to her. [Naomi said.] “We may not venture outside the boundary [of 2000 cubits beyond city limits] on Shabbos.” She [Rus] replied to her, “For wherever you go I shall go…
Bat-Pharoah
הולכות ,ונערותיה, “and her servantmaids “walking,” Rashi, while interpreting the word as meaning “walking towards her death,” quotes a traditional explanation in the Talmud Sotah 12 according to which it is short for “being on a path which leads to death,” as in Genesis 25,32, where Esau is quoted as saying: הנה אנכי הולך למות, “here I am pursuing a path that will result in my death;” The scholar in the Talmud has the servant maids warning the daughter of Pharaoh who was actually going to use the waters of the Nile as a mikveh, ritual bath, in order to cleanse herself from the desecrations that were a daily occurrence in her father’s palace, by warning her that even when other people might disregard the king’s command surely his own daughter would not dare do so? They warned that by doing so she would condemn herself to death by execution...
Onkelos
וְאָמַר רַבִּי יִרְמְיָה וְאִיתֵּימָא רַבִּי חִיָּיא בַּר אַבָּא תַּרְגּוּם שֶׁל תּוֹרָה אוּנְקְלוֹס הַגֵּר אֲמָרוֹ מִפִּי רַבִּי אֱלִיעֶזֶר
§ The Gemara cites another ruling of Rabbi Yirmeya or Rabbi Ḥiyya bar Abba. Rabbi Yirmeya said, and some say that it was Rabbi Ḥiyya bar Abba who said: The Aramaic translation of the Torah used in the synagogues was composed by Onkelos the convert based on the teachings of Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Yehoshua.
Ruth was not accepted originally when she returned back to Beit Lechem with Naomi. She was constantly referred to as the Moabite, emphasizing that she did not belong. Boaz is praised for his ability to look passed her past and make her feel more than welcomed, and ultimately marry her.
Bat-Pharoah exhibited kind characteristics even before she decided to leave Egypt with the Jews. She was the daughter of Pharoah, and yet she still stood by her nature to do good, saving Moshe Rabbenu.
Onkelos is a highly regarded Torah scholar who happened to a convert. He is known for translating the Torah into Aramaic (Targum Onkelos). He was apart of the Roman royal family- his mother was Hadrian's sister. When Hadrian hears that Onkelos converted to Judiasm he sends for three rounds of soldiers to bring him back to Rome, but each group that reached Onkelos was immediately enamored by his wisdom and begged to learn from him.
The Torah strongly values converts and demands that they are treated properly. One must recognize that we were all once in their place- converts are fundamentally no different than any other Jew.