Interfaith Marriage

(9) A person who, in his prayers to the Almighty, says, "The good shall [alone] bless thee," acts in a heretical manner; if he says, "Even to birds’ nests were thy mercies extended," or, "For thy goodness be thy name remembered," or one who says twice, "Modim" [in the Amidah], he shall be silenced [by authority]. Also, whoever explains the text (Lev. 18:21), Umizaracho lo titen laehavir lamolech to mean, "Thou shalt not give thy seed to an Aramite [heathen] woman," and those who explain figuratively the section in the law relating to the prohibition of carnal intercourse between relatives (Lev. 18), shall be silenced, and publicly reprimanded.

It was stated that the prohibition against marrying the daughters of gentiles was decreed on account of idolatry. The Gemara raises an objection: But the prohibition against marrying their daughters is prescribed by Torah law, as it is written: “Neither shall you make marriages with them” (Deuteronomy 7:3). The Gemara explains: By Torah law intermarriage is prohibited only with the seven Canaanite nations, but intermarriage with the other nations of the world is not prohibited, and the students of Shammai and Hillel came and decreed that intermarriage is prohibited even with the other nations.

And according to the opinion of Rabbi Shimon bar Yoḥai, who says that the subsequent verse: “For he will turn away your son from following Me” (Deut 7:4) serves to include all who turn away one’s son from God [i.e.- all gentiles] how do we respond?

Rather, by Torah law only sexual relations by way of marriage are prohibited, and they came and decreed that sexual relations are prohibited even by way of licentiousness.

1. Who is a ger toshav? Anyone who commits to avoiding foreign/idol worship, according to R. Meir. R. Yehudah says: anyone who commits not to eat animal carcasses.

2. His spit, the items he sits and lies on and his urine are impure, his bread, oil and wine are pure. He is under the rubric of the ban on monetary deception, oppression and delaying workers’ wages.

3. One does not marry [off Jewish women] to him, nor does one marry women from him. One may not lend or borrow from him on interest.

4. He is not to be settled on the border, nor in a bad neighborhood, rather in a good neighborhood in the middle of the land of Israel, in a place where he can make a living, for it says: “He shall dwell with you in your midst, in a place of his choosing, etc.”

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7. If a male Jew has intercourse with a Gentile woman, he is tried according to Gentile law. If a Gentile has intercourse with a Jewish woman, he is tried according to Jewish law.

(6) One who steals a kasvah [a vessel for use in the Temple]; one who curses [God] by enchantment; and one who sleeps with an Aramean woman—zealots may attack him. A priest who served while ritually impure, his fellow priests do not bring him to the court. Rather, the young priests take him outside the Temple courtyard, and split his skull with logs.

“One who has intercourse with an Aramean woman”—This is a case where a man has intercourse with a female idolater in public, in a group of ten Jews or more, but only at the time of the act itself, as in the case of Pinhas. But once they have separated, or if it was not in the presence of the Jewish community, or if she was not an idol worshipper, it is forbidden to kill him. But he is liable for kareit for a female idolater even though this is not mentioned in the Torah nor is it enumerated as one of the violations that carries this penalty, rather it is a received tradition… The Sages explained that a Jewish man who has intercourse with a Gentile woman is liable for many lashes, but these are all of rabbinic authority…