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.This process of reversion happened in the period when theCatholic Church (under Pope John XXIII)[93] removed from its Good Friday service a prayer which asked the Lord to havemercy on Jews, heretics etc.This prayer was thought by most Jewish leaders to beoffensive and even antisemitic.Apart from the fixed daily prayers, a devout Jew must utter special shortblessings on various occasions, both good and bad (for example, while putting on anew piece of clothing.eating a seasonal fruit for the first time that year, seeingpowerful lightning, hearing bad news, etc.) Some of these occasional prayers serve toinculcate hatred and scorn for all Gentiles, We have mentioned in Chapter 2 the ruleaccording to which a pious Jew must utter curse when passing near a Gentilecemetery, whereas he must bless God when passing near a Jewish cemetery.A similarrule applies to the living; thus, when seeing a large Jewish population a devout Jewmust praise God, while upon seeing a large Gentile population he must utter a curse.Nor are buildings exempt: the Talmud lays down (63) that a Jew who passes near aninhabited non-Jewish dwelling must ask God to destroy it, whereas if the building isin ruins he must thank the Lord of Vengeance.(Naturally, the rules are reversed forJewish houses.) This rule was easy to keep for Jewish peasants who lived in their ownvillages or for small urban communities living in all-Jewish townships or quarters. 78 Jewish History, Jewish ReligionUnder the conditions of classical Judaism, however, it became impracticable and wastherefore confined to churches and places of worship of other religions (exceptIslam).(64) In this connection, the rule was further embroidered by custom: itbecame customary to spit (usually three times) upon seeing a church or a crucifix, asan embellishment to the obligatory formula of regret.(65) Sometimes insultingbiblical verses were also added.(66)There is also a series of rules forbidding any expression of praise for Gentiles orfor their deeds, except where such praise implies an even greater praise of Jews andthings Jewish.This rule is still observed by Orthodox Jews.For example.the writerAgnon, when interviewed on the Israeli radio upon his return from Stockholm, wherehe received the Nobel Prize for literature, praised the Swedish Academy, but hastenedto add: 'I am not forgetting that it is forbidden to praise Gentiles, but here there is aspecial reason for my praise' - that is, that they awarded the prize to a Jew.Similarly, it is forbidden to join any manifestation of popular Gentile rejoicing,except where failing to join in might cause 'hostility' towards Jews, in which case a'minimal' show of joy is allowed.In addition to the rules mentioned so far, there are many others whose effect isto inhibit human friendship between[94] Jew and Gentile.I shall mention two examples: the rule on 'libation wine' andthat on preparing food for a Gentile on Jewish holy days.A religious Jew must not drink any wine in whose preparation a Gentile had anypart whatsoever.Wine in an open bottle, even if prepared wholly by Jews, becomesbanned if a Gentile so much as touches the bottle or passes a hand over it.The reasongiven by the rabbis is that all Gentiles are not only idolators but must be presumed tobe malicious to boot, so that they are likely to dedicate (by a whisper, gesture orthought) as 'libation' to their idol any wine which a Jew is about to drink.This lawapplies in full force to all Christians, and in a slightly attenuated form also toMuslims.(An open bottle of wine touched by a Christian must be poured away, but iftouched by a Muslim it can be sold or given away, although it may not be drunk by aJew.) The law applies equally to Gentile atheists (how can one be sure that they arenot merely pretending to be atheists?) but not to Jewish atheists.The laws against doing work on the sabbath apply to a lesser extent on otherholy days.In particular, on a holy day which does not happen to fall on a Saturday itis permitted to do any work required for preparing food to be eaten during the holydays or days.Legally, this is defined as preparing a 'soul's food' (okhel nefesh); but'soul' is interpreted to mean 'Jew', and 'Gentiles and dogs' are explicitly excluded.(67) There is, however, a dispensation in favor of powerful Gentiles, whose hostilitycan be dangerous: it is permitted to cook food on a holy day for a visitor belonging tothis category, provided he is not actively encouraged to come and eat.An important effect of all these laws - quite apart from their application inpractice - is in the attitude created by their constant study which, as part of the studyof the Halakhah, is regarded by classical Judaism as a supreme religious duty.Thusan Orthodox Jew learns from his earliest youth, as part of his sacred studies, that 79 Jewish History, Jewish ReligionGentiles are compared to dogs, that it is a sin to praise them, and so on and so forth
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