ABSTRACT
Jewish thinkers, who yearned to break out of the ghetto walls and be accepted as equals with the rest of the non-Jewish population, naturally desired to see in Judaism a reciprocal attitude. How can one demand a humanistic approach to Jews and Judaism on the part of one's gentile neighbours without extending the same to the latter? In an age in which theological discussions dominated the intellectual scene, the question whether Judaism accepts unconditionally the talmudic principle, "All the righteous men of the nations of the world have a share in the world to come," is a very crucial one in the struggle for emancipation. Is it a wonder then that much of the discussion borders around scholarship and apologetics or theology and political science?^
Before we begin this survey, let us first cite Maimonides' succinct wording of the above mentioned talmudic principles:
A heathen who accepts the seven commandments and observes them scrupulously is a "righteous heathen," and will have a portion in the world to come, provided that he accepts them and performs them because the Holy One, blessed be He, commanded them in the Law and made known through Moses, our teacher, that the observance thereof had been enjoined upon the descendants of Noah even before the Law was given. But if his observance thereof is based upon a reasoned conclusion he is not deemed a resident alien, or one of the pious of the Gentiles, but one of their wise men.^
It is Maimonides' last condition, that it is not enough to observe the seven Noahide Commandments in order to be counted among the righteous of
3 Jacob Katz, Exclusif eness and Tolerance (Oxford University Press, 1961); Yehezkel Kaufmann, Golah Venekhar, II (Tel Aviv: Dvir, 1932; reprinted 1961), 55110. 4 Jacob Katz, 'The Vicissitudes of Three Apologetic Passages", Zion 23-24 (195859), 174-193 (Hebrew). * Mishneh Torah, H. Melakhim, VIII: 11 ;= A.M. Hershman translation, Yak Judaica Series (Yale University Press, 1949), 230.
