gentile

n. often Gentile

1. A person who is not Jewish.
2. Archaic. A pagan or heathen.
3. Mormon Church. A non-Mormon.

adj.

1. often Gentile Of or relating to a Gentile.
2. Of or relating to a gens, tribe, or people.
3. Grammar. Expressing national or local origins.

[Middle English gentil, from Late Latin gentīlis, pagan, from Latin, of the same clan. See gentle.]

A non-Jew, i.e., any person neither born of a Jewish mother nor converted to Judaism. Various Hebrew terms are employed for the gentile, bearing different connotations. The term goy, although used frequently, is strictly speaking a misnomer, for it means "a nation," and there are numerous biblical references to the Jewish people as a goy in this sense (see Ex. 19:6, for example). A more correct term is nokhri, implying a foreigner or stranger. Ancient Judaism differentiates between two overall categories of gentiles, the ger toshav (literally "resident alien") and the akum, the latter being an acronym for a Hebrew phrase meaning "worshipers of stars and planets." To be considered a ger toshav, a non-Jew must live by the seven Noachide Laws. These laws require belief in the One God, forbid blasphemy, murder, theft, sexual immorality, and the eating of a limb from a living creature, and mandate the establishment of courts of law. Anyone who does not accept the Noachide laws is considered an akum, or pagan. The status of gentiles of the Christian and Muslim faiths is generally considered to be that of ger toshav. While Maimonides demurs in regard to Christians, seeing the belief in the Trinity as violating the first Noachide law, most other commentators (among them the Tosafists [see Tosafot] and Joseph Caro) are of the opinion that non-Jews (but not Jews) may maintain a belief in the Trinity within the framework of the Noachide laws. Jewish law requires any non-Jew wishing to live in the Land of Israel to accept upon himself the laws of the ger toshav. The Bible mentions a further sub-category of gentiles, the "seven nations" dwelling in Canaan, whom the Israelites were commanded to kill because of their depravity. The Talmud states that Sennacherib, King of Assyria, mixed together the populations of all the different nations that he conquered, and that since his time no person can be considered to be a member of the "seven nations."

Judaism sees itself as a universal religion, with the seven Noachide laws applying to gentiles just as the 613 Commandments apply to Jews. Those gentiles who are righteous and observe the Noachide laws out of the conviction that these are God-given are by Jewish tradition vouchsafed a place in the World to Come.

Various laws are mentioned in the Talmud that reflect the tension between Jews and non-Jews at the time. Thus, for example, a Jew was not to walk on the left-hand side of a non-Jew who wore a sword, evidently for fear of being stabbed. Yet here too the Talmud differentiates between those nations which respected human life, such as the Greeks, and those which did not, such as the Persians (BK 117a). Another law along these lines forbade a Jew from selling distinctively Jewish clothing, such as Tsitsit, to a non-Jew, for fear that the latter might dress up as a Jew and thus approach unsuspecting Jews with impunity and harm them. Other laws governing contacts with non-Jews were meant to prevent the Jew from violating specific Jewish laws. An example of this was the prohibition against drinking wine handled by non-Jews at any stage. This was an extension of the biblical prohibition against drinking wine used as a libation in gentile religious rituals. Nor were Jews permitted to buy milk from a gentile, for fear of adulteration with pig milk or other forbidden substances. Recent rulings by leading halakhic authorities have relaxed this provision in those countries where government control of milk production and distribution serves as a deterrent against adulteration. Certain laws were meant to minimize, if not eliminate, social intermingling, for this was regarded as endangering the Jews' spiritual life, in accordance with the biblical warning (Deut. 20:18), "lest they lead you into doing abhorrent things."

However, there were also other ways of looking at things. The Jerusalem Talmud (Git. 5:9), for example, says, "In a city in which both Jews and gentiles live, we appoint Jewish and gentile overseers and we support the gentile poor together with the Jewish poor, visit their sick, and console their mourners." While Tanna de-vé Eliyahu 9 contains the statement, "I will call heaven and earth to witness that whether Jew or gentile, whether man or woman, whether slave or freeman, all is according to one's deeds in that the Holy Spirit rests upon one."

Although some of the rabbinic statements in regard to gentiles are quite harsh, they must be seen in an historical context. Suffering frequent persecutions in both the Christian and Muslim worlds, the Jews inevitably developed negative stereotypes of non-Jews which was reflected in particularistic laws, attitudes, writings, and practices. At the same time, the 13th-century halakhist R. Menahem ha-Meiri writes repeatedly in his Bet ha-Beḥirah that the laws in the Talmud relating to relations between Jews and gentiles apply only to pagans and not to the nations among whom Jews were currently living, since they observe the basic laws of morality.

The fall of the ghetto walls after the Emancipation of the Jews served to remove most of the barriers between Jews and non-Jews, changing the traditional relationship between them, for better and for worse. Intermingling has served to remove certain stereotypes on both sides and has led to direct contact with greater mutual understanding.

Certain residues, prejudices, and suspicions remain from previous periods. Many Jews continue to believe that Christians---all or some---have missionary objectives or hopes vis-à-vis the Jews. Others are wary of close contact for fear of Assimilation and Scintermarriage. However, once the Jew received equal rights and became part of society at large, universalistic elements in Judaism--which had been minimized in ghetto society---again became prominent (see Universalism and Particularism) and led in a world of pluralism and open societies to the lowering or disappearance of barriers. In the Western world, in particular, the Jewish attitude to non-Jews is generally one of fellowship, without all or most of the historical tensions. However, in certain circles, including some in Israel, mistrust has not disappeared.

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Someone who is not a Jew. “The nations” is the common expression in the Old Testament for non-Jews as a group, and a Gentile is a person belonging to “the nations.”

Both the Old Testament and the New Testament tell of numerous conflicts between Jews and Gentiles. Figuratively, a “gentile” is any nonbeliever.

IN BRIEF: n. - A person who is not a member of one's own religion; A person who does not acknowledge your god adj. - Belonging to or characteristic of non-Jewish peoples.

Tutor's tip: A "gentile" (one who is not Jewish or Mormon) can be "genteel" (polite) and also "gentle" (kind).

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

Dansk (Danish)
n. - vantro, ikke-jøde, hedning
adj. - ikke-jødisk, folke-, stamme-

Français (French)
n. - les Gentils
adj. - des Gentils

Deutsch (German)
n. - Nichtjude, Wort, das ein Volk bezeichnet
adj. - nichtjüdisch, Völker-

Ελληνική (Greek)
n., -
adj. - εθνικός (μη Εβραίος), πολυθεϊστής

Italiano (Italian)
gentile, non Ebreo

Português (Portuguese)
n. - pagão (m), gentio (m)
adj. - gentio

Русский (Russian)
нееврей, язычник, нееврейский, языческий

Español (Spanish)
n. - gentil, no judío, cristiano, pagano
adj. - gentil, no judío, cristiano, pagano

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - icke-jude, icke-mormon
adj. - icke-judisk

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
非犹太人, 异教徒, 异邦人, 非犹太人的, 非摩门教徒的, 异教徒的

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 非猶太人, 異教徒, 異邦人
adj. - 非猶太人的, 非摩門教徒的, 異教徒的

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 몰몬교도, 이방인
adj. - 이교도의

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 非ユダヤ人, 異邦人, 非モルモン教徒
adj. - ユダヤ人でない, 異邦人の, モルモン教徒でない, 異教徒の

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮לא יהודי, גוי, מילה המצביעה על השתייכות לאומה‬
adj. - ‮לא שייך לקבוצה הדתית של-, של/קשור לאומה או עדה‬

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