Q: Does the commandment “Love your neighbor as yourself” apply to all Jews, including Jews who sin, or deny foundations of faith?
A: As a rule, there is a commandment to love every fellow Jew, and even if one transgressed many sins due to his desires and the overpowering of his evil inclination, he is called a ‘posheiya Yisrael‘ (“sinner of Israel”) and is punished for them, but has not yatza me’Clal Yisrael (left the general community of Israel), for they have a portion in the World to Come.
And there is an obligation to love such a person, and have compassion on him, and to fulfill toward him all the commandments of brotherhood among the children of Israel. One who removes such sinners from the general community of Israel, is acting in the “way of the minim (heretics)” (‘Perek Be’Hilchot Tzibur’, Maamarei Ha’Re’iyah p. 58).
Moreover, the Rambam wrote (Iggeret Ha’Shmad - ‘Letter of Apostasy’) that even one who converted his religion due to pressure, even though he transgressed a grave sin, remains within the general community of Israel and should be brought close and not pushed away, since he did not decide by free choice to leave Judaism. However, there is no obligation to love sinners who removed themselves from the general community of Israel, and established for themselves that they are not part of the people of Israel.
According to the Rambam, Those Who Deny the Foundations of Faith Have Left the General Community of Israel
The Rambam wrote that in addition to those who remove themselves from the general community of Israel, also one who chose to deny one of the thirteen fundamental principles of faith, “he has left the general community and denied a fundamental principle, and is called a ‘heretic’, an ‘apikoros‘, and ‘one who cuts the plantings’, and there is an obligation to hate him and destroy him, and all commandments of acts of kindness among Israel do not apply to him. And about him it says (Psalms 139:21): ‘Do I not hate those who hate You, O Lord?'” (Commentary on the Mishnah Sanhedrin 10:1. And similarly in Laws of Rotzeach 13:14; Avodah Zarah 2:5; Mamrim 3:2).
His words are based on the Baraita (Rosh Hashanah 17a), that heretics, apikorsim (apostates), and those who deny the Torah and resurrection of the dead are judged for generations in hell, and have no portion in the World to Come. According to the Rambam, included among the heretics, apikorsim, and those who deny the Torah, are those who deny the 13 fundamental principles of faith.
However, According to the Torah They are Considered Jews
Even though according to the Rambam one must hate those who deny one of the fundamental principles, the Rambam admits that they are considered Jews, and therefore, they inherit from their parents as Jews (Rambam Nachalot 6:12), and they release the yevamah from yibbum through chalitzah (Yibbum and Chalitzah 1:4), and if they married according to the law of Moses and Israel, their kiddushin are valid (Ishut 4:15). However, since they denied one of the fundamental principles - they have no portion in the World to Come, and regarding all matters of brotherhood commandments, one should relate to them as if they left the general community of Israel.
According to Many Poskim, the Deniers Have Not Left the General Community of Israel
However, many of the Sages of Israel held that one who errs in part of the fundamental principles of faith, remains within the general community of Israel regarding brotherhood commandments, and has a portion in the World to Come. And so wrote the Ra’avad, that many Jews, including great Torah scholars, erred to think that it is possible to attribute physical expressions to God, and one cannot claim that as a result, they left the general community of Israel, but rather, they have a portion in the World to Come (Critique to Laws of Repentance 3:7). A
nd so is the opinion of the Ri’az (Kontres HaRe’ayot Sanhedrin 90a). And so wrote the Radbaz (4:187), that one who errs in one of the fundamental principles due to his mistaken study, is not considered a denier, but as one who is coerced, since this is what emerged from his study. And so is the opinion of the Tashbetz (Ohev Mishpat 9), and the Ramak (Pardes Rimonim 1:9). And so is the opinion of most halakhic authorities.
Apparently, according to them, only one who converted his religion to idol worship, is considered as one who left the general community of Israel regarding brotherhood commandments. And even such a person is still called a son before God, and all laws of Israel apply to him (see, Responsa of the Rashba 1:194; 242).
Proof from the Attitude Toward Rabbi Hillel Who Denied the Coming of the Messiah
Similarly, Rabbi Yosef Albo (Sefer HaIkarim 1:1) wrote, that it is impossible that one who denies the coming of the Messiah, which according to the Rambam is the twelfth fundamental principle, is considered as one who left the general community of Israel, for in the Talmud (Sanhedrin 99a), the opinion of the Amora Rabbi Hillel is brought, who said: “Israel has no Messiah, for they already ‘ate’ from him (as all the prophecies relating to the Messiah were already fulfilled) during the days of Hezekiah.”
Rav Yosef responded to his words: “May the Master forgive Rabbi Hillel,” meaning may God forgive Rabbi Hillel, who erred in his words. And if Rabbi Hillel is considered a kofer (denier) who left the general community of Israel, why were his words brought in the Talmud? And if they brought his words in order to reject them, why instead of defining him as a denier who should be ostracized and excommunicated, did they honor him with the title “Rabbi”?
From here we see that even one who errs in grave matters, is considered part of the general community of Israel, who should be respected.
Additional Discussion of the Rambam’s Opinion
Many Torah scholars indeed understood the Rambam’s opinion that even one who clarified his worldview honestly, and reached a conclusion that contradicts one of the fundamental principles, is considered as a denier who left the general community of Israel, and should be hated (Abarbanel, Rosh Amanah 12; Merkevet HaMishnah Chelma Laws of Repentance 7:3; and so it emerges from Guide for the Perplexed 1:36).
About this understanding of the Rambam, Maran Rabbi Kook wrote that the opinion of the majority of poskim is not like the Rambam. Furthermore, Maran Rabbi Kook wrote (Shmonah Kevatzim 1:30-32) that “as long as that anthropomorphizer does not make for himself an idol and image, he has not completed his thought,” and therefore, his position is not considered as “uprooting and leaving the religion.”
However, some say that even the Rambam holds like most Sages of Israel, and as wrote Rabbi David Shiriro (Salonika, died 5508) in ‘Mishneh Kesef’ (Laws of Repentance 3:7): “One should say that our Rabbi (Rambam) only called a ‘heretic’ one who intends to rebel against the Holy One Blessed be He, and be spiteful toward Him, that He has a body and form.” But if he erred in this “due to imaginings of the Scriptures or the Aggadot, our Rabbi (Rambam) would admit that he is not considered a heretic.” Rabbi Meiri HaMeili (Essay, Meshiv Nefesh 15) explained it similarly.
It emerges according to this, that even the Rambam would agree that in practice, one should not remove from the general community of Israel one who does not believe in one of the fundamental principles, for almost always it is possible to judge him favorably, that perhaps, he did not study and examine the issue sufficiently, or did not have a rabbi who could teach him properly. And if so, even according to his opinion, only one who understood the fundamental principles well, and decided to deny one of them, removed himself from the general community.
According to this, the Rambam’s words are directed only toward one who chose to deny the principles of Israel’s faith, such as Paul, founder of Christian theology.
In addition, it is clear that even according to the Rambam (Laws of Repentance 3:14), all who deny the fundamental principles of faith can repent, and then they will have a portion in the World to Come like all of Israel. Furthermore, one can derive from the Rambam’s words (Laws of Mamrim 3:2) that the severe attitude toward the denier is not a commandment in itself, but a defensive action from the danger posed by him to Judaism, and therefore, their excommunication is the removal of an obstacle that endangers the general community of Israel.
But when the distancing is not removal of an obstacle, and on the contrary, usually increases it, as happens in practice in recent generations, the basic law returns, that they are considered Jews, and are called sons of God, and all brotherhood commandments apply to them.
The Attitude toward Deniers as Coerced and ‘Captive Children’
According to Maran Rabbi Kook, one should not remove from the general community of Israel those who deny the fundamental principles of faith in recent generations, and this is based on two main foundations.
The first foundation: most deniers in modern times do not leave by choice, but they are like those who are coerced, since the spirit of the generation makes faith very difficult (Iggrot Re’iyah Vol. 1:138, p. 170-171). This foundation is agreed upon by the vast majority of rabbis, and many of them based it on the expansion of the concept ‘tinok she’nishba bein ha’nochrim‘ (a child who was captured among the gentiles) (Shabbat 68b), who does not know the foundations of faith and halakha, and therefore regarding transgressions he commits, he is considered as one who is coerced.
And as written in Responsa Binyan Zion (Hahadashot 23), that one who was educated to desecrate Shabbat is considered like a ‘child captured among the gentiles’, because ‘his ancestors’ deeds are in his hands’, and therefore, his touching of wine, does not forbid it (and so is the opinion of many poskim, as explained in ‘Peninei Halakha: Kashrut 29:13, note 15).
And similar to what the Rambam wrote (Laws of Mamrim 3:2-3) regarding children of the Karaites, that one should not distance them, even though the Karaites deny the eighth fundamental principle.
The second foundation, faith within denial, is deeper: Often, the denial stems from a mistaken and diminishing explanation of faith, and then their denial is because they believe there is a greater scientific and moral truth, and therefore, they cannot accept faith in God that does not transcend to the truth and good to which they aspire.
And as Maran Rabbi Kook wrote: “There are many apikorsim who are deniers according to the measure of (the boundaries of) halakha, but when we understand that we must examine their souls, we find in them, a connection to the divine content, in a hidden form. And for this reason, the tendency toward merit and kindness is very great in our generations, even to those who are absolute deniers” (Shmonah Kevatzim 1:327).
Moreover, Rabbi Kook wrote: “There is denial that is like acknowledgment, and acknowledgment that is like denial. How so? A person acknowledges that the Torah is from heaven, but those heavens are depicted in his mind in such strange forms, that nothing of true faith remains in it. And denial that is like acknowledgment how? A person denies Torah from heaven, but his denial is based only on that perception that he absorbed from the depiction of the form of heaven that is in minds filled with thoughts of vanity and void.”
But in truth, he believes in the values of truth and good, and believes that there is a correct way of life which is ‘the Torah’ from his perspective. And therefore “he says: The Torah - it has a source more exalted than this (that representatives of religion present), and begins to find its foundation from the greatness of the human spirit, from the depth of morality, and the height of his wisdom.” Indeed, in practice “he has not yet reached the focal point of truth,” but, “in any case, this denial as acknowledgment (in faith) is important, and it advances and approaches the acknowledgment of the loyal faith.”
Therefore, together with the justified criticism of the deniers, one should also interpret this ‘generation of upheavals’ in a positive way, that their denial is because of their faith in truth and good, that are perceived in their eyes as higher (Shmonah Kevatzim 1:373).
Therefore, Maran Rabbi Kook concluded in practice, that one should not consider Jews with heretical opinions as having left the religion of Israel, but only one whose denial brought him to idol worship or religious conversion. And likewise, one who became “a hater of Israel, and seeks their harm in practice and in the expectation of the heart”
(Letter 355. See more in ‘Peninei Halakha’: Faith and Its Commandments 30:4).
This article appears in the ‘Besheva’ newspaper and was translated from Hebrew.