Thursday, April 19, 2007

לפני עוור

i heard this in the name of achronim.
Tosfos by us that is worried about בל תוסיף to teach Torah to a gentile seems a proof against the יד אברהם brought in y"d 62 by poskim there, that if one is not אסור in something he is not חייב for לפני עור on this act. Here it seems that we are worried of Bal Tosif although its alowed for us to learn Torah. The way to answer is, that the prohibition of learning Torah for them is explained in Sanhedrin either because of גזל or because of נערה המאורסה therefor these concepts do apply to us in a different format.

3 comments:

Avi Lebowitz said...

shkoyach.
there is a tremendous amound of "reid" on this issue. one of the most comprehensive is the sridei eish who writes extremely elaborate teshuvos to r' teitz about teaching torah over the radio.

Anonymous said...

If I am not mistaken the Seridei Eish also dealt with teaching torah in university classrooms where many non Jews were in the class. Also I believe Rav moshe has a teshuva about teaching in a school that accepts all kinds of "Jewish" kids, even if only their fathers are Jewish.

Avromi said...

I quote Reb Moshe at the end:

The Meor Veshemesh (Parshas Chukas) writes that it is permitted to teach the Written Law to an idolater as we find that Moshe wrote the Torah in seventy languages. The prohibition of teaching Torah to a gentile applies only to the Oral Law.

The Divrei Chaim (Chanukah) rules similarly: The Torah was written on the stones and the nations of the world copied it over. The Medrash states that the Holy One, Blessed is He did not protest and allowed them to study the Written Law. It is forbidden to teach them even one word of the Oral Law.

There are many commentators who disagree with this vehemently and they maintain that it is evident from many sources that it is even forbidden to teach the Written Law to a non-Jew.

In the sefer, Beis Pinchas (I P. 169) from Rabbi Pinchas HaLevi Horowitz, he writes that all are in agreement that it is forbidden to teach even the Written Law to a non-Jew; the aforementioned commentators are merely stating that we are not obligated to protest and prevent a non-Jew from studying the Written Law. This is derived from the Medrash which stated that Hashem allowed the idolaters to copy over the Written Law. It is incumbent on us, however, to ensure that the gentiles do not study the Oral Law.

This explanation is seemingly inconsistent with a ruling issued by Reb Moshe Feinstein in Igros Moshe (Y”D II: 132): He states that it is forbidden to directly teach Torah to a gentile; however, if he happens to be in the room when one is teaching Torah to other Jews, the teacher is permitted to continue teaching Torah since it is not his intention to teach the gentile.

If there is an obligation to ensure that the gentile does not study the Oral Law, it should follow that one would be compelled to cease his discourse and wait for the non-Jew to leave before continuing with the teaching of Torah.