The gemara discusses why goyim are excluded from nezirus and suggests that it is because in the parsha of nazir it insists on those who have paternity, which goyim don't have. At one point the gemara suggests that it is dependent on paternity in regard to honoring parents, which goyim don't have. I found this gemara somewhat troublesome in light of the gemara in kiddushin and avoda zara that tells the story of dama ben nesina, who is a goy in ashkelon used as the source for how far the mitzvah of kibud av v'eim goes. Had the gemara by us simply implied that goyim don't have an obligation to honor their parents, it would not strike me as a contradiction because even without an obligation they can fulfill a mitzvah. The problem is that the gemara doesn't just say that goyim are excluded from the mtizvah, but that they have no concept of paternity in regard to the mitzvah to honor one's parents. This implies that in regard to the concept of honoring a parent, goyim are created from immaculate conception and do not have parents. If this is true, how can we learn the mitzvah of kibud av from a goy?
R' Moshe (Dibros kiddushin heara 19) suggests that although goyim don't receive any reward for mitzvos between us and Hashem, because that requires a prerequisite of kedushas yisroel; they do receive reward for mitzvos bein adam l'chaveiro. Included in this would be tzedaka where the gemara implies a goy who performs this mitzvah indeed receives reward. Similarly, a goy will receive reward for the mitzvah of honoring his parents since it is a mitzvah bein adam l'chaveiro. Taking this approach one step further, it seems that the kibud av for a goy is not because he is a biological father who carries the paternity card, but rather because he is a person who invested in his son and deserves hakaras hatov. Therefore, out gemara is correct in that the fatherhood or paternity of a goy does not exist in regard to the mitzvah of kibud av, but we can still learn kibud av from dama ben nesina who certainly would receive reward for performing the mitzvah of hakaras hatov in an exemplary fashion.
7 comments:
I assume you mean that it's bein adam l'chaveiro by a goy only.
yes. my point is that for a goy it is purely bein adam l'chaveiro as a hakaras hatov for acting like a father, but not at all the mitzvah of kibud av for being a shutaf in his creation like hashem. Perhaps, a goy would not have a mitzvah to honor his biological father, if this father did not invest anything into raising him (or perhaps he would because the fact that he is biologically his father is also something that deserves recognition). BUT a jew would certainly have a mitzvah of kibud av to a biological father despite how bad this father was to his child.
that's what I figured; yasherkoach!
I just came across the netziv in his haskama to the chofetz chaim's sefer "ahavas chessed" explains that gemilas chessed applies to goyim as well as jews. He explains similar to the way i explained above that kibud av also applies by goyim as we find by dama ben nesina. However, for jews there is an additional aspect to the mitzvah which is bein adam l'makom. Based on this he explains that if one is a child of a mixed marriage, his father is a goy and his mother a jew, although he would have an obligation to honor his father since this applies to goyim as well, the mitzvah of kibud eim to the mother takes precedence over the father (in situations where they are both making demands on him and he is forced to pick one over the other).
i just came across a teshuva of binyamin z'ev (quoted sometimes by rama) that R' akiva eiger in y.d. 240:1 by kibud av v'eim references. He comes to answer the Rashba's question why we don't make a bracha on kibud av and similar type mitzvos? He answers that the bracha is only applicable by mitzvos that are exclusively done by jews and not by non-jews. The language of "asher kidishanu b'mitzvosav" implies the mitzvah is unique to us because of our kedusha, and we therefore don't make this bracha by mitzvos of chessed or hakaras hatov or kibud av which are universally kept at least by some.
A proof to the concept that a goy receives reward for bein adam l'chaveiro mitzvos (but only like an eino metzuveh v'oseh) is Tosafos in baba metzia 70b where tosafos is mesupak whether goyim are included in the prohibition of lending to each other and charging interest - it may be included in gezel which applies to them. Tosafos concludes that they are not obligated for lending b'ribis but certainly receive zechuyos for not doing so "just like our forefathers received reward for mitvos that they weren't commanded in". Clearly, tosafos understands that since it is a bein adam l'chaveiro mitzvah, a goy would receive reward for not lending b'ribis, but holds that they are not "metzuveh" in it - it is not considered an obligation for them, just a reshus.
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