QUESTION:
1) Am I allowed to act on the concept of “loving all of Creation” by greeting a goy (a non-Jews) warmly and thinking that they are created “in the image of G-d”, and with deeper thoughts such as how I want the light of G-dliness to spread to them and the concept of the all-inclusive love of the future, etc.?
ANSWER:
There is an inner perspective of loving all of Creation, but it is meant to remain as a very inner perspective. Outwardly, the souls of the gentiles are rooted in the “3 impure kelipos”. Therefore, looking at their face creates an inward connection to them (panim/face is related to the word pnim/inside) and this creates a danger of connecting to their tumah. Therefore, only individuals who are very connected to their neshamah are allowed to connect to the goyim, because even as they connect to goyim they remain firmly attached to Hashem and to their neshamah, to the Torah, and to Hashem. They can allow themselves at rare times to connect with goyim and be involved with them, going back and forth between their d’veykus to Hashem with having to deal with the world. This is because they access a very pure state in their soul before they connect outwardly to the world they are dealing with, and then returning to their pure point in the soul immediately afterwards and “cleaning” themselves off from any subtle traces of tumah that can become attached to their soul from dealing with the world. Most people, however, need to be inwardly and emotionally disconnected from the goyim, except for very rare instances when they have no choice. This is something that’s very hard to do for people who have a personality to be very loving and compassionate towards others.
QUESTION
2) Just like a person may not connect in any to an “Erev Rav” person, even to smile at him or say Good Morning to him or even nod at him (because it’s forbidden to connect to evil and all of these are forms of connections) is the same also true regarding the other nations that we live with in exile (for example in America where we are in Galus of Edom/Esav)?
ANSWER
Chazal said “Greet every person”, and because of darkei shalom (maintaining peaceful relations with all people) one should greet even non-Jews, and that is what the Sages did as well: They made sure to first greet the non-Jew before the non-Jew got the chance to greet first. However, the Erev Rav is worse than all other goyim, because they are the roots of tumah, and one should not have any connection to them at all, as much as possible.
QUESTION
3) I feel a love for some goyim and I want them to have a good life. And since there is a concept of loving all of Creation and there is a future unity, I allow myself to feel a connection to them. Certainly I love the Jewish people as well, but I also love goyim. I want all goyim to be happy and that they should have a good life, and I certainly feel compassion for them when they suffer, because I feel for them like I feel for others. Is that a proper attitude?
ANSWER
Do not hate goyim, unless they are of the wicked people of the world who hate Hashem: “Those who hate You, Hashem, I will hate.” However, you should not either reveal an open love towards the goyim, because this is spiritually harmful to your soul, as mentioned earlier.
QUESTION
2) Just like a person may not connect in any to an “Erev Rav” person, even to smile at him or say Good Morning to him or even nod at him (because it’s forbidden to connect to evil and all of these are forms of connections) is the same also true regarding the other nations that we live with in exile (for example in America where we are in Galus of Edom/Esav)?
ANSWER
Chazal said “Greet every person”, and because of darkei shalom (maintaining peaceful relations with all people) one should greet even non-Jews, and that is what the Sages did as well: They made sure to first greet the non-Jew before the non-Jew got the chance to greet first. However, the Erev Rav is worse than all other goyim, because they are the roots of tumah, and one should not have any connection to them at all, as much as possible.
QUESTION
3) I feel a love for some goyim and I want them to have a good life. And since there is a concept of loving all of Creation and there is a future unity, I allow myself to feel a connection to them. Certainly I love the Jewish people as well, but I also love goyim. I want all goyim to be happy and that they should have a good life, and I certainly feel compassion for them when they suffer, because I feel for them like I feel for others. Is that a proper attitude?
ANSWER
Do not hate goyim, unless they are of the wicked people of the world who hate Hashem: “Those who hate You, Hashem, I will hate.” However, you should not either reveal an open love towards the goyim, because this is spiritually harmful to your soul, as mentioned earlier.
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