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Q:

How should we relate to goyim?

A:

And the answer is you have to be polite to goyim. And we shouldn’t wish them any harm unless they’re known to be troublesome – then you can be mispallel against them because they are enemies of the Am Yisroel. But in general we’re polite to them.

Like somebody asked me, “Should we rejoice when the goyim fell into the ocean from that plane and were drowned?” Absolutely not. Hakadosh Baruch Hu does not rejoice. If they were sonei Yisrael and you knew about that, all right. Let’s say when Assad passed away we say, כן יאבדו כל אויבך ה׳ – So too should all the enemies of Hashem go lost. We’re happy.

Not only gentile reshaim. Jewish reshaim too. Plenty of Jewish reshaim passed away and we’re quite satisfied. The world is much better off without them. But in general we are polite to gentiles.

I’ll tell you something. If you’re not polite even to a cat in the street, you won’t be polite to anybody. If you’re polite, you’ll be polite to everybody.

Here is a man who was walking in the street with his friend. He saw a dead cow lying in the street and he said, “Wooh, what a bad odor that cow has!”

So the other man said, “Why don’t you say ’How white her teeth are!”? Why look for faults? Look for virtues. It’s in the Chovos Halevavos that story. So you have to look for good things in the world. And the gentiles have some good things.

Now, you don’t have to be excited about them however. If you want to learn good things, you don’t need them. You can look in our seforim. We have tzaddikim among us. Learn from them. But if you’re mean to a gentile, you’ll be mean to Jews too. You cannot change yourself.

And I’ll tell you something else. If you’re mean to people, you’ll be mean to Hakadosh Baruch Hu too. A man’s relationship to Hakadosh Baruch Hu is the way he is with everybody else because a person cannot change his character. He cannot say ”I’ll deal with people one way and to Hashem I’ll be something else.” And therefore in order to be perfect to Hashem, you must be perfect to your fellow Jews.

TAPE # E-241 (August 2000)

Rav Avigdor Miller on Being Polite to Everyone

print

Q:

How should we relate to goyim?

A:

And the answer is you have to be polite to goyim. And we shouldn’t wish them any harm unless they’re known to be troublesome – then you can be mispallel against them because they are enemies of the Am Yisroel. But in general we’re polite to them.

Like somebody asked me, “Should we rejoice when the goyim fell into the ocean from that plane and were drowned?” Absolutely not. Hakadosh Baruch Hu does not rejoice. If they were sonei Yisrael and you knew about that, all right. Let’s say when Assad passed away we say, כן יאבדו כל אויבך ה׳ – So too should all the enemies of Hashem go lost. We’re happy.

Not only gentile reshaim. Jewish reshaim too. Plenty of Jewish reshaim passed away and we’re quite satisfied. The world is much better off without them. But in general we are polite to gentiles.

I’ll tell you something. If you’re not polite even to a cat in the street, you won’t be polite to anybody. If you’re polite, you’ll be polite to everybody.

Here is a man who was walking in the street with his friend. He saw a dead cow lying in the street and he said, “Wooh, what a bad odor that cow has!”

So the other man said, “Why don’t you say ’How white her teeth are!”? Why look for faults? Look for virtues. It’s in the Chovos Halevavos that story. So you have to look for good things in the world. And the gentiles have some good things.

Now, you don’t have to be excited about them however. If you want to learn good things, you don’t need them. You can look in our seforim. We have tzaddikim among us. Learn from them. But if you’re mean to a gentile, you’ll be mean to Jews too. You cannot change yourself.

And I’ll tell you something else. If you’re mean to people, you’ll be mean to Hakadosh Baruch Hu too. A man’s relationship to Hakadosh Baruch Hu is the way he is with everybody else because a person cannot change his character. He cannot say ”I’ll deal with people one way and to Hashem I’ll be something else.” And therefore in order to be perfect to Hashem, you must be perfect to your fellow Jews.

TAPE # E-241 (August 2000)

print

Q:

How should we relate to goyim?

A:

And the answer is you have to be polite to goyim. And we shouldn’t wish them any harm unless they’re known to be troublesome – then you can be mispallel against them because they are enemies of the Am Yisroel. But in general we’re polite to them.

Like somebody asked me, “Should we rejoice when the goyim fell into the ocean from that plane and were drowned?” Absolutely not. Hakadosh Baruch Hu does not rejoice. If they were sonei Yisrael and you knew about that, all right. Let’s say when Assad passed away we say, כן יאבדו כל אויבך ה׳ – So too should all the enemies of Hashem go lost. We’re happy.

Not only gentile reshaim. Jewish reshaim too. Plenty of Jewish reshaim passed away and we’re quite satisfied. The world is much better off without them. But in general we are polite to gentiles.

I’ll tell you something. If you’re not polite even to a cat in the street, you won’t be polite to anybody. If you’re polite, you’ll be polite to everybody.

Here is a man who was walking in the street with his friend. He saw a dead cow lying in the street and he said, “Wooh, what a bad odor that cow has!”

So the other man said, “Why don’t you say ’How white her teeth are!”? Why look for faults? Look for virtues. It’s in the Chovos Halevavos that story. So you have to look for good things in the world. And the gentiles have some good things.

Now, you don’t have to be excited about them however. If you want to learn good things, you don’t need them. You can look in our seforim. We have tzaddikim among us. Learn from them. But if you’re mean to a gentile, you’ll be mean to Jews too. You cannot change yourself.

And I’ll tell you something else. If you’re mean to people, you’ll be mean to Hakadosh Baruch Hu too. A man’s relationship to Hakadosh Baruch Hu is the way he is with everybody else because a person cannot change his character. He cannot say ”I’ll deal with people one way and to Hashem I’ll be something else.” And therefore in order to be perfect to Hashem, you must be perfect to your fellow Jews.

TAPE # E-241 (August 2000)

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print

Q:

How should we relate to goyim?

A:

And the answer is you have to be polite to goyim. And we shouldn’t wish them any harm unless they’re known to be troublesome – then you can be mispallel against them because they are enemies of the Am Yisroel. But in general we’re polite to them.

Like somebody asked me, “Should we rejoice when the goyim fell into the ocean from that plane and were drowned?” Absolutely not. Hakadosh Baruch Hu does not rejoice. If they were sonei Yisrael and you knew about that, all right. Let’s say when Assad passed away we say, כן יאבדו כל אויבך ה׳ – So too should all the enemies of Hashem go lost. We’re happy.

Not only gentile reshaim. Jewish reshaim too. Plenty of Jewish reshaim passed away and we’re quite satisfied. The world is much better off without them. But in general we are polite to gentiles.

I’ll tell you something. If you’re not polite even to a cat in the street, you won’t be polite to anybody. If you’re polite, you’ll be polite to everybody.

Here is a man who was walking in the street with his friend. He saw a dead cow lying in the street and he said, “Wooh, what a bad odor that cow has!”

So the other man said, “Why don’t you say ’How white her teeth are!”? Why look for faults? Look for virtues. It’s in the Chovos Halevavos that story. So you have to look for good things in the world. And the gentiles have some good things.

Now, you don’t have to be excited about them however. If you want to learn good things, you don’t need them. You can look in our seforim. We have tzaddikim among us. Learn from them. But if you’re mean to a gentile, you’ll be mean to Jews too. You cannot change yourself.

And I’ll tell you something else. If you’re mean to people, you’ll be mean to Hakadosh Baruch Hu too. A man’s relationship to Hakadosh Baruch Hu is the way he is with everybody else because a person cannot change his character. He cannot say ”I’ll deal with people one way and to Hashem I’ll be something else.” And therefore in order to be perfect to Hashem, you must be perfect to your fellow Jews.

TAPE # E-241 (August 2000)

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