Purity and Non-Israelites in Ancient Rabbinic Legal Literature

The content and tone of rabbinic sources dealing with the generic gentile are quite varied. In many legal texts, the gentile is represented in neutral terms simply as an ethnic Other, a non-Israelite, to whom the laws of the Mosaic covenant do not apply, although some limited voluntary observance is possible. The gentile does not observe the dietary laws and is not obligated by the biblical ritual purity system given at Sinai (although corpse impurity falls on all humans). The rabbis decree a mild and irregular impurity attaching to the spittle and urine of the non-Jew. However, despite a common misconception, in rabbinic halakhah the gentile is not intrinsically impure, as evidenced by the fact that the gentile may voluntarily bring certain sacrifices and offerings and make dedications to the sanctuary, which require a minimal purity status. Nor, from a rabbinic perspective, is the gentile an ontologically distinct “seed” that can never enter the community of Israel.