Beyond the Persecuting Society: Religious Toleration Before the Enlightenment

3. Ha-Me'iri's Theory of Religious Toleration

Ha-Me'iri's Theoryof ReligiousToleration Gary Reiner GENERAL STUDIES OF THE HISTORY of religious toleration, like William K. Jordan's The Development of Religious Toleration in England, Joseph Lecler 's Toleration and the Reformation, and Henry Kamen's The Rise of Toleration , have almost uniformly examined only the ideas of Christian advocates of toleration.1 Consequently, factors that have been specifically significant to the development of Christian theories of toleration, such as "the division between church and state" or "liberty of conscience," have been widely accepted asif naturally linkedto generic "toleration."2 Although the Christianization of "toleration" is understandable—as the historical development of religious toleration in the West was promoted, primarily, by and for Christians —the result is that non-Christian justifications of toleration have been overlooked. For example, the analysis of Jewish contributions to religious toleration have largely been limited to Baruch Spinoza's Tractatus Theolqgico-Politicus (1670) and Moses Mendelssohn'sJerusalem (1783), works whose ideas, arguably,derive less from Jewish sources than from the dominant philosophies of the period.3 By contrast, the Halakhic (Jewish legal) defenseof religious toleration contained in the writings of Menahem ben Solomon Ha-Me'iri (1249-1316), Provencal scholar and commentator of the Talmud, is virtually unknown among scholars interested in the general history of religious toleration.4 In this chapter, I examine Ha-Me'iri's theory of religious toleration. I demonstrate that a uniquely Jewish theory of religious toleration was developed during the Middle Ages. In addition, I also show what it means to speak of a Jewish, as opposed to a Christian, theory of religious toleration. In the section entitled "Toward a Conception of a Jewish Theory of Reli3 72 The MedievalBalance gious Toleration," I explore some of the elements that distinguish a Jewish theory of religious toleration from its Christian counterpart. I argue that "toleration" must be understood contextually, through the interplay of the religion's specific assumptions and historical environment. Then, in the section entitled "Ha-Me'iri: The Status of Contemporary Gentile Religions ," I examinethe substance that forms the basis of Ha-Me'iri's theory of toleration: his Halakhic analysis of the Talmudic regulations and prohibitions concerning idolaters. Here I explicatethe Jewish legal concepts HaMe 'iri used, adapted, and developed to distinguish between the gentiles of the past, to whom the Talmudic restrictions applied, and the presentday gentiles, whose Halakhic position was superior to that of the ancient gentiles. I also contrast Ha-Me'iri's view of the Halakhic status of gentiles with the views of his rabbinic contemporaries. Finally, in the conclusion, entitled "Ha-Me'iri's Halakhic Innovations as a Theory of Toleration," I suggest that, when taken together, Ha-Me'iri's Halakhic innovations constitute a theory of religious toleration. Although these innovations had immediate practical implications, which Ha-Me'iri acknowledged, their greater importance, for toleration, lies in the new attitude toward gentiles that they represent. Toward a Conception of aJewish Theory of Religious Toleration What does it mean to speak of a Jewish theory of religious toleration? Because toleration is defined contextually, to understand the meaning of Jewish toleration would require an inquiry into the context of Jewishideas and historical events. The contextual basis of toleration becomes clearer by firstlooking at the better-known Christian example, in which the meaning of toleration is shaped, partly, by Christianity's religious assumptions. For example, Christianity's emphasis on doctrine over practice is important for the development of its theory of religious toleration. The religious crime par excellence in Christianity is heresy, which is defined as doctrinal deviation .5 Since they still claimed to be Christians, heretics were viewed as an insidious, corrupting force within the body of the faithful who should be exterminated.6 In early Christianity, heretics differed from the orthodox , primarily, in their beliefs about the nature of the Trinity.7 Likewise, it was doctrine again that, fundamentally, divided Roman Catholics from Protestants and Protestants from each other: Luther split with the Catholic Church over "free will" and the efficacy of good works, and Protestants Remer / Ha-Me'iri's Theory of Religious Toleration 73 disagreed with Catholics and among themselves about the nature of the bread and wine in the Eucharist. As Christian religious intolerance focused on the persecution of the doctrinally deviant, Christian toleration emphasized the acceptance of heterodoxy. The influence of this conception of toleration can even be found in the U.S...