[10] In Saint Jerome's Latin version of the Bible, the Vulgate, gentilis was used along with gentes, to translate Greek and Hebrew words with similar meanings when the text referred to the non-Israelite peoples.
In 2006, the academic David Novak wrote, with limited exceptions, "The Bible can be seen as one long discussion of what differentiates Israel from all the other peoples of the world.
[13] Saul Oylan argues that gentiles automatically became Israelite when they lived in one of their tribal territories, which was believed to reflect 'early practices' (Ezekiel 47:21–23).
He believes this view was extended to the New Testament, where membership in God's chosen people was based on religious adherence rather than ancestry (Galatians 3:28).
He believed that except for the descendants of the Amaleks, the rest of the gentiles will adopt monotheism and the righteous among them will escape Gehenna.
[17] Other rabbinical writings show more hostility towards gentiles which needs to be understood in the context of frequent persecution of the Jews in this period.
He is often quoted by antisemites[17] in his sayings: "The best among the Gentiles deserves to be killed", "The most pious woman is addicted to sorcery" and "The best of snakes ought to have its head crushed".
[17] Such extreme views can be explained by the sage's life experience: he witnessed his teacher being tortured to death,[18] and became a fugitive after speaking out against Roman oppression.
During periods of decreased animosity between Jews and gentiles, some of the rabbinic laws against fellowship and fraternization were relaxed; for example, Maimonides was the personal physician of Saladin.
For example, scholars from the Zionist HaRav Kook yeshiva are schooled in the doctrine that Jews and gentiles have different kinds of souls.
One of the yeshiva's scholars, David Bar-Hayim, published a paper in 1989 in which he explained the doctrine, entitled "Yisrael Nikraim Adam" (Israel Gentiles Man).
In his conclusion, Bar-Hayim writes: There is no escaping the facts: the Torah of Israel makes a clear distinction between a Jew, who is defined as "Man," and a Gentile.
Even one who is not an erudite Torah scholar is obligated to recognize this simple fact; it cannot be erased or obscured ... One who carefully studies the sources cited previously will realize the abysmal difference between the concepts "Jew" and "Gentile" -- and consequently, he will understand why Halacha differentiates between them.
[22]Similar anti-gentile remarks have been expressed by the late chief Sephardi Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, in which he stated in a sermon in 2010 that "The sole purpose of Gentiles is to serve Jews".
Rav Aharon Lichtenstein, Rosh Yeshivah of Gush, for example, strongly opposed what he saw as racist attitudes among certain segments of Religious Zionism.
Isaac Luria, prominent kabbalist, wrote:Israel possesses the three levels of soul, nefesh, ruah, neshamah,—from holiness... the gentiles possess only the level of nefesh from the feminine side of the shells... for the souls of the nations (gentiles), come from the Qlippoth, are called evil and not good' since they are created without knowledge (Daat).
[30]The view that gentiles only possess bestial souls was more popularized by the main kabbalistic text of hasidic movement, the Tanya (or Likkutei Amarim).
Thus nothing gentiles do can elevate them to the level of holiness, their soul remains trapped in the unholy world of the impure Qlippoth.
In the years after the ministry of Jesus, there were questions over the inclusion of non-Jews and the applicability of the Law of Moses, including circumcision.
Then answered Peter, Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we?Within a few centuries, some Christians used the word "gentiles" to mean non-Christians.
For example, the only use of the word in Genesis is in chapter 10, verse 5, referring to the peopling of the world by descendants of Japheth, "By these were the isles of the Gentiles divided in their lands; every one after his tongue, after their families, in their nations.
Their xenophobia stood to reason: they were victims of religious discrimination, from ridicule in the press to acts of mob violence.
Gentile thus served as a call to circle the wagons socially and politically around the fold - a means of naming the other" Needham goes on to say that today Mormons have "outgrown the term.
-Quran 62:2[39]Palmer like Pickthall did not translate all instances of the word ummi as Gentiles, but his comment on chapter 3 verse 19 shows his opinion :Mohammad seems to have borrowed the expression from the Jews, ummiyyun having the same significance as Hebrew Goyim.
[40]Edward William Lane similarly believed that the word ummi is identical to the Hebrew Goyim as demonstrated in the following quote :Ummi probably means gentile- in a secondary sense a heathen; one not having revealed a scripture; or belonging to the nation of the Arabs, who did not write nor read, and therefore metaphorically applied to anyone not knowing the art of writing nor that of reading.
Elwood Morris Wherry wrote that almost certainly this appellation came originally from the Jews who used it in expressing their contempt for the Gentile prophet.
[41] Some Muslim scholars also agreed with this idea: a French translation of the Quran by Muhammad Hamidullah uses the expression 'gentile prophet' in Sura 7 verse 157–158.
He it is who has sent to the gentiles a Messenger from among themselves, one who rehearses to them his verses, purifies their lives, and imparts to them the book and the wisdom although before that they were in utter error.
[44] However vast majority of Islamic scholars and translations made by Muslims are of the idea that ummi means illiterate.