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It is hard to miss the intention of the Talmud, or misinterpret its noble meaning, or pilpul it into something other than what it is, when it says:
Rabbi Shemeul says advantage may be taken of the mistakes of a Gentile. He once bought a gold plate as a copper one of a Gentile for four zouzim, and then cheated him out of one zouzim in the bargain. Rav Cahana purchased a hundred and twenty vessels of wine from a Gentile for a hundred zouzim, and swindled him in the payment out of one of the hundred, and that while the Gentile assured him that he confidently trusted his honesty. Rava once went shares with a Gentile and bought a tree, which was cut up into logs. This done, he bade his servants to go pick out the largest logs, but to be sure to take no more than the proper number, because the Gentile knew how many there were. As Rav Ashi was walking abroad one day he saw some grapes growing in a roadside vineyard, and sent his servant to see whom they belonged to. "If they belong to a Gentile," he said, "bring some here to me, but if they belong to an Israelite, do not meddle with them." The owner, who happened to be in the vineyard, overheard the Rabbi's order and called out, "What? Is it lawful to rob a Gentile?" "Oh, no," said the Rabbi evasively, "a Gentile might sell, but an Israelite would not" (Bava Kama, Fol. 113, col. 2).
This, we should keep in mind, appears in a Jewish religious text.
Deception in Business
It is a grave sin to practice any kind of deception whatsoever against a Jew. Against a Gentile it is only forbidden to practice direct deception. Indirect deception is allowed, unless it is likely to cause hostility towards Jews or insult to the Jewish religion. The paradigmatic example is mistaken calculation of the price during a purchase. If a Jew makes a mistake unfavorable to himself, it is one's religious duty to correct him. If a Gentile is spotted making such a mistake, one need not let him know about it, but say "I rely on your calculation," so as to forestall his hostility in case he subsequently discovers his own mistake.
Fraud
It is forbidden to defraud a Jew by selling or buying at an unreasonable price. However, "Fraud does not apply to Gentiles, for it is written 'Do no defraud each man his brother' [the Halakhah interprets all such idioms as referring exclusively to one's fellow Jew.]
Theft and Robbery
Robbery of a Gentile by a Jew is not forbidden outright, but only under certain circumstances such as "when the Gentiles are not under our rule," but is permitted "when they are under our rule." Rabbinical authorities differ among themselves as to the precise details of the circumstances under which a Jew may rob a Gentile, but the whole debate is concerned only with the relative power of Jews and Gentiles rather than with universal considerations of justice and humanity.
Israel Shahak, Jewish History, Jewish Religion: The Weight of Two Thousand Years (London: Pluto Press, 1994), 89-90, 117 n49.
The Jewish Diaspora community in Europe has been formally called to task by Christian authorities a number of times in history to find out exactly what the Jews in their midst believed and where they morally, politically, socially, and religiously stood with regard to Gentiles.
One of the most important accounts of such an occasion was in France in the year 1240. A Jewish apostate named Donin, Christianized to Nicholas de Rupella, well versed in Hebrew as a Talmudic scholar, claimed to Church officials that there were many elements in Jewish teachings that were threatening to non-Jews. A public disputation was held between Donin and Rabbi Yehiel ben Joseph of Paris. As Jeremy Cohen notes about Hebrew records of the event: "Some modern writers have labeled the Hebrew protocol [of the disputation] a prime example of literary polemic, using well-known forensic motifs to reinforce popular Jewish belief rather than actually reporting what occurred."
The most infamous line in the Talmud "the best among Gentiles should be slain" came up for public examination. One can imagine that such a directive in Jewish religious texts, whatever its complex historical context as a part of intra-Jewish argument, exposed to Church leaders in medieval society by a Jewish apostate, was not an easy one for the rabbis to explain away. Even Jacob Katz passes on its essential content, simply alluding to "whatever its meaning may be …" M. K. Harris, in his book on Talmudic literature, mentions an addenda: "Modern editions," he notes, "qualify this by adding 'in time of war.'"
The intention of the Church inquiry was, of course, to squeeze out of Jewish religious texts the most self-condemning material. Hence, some of what Katz calls the Talmud's apparent "picture of extreme hostility on the part of the Jews towards their Christian neighbors" seemed nothing less than indicting: