Mishneh Torah, Foreign Worship and Customs of the Nations 10

Sugya Map: The Limits of Lo Techanem

• Issue: The extent of the prohibition against showing grace (chaninah) to idolaters, and the scope of mitzvah to eradicate minim and apikorsim.
• Nafka Mina: Whether the duty to withhold aid is rooted in security, ontological separation, or a proactive refusal to "give them a resting place" (lo titen lahem chanayah).
• Primary Sources: Deuteronomy 7:2; Avodah Zarah 20a; Mishneh Torah, Hilchot Avodat Kochavim 10.

Text Snapshot

• MT 10:1: "We may not draw up a covenant... they must renounce their worship or be slain."
• MT 10:2: "It is, however, forbidden to cause one of them to sink... since he is not waging war against us."
• Leshon Nuance: Rambam carefully distinguishes between passive non-intervention (letting drown) and active harm (pushing into a pit). The shlilat (negation) of mercy is a constraint on Jewish action, not an imperative of active malice.

Readings

• Lechem Mishneh (MT 10:1): Navigates the taxonomy of minnim vs. mumrim. He argues Rambam distinguishes between the rebel (mumr—who acts out of hach’asah) and the heretic (apikoros—who lacks the conceptual framework of faith).
• Tzafnat Pa’neach (Rogatchover Gaon): Suggests the prohibition on medical treatment is limited to curative intervention. Preventive measures (like mavrich ari—fending off a lion) might be permitted, as the goal is avoiding active harm, not necessarily providing a benefit.

Friction

• Kushya: If lo techanem is a absolute mandate to deny aid, how do we reconcile the darkhei shalom exceptions mentioned later (10:6)?
• Terutz: Rambam establishes a hierarchy: darkhei shalom is a functional social policy for exile (where we lack power), whereas the prohibition on "giving a resting place" defines the ideal state of ideological separation. Darkhei shalom is a strategic concession, not a moral revision.

Intertext

• SA, YD 158:1: Codifies the darkhei shalom principle, reinforcing that in a state of galut, the harshness of the halacha is tempered to prevent systemic danger to the Jewish collective.

Psak/Practice

The meta-psak here is clear: Halachic attitudes toward the "other" are indexical to Jewish sovereignty. When Israel is in power, the mandate is strictly separatist; in exile, the halacha pivots to darkhei shalom to ensure communal survival.

Takeaway

The prohibition against "graciousness" is a tool for maintaining distinct national boundaries; it is never a license for gratuitous cruelty, but a strict boundary against legitimizing idolatrous presence within the Jewish space.