LEV197 In the Amidah (Singer's Prayer Book, p. 48), a special blessing is uttered … "Towards the proselytes of righteousness, and towards us also, may Thy tender mercies be stirred, O Lord our God". Some of the most famous sages of the Talmud, like Shemaiah and Abtalion, Rabbi Akiba and Rabbi Meir, Ben Bag Bag and Ben He He (Abot v. 25-26) and Rabbi Yehudah ben Gerim (Shabbat 33b) were reputed to be either proselytes themselves or to have been descended from gerei tsedek. That they rose to such eminence proves that no barriers were placed in their paths to greatness. Conditions to-day do not warrant any relaxation in our attitude towards intermarriage [this verse]. Our records reveal that the ger tsedek became an object of affection both to God and to his fellow-Jew. (Deut. x. 18-19; Leviticus xix. 33; Ps. cxlvi. 9. See also Exodus xii. 49; xxii. 20; Leviticus xxiv. 22; Num. ix. 14; xv. 16, 29; Deut. xxiv. 17-18; xxvii. 19.) The ger toshav could claim similar consideration if he abandoned idolatry (Leviticus xviii.2), the practice of sorcery, incest and other abominations, if (Leviticus xviii. 26) he abstained from eating blood (Ibid. xvii.10), from working on the Sabbath (Exodus xx. 10; xiii.12) from eating leavened food on Pesah (Ibid. xii.19) and from violating the Day of Atonement (Leviticus xvi. 29). The prophets all preach humanitarian feelings towards the stranger and the Bible itself features non-Jews as examples of fidelity (Eliezer, the majordomo of Abraham's household), of devotion (Ruth) and of (Job) piety. The Pharisees made it clear that their hatred of the heathen was a hatred of what heathenism stood for in the realm of belief and conduct. Similar hatred was displayed by them towards the Am Ha'aretz, the Jewish boor who was lax in his religious observance. Intermarriage, or truer to its meaning, extermarriage between Jew and Gentile (looked at askance even by enlightened Jews of to-day), is not due to contempt of the Gentile but to the firm conviction that the unity of Judaism and the Jewish people is contingent on the happiness of the home. This happiness is jeopardized by the yoking together of two people with an entirely different background and outlook on life. When one bears in mind the sufferings of the Jew at the hands of a hostile world, such legislation is not to be wondered at. Had the non-Jewish worlds not persecuted the Jew throughout the ages, with a sword in their hands and the words "God is Love" on their lips, those laws cited by Jew-baiters as breathing contempt and hatred for all who are not Jews would not of been admitted into our legislation.