Jews and Non-Jews Redux
Q. I noticed that in the seven Noahide laws, Rabbi [redacted] rephrased the sexual immorality law as sexual depravation. Could you please elaborate on this law? Is there a specific amount of time a human is not allowed to abstain from reproductive sex?
A. Thanks for your question; I wouldn't read too much into Rabbi [redacted]'s choice of words. "Sexual depravation" and "sexual immorality" are synonymous. (This is “depravation,” which is the same as “depravity,” not “deprivation,” which could refer to abstention.)
The category of sexual immorality refers to the entire corpus of prohibited relationships including – but not limited to – adultery, incest, bestiality, etc. There's no prohibition on refraining from reproduction per se. Non-Jews aren't obligated in procreation, so it wouldn't be part of the Noachide laws and, even for Jews it doesn't violate a prohibition if they don't procreate, it merely fails to fulfill an obligation.
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Q. How honest do I have to be with the hotel I’m booking about the number of people staying in the room? I remember hearing that if you steal from a non-Jew you don’t have to pay them back for the difference. Does that apply to this case as well, like if we are four people but say we are three?
A. Thanks for your question. I don't know where you got your information but I'm afraid it's incorrect; we're not allowed to steal from anybody, neither from Jews nor from non-Jews. If you're four people, you have to book for four people. As Exodus 23:7 tells us, מִדְּבַר שֶׁקֶר תִּרְחָק – keep far away from a false matter. We’re not allowed to steal and we’re not allowed to lie.
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Q. The Torah says Jews cannot marry non-Jews. But in Exodus 21:4-5 it seems like a case where a male Jew is with a non-Jew and it refers to her as his wife?
A. Thanks for your question. As the Rambam explains in Hilchos Issurei Biah (12:11), someone who immerses to become an eved K'naani (a Canaanite servant) is no longer considered a non-Jew, but they're not yet considered a Jew. Rather, they're in kind of a twilight state. A free person isn't allowed to marry a Canaanite servant, but an eved Ivri (Hebrew servant) is. The case in Exodus 21 is about an eved Ivri married to a Canaanite servant woman, which is permitted.
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