עברית
Halachot and Customs
Engaging in Relations with a Jewish Woman or a Non-Jewish Woman
Question
Hello, esteemed Rabbi,
I wanted to ask which is more severe: to engage in forbidden relations with a Jewish woman or with a non-Jewish woman.
Assuming that neither of them is married.
Also to be with a Jewish woman who I am not married to and who does not observe niddah, my question is what is more severe—sinning together with a non-Jewish woman or sinning and causing a Jewish woman to sin? What is more severe?
Answer
Good week,
Both are very severe, because for a single Jewish woman there is a biblical punishment of karet, as the Rema wrote in Yoreh De'ah (Chapter 242), and there is no distinction between a single and a married woman regarding the prohibition of niddah, for anyone who has relations with a niddah is liable for karet.
And regarding a non-Jewish woman, there is a punishment of karet according to tradition, as mentioned in the book of Malachi (Chapter 2, Verses 11-12): "For Judah has profaned the sanctity of Hashem, which He loves, and has married the daughter of a foreign god; Hashem will cut off the man who does this." There are opinions that this applies even to one who has relations with a non-Jewish woman discreetly, as is explicitly stated by Rambam in his commentary on the Mishnah regarding Sanhedrin (Chapter 9, Mishnah 6). See also Shulchan Aruch Even Ha'ezer (Chapter 16, Sections 1-2) and Chelek Mishpat and Beit Shmuel there, and Teshuvot Be'er Moshe Part 4 (Sections 141-142) and Teshuvot Yabia Omer Part 6 (Section 3 of Choshen Mishpat).
And it was said in Eruvin (19a) that our forefather Abraham elevates all the circumcised from Gehinnom and accepts them, except for a Jew who engaged in relations with a non-Jewish woman. See there.
Blessings,
Hillel Meirs
