[Avodah] Righteous Gentile is Equal to the Kohein Godol

[Prof. Levine]

The quote below is from pages 225 - 226 of Rav Hirsch's essay 
Talmudic Judaism and Society.  Rabbi Hirsch wrote this essay in 1884 
at the request of Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Spektor (1817-1896), founder 
of the renowned Yeshiva of Kovno and acknowledged spiritual leader of 
Russian-Lithuanian Jewry.

The Sages of the Talmud are the teachers of probably the only 
religion that does not claim that it alone holds the key to 
salvation. Instead, they teach that the righteous of all nations have 
a portion in the world to come (Sanhedrin 105a). According to the 
Talmud, the Mosaic Law is eternally binding only upon the people of 
Israel. All others are regarded as wholly righteous in the eyes of 
God as long as they obey the seven Noachide laws. In this spirit, the 
Talmud (Sanhedrin 59a) comments in connection with Leviticus 18,5 
that a non-Jew who observes the laws given to him by God is an equal 
of the High Priest, for it is written: "Keep My statutes and My 
social ordinances which man [not only Jews] must carry out and 
through which he gains life." Likewise, Isaiah 26,2 does not read 
"Open the gates so that priests and Israel may enter" but" ... so 
that a righteous nation that keeps the faith may enter." In Psalms 
118,20 we do not read "This is the gate of the Lord; priests, Levites 
and Israel shall enter into it" but " ... the righteous shall enter 
into it." In Psalms 33, I we are not told "Exult, 0 priests, Levites 
and Israel, in the Lord" but "Exult, 0 righteous ones, in the Lord." 
Finally, the Psalmist (Psalms 125,4) does not pray "Do good, 0 Lord, 
to the priests, the Levites and to Israel" but "Do good, 0 Lord, to the good."

All the foregoing makes it clear that God's nearness, bliss and 
salvation is promised to every person who loyally and scrupulously 
carries out the duties laid down for him by God. As one Talmudic sage 
explicitly states: "I call heaven and earth to witness, be a man a 
Jew or a non-Jew, man or woman, manservant or maidservant-only 
according to their actions will the spirit of holiness rest upon 
them" (Tanna de be Eliyahu on Judges 4,4)

The entire essay may be read at 
http://www.stevens.edu/golem/llevine/rsrh/talmudic_judaism_society.pdf


Yitzchok Levine
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