[Avodah] Akum and Nochri

[Akiva Miller]

.
In the thread "Just walk away", R' Jay F. ("Yaakov") Shachter wrote:

> Also, you should not have written "idol worshiper" above,
> because this is not a din 'aku"m.  Our printed texts have been
> censored by the goyim, because there are some places where we
> say uncomplimentary things about them, and the censors insisted
> on globally changing nokhri to 'aku"m, because they did not
> consider themselves to be idolators so now the uncomplimentary
> things are not about them.  The result is that many uneducated
> Jews now do not know when something is a din nokhri and when it
> is a din 'aku"m.

Count me among those who "do not know when something is a din nokhri and
when it is a din 'aku"m." And I WOULD like to know which is which.

Does anyone know if there's a sefer concerned with this question, which
systematically goes through various halachos, identifying which are about
an aku'm and which are about a nochri? There are so many areas where I feel
that I'm misunderstanding the halacha (in practice and/or in theory)
because of this confusion.

Let's take Stam Yaynam as an example. If Stam Yaynam is a protective fence
around Yayin Nesech, for fear of what was going through the person's mind
when he handled the wine, then I can't imagine why we would forbid wine
that was simply handled by a nochri who is *not* an idolator.

So perhaps Stam Yaynam is not about nesech, but it's about chasunos - our
fear that it might lead to our marrying one of "them". Well, then, for a
proper understanding of this, we'd have to know exactly who "they" are. To
put it plainly: Are we more afraid of a Jew marrying an idolator than of a
Jew marrying an ordinary nochri, or are the two fears equal/similar? Of
course it is a tragedy when a Jew abandons Torah. But suppose he abandons
Torah without accepting Avoda Zara? Does that lessen it to being only a
minor tragedy in comparison, or maybe we don't distinguish between the two?
Or maybe it is indeed only a "minor" tragedy (conceptually), but still
serious enough to create the issur (practically).

I could tell you that "I have my opinions about this but I'd prefer to hear
what Chazal say", but the truth is that I *don't* have any clear opinions
about this. I'm confused and ambivalent and eager to know what Chazal say.

Akiva Miller
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