The Views of Rabbi Moses Feinstein, Rabbi Abraham Joshua ...

commandments is the prohibition of idolatry. Given this conception of non-Jews‘ legal
obligations to G-d, rabbinic authorities sought to determine ―whether Christian beliefs
violated the Noahide stricture against idolatry.‖ 109
If Christian beliefs were deemed to be
in conflict with this Noahide prohibition of idolatry, then Jews would have to
circumscribe their relations with Christians so as to ―distance themselves from such false
beliefs, but also because interactions with Christians might lead Christians to swear by an
‗idolatrous deity,‘ an act condemned as sinful by the Talmud in Tractate Sanhedrin
63b.‖ 110
In fact, ―the Jew would be held culpable for this transgression by Jewish law,
for the Jew would be the proximate cause for the Christian having committed this sinful
act,‖ 111 adding an even greater level of severity to potential interactions between Jews
and Christians.
Christians, themselves, insisted that their beliefs about G-d accorded with
monotheism, yet, despite such insistence, rabbinic authorities in the Talmud disagreed,
―explicitly condemn[ing] early Christian expressions concerning the doctrines of Trinity
and the incarnate man-god, Jesus, as untrue and in opposition to genuine monotheism.‖ 112
Indeed, in responding to these and other theological beliefs, Rabbi Moses Maimonides
later explicitly articulated ―his denial of Trinity (Guide [of the Perplexed] I:50) [and]
divine impregnation ([Guide of the Perplexed] II:6),‖ 113 ultimately assigning Christians to
the Talmudic category of ―ovdei kokhavim u-mazalot—worshipers of idols.‖ 114
It was
upon such theological-legal foundations that Feinstein relied in developing his own views
109 Ellenson 401
110 Ellenson 401
111 Ellenson 401
112 Ellenson 401
113 Lasker 33
114 Maimonides, Commentary on the Mishnah, Avodah Zarah 1:3 & Hilkhot Akum 9:4
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