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'Goy' (Hebrew: 'גוי', regular plural 'goyim' 'גויים' in Western languages) is a transliterated Hebrew word which translates as "nation" or "people". Historically and up to modern times it is a synonym for Gentile or non-Jew. Depending on the context, its use can be controversial or completely innocuous.

Contents

Etymology

In Rabbinic Judaism

Modern usage

References

External links

Etymology

In the Torah/Hebrew Bible, ''goy'' and its variants appear over 550 times in reference to Israelites and to Gentile nations. The first recorded usage of ''goy'' occurs in Genesis 10:5 and applies innocuously to non-Israelite nations. The first mention in relation to the Israelites comes in Genesis 12:2, when God promises Abraham that his descendants will form a ''goy gadol'' ("great nation"). While the earlier books of the Hebrew Bible often use ''goy'' to describe the Israelites, the later ones tend to apply the term to other nations.
Some Bible translations leave the word ''Goyim'' untranslated and treat it as the proper name of a country in Genesis 14:1. Bible commentaries suggest that the term may refer to Gutium.^[1] The "King of Goyim" was Tidal.
Leo Rosten writes in his book ''The Joys of Yinglish'':

'goy'
'goyish' (adjective)
'goyim' (plural)

What Yinglishman does not know, use and enjoy ''goy''? Forms rhyme respectively with "boy," "boyish," "doyen." The plural is pronounced GOY-im. The adjective is ''goyish'' (neuter), ''goyisher'' (masculine), or ''goyisheh'' (feminine). From the Hebrew: ''goy'': "nation." Biblical texts called the Hebrews a ''goy kadosh'': "a holy nation." [...]

It is important to note that the idea of respect for others, and the values of a pluralistic society, form an old, integral part of Judaism and Jewish tradition. The rabbis taught that all men are equal in the eyes of G-d—if they do the will of G-d: the Talmud says "Whether Jew or gentile, man or woman, rich or poor—according to a man's ''deeds'' does G-d's presence rest on him." [...]

Just as some gentiles use "Jew" as a contemptuous synonym for driving too shrewd and sly a bargain ("He tried to Jew the price down," is about as odious an idiom as I know), so some Jews use ''goy'' in a pejorative sense. Relentless persecution of Jews, century after century, in nation after nation, left a legacy of bitter sayings. [...] Experience made many Jews feel that gentiles are not gentle.

The plural, ''goyim'', was frequently used in ellipses—a shortened reference with words omitted: "[other] nations [than we are]," therefore, non-Jews. In time, and by the well-known linguistic process of extension, a Jew who was not a practicing, religious Jew, was called a ''goy''.

''Goy'' is generally used to mean "Christian," but the name long precedes Christianity: the Hebrews considered heathens, pagans, Egyptians, Assyrians, Greeks, Romans—all, ''goyim''.

I must stress the fact that ''goy'' is not an invidious appellation. ''Goy'' means gentile—no more, no less. [...]
The Talmud contains important references to the righteous ''goyim'' who will have their share of "the world to come," and enjoins Jews to treat such people the way they treat Jews. One Talmudic reference instructs Jews that where both a Jew and a genitle are in peril, it is the moral obligation to rescue the gentile first.
Never let it be forgotten that the Talmud commands Jews to help the gentile no less than the Jew; to succor the poor ''goy'', to visit the gentile sick; to bury their dead.^[2]

In Rabbinic Judaism

The Rabbinic literature conceives of the non-Jewish nations as numbering seventy, each with their own language.
On the verse, “He [God] set the borders of peoples according to the number of the Children of Israel,”^[3] Rashi explains: “Because of the number of the Children of Israel who were destined to come forth from the children of Shem, and to the number of the seventy souls of the Children of Israel who went down to Egypt, He set the ‘borders of peoples’ [to be characterized by] seventy languages.”
The Ohr Hachayim^[4] maintains that this is the symbolism behind the Menorah: “The seven candles of the Menorah [in the Holy Temple] correspond to the gentile nations, which number seventy. Each [candle] alludes to ten [nations]. This alludes to the fact that they all shine opposite the western [candle], which corresponds to the Jewish people.”

Modern usage

In modern Hebrew and Yiddish the word ''goy'' is the standard term for a gentile. In Yiddish it is the only proper term for Gentile, and many bilingual English and Yiddish speakers do use it dispassionately. In English however, the use of the word ''goy'' can be controversial. Like other common (and otherwise innocent) terms, it may be assigned pejoratively to non-Jews.^[5][6][7] To avoid any perceived offensive connotations, writers may use the English terms "Gentile" or "non-Jew".
As it happens with ethnic stereotypes for "not one of us" in various cultures, a stereotype of a goy, as expressed in Jewish humor, bears derogatory elements, e.g., as Hillel Halkin writes: ''"A stereotypical goy acts blindly; a stereotypical Jew thinks before acting,"'' ^[8] when commenting on skit of Jack Benny: when a mugger comes upon him: "your money or your life", and prods him with the gun, he protests "I'm thinking it over!"
The term ''house goy'' or ''shabbos goy'' refers to a non-Jew who performs duties for an observant Jew which are not permitted to be performed according to Halakha (Jewish law), particularly those household duties which are not permitted during Shabbat (Sabbath).

References

1. Goiim in the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
2. Leo Rosten, ''The Joys of Yinglish'' (New York: 1989), pp. 205-206.
3. Deut., 32:8
4. On Numbers, 8:2
5. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
6. "There is nothing inherently insulting about the word 'goy.' In fact, the Torah occasionally refers to the Jewish people using the term 'goy.' Most notably, in Exodus 19:6, G-d says that the Children of Israel will be 'a kingdom of priests and a holy nation,' that is, a goy kadosh. Because Jews have had so many bad experiences with anti-Semitic non-Jews over the centuries, the term 'goy' has taken on some negative connotations, but in general the term is no more insulting than the word 'gentile.' Jewish Attitudes Toward Non-Jews, Jewfaq.org. Retrieved January 30, 2007.
7. "The word goy means literally "nation", but has come to mean "Gentile", sometimes with a derogatory connotation." Diane Wolfthal. ''Picturing Yiddish: gender, identity, and memory in the illustrated Yiddish books of Renaissance'', Brill Academic Publishers, 2004, ISBN 9004117423, p. 59 footnote 60.
8. "Why Jews Laugh at Themselves", an essay by Hillel Halkin, ''Commentary Magazine'', Vol 121, April 2006, No 4, pp. 47-54

External links

★ Goy from Jewish Encyclopedia

★ What does the word "goy" mean? from AskMoses.com

★ Is "goyim" offensive? from soc.culture.jewish FAQ

★ Goy from The KJV Old Testament Hebrew Lexicon