Friend always brings up Jesus and bible versus - makes me uncomfortable

[Richard1965]

Originally Posted by thatguydownsouth

No. Americans means people that ARE American. Goy means people that ARENT Jewish. See the difference?

Goy means Gentile, Nation, Non-Jew...Words can only offend if you let them...


gentile, non-Jew (male) ; non-observant Jew (derogatory) ; (biblical) nation, people ; הגויים - non-Jews (derogatory) - Translation


The word "goy" means nation in Biblical Hebrew. In the Torah, 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"). In Exodus 19:6, the Jewish people are referred to as a goy kadosh, a "holy nation". While the books of the Hebrew Bible often use goy to describe the Israelites, the later Jewish writings 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, where it states that the "King of Goyim" was Tidal. Bible commentaries suggest that the term may refer to Gutium. In all other cases in the Bible, "Goyim" is the plural of Goy and means "nations".
Modern usage[edit]



A page from Elia Levita's Yiddish-Hebrew-Latin-German dictionary (16th century) contains a list of nations, including word goy (גוי) translated to Latin as ethnicus
As noted, in the above-quoted Rabbinical literature the meaning of the word "goy" shifted the Biblical meaning of "a people" which could be applied to the Hebrews/Jews as well as to others into meaning "a people other than the Jews". In later generations, a further shift left the word as meaning an individual person who belongs to such a non-Jewish people.
In modern Hebrew and Yiddish the word goy is the standard term for a gentile. The two words are related. In ancient Greek, τα έθνη (pronounced ta ethne) was used to translate ha goyim, both phrases meaning "the nations". In Latin, gentilis was used to translate the Greek word for "nation", which led to the word "gentile".
In English, the use of the word goy can be controversial. It is sometimes used pejoratively to refer to a non-Jew, but in general the term is perceived as no more insulting that the term gentile. However, to avoid any perceived offensive connotations, writers may use the better-known English terms "gentile" or "non-Jew".
The term shabbos goy (lit. Sabbath Gentile) refers to a non-Jew who performs duties that Jewish law forbids a Jew from performing on the Sabbath, such as turning on and off lights. - Goy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[veggienut]

Originally Posted by santafe400

Okay, first and foremost I am a proud Jew. However, when out and about the issue of religion and how one defines and keeps it is left private, especially around my goyim friends. I really don't care what they do or don't believe in and it really is none of my business.

However, there is this one "friend" who knows about me being Jewish. Every so often he mentions Jesus or some random new testament bible verse in his conversation to sort of express and exemplify some random point no matter what the conversation entails. Honestly I find this Jesus talk to be a bit unsettling and even embarrassing for me when out in public with him. Maybe it is just me, but I really don't like to be inundated with random bible verses while trying to enjoy myself. Can anyone else relate?

I also experienced the same thing with a friend many, many, many years ago. She wasn't like that in HS and changed more once she married to a guy who who was also was like her. I didn't think anything of it and had nice short conversations about it. And once we compared our Bibles of the Old Testament. Their words are different in the Old Testament but they have the same text reading in parts.

[Tzaphkiel]

Originally Posted by thatguydownsouth

No. Americans means people that ARE American. Goy means people that ARENT Jewish. See the difference?

got it....like "female" someone who is "not male"; "woman" someone who is "not man".
how handy! it's built right into the word itself!

every identifier by its very nature contains both what it "is" and what it "isn't"
it is the usage and intent of the speaker that determine whether they are using it in a derogatory manner

when I first began learning about Judaism, after a very secular upbringing, I found the word "goyim" jarring; now that I understand what it means "member of the nations" and how it is used, it does not bother me---unless it is is used in a perjorative manner, but then it is not the word that bothers me, but that the speaker is engaging in lashon hara

[PJ1252]

You have the right to not engage in such conversations. Tell your friend you dont like religious discussions and change the subject. If the friend persists see if your Rabbi would see your friend to answer some questions on your behalf.
These type of things can end a friendship as it did with my friend of 47 years. My friend is Catholic and is always talking about Islam. She was going to visit me for a week and decided she was going to bring Islamic filth into my home
as she was writing a cirriculum for an Islamic group. It would have ended there until she said "you dont want to know about Suleiman the great". At that moment I knew she had no respect for me and that was our last conversation. Shortly after she sent me 2 cards which NOT include an apology to rekindle our friendship. A friendship that lacks respect is not a friendship/

[HyperionGap]

Originally Posted by PJ1252

You have the right to not engage in such conversations. Tell your friend you dont like religious discussions and change the subject. If the friend persists see if your Rabbi would see your friend to answer some questions on your behalf.
These type of things can end a friendship as it did with my friend of 47 years. My friend is Catholic and is always talking about Islam. She was going to visit me for a week and decided she was going to bring Islamic filth into my home
as she was writing a cirriculum for an Islamic group. It would have ended there until she said "you dont want to know about Suleiman the great". At that moment I knew she had no respect for me and that was our last conversation. Shortly after she sent me 2 cards which NOT include an apology to rekindle our friendship. A friendship that lacks respect is not a friendship/

I laughed.