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The Torah says, “Rebuke amisecha, your comrade.” (Vayikra 19:17)
Rashi in Sanhedrin (75a, s.v. ve’im issa) deduces from the Torah’s
choice of the word amisecha that there is no obligation to rebuke a
gentile or a ger toshav [a non- Jew who has undertaken not to worship
idols but not the other mitzvos] because “your comrade” refers only
to fellow Jews. The Jewish physician would thus have no obligation to
dissuade the woman from having an abortion.

But this apparently needs further thought, for how is it possible
to interpret the words “your comrade” in a manner that excludes re-
buking non-Jews – didn’t Hakadosh baruch Hu send Yonah Hanavi
to rebuke the people of Ninveh for their evil ways?! Perhaps one can
answer that this was a one-time directive owing to some specific rea-
son but since this was a special case it cannot serve as a precedent.

However, in the Sefer Chassidim (1124) it is written that if a Jew
sees a non-Jew sinning he should protest if he can, “because when
Hakadosh baruch Hu becomes angry, it is not an auspicious time be-
fore Him.” [A possible source to this might be the gemara in Berachos
(6a) that says,“When the sun shines and all the kings of the east and
the west…bow down to the sun, Hakadosh baruch Hu immediately
becomes angry.”] This is a solid rationale, that is valid even without
an explicit command from Hashem to a navi, for we ought constantly
to love Hashem yisbarach and assuage His anger. [Though perhaps
we can distinguish between an individual sinner and a population of
sinners – this needs further reflection.] At any rate, the comments of
the Sefer Chassidim seem to be contradicted by Rashi’s comments.

The Chasam Sofer expresses a similar idea to the Sefer Chassidim
(in his chiddushim on Chullin 60), on the passuk“May Hashem rejoice
in His works.” (Tehillim 104:31): “Since at the time of the generation
of the Flood He was – as it were – saddened to His heart owing to
the immorality and the corruption of the species, the prince of the
world said at the time of creation (as the gemara says in Chullin ibid.)
‘May Hashem’s glory reign forever; may care be taken that there be
no mixing [of species], such as between grasses – then Hashem will
rejoice in His works.’” According to these remarks, it appears that it

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