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them if they are about to die. For example, if a person saw one of
them fall into the ocean he should not pull him out, even if he pays
him. One should therefore not heal them even for payment, unless it
is a situation that can lead to animosity, for it is then permitted to heal
them even for free, if there is no way to avoid doing so.”

The source for this is Tosfos’s comments (Gittin 70a), where the
gemara relates that Rav Simi bar Ashi healed a certain idolater. Tos-
fos wonder how he could do this when the gemara in Avodah Zarah
(26a) says that a Jewess may not nurse a gentile baby because she is
raising him to idolatry. Tosfos answer that he may have healed the
non-Jew in order to learn and thus be able to treat Jews. Another
answer they offer is that the gentile knew that Rav Simi was an expert
in administering that cure and he was therefore allowed to treat him
in order to avoid incurring his animosity.

The Knesses Hagedolah (Yoreh De’ah ibid. 6) writes that the Shul-
chan Aruch’s ruling applies specifically to idolaters but it is permitted
to heal Ishmaelites and Turks, who do not worship idols, even when
there is no concern that refraining from doing so will arouse their
animosity.

The Tiferes Yisroel writes (Avodah Zarah 2,6), “Nowadays, when
the government imposes harsh penalties upon a physician who
does not go to heal an idolater when he is summoned, there may be
grounds for leniency.”

In the sefer Teshuvos Chaim B’yad (33) the author discusses a case
where an idolater is sick and asks a Jewish rabbi to bless him and
write him an amulet – is this permitted? His response is that if the
rabbi can avoid doing so by claiming that he doesn’t know how to, he
should do so. However, if the gentile knows him and knows that the
rabbi is proficient in writing amulets and that his prayers are effec-
tive, in order to maintain peaceful relations he should pray that the
idolater should mend his ways and be restored to health. Such was
the practice of rabbanim who were great Torah leaders in previous
generations, who prayed for a gentile to be healed and their prayers
were answered immediately, thus sanctifying Heaven’s Name. In such

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