Avodah Zarah 26 – Dealing with Bad People

The following laws applied to idol-worshipping societies, whose morals were corrupt and who did not value human life, and where killing a Jew was often not punishable as murder.

A woman should not be secluded with an idol-worshipper, even if his wife is with him, because of licentiousness, and a man should not be be secluded with an idol-worshipper because of the concern of murder. If traveling together, one should be watchful of the weapons of the idol-worshipper, and one should not bend down before him, lest he smashes his skull.

An Israelite woman should not deliver the child of an idolatress, because she thereby delivers a child for idolatry. However, if she can't find an excuse, she is allowed to do it so as not to provoke enmity. An idolatress may deliver a child of an Israelite woman, provided that others are there to watch her.

Idol-worshippers and Jewish shepherds of small animals were so lawless, that one should neither raise them from a pit nor lower them in. However, informers and evil-doers can even be lowered actively into a pit. This law has also changed, and applying it today would only add to violence.

Art: Friedrich Sustris - Birth Of A Child