Eiruvin 62a, b

As if hearing my questions yesterday, the rabbis discuss some of the ins and outs of sharing a courtyard with a Gentile.  Unfortunately, my understanding of the underlying Talmudic principles is so weak that I did not fully understand their answers.  For what it is worth, my understanding is that after some discussion, the rabbis agree that Jews are prohibited from carrying in a courtyard shared by a Gentile IF there are at least two Jews there.  Two Jews sharing a courtyard already prohibit each other from carrying vessels between their private residences and their shared courtyard on Shabbat.  I am not clear about why this is so; in addition, I am not clear on why a Gentile's residence would have any influence over the halachic practices of Jews, particularly when the Jews are already prohibited from carrying.

A number of disturbing notes made me wonder about the relations between Jews and Gentiles in antiquity. The Gemara states that Gentiles are assumed to be suspected of bloodshed, that their homes are like the pens of animals (in that carrying is allowed between private residences and courtyards), that Gentiles are liable (and we're talking about the death penalty here) if they steal even less than a penny, and that Gentiles are likely to be frightened by the possibility of witchcraft.  All of these notes are similar in that they stereotype Gentiles, the "other", as somewhat less intelligent than Jews.  

I wonder when and how these negative commentaries began.  Did Jews separate ourselves, interpret a social structure and legal system for ourselves, perpetuate negative stereotypes regarding all others, and then wonder about the roots of anti-semitism?  Don't get me wrong; I certainly understand the foundations of anti-semitism in our current societies and the ways that that poisonous thinking is related to other oppressions.  But when I read in the Talmud about treating "the other" as a lesser being -- rather than as a different being -- I worry about the fundamentals of Jewish thought in a new way.

At the end of todays daf, the rabbis discuss some of the rules regarding rabbinics.  For example, some rabbis are always "right".  Rabbi Eliezer ben Ya'akov, for example, whose rulings were "measured and clean".  We learn that a rabbi was never to make a ruling in his teacher's home/place/neighbourhood while that rabbi was still alive.  And that rule holds even if the teacher tells his student that this is allowed.  An example is Rabbi Chisda, who never gave a ruling in his teacher Rav Huna's town regarding cooking an egg in dairly sauce called kutah (milk serum, salt, moldy bread, spices) while Rav Huna was alive. 

The hierarchies, boundaries and hair-splitting of the Talmud is both fascinating to me and headache-inducing.