"The difference is that if we turn from the Gentile first, we will have the Almighty as the immediate staff and our comfort. If not, we will have neither the Gentile nor, for a terrible stage, the Almighty"
About this Quote
The most revealing word is “turn.” It implies a decisive act of withdrawal, not negotiation, and it casts the non-Jewish other as a dangerous dependency. “Gentile” is used less as a descriptor than as a boundary marker, a way of making social proximity feel like spiritual contamination. The subtext is classic siege psychology: the outside world is unreliable, and reliance on it is not just naive but sinful. That sets up the emotional hook: fear, then purity as relief.
The phrase “for a terrible stage” is doing heavy work. It’s an eschatological threat disguised as realism: if you don’t obey now, a punishing interim will follow, during which even God withholds comfort. That’s coercion by delay and dread, a rhetorical technique that sanctifies hardship as corrective discipline.
Context matters. Kahane spoke as a militant rabbi and political agitator in the late 20th-century Jewish nationalist milieu, arguing for radical separation and expulsion. This line isn’t devotional; it’s mobilizing rhetoric, designed to make extremity feel like the only faithful, and therefore safest, option.
Quote Details
| Topic | God |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Kahane, Meir. (2026, January 17). The difference is that if we turn from the Gentile first, we will have the Almighty as the immediate staff and our comfort. If not, we will have neither the Gentile nor, for a terrible stage, the Almighty. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/the-difference-is-that-if-we-turn-from-the-74757/
Chicago Style
Kahane, Meir. "The difference is that if we turn from the Gentile first, we will have the Almighty as the immediate staff and our comfort. If not, we will have neither the Gentile nor, for a terrible stage, the Almighty." FixQuotes. January 17, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/the-difference-is-that-if-we-turn-from-the-74757/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"The difference is that if we turn from the Gentile first, we will have the Almighty as the immediate staff and our comfort. If not, we will have neither the Gentile nor, for a terrible stage, the Almighty." FixQuotes, 17 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/the-difference-is-that-if-we-turn-from-the-74757/. Accessed 12 Feb. 2026.




