The term “goy” today refers to a Gentile. It is not normally derogatory but, like many words (including “Jew”), with the wrong tone it turns into an insult. However, in Biblical Hebrew the word means something else.

Rashi (Ps. 2:1) quotes R. Menachem Ben Saruk as saying that the words “goy”, “umah” and “le-um” are similar (kerovei inyan). Ostensibly, he means that all three words mean “nation.” However, R. Wolf Heidenheim (quoted in Ha-Kesav Ve-Ha-Kabbalah, Gen. 25:23) infers that these words are similar but not identical. They have slightly different definitions. While Rashi only lists those three words (I could not find R. Menachem’s discussion in his Machberes Menachem), we should add a fourth similar word–“am.”

The Malbim (Ya’ir Or, gimmel no. 7) distinguishes between am, goy and le-um as follows:



Goy – a group of people who unify under mutually agreed upon rules, a society

– a group of people who unify under mutually agreed upon rules, a society Am – a society with a ruler, such as a king or lord

– a society with a ruler, such as a king or lord Le-um – a nation united with a single belief system, a state religion

R. Wolf Heidenheim (ibid.) defines the words similarly but with a slight twist:



Goy – a group without any unifying principle

– a group without any unifying principle Am – a group unified either under a ruler or a joint ideology or ruler

– a group unified either under a ruler or a joint ideology or ruler Le-um – a kingdom (or king)

Shadal (also quoted by Ha-Kesav Ve-Ha-Kabbalah, ibid.) defines the three terms very differently:



Goy – a group of people living in one area, whether a specific land or traveling together. The term generally refers to the people but also indirectly to their land.

Am – a unity born of joint purpose, whether for their combined benefit, i.e. a society

– a unity born of joint purpose, whether for their combined benefit, i.e. a society Le-um – a subset of a nation with unique practices, such as a tribe

All three agree that goy is the loosest form of association, the broadest definition of a nation or people. Indeed, the Bible sometimes refers to the Jewish people as a “goy” (e.g. Ex. 19:6).

However, the term now refers specifically to a Gentile individual. The transformation is explained by Radak (Sefer Ha-Shorashim, sv. goy) as follows:



Our Sages commonly called a man who is not Jewish a “goy.” This was their common practice because they wanted to say that a man wasn’t Jewish but from another nation. However, they were unsure from which nation, whether he was an Edomite or Ishmaelite or from any other nation. Therefore, they would just say “goy, nation,” i.e. from another, non-Jewish nation.