Heretics are despised in Rabbinical Judaism, Jews who deny God or the authority of the Talmud were treated with the utmost contempt. The 12th century Jewish philosopher Maimonides, considered one of the greatest Torah scholars of the Middle Ages, states Jews must hate them and celebrate their deaths:
Laws of Mourning, chapter 1, rule 10: Y
"All who separate themselves from public custom [of the Jews], such as those who do not fulfil commandments and do not honor the holidays or do not frequent synagogues or houses of study but rather regard themselves free and [behave] like other nations, and heretics, converts and informers should not be mourned; when they die, their brothers and all other relatives should put on white garments, make banquets and rejoice, since those who hate the Lord, blessed be he, have perished."
Maimonides, Commentary on the Mishnah Y
"If a person holds all these principles [of faith] to be sound, and he truly believes in them, he is then part of that "Israel" whom we are commanded to love, pity, and treat, as God commanded, with love and fellowship ... But if a person holds one of these principles to be defective, he has removed himself from the Jewish community. He is and atheist, a "heretic" and an unbeliever who "cuts among the plantings." We are commanded to hate and destroy him."
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