diff --git a/gem_prelude.rb b/gem_prelude.rb
index f60ea46eea..94ada316aa 100644
--- a/gem_prelude.rb
+++ b/gem_prelude.rb
@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
 begin
   require 'rubygems'
-rescue LoadError
+rescue LoadError => e
+  raise unless e.path == 'rubygems'
+
   warn "`RubyGems' were not loaded."
 end if defined?(Gem)