Of all the doctrines asserted by rabbinic Judaism, few are as surprising, or indeed as controversial, as "matrilineal descent," the notion that the offspring of a Gentile mother and a Jewish father is a Gentile, while the offspring of a Jewish mother and a Gentile father is a Jew. This precept, accepted universally among the classic commentators, seems inconsistent with the rest of Jewish law, in which it is almost always the father's ancestry that is determinative. It is the father, and only the father, who determines a child's status as a priest or Levite, a member of the tribe of Judah or of Benjamin, a descendant of the Hasmonean house or the Davidic. Genealogy, indeed, is determined by the father regarding all categories except the most important: Whether a child is Jewish in the first place. Indeed, the principle of matrilineal descent appears so incongruous that the leading German rabbi of the first half of the twentieth century, Yehiel Jacob Weinberg, was moved to comment: "Why is a child as his mother? The answer is not quite clear." (Shaye J.D. Cohen, The Beginnings of Jewishness: Boundaries, Varieties, Uncertainties (Berkeley: University of California, 1999).
Soloveichik, Meir. "The Jewish Mother - a Theology". Rohr Chabad House at Stanford.
http://chabadstanford.org/article.htm?The-Jewish-Mother-a-Theology-120. Retrieved June 6, 2016.
(16) and said: ‘By Myself have I sworn, saith the LORD, because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, (17) that in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the seashore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; (18) and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast hearkened to My voice.’
(9) Ye are standing this day all of you before the LORD your God: your heads, your tribes, your elders, and your officers, even all the men of Israel, (10) your little ones, your wives, and thy stranger that is in the midst of thy camp, from the hewer of thy wood unto the drawer of thy water; (11) that thou shouldest enter into the covenant of the LORD thy God—and into His oath—which the LORD thy God maketh with thee this day; (12) that He may establish thee this day unto Himself for a people, and that He may be unto thee a God, as He spoke unto thee, and as He swore unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. (13) Neither with you only do I make this covenant and this oath; (14) but with him that standeth here with us this day before the LORD our God, and also with him that is not here with us this day—
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............. Judaism is also a family. Though Judaism involves a set of ideas, beliefs, values, and obligations, the Jewish theologian Michael Wyschogrod notes that “these are, in a sense, superstructure rather than foundation. The foundation of Judaism is the family identity of the Jewish people as the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”( Michael Wyschogrod, The Body of Faith (Northvale, N.J.: Jason Aronson, 1996), p. 57. )To be a Jew is to see all other Jews not only as fellow believers, but as brothers and sisters. In choosing his monotheistic messengers, God bestowed religious obligations upon a natural family. Thus, Judaism is a faith founded on the natural familial bonds between Jews. It is for this reason that according to the halacha, or Jewish law, once a Jew is born to a Jewish mother, he cannot abdicate his covenantal obligations or undo his Jewishness. Though one can abandon a faith, family ties can never be severed. Soloveichik, Meir. "The Jewish Mother - a Theology". Rohr Chabad House at Stanford. http://chabadstanford.org/article.htm?The-Jewish-Mother-a-Theology-120. Retrieved June 6, 2016 |
MATRILINEALITY:
(טז) וַתֹּ֤אמֶר רוּת֙ אַל־תִּפְגְּעִי־בִ֔י לְעָזְבֵ֖ךְ לָשׁ֣וּב מֵאַחֲרָ֑יִךְ כִּ֠י אֶל־אֲשֶׁ֨ר תֵּלְכִ֜י אֵלֵ֗ךְ וּבַאֲשֶׁ֤ר תָּלִ֙ינִי֙ אָלִ֔ין עַמֵּ֣ךְ עַמִּ֔י וֵאלֹהַ֖יִךְ אֱלֹהָֽי׃
(16) And Ruth said: ‘Entreat me not to leave thee, and to return from following after thee; for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge; thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God;
(יז) בַּאֲשֶׁ֤ר תָּמ֙וּתִי֙ אָמ֔וּת וְשָׁ֖ם אֶקָּבֵ֑ר כֹּה֩ יַעֲשֶׂ֨ה יְהוָ֥ה לִי֙ וְכֹ֣ה יֹסִ֔יף כִּ֣י הַמָּ֔וֶת יַפְרִ֖יד בֵּינִ֥י וּבֵינֵֽךְ׃
(17) where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried; the LORD do so to me,and more also, if aught but death part thee and me.’
(ב) וַיַּעַן֩ שְׁכַנְיָ֨ה בֶן־יְחִיאֵ֜ל מִבְּנֵ֤י עולם [עֵילָם֙] וַיֹּ֣אמֶר לְעֶזְרָ֔א אֲנַ֙חְנוּ֙ מָעַ֣לְנוּ בֵאלֹהֵ֔ינוּ וַנֹּ֛שֶׁב נָשִׁ֥ים נָכְרִיּ֖וֹת מֵעַמֵּ֣י הָאָ֑רֶץ וְעַתָּ֛ה יֵשׁ־מִקְוֶ֥ה לְיִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל עַל־זֹֽאת׃ (ג) וְעַתָּ֣ה נִֽכְרָת־בְּרִ֣ית לֵ֠אלֹהֵינוּ לְהוֹצִ֨יא כָל־נָשִׁ֜ים וְהַנּוֹלָ֤ד מֵהֶם֙ בַּעֲצַ֣ת אֲדֹנָ֔י וְהַחֲרֵדִ֖ים בְּמִצְוַ֣ת אֱלֹהֵ֑ינוּ וְכַתּוֹרָ֖ה יֵעָשֶֽׂה׃
(2) And Shecaniah the son of Jehiel, one of the sons of Elam, answered and said unto Ezra: ‘We have broken faith with our God, and have married foreign women of the peoples of the land; yet now there is hope for Israel concerning this thing. (3) Now therefore let us make a covenant with our God to put away all the wives, and such as are born of them, according to the counsel of the LORD, and of those that tremble at the commandment of our God; and let it be done according to the law.
(12) Wherever there is betrothal and no sin, the child goes after the male. Which is this? This is a priestly woman, a Levitess, or an (ordinary) Jewess. who married a priest, a Levite or an (ordinary) Jew. Wherever there is betrothal and there is a sin, the child goes after the flawed one. Which is this? This is a widow to the High Priest, a divorcee or a woman who has undergone the shoe-removal ceremony to an ordinary priest, a mamzeret or a Nathinitess to an (ordinary) Jew, An (ordinary) Jewess to a mamzer or Nathinite. Any [woman] for whom there is no betrothal to him [specifically], but there is betrothal to others, the child is a mamzer. Which is this? This is one who cohabits with any one of the forbiden relations mentioned in the Torah. Any [woman] for whom there is no betrothal either to him or to others, the child is like her. Which is this? This is the child of a (non-Jewish) maidservant or a non-Jewish woman.
(4) For he will turn away thy son from following Me, that they may serve other gods; so will the anger of the LORD be kindled against you, and He will destroy thee quickly.
ולדה כמותה מנלן דאמר קרא (שמות כא, ד) האשה וילדיה תהיה לאדוניה נכרית מנלן אמר קרא (דברים ז, ג) לא תתחתן בם אשכחנא דלא תפסי בה קידושי ולדה כמותה מנלן א"ר יוחנן משום ר"ש בן יוחי דאמר קרא (דברים ז, ד) כי יסיר את בנך מאחרי בנך הבא מישראלית קרוי בנך ואין בנך הבא מן העובדת כוכבים קרוי בנך אלא בנה אמר רבינא ש"מ בן בתך הבא מן העובד כוכבים קרוי בנך נימא קסבר רבינא עובד כוכבים ועבד הבא על בת ישראל הולד ממזר נהי דכשר לא הוי ממזר לא הוי פסול מיקרי ההוא בשבעה גוים כתיב שאר אומות מנלן א"ק כי יסיר את בנך לרבות כל המסירים הניחא לר"ש דדריש טעמא דקרא אלא לרבנן מ"ט א"ק (דברים כא, יג) ואחר כן תבוא אליה ובעלתה וגו' מכלל דמעיקרא לא תפסי בה קידושין אשכחן דלא תפסי בה קידושין ולדה כמותה מנלן אמר קרא (דברים כא, טו) כי תהיין לאיש וילדו לו כל היכא דקרינן ביה כי תהיינה קרינן ביה וילדו לו וכל היכא דלא קרינן ביה כי תהיינה לא קרינן ביה וילדו לו אי הכי שפחה נמי אין הכי נמי אלא האשה וילדיה תהיה לאדוניה למה לי לכדתניא
...how do we know that the issue [of a Gentile woman] takes her status?...because Scripture says, "neither shalt thou make marriages with them" (Deuteronomy 7:3) How do we know that her issue bears her status? — R. Johanan said on the authority of R. Simeon b. Yohai, Because Scripture says, "For he will turn away thy son from following me" (ibid): thy son by an Israelite woman is called thy son, but thy son by a heathen is not called thy son. Rabina said: This proves that thy daughter's son by a heathen is called thy son. Shall we say that Rabina holds that if a heathen or a [non-Jewish] slave cohabits with a Jewess the issue is mamzer? — [No.] Granted that he is not [regarded as] fit, he is not mamzer either, but merely stigmatized as unfit. Now, that [verse] refers to the seven nations! whence do we know it of other nations? — Scripture saith, ‘For he will turn away [thy son],’ which includes all who may turn [him] away. That is well according to R. Simeon, who interprets the reason of Scripture. But on the view of the Rabbis, what is the reason? — Scripture saith, and after that thou shalt go in unto her, and be her husband, [etc.], whence it follows that before that kiddushin with her is invalid. We have thus found that kiddushin with her is not recognised. How do we know that her child is as herself? — Scripture saith, If there be to a man [two wives] . . . and they bear to him [children]: where we read ‘if there be’, we also read: ‘and they bear to him’; but where we do not read: ‘If there be’, we do not read: ‘and they bear to him’. If so, is not a [heathen] bondmaid likewise? — Yes, it is even thus. Then what is the purpose of ‘the wife and her children shall be her master's’? —
(undefined) Exodus 18,2-3 describes Yitro as bringing with him Moses' wife Tzipporah as well as her two sons. We must ask whether these sons were not also Moses' sons? If so, why were they not described as such? The Torah phrases it thus in order to show that Yitro, in addition to meriting the distinction of the letter ו (in the paragraph starting with ואתה תחזה in 18,21) also merited the distinction of the letter ד as a reward for having placed himself under the protection of the wings of the שכינה.
(undefined) Yitro's arrival in the camp of the Israelites included four persons; he himself, Tzipporah and her two sons. In Jewish law the children's nationality is determined by the nationality of their mother. Moses' paternity was irrelevant then for the moment. This is why in this instance the children are described as being Tzipporah's. The Zohar adds as an additional reason that it was the children's mother who raised them while their father Moses was busy looking after the Jewish people, i.e. מסר עצמו על ישראל, in the words of our Midrash. Later on, when Moses had obtained permission from the שכינה to take time out in order to welcome his wife and children as well as his father-in-law, these children are referred to as בניו, "his children" in 18,4. This concludes our presentation of some of the mystical aspects of מתן תורה, the gift of the Torah presented to the Jewish people during the revelation at Mount Sinai.
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Conversion:
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