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Matrilineal Descent

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Messages: 1 - 4 (7 total)

	river8101 5/7/2003 6:03 AM	1 out of 7
	'Halachically' there is no doubt that one's status is defined via the mother. "Your son by an Israelite woman is called your son, but your son by a heathen is not called your son, but HER son" (T.B. Kiddushin 68b). Scholars debate when Judaism accepted matrilineal descent as the decisor of status. Was there ever a point when status was conferred patrilineally? Scholars have questioned the traditional view that even in the days of Ezra, children were only considered Jewish if they had a Jewish mother. "So now, do not give your daughters to their sons, and do not wed their daughters to your sons, and do not seek after peace and their well-being forever . . ." (Ezra 9:12); "So now make confession before HASHEM, G-d of your forefathers, and perform His will and separate yourselves from the peoples of the land and from the alien wives!" (Ezra 10:11). Rabbi J. David Bleich (Contemporary Halakhic Problems vol. 3 pp. 96) declares it "highly unlikely that in any legal system a basic principle of law based upon precedents dating from antiquity and reaffirmed so frequently and so authoritatively would be reversed by judicial process." Rabbi Bleich further advances that Ezra declared 'let it be done according to the Torah.' "Clearly, Ezra recognized the principle of matrilineal identity as being firmly rooted in the verses of the Pentateuch." (Ibid.) Rabbi Bleich concludes, "The doctrine of matrilineal succession and the exclusion of the principle of patrilineal identity as a sufficient criterion of Jewish identity is Siniatic in origin.' Whether or not, historically, a different principle pertained prior to the Siniatic covenant is entirely irrelevant.

	river8101 5/7/2003 6:04 AM	2 out of 7
	Insofar as the community of Israel is concerned, innumerable provisions of the Noachide Code which were binding upon all people prior to Sinai were supplanted by the Siniatic covenant. With regard to the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai, Scripture declares, 'This day thou art become a people unto Lord thy G_d' (Dvarim 27:9). Prior to Sinai there existed no community of Israel. Even as the concept of the peoplehood of Israel and the sanctity of Israel date from Sinai, so also are the criteria of membership in the community of Israel prescribed by the covenant entered into at Sinai." While scholars agree that the matrilineal principle was in place by the Tannaic period (the time of the Mishna), some doubt that it existed at the time of Ezra. Shaye J.D. Cohen, has written scholarly works on the matrilineal concept. (see AJS Review-Spring 1985 and Judaism 34:1-winter 1985: 5-13.) According to his view, Jewish status changed from patrilineal to matrilineal descent. Why? He offers a variety of possibilities. 1. The mother of the child is always known, the father is not; 2. Mothers are closer to the children than their fathers, and more likely to influence them religiously. 3. It was a compassionate gesture to the Jewish women who had been ravaged by Roman soldiers when they occupied Israel. Cohen, who believes that the change took place during the Mishnaic times, when the Romans ruled 'Palestine' believes that its source is from Roman law which declared that if a Roman national married a non-Roman, the children would not be citizens. His second thought is that it finds its source in the laws of forbidden mixtures (Vayikra 19:19). The Mishna rules that if a mule is mated with a donkey, the product follows its mother (see Mishna Kilayim 8:4). [See also Moment Magazine's December 1998 cover story.] There are some other halachic questions posed by the decision by some to advance patrilineality. The Reform movement's resolution only accepted a child as Jewish if one parent is Jewish AND the child is raised as a Jew. Is an halachically Jewish child (his mother is Jewish) who is not raised as a Jew, considered Jewish or not? The halacha states yes, but the literature is very interesting. There is also a debate in the Talmud if a child born of a Jewish mother and non-Jewish father is considered a mamzer (product of an illicit relationship). The halacha rules very clearly that such a child is fully Jewish and not accorded the status of mamzer. There remains a very significant gap between the way halachists and scholars view issues of halacha. When reading the literature one must keep in mind the fact that our mesorah -- our timeless and accurate tradition -- plays a role in the thinking of the rabbis but not necessarily with the scholars.

	river8101 5/7/2003 6:06 AM	3 out of 7
	The major verse the Talmud gives for the mother passing on Judaism is the following: "Deut Ch 7 Vs. 3 "Neither shalt thou make marriages with them; thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son. "For he will turn away thy son from following Me,that thou may serve other gods; so will the anger of the Lord be kindled against you, and He will destroy thee quickly." Commentary: The Talmud says of that passage: "he will turn away thy son" This refers to the son of a heathen native of Canaan mentioned in the previous verse. The Israelite daughter should not be given in marriage to the heathen because he will bring upthy son i.e. the Israelite's grandson, in idolatry. Since Scripture gives no similar reason for the second prohibited intermarriage, viz between a heathen woman and an Israelite man, the rabbis deduced that achild born of a Jewish mother and a non-Jewish father is regarded as 'thy son', i.e. a Jew but not if born of a non-Jewish mother, and a Jewish father." Rashi

	river8101 5/7/2003 6:07 AM	4 out of 7
	The mother generally takes charge of the home and her children. It is thought that a gentile mother married to a Jew, will not bother to teach her children the ways of Judaism. But a Jewish mother will always teach her child Judaism. Since most all of the ceremonies in Judaism are performed in the home (not in the synagogue) she will teach her children when to light candles on Shabbos, when to perform Havdalah, and the Hebrew prayers to say. She will teach her children about the holidays and traditions. She will also teach her children how to keep a kosher home. Fathers can do some of these things as well, but often it's the mother who is closer to the young child in these matters. Fathers, take their children to the synagogue but it's the Hebrew school teacher who teaches them. Therefore children without a Jewish mother generally get little Jewish education. So that may be another reason for the rule of a Jewish mother. It's a practical one. There are a few verses in the TANAKH which also add to this belief, but most of the traditional stories in the Bible state that it is the father's family whom the children follow after. And that would be the ordinary custom in every culture.

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