In this exploration of rabbinic attitudes toward the patrilineal or matrilineal determination of ethnic identity, the author affirms that Ezra did not introduce the idea of matrilineal identity and that he did not expel non-Israelite women in an effort to ensure racial purity, as some scholars argue. Ezra’s goal in expelling these women and their children, despite the latter’s Jewish identity as the offspring of Jewish fathers, was to reduce pagan influences on the Israelite community by avoiding social contacts with surrounding peoples. While maintaining the patrilineal system, the rabbis determined that in a mixed marriage, children inherit their mother’s ethnicity, irrespective of her faith. This modification of the existing practice was effected in the frame of the rabbinic transition from a general “common-sense” approach to halakic decisions to a “legal sense” conceptualization. Examples from various rules support this thesis; conflicting scholarly opinions on both ethnicity and conversion issues are disputed.
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Shaye J. D. Cohen,The Beginnings of Jewishness: Boundaries, Varieties, Uncertainties (Berkeley:University of California Press,1999),265-69, declares that before Ezra, the act of marriage of a foreign woman to an Israelite was “functionally equivalent to the later idea of conversion”: she left her gods and her father’s house and joined her husband. Cohen speculates whether, indeed, “Ezra introduced the matrilineal principle,” and suggests other explanations, but does not intrinsically scrutinize the relevant texts of Ezra and Nehemiah to conclude that their concern related to the evil influence of the alien women, their families, and their social milieu on their Israelite men and society generally, and that this was the motive of their regulation. They equated all foreign women with the Canaanites, with whom intermarriage was forbidden for the same reason in Deut 7:3.
Shaye J. D. Cohen,The Beginnings of Jewishness: Boundaries, Varieties, Uncertainties (Berkeley:University of California Press,1999),265-69, declares that before Ezra, the act of marriage of a foreign woman to an Israelite was “functionally equivalent to the later idea of conversion”: she left her gods and her father’s house and joined her husband. Cohen speculates whether, indeed, “Ezra introduced the matrilineal principle,” and suggests other explanations, but does not intrinsically scrutinize the relevant texts of Ezra and Nehemiah to conclude that their concern related to the evil influence of the alien women, their families, and their social milieu on their Israelite men and society generally, and that this was the motive of their regulation. They equated all foreign women with the Canaanites, with whom intermarriage was forbidden for the same reason in Deut 7:3.)| false
Christine E. Hayes,Gentile Impurities and Jewish Identities: Intermarriage and Conversion from the Bible to the Talmud (Oxford:Oxford University Press,2002),at 8-13 and in more detail at 24-34; Joseph Blenkinsopp,Judaism, the First Phase: The Place of Ezra and Nehemiah in the Origins of Judaism (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 2009), 34-35. However, inEzra–Nehemiah. A Commentary (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1988), 363, Blenkinsopp writes that the cultural survival of the people, not the purity of the race, was Nehemiah’s objective.
Christine E. Hayes,Gentile Impurities and Jewish Identities: Intermarriage and Conversion from the Bible to the Talmud (Oxford:Oxford University Press,2002),at 8-13 and in more detail at 24-34; Joseph Blenkinsopp,Judaism, the First Phase: The Place of Ezra and Nehemiah in the Origins of Judaism (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 2009), 34-35. However, inEzra–Nehemiah. A Commentary (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1988), 363, Blenkinsopp writes that the cultural survival of the people, not the purity of the race, was Nehemiah’s objective.)| false
Daniel L. Smith-Christopher,“The Mixed Marriage Crisis in Ezra 9-10 and Nehemiah 13: A Study of the Sociology of the Post-Exilic Judean Community,” inTemple and Community in the Persian Period (STS 2; ed. Tamara C. Eshkenazi and Kent H. Richards; Sheffield:JSOT Press,1994),243-65at 256, writes, “The Ezra texts reveal a profound consciousness of ‘us’ and ‘them,’ and describe a group intent in its internal affairs and survival. Terms such as ‘the holy seed’ indicate a group xenophobia.”
Jonathan Klawans,Impurity and Sin in Ancient Judaism (New York:Oxford University Press,2000),45, writes that “the fear that intermarriage will lead to sin, just as it did for Solomon (Neh 13:26),” was Ezra and Nehemiah’s concern. He adds, “Presumably, the threat was that the women would cause the Israelites to commit idolatry (Neh 13:26).”
Jonathan Klawans,Impurity and Sin in Ancient Judaism (New York:Oxford University Press,2000),45, writes that “the fear that intermarriage will lead to sin, just as it did for Solomon (Neh 13:26),” was Ezra and Nehemiah’s concern. He adds, “Presumably, the threat was that the women would cause the Israelites to commit idolatry (Neh 13:26).”)| false
Some scholars, among them Saul Olyan,Rites and Rank: Hierarchy in Biblical Representation of Cult (Princeton, N.J.:Princeton University Press,2000),82-83, use the term “purity” in connection with Ezra’s banishment of the alien wives and their children—not in the sense of ensuring the purity of the race/blood/seed, but as the antidote against pollution and because “aliens defile.” It is rather a cultic issue than a racial one.
Some scholars, among them Saul Olyan,Rites and Rank: Hierarchy in Biblical Representation of Cult (Princeton, N.J.:Princeton University Press,2000),82-83, use the term “purity” in connection with Ezra’s banishment of the alien wives and their children—not in the sense of ensuring the purity of the race/blood/seed, but as the antidote against pollution and because “aliens defile.” It is rather a cultic issue than a racial one.)| false
Shaye J. D. Cohen,“Conversion to Judaism in Historical Perspective: From Biblical Israel to Postbiblical Judaism,”Conservative Judaism36.4 (1983): 31-45 at 34, writes, “By marrying Israelite men, foreign women would automatically adopt the clan, tribe, nation and, consequently, religion of their husbands.”
SeeGrabbe,Ezra–Nehemiah,142;Joseph Blenkinsopp,Ezra–Nehemiah, 177; Jacob L. Wright,Rebuilding Identity: The Nehemiah Memoir and Its Earliest Readers (BZAW; Berlin: de Gruyter, 2005), 243-57.
SeeGrabbe,Ezra–Nehemiah,142;Joseph Blenkinsopp,Ezra–Nehemiah, 177; Jacob L. Wright,Rebuilding Identity: The Nehemiah Memoir and Its Earliest Readers (BZAW; Berlin: de Gruyter, 2005), 243-57.)| false
In this exploration of rabbinic attitudes toward the patrilineal or matrilineal determination of ethnic identity, the author affirms that Ezra did not introduce the idea of matrilineal identity and that he did not expel non-Israelite women in an effort to ensure racial purity, as some scholars argue. Ezra’s goal in expelling these women and their children, despite the latter’s Jewish identity as the offspring of Jewish fathers, was to reduce pagan influences on the Israelite community by avoiding social contacts with surrounding peoples. While maintaining the patrilineal system, the rabbis determined that in a mixed marriage, children inherit their mother’s ethnicity, irrespective of her faith. This modification of the existing practice was effected in the frame of the rabbinic transition from a general “common-sense” approach to halakic decisions to a “legal sense” conceptualization. Examples from various rules support this thesis; conflicting scholarly opinions on both ethnicity and conversion issues are disputed.
Title:
Patrilineal or Matrilineal Genealogy in Israel after Ezra
