Talk:Interfaith marriage in Judaism

This article was the subject of an educational assignment in Spring 2015. Further details are available on the course page.

I have started this page as a branch off from Jewish views of marriage, in order to make room for the topic to grow much more and offer many more sources. --Metzenberg 00:55, 15 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Percentage of jewish males in the US...[edit]

What percentage of the population of jewish males in the USA are coupled with women who were born gentile? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.186.64.135 (talk) 19:16, 19 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]

What do you mean by "coupled"? Do you include shacking up? (PeacePeace (talk) 23:25, 22 October 2017 (UTC))[reply]

Percentage of Christians[edit]

The article should maybe try to look up the percentage of intermarriage with Christians. ADM (talk) 14:34, 22 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Attracted to Catholicism[edit]

The Roman Catholic Church has historically attracted some Jews, such as Gustav Mahler, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Marcel Proust, Edith Stein, Israel Zolli, Erich von Stroheim, and Jean-Marie Lustiger. Proust and Wittgenstein were baptised as infants. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 138.246.7.142 (talk) 17:44, 28 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Exogamy in Ezra-Nehemiah[edit]

I am a student at Miami University and I am in a class that is discussing the religions of the Hebrew Bible. We have discussed how intermarriage has changed in the past, particularly when considering the book of Ezra and how he banned exogamous marriage. The following paragraph is a summary of Christine Hayes' article entitled "Intermarriage and Impurity in Ancient Jewish Sources." I would like to add this information in the "In the Bible" section of the page.Slfirme (talk) 16:52, 22 April 2015 (UTC)[reply]

First and foremost, Hayes holds that the fear of profaning the seed of Israel was the underlying rationale for the ban in exogamous marriage, rather than the ritual impurity of Gentiles in general. She also argues that the regulations on intermarriage in the times of Ezra were different from the restrictions on intermarriage according to the book of Deuteronomy. For example, the Ezra ban on intermarriage was different in that it was 1) Universal in scope, and 2) had that rationale that intermarriage was the profanation of the holy seed of Israel. ^[1] She contrasts the Torah's prohibition with that of Ezra's by saying that the prohibition in the time of the Torah was not based on the ritual impurity of all Gentiles. Rather, only the Gentiles of the 7 Canaanite nations that were specified were to be avoided. This was "based on the fear that intimate contact with the Canaanites will lead Israelites to imitate their idolatrous and immoral ways."^[2] Thus, Hayes contrasts the restrictions on intermarriage in the time of the Torah and in the time of Ezra by pointing out that the Torah did not prohibit intermarriage between all Gentiles, only those in the 7 nations specified. Furthermore, the intent of the Ezra ban was different in that it was based on the preservation of a holy seed, in contrast to the idea in the Torah that contact with the Canaanites would lead to the Israelites imitating their idolatrous and immoral ways.

Slfirme, good. But look at next sentence ("such" exogamy) and the paragraph, which mentions Ezra. Shouldn't your fine contribution fit differently? What would you do about the last paragraph? ProfGray (talk) 17:35, 27 April 2015 (UTC)[reply]

IMHO Since the article is not about Hayes, and her opinion is no doubt one among many, I would exclude Hayes if for no other reason than NPOV. I am unaware of any concept of "ritual impurity" of gentiles in the Tanakh. Since the Torah was not given to gentiles, they are not held to the standard of Torah rituals. The POV of the Tanakh is that many gentiles are spiritually wicked, not ritually unclean. Leviticus 18 is one example where gentile abominable sins are listed as grounds for divine judgment, but Israel is warned to abstain from such practices.

As to Ezra and Nehemiah, I see no indication that they are faithfully applying the Torah to the situation at hand. Neither do they claim to be prophets. The record of what they did is history, not law. Thus taking their actions as normative for future Jewish practice, is questionable. (PeacePeace (talk) 23:40, 22 October 2017 (UTC)) (PeacePeace (talk) 23:36, 22 October 2017 (UTC))[reply]

References

^ Hayes, Christine. 1999. ‘Intermarriage and Impurity in Ancient Jewish Sources.’ Harvard Theological Review 92 (01): 3–36. doi:10.1017/s0017816000017831.
^ Ibud. 6

NPOV problem with featuring Christine Hayes[edit]

Since the topic of this article is not "The Theology of Christine Hayes," IMHO this part should be omitted. I can't think of a good NPOV reason to feature her POV. The interpretation of how the Tanakh treats intermarriage will find no consensus, as in most areas of Bible study. There may be disagreement as to whether the historical record of Ezra and Nehemiah is 1) that of prophets speaking the Word of God or 2) that of faithful Word-of-God teaching or 3) merely administrators giving their opinions and taking their actions. Malachi may be regarded as in disagreement with the harshness of Ezra/Nehemiah, Malachi not approving of the intermarriage with foreign women, but insisting that YHWH hates divorce. If the Law of Moses had been applied, there would have been no divorce of idolatrous wives, but their execution. (PeacePeace (talk) 23:22, 22 October 2017 (UTC))[reply]

[1] Hayes, Christine. 1999. ‘Intermarriage and Impurity in Ancient Jewish Sources.’ Harvard Theological Review 92 (01): 3–36. doi:10.1017/s0017816000017831.

[2] Ibud. 6

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