The matrilineal principle in Judaism does not mean Judaism is matriarchal, let alone feminist. Judaism is as patriarchal as all other monotheistic religions.
Genealogy, indeed, is determined by the father regarding all categories except the most important: Whether a child is Jewish in the first place. Even if Jewish identity is constructed on the basis of a genealogical and biblical family—we are all descendants of the 3 patriarchs and 4 matriarchs —the matrilineal principle is not biblical. The bible remains relatively silent on the issue of matrilineality in the book of Ezra 10 it is only mentioned that breaking with faith begins with marriages with foreign women.
It remains equally silent on the question of conversion. Both the laws of conversion and the matrilineal principles were sharpened over time. From the second century of our era onwards a child of a Jewish mother and a gentile father is a Jew while a child of a Jewish father and a gentile mother is not Jewish see Mishna Qiddusin 3: To speak of descent—matrilineal or patrilineal—contests the Christian assumption that religion is a matter of belief.
Judaism, in contrast, is a genealogical ethnical and indeed blood-line-based religion. God, it is argued , is bound to his monotheistic followers through familial kinship that essentializes both the physical and spiritual dimensions of our Jewish existence. It is only from our embodied humanity, upon all our physical needs and spiritual desires, that God may be worshiped.
There are numerous socio-biological-historical explanations for the birth of the matrilineal principle pun intended. One of the more imaginative and moving readings into the matrilineal principle goes back to Adam, the first biblical man, whose name is not informative of being the forerunner of humanity.
Significantly, the Talmud and Midrash go on to secure the position of women of Israel as the saviours of the Jewish people. However historically contested the binary dualism between body-mind may be—binaries that kept philosophers, theologians and indeed jurists busy for centuries—it remains pivotal that rabbinical Judaism values however unequally the body and the mind.
By crowning the Jewish womb to be the source of it all, one can see how Judaism, almost accidentally, lands up bestowing some subjective legal personality onto the maternal body. Do not give your daughters to his sons; and do not take his daughters for your sons. The Talmud notes that the initial prohibition of intermarriage mentions both possibilities, i. But how can that be? So G-d must have intended a different meaning for the verse. This explanation is according to the understanding of Rashi and Tosefot Ri Hazaken.
Location, location, location! Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Writings indicate that mothers determine Jewish status Dear Rabbi Fried, I have a friend who is presently a practicing Methodist minister.
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