"IS SHE FORBIDDEN OR PERMITTED?" (bSANHEDRIN 82a): A LEGAL STUDY OF INTERMARRIAGE IN CLASSICAL JEWISH SOURCES by Laliv Clenman A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of PhD Graduate Department of Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations University of Toronto © Copyright by Laliv Clenman (2009) Name: Laliv Clenman Degree: Ph.D. Year of Convocation: 2009 Graduate Department: Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations University of Toronto Thesis Title: "Is she forbidden or permitted?" (bSanhedrin 82a): A Legal Study of Intermarriage in Classical Jewish Sources Thesis Abstract: This longitudinal and comparative study explores the nature and development of rabbinic thought on intermarriage. One could hardly phrase the query that lies at the heart of this work better than the Talmud itself: "Is she forbidden or permitted?" (bSanhedrin 82a). This challenge, posed to Moses as part of an exegetical exploration of the problem of intermarriage, asks so much more than whether an Israelite might marry a Gentile. It points to conflicts between biblical law and narrative, biblical and rabbinic law, as well as incompatibilities within rabbinic halakhah. The issues of status, national identity and gender loom large as the various legal and narrative sources on intermarriage are set on an hermeneutic collision course. In this way many rabbinic sources display a deep understanding of the complexity inherent to any discussion of intermarriage in rabbinic tradition. Considering intermarriage as a construct that lies at the intersection between identity and marital rules, we begin this study of rabbinic legal systems with an analysis of the notion of intramarriage and Jewish identity in halakhah as expressed through the - ii - system of the asarah yuchasin (ten lineages). Discussion of various systems dealing with intermarriage follows, including qiddushin (Jewish betrothal/marriage) and the status of the offspring of intermarriage, the concept of the qahal (congregation of God), the arayot (levitical incest laws) as well as the individual legal rules related to marriage and sexual relations between Jews and Gentiles. The role of narrative in the representation of case law and rabbinic engagement with these legal systems forms an integral part of our analysis of the law. The overall conclusion of the dissertation is that rabbinic approaches to intermarriage were characterized by multiplicity and diversity. Rabbinic tradition engaged with the issue of intermarriage through a wide variety of often unrelated and incompatible legal systems. Furthermore, it is apparent that conflicting attitudes towards the interpretation and implementation of these rules are represented in both tannaitic (c. 70-200 C.E.) and amoraic sources (c. 200-500 C.E.), such that several key problems related to intermarriage in early rabbinic tradition remain unresolved. - iii - Acknowledgments For Sarah In memory of: Dr. Diane Kriger, scholar, mentor, friend Thank you to Tirzah Meacham, with whom it has been the greatest honour to study, for her dedication, inspiration, encouragement and rigorous training. Thank you for helping me find my own way of learning and for having higher expectations of me than my own. And to Harry Fox for his insight and great learning, and for saying some years ago that one day every little thing I had worked upon and struggled through would add up to something of value. And to both of them for their generosity in sharing their passion for the texts and their caring for their students. Thank you to Jennifer Nedelsky for her fantastic course on religion and public discourse and her much appreciated interest in, involvement with, and dedication to my project. Sincere appreciation to Michael Satlow for his thorough reading and extremely insightful and inspiring comments on this dissertation. Thank you also to Libby Garshowitz for her engaged reading of this work and for her helpful comments. My gratitude goes out to Robert Holmstedt, for his unwavering support and encouragement above and beyond the call of duty. I would also like to thank Anna Sousa for her unfailing assistance in every matter large and small and for truly caring about each and every student in every single moment. Much appreciation to Jennie Jones for being a most sparkly and remarkably helpful and generous human being in such a large institution. I am of course indebted to more people than could ever be counted, and am so grateful for being blessed with such wonderful people in my life, and so I extend a sincere thank you to all of these. A special thank you to all my wonderful friends near and far for their remarkable support and encouragement through it all. Andrea, Carla, Laure, Marica, Sari and Surekha, thanks to your friendship and caring this all amounted to something rather than nothing. Thank you to Bryan and Brenda and Jan for their caring and thoughtfulness. The greatest thank you to my parents and my sister for believing in me, encouraging me and for celebrating with me after all these years. And if it is possible, an even more heartfelt thank you to Sarah, who believed in me more than I ever could myself, for her remarkable caring, her patience, her generosity, her eagle eyes and her wisdom, and for being there countless times. May this be for both of us only the beginning of many tales, and for her a well-earned honourary PhD. Finally, thank you to the great sages without whom none of this would have even been possible. - iv - Table of Contents: Transliteration Guide p. vi Glossary of Terms p. vii Preface p. x Introduction p. 16 Chapter 1 p. 71 Chapter 2 p. 131 Chapter 3 p. 188 Chapter 4 p. 228 Chapter 5 p. 268 Conclusion p. 317 Bibliography p. 325 - v - Transliteration Guide: Transliteration of terms attempts to stay as close as possible to the original Hebrew. Accurate pronunciation is the primary aim, and so ayin and aleph are represented only by their accompanying vowel sounds, tet and tav are both represented by t, and samekh and sin are both represented by s. Particular letter combinations are used to represent certain letters as follows: (heh) ה h represents (chet) ח ch represents (yod consonant) י y represents (khaf) כ kh represents k represents כּ (kaf) (qof) ק q represents (tsade) צ ts represents Abbreviations: mQiddushin = Mishna tQiddushin = Tosefta bQiddushin = Babylonian Talmud yQiddushin = Palestinian Talmud d.h. = dibbur hamatchil (=s.v.) - vi - Glossary of Terms: aggadah - narrative traditions and sources - these may be stories regarding rabbis or legal cases, or may be purely aggadic, in the sense that they present narrative explication of narrative biblical material amah ivriyah - a Hebrew (i.e. Jewish) female maidservant amoraic - the later period of rabbinic Judaism c. 200-500 CE (preceded by the tannaitic period). Primary works include the Palestinian and Babylonian Talmuds, though these also contain earlier material from the tannaitic period. arayot - the sexual laws of Leviticus 18 and 20, prohibiting incest and some other sexual acts such as relations with a menstruant and bestiality asarah yuchasin - ten lineages - the ten Jewish castes said to have returned to Judah from exile Babylon. aveirah - transgression - in this context referring to a marriage that violates a particular legal rule boel aramit - "one who has intercourse with an Aramean woman" - this law is included in mSanhedrin 9:6, which allows for zealots to kill the Jewish man who is having sexual relations with a Gentile woman. Also referred to as boel nokhrit (a foreign or Gentile woman) and boel kutit (a Samaritan woman) chalitsah - the ritual that releases a man and his yevamah (sister-in-law) from the bond of levirate marriage d'rabbanan - "of the rabbis", indicating a rule that is of rabbinic, rather than biblical, origin. ervah - nakedness - referring to a forbidden sexual partner under the arayot eshet av - the case of the father's wife (with whom the son is forbidden from having sexual relations in Deuteronomy 23:1) gemara - the talmudic commentary on the Mishna gezeirah - a legal decree enacted by a Jewish court of law halakhah - Jewish law - usually referring to legal issues and sources as opposed to aggadic sources. May also indicate a single law or rule (a halakhah) or many legal rules (halakhot). halakhah lemoshe misinai - a type of law given to Moses while in the Sinai that was not included in the written Torah. Such a law is understood to have been passed down orally through the generations of rabbis, and thought to be impossible to derive or interpret from existing material in the written Torah. - vii - issur - prohibition karet - excision (a divine punishment rather than a punishment at the hands of a human court) mamzer (m.), mamzeret (f.), mamzerim (pl.), mamzerut (abstract), as in illegitimacy - one of the castes of the asarah yuchasin, this is the offspring of a marriage defined by the rabbis as transgressive, though the precise details are in dispute, usually a child of adultery or incest, and sometimes a child of intermarriage between a Jewish woman and a Gentile man. Frequently translated as "bastard" or "illegitimate" offspring (though such translations are misleading, as an unmarried woman's child is not a mamzer unless it is from an incestuous, adulterous, or perhaps an intermarital relationship). middot - middah (sg.), exegetical, hermeneutic rules by which the Torah is explicated mishnayot (pl.) - mishnas (mishna sg.), indicating several entries or laws from the Mishna mita bidei shamayim - death at the hands of heaven (as