- The Jewish fear of intermarriage
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According to the Talmud Avodah Zarah 2b , G-d offered the Torah to all the nations of the earth, and the Jews were the only ones who accepted it. The story goes on to say that the Jews were offered the Torah last, and accepted it only because G-d held a mountain over their heads! Another traditional story suggests that G-d chose the Jewish nation because they were the lowliest of nations, and their success would be attributed to G-d's might rather than their own ability. Clearly, these are not the ideas of a people who think they are better than other nations. Because of our acceptance of Torah, Jews have a special status in the eyes of G-d, but we lose that special status when we abandon Torah.
Furthermore, the blessings that we received from G-d by accepting the Torah come with a high price: Jews have a greater responsibility than non-Jews.
The Jewish fear of intermarriage
While non-Jews are only obligated to obey the seven commandments given to Noah, Jews are responsible for fulfilling the mitzvot in the Torah, thus G-d will punish Jews for doing things that would not be a sin for non-Jews. According to traditional Judaism, G-d gave Noah and his family seven commandments to observe when he saved them from the flood. These commandments, referred to as the Noahic or Noahide commandments, are inferred from Genesis Ch. These commandments are fairly simple and straightforward, and most of them are recognized by most of the world as sound moral principles.
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Any non-Jew who follows these laws has a place in the world to come. The Noahic commandments are binding on all people, because all people are descended from Noah and his family.
The mitzvot of the Torah , on the other hand, are only binding on the descendants of those who accepted the commandments at Sinai and upon those who take on the yoke of the commandments voluntarily by conversion. In addition, the Noahic commandments are applied more leniently to non-Jews than the corresponding commandments are to Jews, because non-Jews do not have the benefit of Oral Torah to guide them in interpreting the laws.
For example, worshipping G-d in the form of a man would constitute idolatry for a Jew; however, according to some sources, the Christian worship of Jesus does not constitute idolatry for non-Jews. The most commonly used word for a non-Jew is goy. The word "goy" means " nation ," and refers to the fact that goyim are members of other nations, that is, nations other than the Children of Israel. There is nothing inherently insulting about the word "goy.
Because Jews have had so many bad experiences with anti-Semitic non-Jews over the centuries, the term "goy" has taken on some negative connotations, but in general the term is no more insulting than the word "gentile. The more insulting terms for non-Jews are shiksa feminine and shkutz masculine. I gather that these words are derived from the Hebrew root Shin-Qof-Tzadei, meaning loathsome or abomination. The word shiksa is most commonly used to refer to a non-Jewish woman who is dating or married to a Jewish man, which should give some indication of how strongly Jews are opposed to the idea of intermarriage.
According to Orthodox law, Jewishness is passed down through the mother. If a Jewish man were to marry a non-Jewish woman, their children would not be considered halachically Jewish. In a community still enveloped by post-Holocaust trauma, "marrying out" is seen as granting Hitler a posthumous victory. Of course, all this isn't necessarily so clear to outsiders, who see the Jewish community as a confident and successful ethnic group, with little to fear.
As a result, Jewish concerns about intermarriage are often dismissed as unadulterated racism. Who people marry or don't marry is their business and nobody else's. But whether we like it or not, our life choices affect those close to us. That doesn't mean we should make decisions on the basis of what our parents want. But those in the public sphere have the responsibility to discuss sensitive issues, such as intermarriage, appropriately.
Appealing to old prejudices, as Freeman's article does, is of no help to anybody, however humorous the intended effect. Oh, and did I mention funny?
It would be interesting to hear what her actual experiences of Jewish men have been. Is this a justification for sticking to non-Jewish men? Does she actually think she has to justify this in the first place?
Rules of attraction | Opinion | The Guardian
They have made use of dual-covenant theology. Many Israeli Jews oppose mixed relationships, [49] particularly relationships between Jewish women and non-Jewish Arab men.
A opinion survey found that more than half of Israeli Jews believed intermarriage is equivalent to "national treason". A group of 35 Jewish men, known as " Fire for Judaism ", in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Pisgat Ze'ev started patrolling the neighborhood in an effort to stop Jewish women from dating Arab men.
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The municipality of Petah Tikva has also announced an initiative to prevent interfaith relationships, providing a telephone hotline for friends and family to "inform" on Jewish girls who date Arab men as well as psychologists to provide counselling. The city of Kiryat Gat launched a school programme in schools to warn Jewish girls against dating local Bedouin men.
In February Maariv has reported that the Tel Aviv municipality had instituted an official, government-sponsored counseling program to discourage Jewish girls from dating and marrying Arab boys. According to supporters of the program, the girls are often ostracized for being Jewish, and some fall into drugs and alcohol or are prevented from leaving their Arab boyfriends.
Rules of attraction
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The New York Times.
Singer, Isidore ; et al. All Quiet on the Religious Front? Retrieved 17 March What is Wrong with Intermarriage? Archived from the original on 3 February Retrieved 6 May Municipal program to prevent Arab boys from dating Jewish girls". Archived from the original on 27 February Retrieved 1 March