Friday, December 19, 2014

Yevamot 76 – The congregation of Israel

We mentioned earlier that one who has his testicles wounded or crushed and one whose member is severed cannot "enter the congregation of Israel," He cannot marry a Jewish woman born as a Jew. However, he can marry a convert. Although converts are Jewish in every respect, they are not encompassed by the term "congregation." Their children, however, will be called "congregation."

Rabbi Yehudah has another view, according to which converts are also included in the "congregation," and accordingly, our man discussed above cannot marry anyone. The source for this law is found in the Torah here.

Similarly, a convert from the people of Amon or Moav is prohibited from marrying into the congregation. This was only true when these peoples lived as separate nations. After king Sennacherib expanded his empire and resettled entire peoples, they all got mixed, and the law stopped being applicable. Even when relevant, only male converts had the prohibition, but not females, since the Torah formulated the ban in terms of "Moavi" - which implies the male, but not "Moaviyah," which would indicate a woman.

Art: The Dead Sea with the mountains of Moab by Gustave Bauernfeind

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