"It is permitted to marry a Kushite"
A strange statement appears in Maimonides' (d. 1204) code of Jewish law, the Mishneh Torah. When dealing with prohibited marriages, Maimonides writes that a convert from among the gentiles, including the seven Canaanite nations (Deuteronomy 7:3), may marry within the Jewish community. Originall...
Main Author: | |
---|---|
Format: | Electronic Article |
Language: | English |
Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
Journals Online & Print: | |
Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
Published: |
University of Pennsylvania Press
[2013]
|
In: |
AJS review
Year: 2013, Volume: 37, Issue: 1, Pages: 29-49 |
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Maimonides, Moses 1135-1204, Mishneh Torah
/ Marriage
/ Jews
/ Community
/ Convert
B Slave / Black Muslims / Descendant / Judaism / Jewish law / Torah / Islam |
RelBib Classification: | BH Judaism |
Online Access: |
Volltext (kostenfrei) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
Summary: | A strange statement appears in Maimonides' (d. 1204) code of Jewish law, the Mishneh Torah. When dealing with prohibited marriages, Maimonides writes that a convert from among the gentiles, including the seven Canaanite nations (Deuteronomy 7:3), may marry within the Jewish community. Originally there were some exceptions to this in regard to four nations: Ammon, Moab, Egypt, and Edom. However, Sennacherib, King of Assyria, commingled all the nations, and since then these four nations have been mixed up with all the other permitted nations, and they have all become permitted. “Thus a convert these days, whether he be an Edomite, an Egyptian, an Ammonite, a Moabite, a Kushite, or any other nation, whether male or female, is permitted to enter the community [of Israel, i.e. to marry within the community] immediately.” |
---|---|
ISSN: | 1475-4541 |
Contains: | Enthalten in: Association for Jewish Studies, AJS review
|
Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1017/S0364009413000020 |