- Matrilineal Descent
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- Avraham B. Shimon
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- The Torah does not always state every law explicitly.
- Our Rabbis had a tradition as to which verse matrilineal descent is
derived from. The verse is Deuteronomy 7: 4, "Because he will
lead astray your son from before Me" To understand this verse we
need to look at the preceding verse. Verse 3 states, "And you
shall not intermarry with them, your daughter you shall not give to
his son and his daughter you shall not take for your son". Verse
4 now becomes difficult. It should have stated "Because SHE will
lead astray your
- son". The non-Jewish girl that your son married ('your' meaning
Jewish) should be the one that would lead your son astray. Who is the
'HE'? You might answer that 'HE' is referring to the girl's father.
However, it is well known that in general, women leave their father's
house and live in
- their husband's house. They would then not be living with her
father. Therefore, it would not make sense for the girl's father to
lead your son astray if your son doesn't live with him. The Rabbis
conclude that 'HE' is the man that your daughter married and 'your
son' mentioned in
- verse 4 is your grandchild, meaning Jewish grandchild. Verse 4 is
referring back to the middle section of verse 3. It reads like this,
"your daughter you shall not give to his son because he will lead
astray your son" This shows that the child of a Jewish girl and a
non-Jewish boy will be Jewish. It is not uncommon for the Torah to
refer to a grandchild as an actual child. For instance, Kings I 15: 11
states, " And Asa did that which was correct in the eyes of God
just like David
- his father". David was not Asa's father. He was his
great-great-grandfather.
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