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PARASHAT VA'ETCHANAN
Much debate has centered around the issue of "Who is a Jew." In the wake of numerous immigrants entering Israel, the subject has taken on new relevance, since many of them are intermarried. People, who have been persecuted due to their Jewish ancestry, feel this earns them the right to enjoy the privileges of being Jewish as well. Not everyone is ready to accept that the Jewish lineage depends solely on the mother, and that according to Halacha a child born to a gentile mother is not considered Jewish, even if the father is Jewish. The popular explanation that only the identity of the mother can be ascertained is no longer valid, since today the identity of the father can be verified as well through genetic tests. THE SON OF A GENTILE MOTHER The Scriptural source for the law of "Who is a Jew" is
to be found in this week's parsha, "Neither shall you intermarry
with them; your daughter you shall not give unto his son, nor his
daughter shall you take unto your son. For he will turn away your
son from following Me, that they may serve other gods..." (Devarim
7:3-4) Scripture speaks here of two cases of intermarriage, 1) a
Jewess becomes the wife of a gentile; 2) the gentile woman becomes
the wife of a Jew; but gives only one reason for the prohibition
of intermarriage - "For he will turn away your son from following
Me"... If the verse referred to the negative influence of the
non-Jewish party over his/her Jewish spouse, then we would expect
two parallel statements expressing the reason for the prohibition.
1) "He will turn your daughter away from Me", 2) "She
will turn your son away from Me." Since this is not the case,
it is not quite clear from the verse who will turn who away from
following G-d. Rashi explains that the person who will turn away
your son refers to the gentile husband of the Jewess, "your
son" then cannot refer to your son who married the gentile
woman, but rather to your grandson as grandchildren are often called
children in Scripture. He is the son of your daughter, whom the
gentile, by marrying your daughter, might turn away from following
G-d. This teaches us, that your daughter's son whose father is non-Jewish
is called your son, but your son's son, whose mother is non-Jewish,
is not defined as your son, but her son. Therefore, in regard to
the statement: "his daughter you shall not take to your son",
it does not add: "for she will turn away your son (grandson)
from following Me". The reason for this apparent lack of concern
about the grandson born to a gentile mother is that it does not
regard him as your grandson, who belongs by birth to the Jewish
religion. In agreement with Rashi's source is the Gemorah Kedushin
68b, also the Rambam determines the law to be that a child born
of a gentile woman is not considered Jewish. (Prohibited Relationships,
Chapter 12, Halacha 7)
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