Answers to Quora Questions by Yair Davidiy (7 December 2017, 20 Kislev, 5778)
Why do you need a Jewish mother to be Jewish, not a Jewish father?
https://www.quora.com/Why-do-you-need-a-Jewish-mother-to-be-Jewish-not-a-Jewish-father/answer/Yair-Davidiy
We see above a bull and a donkey yoked together. This practice is forbidden by the Bible. Laws pertaining to this issue may shed light on the rationale as to why the son of a Jewish mother is Jewish whereas that of a Jewish father is not unless the mother is also Jewish. The question was:
Why do you need a Jewish mother to be Jewish, not a Jewish father?
The legal source is found in the Bible (Deuteronomy 7:3-4) as explained by the Sages. The English translations are good enough on the whole but they lose something in this case concerning the niceties of the language.
- Deuteronomy 7:3-4 deals with conjugal unions between Israelites and Gentiles. They are forbidden.
Deuteronomy 7:3 says: Do not give your daughter to his son. Nor take his daughter for your son.
Deuteronomy 7:4 says: He will turn your son away from me.
This sounds like the Gentile who gives his daughter to your son may cause your son to leave worship of God. The Hebrew text may be understood differently.
The Sages explained the verse to be saying that the person in 7:4 who does the turning away is the non-Israelite husband of your daughter.
This means that your son in Deuteronomy 7:4 means your grandson i.e. the son of your daughter.
Whether one accepts this explanation or not IT DOES fit the Hebrew text.
The question was,
Why do you need a Jewish mother to be Jewish, not a Jewish father?
The Bible does not tell us why. The Bible just tells us what. Different reasons may be suggested but we do not really know. One of the most common explanations is that we always know who the mother is but about the father we cannot be sure.
To my mind this answer is insufficient.
I found a possible alternate reason in the laws concerning intermixing of animals.
There is a commandment,
Deuteronomy 22:
10 You shall not plow with a bull and a donkey together.
A bull has more strength than a donkey. When the two are yoked together the bull will automatically pull the strongest and thus force the donkey to pull alongside him. This enables more mileage to be obtained from the donkey. Yoking the two together is a common practice among non-Jewish agricultural peoples. It is forbidden for Israelites.
The Sages extended the prohibition to apply to any two animals of different biological kinds. Donkeys and horses, for instance, were also prohibited to be hitched together to pull the plow or a cart.
What happens when one has a horse or a donkey on one side and on the other hand either a mule (father donkey, mother horse) or hinny (mother donkey, father horse)? Can you yoke those on one side to any of those on the other?
The answer is that you go after the mother [See Mishnah Kelaim 8:4 according to Rabbi Yehudah whose opinion in this case is accepted as the legal practice]. A mule, for instance, whose mother is a horse may be yoked together with a horse since they are considered of one kind. In other words when one has the offspring of two different sub-species that have intermixed affiliation goes after the mother.
This could suggest a biological reality?
Israelites who obligated by the Law are on a Metaphysical Level that is different from that of non-Jews.
It is analogous to different kinds in the animal kingdom. The female side determines some basic level of offspring belonging to what she belongs to. This applies when there is a cross-over between one sub-species and another. Within the sub-species however tribal determination goes after the father (Numbers 1:2).