012 - הִלְכוֹת אִסּוּרֵי בִּיאָה פֵּרֶק יב

Laws of Issurei Bi'ah, Chapter 12

1. A Jew who has relations with a non-Jewish woman of any of the nations by way of marriage, or a Jewish woman who has relations with a non-Jew by way of marriage, receive lashes by Torah law, as it says, "לֹא תִתְחַתֵּן, בָּם" ("you shall not intermarry with them," Devarim 7:3). The seven nations and all the other nations are alike in this prohibition. So it is stated explicitly through Ezra: "וַאֲשֶׁר לֹא-נִתֵּן בְּנֹתֵינוּ, לְעַמֵּי הָאָרֶץ; וְאֶת-בְּנֹתֵיהֶם, לֹא נִקַּח לְבָנֵינוּ" ("and that we will not give our daughters to the peoples of the land, nor take their daughters for our sons," Nechemiah 10:31).

2. The Torah forbade only by way of marriage. But one who has relations with a non-Jewish woman by way of promiscuity is given makas mardus (Rabbinic lashes) by the words of the Sofrim, as a decree lest he come to intermarry. If he set her aside for himself for promiscuity, he is liable on her account for niddah, for shifchah (a maidservant), for a non-Jewess and for zonah; and if he did not set her aside for himself, but it happened by chance, he is liable only for a non-Jewess. All these liabilities are by their words.

3. When does this apply? When the man was a Yisrael. But a kohen who has relations with a non-Jewish woman receives lashes by Torah law on account of zonah—a non-Jewish zonah and a Jewish zonah are alike. He receives lashes for the act of relations alone, since she is not capable of kiddushin.

4. Anyone who has relations with a non-Jewish woman, whether by way of marriage or by way of promiscuity—if he did so publicly, that is, before the eyes of ten or more Jews, and kanaim (zealots) struck him and killed him, they are praiseworthy and zealous. This matter is halachah leMoshe miSinai (a law given to Moshe at Sinai), and the proof for it is the deed of Pinchas with Zimri.

5. The zealot may strike them only at the time of the act, as with Zimri, as it says, "וְאֶת-הָאִשָּׁה אֶל-קֳבָתָהּ" ("and the woman through her belly," Bamidbar 25:8). But if he separated, he is not killed; and if the zealot killed him, he is executed for it. If the zealot comes to take permission from beis din to kill him, they do not instruct him so, even though it is at the time of the act. Moreover, if the zealot came to kill the offender, and the offender escaped and killed the zealot to save himself from him, the offender is not executed for it. One who has relations with the daughter of a ger toshav (a resident non-Jew who accepted the seven Noahide laws)—the zealots do not strike him, but he is given makas mardus.

6. If the zealots did not strike him, and beis din did not give him lashes, his punishment is stated explicitly in the words of kabbalah (the Prophets): he is cut off, as it says, "כִּי חִלֵּל יְהוּדָה, אֶת קֹדֶשׁ ה' אֲשֶׁר אָהֵב, וּבָעַל, בַּת-אֵל נֵכָר. יַכְרֵת ה' לָאִישׁ אֲשֶׁר יַעֲשֶׂנָּה, עֵר וְעֹנֶה" ("for Yehudah has profaned the holiness of Hashem, which He loves, and has married the daughter of a foreign god. May Hashem cut off from the man who does this the one who wakes and the one who answers," see Malachi 2:11–12). If he is a Yisrael, he will have no "er" (one who wakes) among the Sages, nor "oneh" (one who answers) among the students; and if he is a kohen, he will have no one who presents an offering to Hashem of Hosts. You have thus learned that one who has relations with a non-Jewish woman is as if he married into idolatry, as it says, "וּבָעַל, בַּת-אֵל נֵכָר" ("and has married the daughter of a foreign god"), and he is called one who profanes the holy.

7. This sin, even though it does not carry execution by beis din, should not be light in your eyes. Rather, it involves a loss that has no equal among all the arayos (forbidden relations): for a son from an ervah is his son in every respect, and is counted among Israel, even though he is a mamzer; but a son from a non-Jewish woman is not his son, as it says, "כִּי-יָסִיר אֶת-בִּנְךָ מֵאַחֲרַי" ("for he will turn your son away from following Me," Devarim 7:4)—she turns him away from being a follower of Hashem.

8. This matter causes one to cleave to the nations, from whom the Holy One, blessed be He, separated us, and to turn away from Hashem and betray Him.

9. A non-Jew who has relations with a Jewish woman: if she is a married woman, he is executed on her account; and if she is unmarried, he is not executed.

10. But a Jew who had relations with a non-Jewish woman—whether a girl of three years and one day or an adult, whether unmarried or married, and even if he was a boy of nine years and one day—since he had relations with the non-Jewish woman deliberately, she is executed, because a stumbling block came to a Jew through her, like an animal. This is stated explicitly in the Torah, as it says, "הֵן הֵנָּה הָיוּ לִבְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל . . . וְכָל-אִשָּׁה, יֹדַעַת אִישׁ לְמִשְׁכַּב זָכָר—הֲרֹגוּ" ("behold, they were for the children of Israel… and every woman who has known a man by lying with a male, kill," Bamidbar 31:16–17).

11. Slaves who were immersed for the sake of servitude, and accepted upon themselves the mitzvos that slaves are obligated in, have left the category of non-Jews, but have not entered the category of Israel. Therefore a shifchah (non-Jewish maidservant) is forbidden to a free man, whether his own maidservant or another's; and one who has relations with a shifchah is given makas mardus by the words of the Sofrim. For it is stated explicitly in the Torah that the master gives a Canaanite maidservant to his Hebrew servant, and she is permitted to him, as it says, "אִם-אֲדֹנָיו יִתֶּן-לוֹ אִשָּׁה" ("if his master gives him a wife," Shemos 21:4).

12. The Sages did not decree in this matter, and the Torah did not impose lashes for a shifchah, unless she was a shifchah charufah (designated to a man), as we have explained.

13. Let this sin not be light in your eyes because it carries no lashes by Torah law; for this too causes the son to turn away from Hashem, since the son from a shifchah is a slave and is not of Israel. It thus causes the holy seed to be profaned and to become slaves. Onkelos the translator included relations with a male or female slave within "לֹא-יִהְיֶה קָדֵשׁ, וְלֹא-תִהְיֶה קְדֵשָׁה" ("there shall be no kadesh, and there shall be no kedeshah," see Devarim 23:18).

14. One who has relations with a shifchah, even publicly and at the time of the sin—the zealots do not strike him. Likewise, if he took a shifchah by way of marriage, he does not receive lashes by Torah law, for once she immersed and accepted mitzvos, she left the category of non-Jews.

15. If the child of a Jewish woman became mixed up with the child of a shifchah, both are in doubt, and each of them is possibly a slave. The owner of the shifchah is compelled to free both of them. If the son was himself the master of the slave, when they grow up they free each other, and they are permitted to enter the kahal.

16. If the mixed-up children were daughters, both are possible shefachos, and if one has relations with one of them, the child is possibly a slave. Likewise, if the child of a non-Jewish woman became mixed up with the child of a Jewish woman, both are immersed for the sake of conversion, and each of them is a possible convert.

17. All the nations, when they convert and accept upon themselves all the mitzvos of the Torah, and slaves when they are freed, are like Israel in every respect, as it says, "הַקָּהָל, חֻקָּה אַחַת לָכֶם" ("for the congregation, there shall be one statute for you," Bamidbar 15:15). They are permitted to enter the kahal of Hashem immediately—that is, a ger or a freed slave may marry a Jewish woman, and a Jew may marry a convert woman or a freed woman—except for four nations only: Amon, Moav, Mitzrayim and Edom. When a person from these nations converts, he is like Israel in every respect, except with regard to entering the kahal.

18. What is their law? Amon and Moav: their prohibition is a permanent prohibition, for males but not for females, as it says, "לֹא-יָבֹא עַמּוֹנִי וּמוֹאָבִי . . ." ("an Amoni or a Moavi shall not enter…," Devarim 23:4). It is halachah leMoshe miSinai that the male Amoni and the male Moavi are forbidden forever to marry a Jewish woman, even his son's son's son until the end of the world; but an Amonite or Moavite woman is permitted immediately, like the other nations.

19. A Mitzri and an Edomi, both male and female—the first generation and the second generation are forbidden to marry into Israel, and the third generation is permitted, as it says, "בָּנִים אֲשֶׁר-יִוָּלְדוּ לָהֶם, דּוֹר שְׁלִישִׁי" ("children who are born to them, the third generation," Devarim 23:9).

20. A pregnant Mitzri woman who converted—her son is second generation. A second-generation Mitzri who married a first-generation Mitzri woman, or a first-generation Mitzri who married a second-generation Mitzri woman—the child is second generation, as it says, "בָּנִים אֲשֶׁר-יִוָּלְדוּ לָהֶם" ("children who are born to them"): the verse made it depend on birth.

21. An Amoni convert who married a Mitzri woman—the child is an Amoni; and a Mitzri convert who married an Amoni woman—the child is a Mitzri. This is the rule: among the nations, the child follows the male; once they have converted, the child follows the inferior of the two.

22. Those who converted from the seven nations are not forbidden by Torah law to enter the kahal; and it is known that only the Givonim converted from among them. Yehoshua decreed that they be forbidden to enter the kahal, both males and females; but he forbade them only while the Mikdash stands, as it says, "וְחֹטְבֵי עֵצִים וְשֹׁאֲבֵי-מַיִם—לְבֵית אֱלֹהָי" ("and hewers of wood and drawers of water for the House of my G‑d," Yehoshua 9:23): he made their exclusion depend on the Mikdash.

23. They are the ones called Nesinim, because he gave them over (nesanam) to the service of the Mikdash. David came and decreed that they should never enter the kahal, even when there is no Mikdash. So it is stated explicitly in Ezra: "וּמִן-הַנְּתִינִים, שֶׁנָּתַן דָּוִיד וְהַשָּׂרִים לַעֲבֹדַת הַלְוִיִּם" ("and of the Nesinim, whom David and the officers had given for the service of the Levi'im," Ezra 8:20). You have thus learned that he did not make them depend on the Mikdash.

24. Why did he and his beis din decree against them? Because he saw the brazenness and cruelty that was in them, when they demanded the seven sons of Shaul, the chosen of Hashem, to hang them, and they killed them and had no mercy on them.

25. When Sancheriv, king of Ashur, came up, he confused all the nations, mixed them with one another, and exiled them from their places. These Egyptians who are in the land of Egypt now are other people, and likewise the Edomim who are in the field of Edom. Since the four forbidden nations have become mixed with all the nations of the world, which are permitted, everything has become permitted; for anyone who separates from them to convert is presumed to have separated from the majority. Therefore, when a convert converts in our times, in any place—whether an Edomi, a Mitzri, an Amoni, a Moavi, a Kushi, or of the other nations—both males and females are permitted to enter the kahal immediately.