From: RFaussette@aol.com
Date: Fri Oct 24 2003 - 13:15:22 EDT
In a message dated 10/24/03 8:58:12 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
gmurphy@raex.com writes:
> While biological kinship has been an important aspect of Judaism, its
>
This is wrong. It should properly read, its significance should not be
understated.
. On the inside cover of a Passover Jewish Action Magazine distributed in
local supermarkets in 2001 by the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of
America I was amazed to find an unselfconscious letter addressed to Jewish
children:
“...Our aim is nothing less than to convince a record number of Jewish
youngsters that interdating and intermarriage are a betrayal of who they are.”
“As the sacrifice he offered could have no blemish, the kohen himself could
have no blemish. Thus to maintain the purity of his lineage he was kept to
stricter marriage standards than his Jewish brothers.” Lamm, The Jewish way in
Love and Marriage
Biological kinship is the sine qua non of orthodox Judaism, and in reform
and conservative Judaism the kohen is still the chief religious functionary. If
you face that fact of course, there are implications and who wants to deal
with the implications?
Nebuchadnezzar had removed the upper classes to Babylon leaving the lower
classes behind who assimilated with the locals. When Cyrus let the Hebrew people
go to return and rebuild their temple, he empowered Ezra who set up the
marriage prohibitions immediately to maintain the isolation of their bloodlines
which the captive Jewish community had maintained during the Babylonian
captivity.
rich faussette
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