Communities

Writing
Writing
Codidact Meta
Codidact Meta
The Great Outdoors
The Great Outdoors
Photography & Video
Photography & Video
Scientific Speculation
Scientific Speculation
Cooking
Cooking
Electrical Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Judaism
Judaism
Languages & Linguistics
Languages & Linguistics
Software Development
Software Development
Mathematics
Mathematics
Christianity
Christianity
Code Golf
Code Golf
Music
Music
Physics
Physics
Linux Systems
Linux Systems
Power Users
Power Users
Tabletop RPGs
Tabletop RPGs
Community Proposals
Community Proposals
tag:snake search within a tag
answers:0 unanswered questions
user:xxxx search by author id
score:0.5 posts with 0.5+ score
"snake oil" exact phrase
votes:4 posts with 4+ votes
created:<1w created < 1 week ago
post_type:xxxx type of post
Search help
Notifications
Mark all as read See all your notifications »
Q&A

Welcome to the Judaism community on Codidact!

Will you help us build our community of learners? Drop into our study hall, ask questions, help others with answers to their questions, share a d'var torah if you're so inclined, invite your friends, and join us in building this community together. Not an ask-the-rabbi service, just people at all levels learning together.

Does a Jew with a non-Jewish father have a tribe?

+2
−0

Vayikra 24:10 and on tells of an episode with a blasphemer. The torah tells us that he was the son of an Israelite woman and an Egyptian man.

From a Rashi comment there I found my way to Vayikra Rabbah 32, which gives some back-story apparently from Rabbi Chiya (quoted from Sefaria):

He had gone to pitch his tent in the camp of the tribe of Dan. They told him: "what [claim] do you have to pitch your tent in the camp of Dan?" He replied: "I am from one of the daughters of the tribe of Dan". They said to him: "It is written (Numbers 2:2) 'Every man [of the children of Israel shall encamp] by his own standard, that bears the signs of their father's house' - and not the mother's!" He went in to the judicial court of Moses to have the matter decided and came out (יצא) declared to be in the wrong. He then stood up and blasphemed.

Jewish status passes through the mother, so the man is Jewish. But he doesn't have a tribe, because tribal status passes through the father.

What happens to a Jew in this position, with respect to land holdings? Where does he go in the Yovel (Jubilee) year, when all are to return to their ancestral lands? What happened to such people when the land was apportioned out to the twelve tribes? From the story in Vayikra Rabbah it sounds like we don't fall back on the mother's tribe in the absence of the father's. Is the product of such a union just out of luck?

One could ask the same question about converts (and I'm curious about that too), but the cases might be different because a convert has a choice and can accept a restriction (not getting land) as part of that action.

History
Why does this post require moderator attention?
You might want to add some details to your flag.
Why should this post be closed?

3 comment threads

See Gemara Bechorot 47.1 The son of a Bat Levi from a NJ is called Levi Pasul. From a certain point... (1 comment)
"_One could ask the same question about converts_ ... _but the cases might be different because a con... (2 comments)
https://judaism.stackexchange.com/questions/59311/what-tribe-did-someone-belong-to-if-they-didnt-have... (1 comment)

0 answers

Sign up to answer this question »