Strictly speaking, Judaism is a matrilineal religion. But what does that really mean? Jews who strictly adhere to halakhah would only consider someone born to a Jewish mother to be Jewish, or converts. However, there are also many Jews nowadays who accept people with only a Jewish father. The matter of halachically licit ancestry can seem old-fashioned, but the question of valid lineage remains vital to understanding the core of Jewish belonging.
The origins of matrilineality are unclear, though it appears in many current debates about Jewish identity. In the Torah, Jewish descent was patrilineal, just like property and tribal association were. By Mishnaic times, the rabbis discussed and established matrilineality as the halakhahic rule for lineage. Although the decision is rooted in textual evidence, Jewish studies scholars have, in true Jewish fashion, many differing opinions on the origins of matrilineality.
From the Second Temple to Talmudic period, Jewish practice and society underwent significant changes as Jews emigrated throughout the diaspora. Tracing lineage in the Torah, as seen in the Daughters of Zelophehad story, allows for the continual hereditary transfer of land in Eretz Yisrael, especially for agricultural purposes. Once Jews emigrated from Israel, patrilineal inheritance became less important.
Once spread to the diaspora, Jews interacted more frequently with other ethnic and religious groups. Constantly in conversation with and even persecuted by other groups placed a greater emphasis on defining and safeguarding community. Diaspora Jews were not trying to find ways to recruit new members of the religion, as apparent in Judaism’s arduous conversion process. Instead, the Jewish community tried to find ways to keep their small community together, and part of the solution was revising the lineage laws.
In the diasporic context, Jews found themselves disempowered and marginalized. This, coupled with common interactions with other religious groups, made interactions between Jewish women and Gentile men, consensual or not, more frequent. Jewish women, facing both antisemitism and sexism, were more vulnerable to gender-based violence. It was unfavorable to expel and exclude every Jewish woman who fell pregnant by a Gentile man, especially if she did not have any say in becoming pregnant.
Thus, matrilineality may have emerged as a way to protect Jewish women from rape. Instead of expelling or killing women who were raped (along with possible children), matrilineal descent meant that these women could remain in the Jewish community. Rabbis and Jewish leaders in this period utilized this framework to keep the community together even through persecution and hardship.
Though the Torah abhors rape, it lacks any sort of measurable or clearly effective victim protection mechanism, instead focusing on the men involved: their “property” (women) damaged, their punishments, and their compensation. Conversely, a focus on matrilineal descent alleviated the societal implications and consequences of rape. Seeking to protect women from rape is admirable, and is a clear shift from the biblical legal approach. Though the real impact is unknown, the intent to protect women in the community is a step toward progress.
Though matrilineal Judaism emerged to promote social cohesion in a challenging new context, it is now used as a tool of division, excluding many patrilineal Jews who are deeply connected to or desire a connection to their Jewish roots. Although having standards for belonging is meaningful, why exclude people who are enmeshed in and care deeply about Jewish community?
Being Jewish is not easy, carrying with it a legacy of massive trauma and oppression. Defining oneself as Jewish thus becomes even more important to shoulder the burden of the community. The determining factor in Jewish identity cannot be the mitochondrial DNA, just as the determining factor in participating in Torah study is no longer a Y chromosome. Jewish community is complex, profound, and endlessly capable of accepting Jews, and will continue to adapt as it has throughout history.
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