[Avodah] Ahab

[Akiva Miller via Avodah]

R' Eli Turkel wrote:

> Later in history Ezra fought against the prevelant custom of
> marrying nonJewish women. see also
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interfaith_marriage_in_Judaism

and Saul Guberman asked:

> So was the switch to matrilineal descent from a takana Ezra or before?

I don't see any connection between the two. It is true that "Ezra fought
against the prevelant custom of marrying nonJewish women", but I've never
seen any claims that these marriages were halachically valid. Nor have I
seen any claims (from a Torah viewpoint) that we've ever accepted
patrilineal descent - not before, during or after Ezra.

It is important to note that Hebrew does not distinguish between "wife" and
"woman". The word "ishto" is usually translated as "his wife", but it could
just as easily mean "his woman", i.e., his girlfriend / roommate / POSSLQ /
common-law wife, or whatever term one might prefer.

Akiva Miller
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