The Jewish child : its history, folklore, biology, & sociology / by W.M. Feldman ; with an introduction by Sir James Crichton-Browne.

  • Feldman, W. M. (William Moses), 1879-1939.
Date:
1917
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Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Credit: The Jewish child : its history, folklore, biology, & sociology / by W.M. Feldman ; with an introduction by Sir James Crichton-Browne. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    п.] Heredity and Eugenics 23 Elijah kisses and God loves a man that marries a suitable wife; but he who marries an unsuitable wife is hated by God, and Elijah is angry with him, saying, Woe to him who wastes his seed, who degrades his family.^ A curious custom prevailed in the time of the Talmud in cases of unworthy marriages, the offender having been publicly ostracized. If a member of a family married a wife that was unworthy of him, the other members of the family used to smash a barrelful of fruit in the middle of the street, and exclaim : ' Listen, 0 ye children of Israel: Our brother so-and-so has married an unworthy wife, and we fear lest his offspring mingle with ours. Come ye, therefore, and take an ex¬ ample for generations to come, that his offspring may never mix with ours.' The story is told that a son of Rabbi was about to be married to a daughter of R. Chiya. When the marriage settlement was being prepared, the bride died. It was suggested that there must have been something wrong with the match, and they therefore started to investigate the respective pedigrees of the bride and bridegroom, луЬеп they discovered that Rabbi was descended from Abitai, the wife of King David; whilst R. Chiya was descended from Shimei, the brother of David, and was therefore not of royal descent.^ It was enjoined upon a man, who chose a wife, to inquire into the character of her brothers, for the character of the children is like that of their maternal uncles.^ This is inferred from Exod. vi. 23, where it is not considered sufficient to say that Aaron married the daughter of Aminadab, but it is also emphasized ^ Kiddushin 70a and b, and Derech Eretz R. i. 3. ^ Kethubotli 286. ^ Ibid. 626. ^ Baba Bathra 110a.