Publication Date
5-2024
Document Type
Doctoral Dissertation
Degree Program
PhD in Jewish Studies
Concentration
Jewish history
Keywords
Gentile, rabbinic, food, intermarriage
Advisors
Michael Shmidman
Abstract
This dissertation is a history of halakhah which looks to evidence from both within and outside of rabbinic literature to explain the provenance of a particular phenomenon. It suggests, contra traditional and academic understanding, that the original rationale behind the rabbinic prohibitions of eating Gentile bread and certain Gentile cooking was concern over the possible admixture of biblically impermissible ingredients, including idolatrous wine. It was only in Babylonia, possibly around the end of the amoraic period, that the rabbis added mišum ḥatnut, the fear of intermarriage, as the rationale for the prohibition of eating Gentile bread (but not cooking), thus forbidding such bread even if prepared under the watchful supervision of a rabbinic Jew. The dissertation further suggests that the Babylonian rabbis added this rationale because the frequency of intermarriages may have been a concern in Babylonia, whereas it was not in ʾEreṣ Israel. In support of these hypotheses, the dissertation reviews mentions of the avoidance of Gentile foods in Second Temple and earlier literature, tannaitic literature, and the Yerushalmi and demonstrates that they can be read as being due to concerns about ingredients. Finally, relying on admittedly sparse extant historical, archaeological, and literary data, including rabbinic literature where appropriate, it analyzes the societies of tannaitic and amoraic ʾEreṣ Israel and amoraic Babylonia. These data seem to suggest that the ʾEreṣ Israel societies may not have been predisposed to a significant amount of intermarriage and that intermarriage may not have in fact occurred in them to a significant extent. In contrast, the data indicate that societal factors in Babylonia may have been conducive to intermarriage and that there may have indeed been a concerning phenomenon of intermarriages there.
Recommended Citation
Raab, David, "Gentile Foods: Rabbinic Prohibitions and the Fear of Intermarriage" (2024). Student Theses and Dissertations. 3.
https://touroscholar.touro.edu/gsjs_student_pubs/3
