Momzers and More

The 'misbegotten' child is a "momzer". Defined as one born from those who cannot marry within the law.

Children who are blamed for the issues of the parents and cannot be part of the ‘assembly’, which either is about being part of the governing body or marrying into the community. And it continues down the inheritance chain because the status makes their decedents not able to marry into the community as well.

This is still an issue in some Orthodox groups. The Reform movement has defined a Jew as one with 1 Jewish parent and who has been raised as a Jew.

Interesting that the word 'momzer' has in Yiddish has more meanings - something to research here.

And they have the same rules for the 'emasculated man' or a eunuch. This may be due to the role of the eunuchs in pagan society and the Torah's repudiation of 'things pagan'.

Deuteronomy 23:2-5 deals with who cannot be part of the 'assembly' of Israel.

The part about the eunuch is conflicted especially as revealed in Isaiah 56:

"To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths,
who choose what pleases me
and hold fast to my covenant –
to them I will give within my temple and its walls
a memorial (lit. hand) and a name
better than sons and daughters;
I will give them an everlasting name
that will never be cut off.

This is also the reference to Yad Vashem - the memorial to their names.

So they really were considered part of the community.

This requires much searching for the meaning of 'assembly' and the contradictions in Torah that are the 'food' for our digging for meaning.