EZRA PRAYING by Gustave Dor'eAbout ten days ago, or so, I posted a blog offering to pay anyone 100,000 American dollars if he could prove from the written Torah (the first five books of the Old Testament) that Judaism is based on matrilineal descent.Regardless, despite these clear instructions, many people, including rabbis, wrote back quoting the Book of Ezra.Let's make one thing perfectly clear: The Book of Ezra belongs to the Tanakh, not the Torah. The word Tanakh is an acronym which means: Torah (teachings) plus Nevi'im (prophets) and Ketuvim (writings)....in addition to this the Torah is also called the “Books of Moses” or the “Books of the Law”.Regardless, the Book of Ezra does not prove that Judaism is based on matrilineal descent. The Book of Ezra complains that the men of the new community in Jerusalem have intermarried with woman of the surrounding areas, otherwise called: “foreign wives”. It then goes on to explain that King Solomon had also married foreign women and this is why he started to worship foreign gods. In other words: Ezra is complaining that Solomon's foreign wives corrupted Solomon's beliefs.What are the rabbis trying to say: That if a Jewish woman marries a gentile, this will not corrupt her beliefs? Only when a Jewish man marries a gentile are one's beliefs corrupted ???Absolutely nowhere is it written that marrying foreign wives was forbidden or illegal or that Solomon's children by these foreign wives were not Jewish. In fact, King Solomon's son, King Rehoboam was the son of Naamat the Ammonite (i.e. a foreign wife). Is Ezra saying that King Rehoboam was not Jewish ?Furthermore, the Torah itself does not say that Judaism passes thru the mother or that it is forbidden to marry foreign wives. If it was forbidden then why were so many of the wives of King David foreign wives as well ? And: How could King Solomon, the wisest Jew in the history of our people, marry an Egyptian for his very first wife? He didn't understand the law?What the Torah says is that it is forbidden to give BOTH our sons and/or our daughters to the local Canaanite peoples. It cannot be forbidden to marry foreigners because the Torah gives specific instructions on when the children of mixed marriages will themselves be considered Jews.
What the Books of the Law never, ever, do is speak about conversions. There is no such thing as conversion to Judaism. The rabbis invented it out of thin air.The Torah does not give the name of a single convert. The Torah does not give a procedure for conversions. The Torah does not say how long a conversion takes place. In fact, most scholars agree, that the modern Hebrew word that is used for conversions, does not mean “conversions” in the Torah. Furthermore, even the Rashi agrees that Naomi could not have converted Ruth in the Land of Moab. Today, women can't even pray at the Western Wall in Jerusalem, but Naomi performed a conversion all by herself on the road out of Moab???In fact: the ancient Hebrew word now mistranslated as: “conversion” actually means “sojourner”. Thus: Was Abraham a sojourner amongst the Hittites? Or: Was Abraham a convert to the Hittite religion?What the rabbis want us to believe is that in Jerusalem there were Jewish women married to gentiles who had children. In addition, there were Jewish men who were married to gentiles who had children. Ezra, in his infinite wisdom, ONLY expelled the gentile women and their children, but let the gentile men and their children remain....Oh yes....Sure he did....I believe that...I believe the male leaders of the Jewish community just stood by and did nothing while their children were expelled, yet the children of Gentiles were allowed to remain and were granted full rights as Jews....Oh yes, I believe that...What we can see from all this is that most rabbis today are brain dead....What Ezra was actually saying is that BOTH the mother and father must be Jewish, not only the father and, he certainly wasn't saying that a Jewish woman can marry a gentile and their children would be Jews.Am I the only person in Israel who has seen the movie: “The Fiddler on the Roof ??? When Tebya's daughter married the gentile she was immediately expelled from the community and considered to be dead....In Israel today, if a Jewish girl marries an Arab she is forced to go live in his village and, usually, she converts to Islam or Christianity. (not always, but usually).By what authority does Ezra change the law ? By what authority does Ezra change the law retroactively ? If Ezra had been alive during the time of Jacob then ALL of Jacob's daughter in laws, and their children, would have been expelled from the community.If Ezra had been alive during the time of the Exodus, then Zipporah: the wife of Moses, and Gershom his son would have been expelled from the community.In other words: What the rabbis are saying is that: “Ezra understood the Books of Moses better than Moses understood the Books of Moses !!!”The whole thing is so ridiculous, it is scary to think that religious people who believe such things sit in the government and make decisions effecting everyone's daily life.
