nTUN inNz nrm: 611/ Ntyn int p+1-0 t.491 111-N, Yebanzoth, 58 a ; Maimonides, Ifilchoth Issure Eia, xviii. 13 ; A6P-tiv 6' aZTC., Sauna -yab(Eip rapgpov K at Ta6-niv OuXcirretp, Joseph. Antiq. iii. 12. 2; Maimonides), and which the Apostle Paul also urges on Christian bishops (i Tim. iii. 2; Titus i. 16).
4. Proscribed Degrees and Laws of Intennar riage.—Besides the fifteen proscribed degrees enu merated in Lev. xviii. 7-17 ; xx. II, etc., the Sopherini or scribes (E.D. 322-220 prohibited mar riage with other relations (./Ifishna, ,ebamoth,ii. 4), and those prohibitions were afterwards extended still by R. Chija b. Abba the Babylonian (A.D. 163 '93), and friend of Jehudah I. the Holy (yebamoth, 22 a). The prohibited degrees of the scribes are denominated ryon'), i.e. the second or sub ordinate in rank with respect to those forbidden in the Bible, and may be seen in the following list given by Maimonides : The mother's mother, and this is infinite, for the mother's mother's mother's mother, and so upwards, are proscribed ; ii. The mother of his father's mother, and no fur ther ; iii. His father's mother, and this is infinite, for even the father's mother's mother's mother, and so upwards, are proscribed ; iv. The mother of his father's father only ; v. The wife of his father's father, and this is infinite, for even if she were the wife of our father Jacob, she is forbidden to every one of us ; vi. The wife of his mother's father only ; vii. The wife of his father's brother by the mother ; The wife of his mother's brother, whether by the mother or by the father ; ix. His son's daugh ter-in-law, i. e., his son's son's wife, and this is infinite, for even if she were the son's son's son's son's wife, descending to the end of the world, she is forbidden, so that if, as long as the wife of one of us lives, she is secondary or forbidden to our father Jacob ; x. His daughter's daughter-in-law, i. e., son's wife only ; xi. The daughter of his son's daughter only ; xii. The daughter of his son's son only ; xiii. The (laughter of his daughter's (laughter only ; xiv. The daughter of his daughter's son only; The daughter of his wife's son only ; a-vi. The daughter of his wife's daughter's daughter only ; a-vii, The mother of his wife's father's mother only ; xviii. The mother of his wife's mother's father only ; x ix. The mother of his wife's mother's mother only ; xx. The mother of his wife's father's father only. Thus, of these secondary prohibitions, there are four which are infinite ; a, the mother's mother and all upwards ; b, the father's mother and all upwards ; c, the grandfather's wife and all up wards ; and d, the son's son's wife and all down wards' (Hilchoth Ishutlz, i. 6). The principle by which the scribes were guided was to extend the prohibition to the whole line wherever the Mosaic law refers to lineal ascendants or descendants, as well as to those who might easily be mistaken by having a common appellation. Thus, mother's mother's mother's mother, ad infinitum,is forbidden, because the Mosaic law proscribes the mother, so also the wife of the grandfather, because the wife's father is forbidden in the Mosaic law ; whilst the mother of the father is proscribed, because the ap pellation grandmother is used without distinction for both the mother's and father's mother. From
Maimonides' list, however, it will be seen that he, like Alfasi, restricts prohibition ii. to the mother of the grandfather, and prohibitions xii.-xvi., xx., to the son's grandchildren, great-grandmother and great-grandchildren, but does not extend it to any further ascendants or descendants. The whole subject is extensively discussed in the Talmud (.2ebamoth 21, 22 ; Jerusalem yebamoth, ii. 4), and by Maimonides, lad Ha-Chazaka, Hilchoth Ishuth, i. 6, etc.), to which we must refer. It must however be remarked that Philo's list of pro scribed degrees is much shorter. After explaining why Moses prohibited marriage with one's own mother or sister, he says, ' For this reason he has also forbidden other matrimonial connections, in asmuch as he ordained that a man shall not marry his grand-daughter (bLii 9 tryarpu5739, 1.ci) 1)1MM, nor his aunt on the father's or mother's side, nor the wife of an uncle, son, or brother ; nor a step daughter whilst in the lifetime of her mother or after her death, because a step-father takes the place of a father, and a step-daughter is to be looked upon as his own daughter. Neither does he allow the same man to marry two sisters, either at the same time or at different times, even in case one of them had been married to another and is divorced. For he did not consider it pious that one sister should succeed to the place of her un fortunate sister, whether the latter is still cohabit ing with him, or is divorced and has no husband, or is married to another husband' (De special. bus, 780). Still shorter is the list of Josephus, who says, 'The law prohibits it as a heavy sin and an abomination to have carnal intercourse with one's mother, step-mother, father's or mother's sister, one's own sister, or a son's wife' (Joseph. Antiq. iii. 12. I). Marriage with a wife's step-mother is allowed by Babylonian and forbidden by the Jeru salem Talmud ; the Spanish Jews follow the former, whilst the Germano-French communities adopt the latter. Intermarriages between cousins, uncle and niece, entire step-brother and step-sister, are quite legitimate. Indeed, for an uncle to marry a niece, which the English law forbids, has been considered by the Jews from time immemorial as something specially meritorious. The Talmud says that the promise given in Isaiah, ' Then shalt thou call and the Lord shall answer' 9), refers to that man especially 0+:119 nr4 11t.4 zrriNn ran= r6nr1 InInN n7 riot Nn:nl 1P1111) ' who loves his neighbours, befriends his relations, marries his brother's daughter, and lends money to the poor in the hour of need' (yebatnoth, 62 b, 63 a).