As the Biblical Jacob is about to die, he calls his son Joseph to his bedside and asks for Joseph’s sons to be brought close. He blesses them in an act still evoked today. We bless our children by saying: “May you be like Manasseh and Ephraim.” Strangely, as part of the blessing he claims his grandsons as his own offspring, essentially skipping a generation. “Now your two sons…shall be mine.” (Text here)
Historians tell us that this represents an ancient memory of two tribes, the namesakes of the two boys, brought into the circle of the Israelite nation. To claim them as truly Israelite, the ancient writer imagines that Jacob formally adopted them. Interestingly, they were born to Joseph’s Egyptian wife. Contrary to later practice, the identity of the children was determined by the father in ancient times. But nonetheless, in the story, it’s clear that these boys were no doubt Egyptian. They were born into Egyptian high society as their father was an official in the court and yet, in the Torah’s imagination, they become progenitors of Israelite tribes.
Far from being an exception, the Bible is full of stories of offspring of “mixed marriages” becoming important leaders of the nation. Moses, David, and Solomon, to name a few.
As a Reform Jewish community, our doors are open wide to all who would seek to embrace and be embraced by our tradition. Some may choose to convert, others may raise Jewish children without conversion, others may merely choose to explore. We trust that the richness of that diversity ultimately will build a stronger Jewish community.
— Rabbi Ron Stern