Shabbat Table Topics – Parashat Kedoshim/0/en

Shabbat Table Topics – Parashat Kedoshim

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Is Intermarriage Biblically Prohibited?

In Vayikra 18 and 20, the Torah commands not to give of one's seed to the Molekh. What does the violation of this prohibition entail? Some commentators assume that the verse refers to an idolatrous rite, such as child immolation or consecration, while others connect it to sexual offenses, such as relations or marriage to a non-Jew.

• What textual support might be brought for each position? See Giving One's Seed to Molekh.
• Though the Torah prohibits intermarriage with the seven Canaanite nations, it nowhere, except for perhaps here, explicitly legislates against marriage to other outsiders. How might this omission be understood, and how might it affect exegetes' reading of this passage?