Mamzer

In the Hebrew Bible and Jewish religious law, a mamzer (ממזר, (), "estranged person"; plural mamzerim) is a person who is born as the result of certain forbidden relationships or incest (as it is defined by the Bible), or the descendant of such a person. Mamzer status (mamzerut) is not synonymous with the traditional western definition of illegitimacy, since it does not include children born to unmarried mothers. Some have explained the word mamzer as the masculine noun form derived from the root m-z-r, having a meaning of spoilt/corrupt. According to Strong's Concordance: "from an unused root meaning 'to alienate'; a mongrel, i. e., born of a Jewish father and a heathen mother". The Talmud explains the term homiletically as consisting of the words mum (defect) and zar (strange/alien), a euphemism for an illicit union in the person's lineage. The term occurs twice in the Hebrew Bible. The first time is (23:2 in non-Hebrew versions). The Septuagint translates the term mamzer as son "of a prostitute" (Greek: ), and the Latin Vulgate translates it as de scorto natus ("born of a prostitute"). In English, it is translated as "bastard". A bastard (mamzer) shall not enter into the congregation of the ; even to his tenth generation shall he not enter into the congregation of the . ("shall not enter the congregation of the Lord," Explained by the Rabbis to mean that the bastard cannot marry a son or daughter of Israel) Alternatively, the "congregation of the Lord" can refer to the legislature of ancient Israel The other occasion is in : "And a bastard (mamzer) shall dwell in Ashdod", a sea port. In the Talmud, the term mamzer is applied to the descendants of specific illicit unions. According to the Mishnah, a mamzer is the offspring of a biblically forbidden union for which his progenitors are liable to extirpation at the hands of heaven. An exception to this rule is when a Jewish man cohabits with a menstruant woman: Although he is liable thereby to extirpation, the child born from such union is not a mamzer.