Q&A: The Reason of the Verse and Assimilation
The Reason of the Verse and Assimilation
Question
We rule like Rabbi Yehuda that when the Torah reveals the reason for a certain commandment, the law is ruled according to that reason. If so, when the Torah revealed the reason for the prohibition of assimilation (because they will lead us astray to idolatry), if that reason does not apply, then is there no problem with assimilation?
In other words, in a case where there is no concern that the gentiles will lead us astray to idolatry, is it permitted to marry them?
Answer
Exactly the opposite. We rule like Rabbi Yehuda that even if the Torah revealed the reason, we do not follow the reason. Beyond that, there are additional reasons here: loss from the Jewish people and from commitment to the commandments, both for the person and for his descendants. By the way, this does not happen דווקא because of incitement. The situation itself causes it.
Discussion on Answer
Sorry, not Rabbi Yehuda but the first tanna (see his commentary on the Mishnah to Sanhedrin 21a and the halakhot there). See at length in my article on the fifth root.
I think the Tur rules like Rabbi Yehuda, since everywhere the reason for the commandment is written—tzitzit, tefillin, sukkah—he makes a point of spelling out the reason in the laws.
That doesn't prove it. Bringing the reason does not mean that we derive practical halakhah from it. True, the Bach at the beginning of the laws of Sukkah does expound the reason, but that's just a homiletic comment. But Nachmanides rules like Rabbi Yehuda, since in his view there is no first tanna in that Mishnah.
Okay, so let us assume that according to Nachmanides, what I wrote would be correct? The Torah did not give the reason of being lost from the Jewish people.
In Yevamot 76a there is a dispute, and there is an opinion there that the prohibition regarding the other nations is only rabbinic. Beyond that, kiddushin does not take effect with them regardless of the prohibition against marrying them, and at least according to Maimonides there is also the neglect of a positive commandment in marriage without kiddushin.
"Generally, Rabbi Yehuda does not expound the reason of the verse, but here it is different, because the verse explicitly states its reason: Why should he not multiply wives for himself? Because 'his heart should not turn away' (Deuteronomy 17:17)" (Sanhedrin 21a).
Is there another Talmudic passage that contradicts what is written here?