Amram and Yocheved - A Forbidden Relationship?

Parshat Va'era

by Rabbi Avi Billet

Shmot Chapter 6 contains within it a family tree that seems to quickly plow through the families of Reuven and Shimon to get to the great detail which describes the family of Levi. It is important to know, for example, that Moshe is a human being, born of human parents, and to see his “yichus” (genealogy) in the context of seeing how he descended from Yaakov. 

But there is one verse which stands out because it is a little odd.

 "And Amram took Yocheved, his aunt, to be his wife." (6:20)

 Considering a later verse in the Torah that Moshe would eventually teach to the Jewish people, how could Moshe record this little fact (which was also mentioned – though not as clearly – in 2:1) in the same Torah in which he’d declare “Do not commit incest with your father's sister, since she is your father's blood relative.” (Vayikra 18:12)? 



The Talmud declares (Yevamot 54b) that it doesn’t matter if she is a full sister or a half-sister of the father from the (grand)mother’s side or the (grand)father’s side. (See Maimonides, Laws of Forbidden Relations 2:5). [Torah law does allow for cousins to marry.]

 However, a number of Midrashic works quickly explain the verse surrounding the marriage of Moshe’s parents, saying the following: “She was not his aunt from the (grand) mother’s side, only from the (grand) father’s side. Levi had married two women – from one wife he had Kehat [Amram’s father], and from the other wife he had Yocheved. This affirms what the Talmud says in Mesekhes Shabbos, that a Noachide is allowed to marry relatives from his (grand) father’s side, but not from his (grand) mother’s side.” (Pesikta Zutrasa) Since Kehat and Yocheved had different mothers, Amram, Kehat’s son, was allowed to marry his aunt, who was only his father's half-sister through their shared ancestor Levi, but not through their mothers. [Note: I could not find this discussion in Mesekhes Shabbos]

 The Talmud in Yevamot 98b compares this depiction of their family relations to Avraham, who made a similar argument regarding Sarah, declaring her to be “my sister (related) from my father’s side, but not from my mother’s side.” (Bereshit 20:12)

 One of my favorites Bible riddles is “who was first cousin to his father? Answer: Moshe and Aharon.” But, it would seem from the information we have here that they were not “full” first cousins, because we have the half-sibling piece explaining how Kehat and Yocheved were related.

 Regardless, we are left with a couple of questions. To what degree did our ancestors follow teachings of the Torah before the Torah was given? And, what was their status, in terms of being what we might define today as “Jewish?”

 We do have a tradition that our Biblical ancestors kept the Torah before it was given. But we do not know to what degree and to what extent. It is clear that Yaakov married two sisters at the same time, which is a Torah prohibition. Avraham seemed to serve his guests meat and milk together, another Torah (or, depending on how he did it, possibly Rabbinic) prohibition.

 The Talmud in Sanhedrin (58b) would imply that those we call the “Jewish people in Egypt” were in fact Noachides, not subject to the Torah, which had not been given/revealed yet. They were "Israelites," they may have been monotheists (at least at first) under the Abrahamic model, but they were not bound to Torah law.

 All of this changed, however, with the event we refer to as Sinaitic Revelation, of which we will read in several weeks. At that point all the mitzvos (commandments) become binding, and the rules given to the real Jewish people must be followed.

 What does it mean? It shows a very powerful lesson. While there are rules that we have about who is permitted to join the community of God, even some people born out of conditions that are contrary to Torah rules are capable of becoming the leaders of our people. See the story of Lot’s daughters – ancestors of Ruth. See the strange episode of Yehuda and Tamar, which produced Peretz, ancestor of Boaz. And of course, we know King David descended from the union of Ruth and Boaz.

 Moshe, Aharon and Miriam came from a union that would have been forbidden by Torah law in due time, but was permitted because the Torah law was not yet binding. We revere Moshe, Aharon and Miriam to this day, despite the eyebrow raising that the union of their parents might produce today.

 Because somehow, we are able to look past that and see the people for who they were, and of course, their role, chosen by God, which put aside any questions in their being raised to prominence.

 No persons who are morally upright should be judged by anything other than their deeds. Circumstances of parentage might put some people outside the realm of what we call “Machane Yisrael” (the camp of Israel), but that doesn’t mean that a place shouldn’t be found for those who, on their own right or merit, belong within the camp.

 Without Moshe, Aharon and Miriam, where would we be?