Soc.Culture.Jewish Newsgroups Frequently Asked Questions and Answers URL: www.scjfaq.org/faq/08-31.html

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Question 8.31:
What relationships are prohibited?

There are a number of prohibited relationships in Judaism. The Torah sets forth a list, and any community cannot, by custom, violate a Torah prohibition. For example, a man cannot marry certain close blood relatives, the ex-wives of certain close blood relatives, a woman who has not been validly divorced from her previous husband, the daughter or granddaughter of his ex-wife, or the sister of his ex-wife during the ex-wife's lifetime. These are all enumerated in Leviticus 18. These include that one cannot:

• Have sexual relations with one's mother (Leviticus 18:7).

• Have sexual relations with one's father (Leviticus 18:7).

• Have sexual relations with one's father's wife (Leviticus 18:8).

• Have sexual relations with one's sister (Leviticus 18:9).

• Have sexual relations with one's father's wife's daughter.

• Have sexual relations with one's son's daughter (Leviticus 18:10).

• Have sexual relations with one's daughter's daughter (Leviticus 18:10).

• Have sexual relations with one's daughter (this is not explicitly in the Torah but is inferred from other explicit commands that would include it).

• Have sexual relations with one's fathers sister (Leviticus 18:12).

• Have sexual relations with one's mother's sister (Leviticus 18:13).

• Have sexual relations with one's father's brothers wife (Leviticus 18:14).

• Have sexual relations with one's father's brother (Leviticus 18:14).

• Have sexual relations with one's son's wife (Leviticus 18:15).

• Have sexual relations with one's brother's wife (Leviticus 18:16).

• Have sexual relations with one's wife's daughter (Leviticus 18:17).

• Have sexual relations with the daughter of one's wife's son (Leviticus 18:17).

• Have sexual relations with the daughter of one's wife's daughter (Leviticus 18:17).

• Have sexual relations with one's wife's sister (Leviticus 18:18).

The FAQ is a collection of documents that is an attempt to answer questions that are continually asked on the soc.culture.jewish family of newsgroups. It was written by cooperating laypeople from the various Judaic movements. You should not make any assumption as to accuracy and/or authoritativeness of the answers provided herein. In all cases, it is always best to consult a competent authority--your local rabbi is a good place to start.

Hopefully, the FAQ will provide the answer to your questions. If it doesn't, please drop Email to questions@scjfaq.org. The FAQ maintainer will endeavor to direct your query to an appropriate individual that can answer it. If you would like to be part of the group to which the maintainer directs questions, please drop a note to the FAQ maintainer at maintainer@scjfaq.org.

© (c) 1993-2004 Daniel P. Faigin <maintainer@scjfaq.org>