Excerpt from Intermarriage: A Sunday Lecture Before Congregation Rodeph Shalom, Eighth Street, Near Penn Avenue, Pittsburg, Pa.; Sunday, February 22, 1902 I would not have you imagine for a moment that there were no proscriptions against intermarriage in the Scriptures. It was expressly forbidden for the Hebrews to wed' members of the seven tribes of Canaan, who were idolators and pagans of the lowest order. When removed from Palestine the Jews married Babylonians and Ezra strove most zealously to overcome the influence of the introduction of Babylonian thought among his people. The Rabbis of the Talmud strove to keep Israel a people of pure ideals, extended, in some respects, the prohibition of intermarriage with heathens, other than the seven tribes of Canaan; yet set laws for the admission of proselytes, all of whom were to be carefully warned of the burdens they assumed by joining the ranks of Israel. It is only during the past fifteen hundred years that the most embittered dislike and distaste for general intermarriage has been engendered and promulgated, and if we turn the pages of history we shall find the reasons clearly demonstrated. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.