By Joel Elkins, July 19, 2025
What makes us who we are? It’s a fascinating question, and one that I will not be dealing with today. Instead, I’m going to give you a little Torah, a little midrash, a little biology, a little gematria, a little history and a little wordplay that will get you no closer to answering that question.
Let’s start in Chapter 26 (Page 920)
After the plague God instructs Moses to take another census – “according to their father’s house” — to find out how many Israelites have survived.
Starting with verse 5 it goes through not only each tribe (from the sons of Jacob) but also each sub-tribe (from the grandsons of Jacob):
e.g., 26:5-6רְאוּבֵ֖ן בְּכ֣וֹר יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל בְּנֵ֣י רְאוּבֵ֗ן חֲנוֹךְ֙ מִשְׁפַּ֣חַת הַחֲנֹכִ֔י לְפַלּ֕וּא מִשְׁפַּ֖חַת הַפַּלֻּאִֽי׃
Reuben, Israel’s first-born. Descendants of Reuben: [Of] Enoch, the clan of the Enochites; of Pallu, the clan of the Palluites;
לְחֶצְרֹ֕ן מִשְׁפַּ֖חַת הַֽחֶצְרוֹנִ֑י לְכַרְמִ֕י מִשְׁפַּ֖חַת הַכַּרְמִֽי׃
of Hezron, the clan of the Hezronites; of Carmi, the clan of the Carmites.
And so it goes on through all 12 tribes and all 45 subtribes.
Why is it necessary to add the name of the clan each time? Can’t we figure out that if the patriarch is named Nemuel, the clan would be called “hanemueli”? And that Yamin’s descendants would be called “hayamini”?
Rashi has a beautiful explanation: He looks at Psalm 122 (which is in the siddur at page 447). Fourth line down: שבטי יה עדות לישראל. The straightforward translation being “the tribes of God are a testament to Israel”. But Rashi reads it literally: “The tribes of yod/hey are a testament of Israel.” For each clan, God is putting his yod in back and hey in front to authenticate each tribe’s lineage, essentially implanting each family with his hechsher – but instead of an OU, He uses a Yod/Hey.
God is certifying not only that each clan is pure but also that tribal membership clearly goes through the father.
Later on in the parsha, the daughters of Zelofchad come to Moshe saying their father has died leaving no male heirs, and unless they are allowed to inherit their father’s land, it will be forever lost from the family. After consultation with God, a line of inheritance is developed: first sons, then (if no sons) daughters, then brothers, then uncles, and so forth.
So, through this we know that the claim to tribal land is also clearly through the father’s line.
But we all know that one’s Jewishness comes from one’s mother. Where do we get this? By most historical accounts, it was probably originally through the father but changed to the mother’s line sometime during the Roman period.
But the sages had a hard time admitting that such an important aspect of Judaism was arbitrary or changed over time, and they therefore tried to find evidence of matrilineal descent in the scriptures. According to the Talmud, the best evidence is in Deut. 7:3-4 (p. 1029), where it says:
You shall not intermarry with them [the Canaanites]: do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons.
For he [JPS translates it as they] will turn your children away from Me to worship other gods…
Who is the “he”? According to the Talmud, it must be referring to your Canaanite son-in-law. But nowhere does it say that she [i.e. your Canaanite daughter-in-law] will lead your children astray. Why? It must be because those children would not be Jewish anyways.
That’s it. That’s the strongest evidence they could find in the Torah.
They point to some other evidence in Neviim, but those attempts at proof are just as flimsy.
Most modern historians believe the change from patriliny to matriliny probably occurred around the 1st or 2nd century CE. And in fact, to this day, the Samaritans and Karaites still go by patrilineal descent. Interestingly enough, there is evidence that Karaite Jews lived side by side with Rabbinic Jews in Egypt around the 12th century. And in the Cairo genizah they have actually discovered ketubot of marriages between the two groups, one going by matrilineal descent and the other by patrilineal descent. So there may be a lesson there about putting aside our differences, but that’s for another drash.
In any event, whether it began at Sinai or much later, Judaism is one of the few religions or societies that recognize membership based on matrilineal descent. Christianity doesn’t. Islam certainly doesn’t. The Chinese used to but changed to patriliny in about the 11th century BCE.
Modernly, there are very few examples of surnames based on the mother’s lineage. And the few that do exist are of dubious etymology. For example, there is a theory that the last name Madison could mean “son of Maude”, but some believe it comes from “son of Matthew.” The surname Marriott could mean “son of Mary”, but it might also mean “son of the mayor.” In fact, the most common surnames that are indisputably derived from the mother’s name are all Jewish: Rivkin or Rivlin (child of Rivka), Dvorkin (child of Dvorah), Rochlin (child of Rachel), Belkin (child of Bella) and Milkin (child of Malka). The derivation of the name Elkin – my grandfather added the S – is uncertain but probably means child of Ella or Elka.
Genetically, there is a certain logic to patriliny. Females have two X chromosomes; males have an X and a Y. Offspring receive one chromosome from each parent. If the father donates his Y chromosome, the child will be a boy, regardless of which of her two X chromosomes the mother donates. Therefore, every male knows that his Y chromosome comes directly from his father, which he got from his father, and his father got from his father, all the way back. There is basically one Y chromosome that all male humans share. In fact, scientists are able to estimate that all human Y chromosomes derive from a single male who lived somewhere between 200,000 and 300,000 years ago, known as Y-chromosomal Adam. Whether that’s the Adam from Genesis is up to you to decide. Similarly, geneticists have tested thousands of Jews who identify as Cohanim and have identified something called a Cohen Modal Haplotype carried on the Y chromosome which is shared by most of them and which likely traces back to Aaron.
The sages in the Talmud and Middle Ages didn’t know about chromosomes but had a similar concept. According to a midrash, when God made humans, He started with aleph-shin (fire), and split up His essence, placing half (the yod) in one, getting (ish), and the other half (the heh) in the other making (isha). So instead of talking about passing down X and Y chromosomes, they said we get a yod from our fathers and a heh from our mothers.
Later, when God chooses the couple to begin the Jewish people, He notices that the woman, Sarai, now has the yod, while the man, Avram, has no part of God’s name, no yod and no heh. So he takes the yod (gematria value of 10), splits it into two 5s (hehs) and gives one to each, creating Avraham and Sarah. One could make the argument that this began the notion of two equal partners.
So, in the Garden of Eden, Adam gives his rib to make a mate. Generations later, Sarai gives her five Scrabble points to Avram for the sake of equality and Shalom Bayit.
So, in partial answer to my original question, we undoubtedly get our tribal membership through our fathers, and our Jewishness through our mothers. And perhaps we get our godliness from the combination of the two.