An Early Jewish-Black Marriage
In America, at the present time, a Jewish-black intermarriage is not uncommon. One of the oldest such marriages in recorded history was that of Moses to an Ethiopian woman named Zipporah. Moses’ sister Miriam and his brother Aaron were quite annoyed by the marriage and did not hesitate to express their disapproval.
When a male child was born, Zipporah wanted to have the child circumcised. Moses told her that he felt no need for such a procedure. Moses himself had never been circumcised. His parents had put him in a makeshift waterproof basket and set him afloat on a stream that was adjacent to the Pharaoh’s estate. They did this to save the infant’s life. The Pharaoh had decreed that firstborn male Jewish children had to be exterminated.
Luckily for Moses, a daughter of the Pharaoh found the child adrift in its basket. She fell in love with the infant, and the child was raised in the palace of the Pharaoh.
When Moses had his first child he saw no need to circumcise the newly born infant. But Zipporah was insistent. She performed the circumcision by herself. It was a bloody mess. With hands soaked in blood she smeared the foreskin on Moses’ feet to symbolize his part in the ceremony.
Thus, incredibly, did a black Ethiopian woman set Moses straight on the need for an infant Jewish boy to be circumcised.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and the protests on college campuses.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
