page_title: Mamzer
section_title: Halakhic definitions
hierarchical_section_title: Mamzer / Definition / Halakhic definitions
caption_attribution_description: Thou shalt not commit adultery (Nathan confronts David); bronze bas-relief on the door of the Madeleine Place de La Madeleine, Paris.
context_page_description: In the Hebrew Bible and Jewish religious law, a mamzer is a person born from certain forbidden relationships or from incest, or the descendant of such a person. Mamzer status is not synonymous with illegitimacy, since it does not include children whose mothers were unmarried.
context_section_description: In the Talmud the term mamzer is applied to the descendants of specific illicit unions. According to the Mishnah, a mamzer is the offspring of a biblically forbidden union for which his progenitors are liable to extirpation at the hands of heaven. An exception to this rule is when a Jewish man cohabits with a menstruant woman, which although he is liable thereby to extirpation, the child born from such union is not a mamzer. The practical bearing of this ruling is that it excludes from such defamation a  child born outside of wedlock, and which child is often wrongly called "bastard" under common law. According to the Shulchan Aruch, a mamzer can only be produced by two Jews.
  There are two categories of mamzerim. A child born of incest as defined by the Bible is a mamzer. Note, however, that an incestuous relationship between one or two non-Jews cannot produce a mamzer, and if the product of such a union were to convert he or she would be the equal of any Jew.
  A child born of a married woman's adultery is a mamzer. The child of a single woman and a man she could lawfully have married is not a mamzer. It is irrelevant if the man is married or not. If one of the parents is not Jewish the child is not a mamzer. Any child born to a married woman, even if she is known to have been unfaithful, is presumed to be her husband's, unless she is so promiscuous that such a presumption becomes unsupportable, or if she enters a public relationship with another man.
  A child born within 12 months of a woman's most recent meeting with her husband is presumed to be legitimate, since Jewish law believes that in rare cases a pregnancy can last that long. However, if more than 9 months have elapsed and she is known to have been unfaithful then the presumption does not apply. Modern assisted reproductive technology has complicated the issue. Moshe Feinstein ruled that if a married woman is inseminated by sperm from another man the child is not a mamzer, since it did not result from an act of adultery; Joel Teitelbaum (2005) disagreed, and ruled that since the child is known to be that of a man other than her husband it is a mamzer.
  The status of an abandoned child (Hebrew: asufi) was determined by the state in which it was found. If there were indications that the foundling had been abandoned due to the parents being unable to support it, then Halakhically the child would not be a mamzer. However, if the unknown parents could have supported the child, it was regarded as potentially being a mamzer. A child whose mother is known, but not the father, was known as "silent one" (Hebrew: shetuki), and fell into the same category as a foundling; this status, however, could be changed if the mother knew and revealed the identity of the father.
  The mamzer status is hereditary – a child of a mamzer (whether mother or father) is also a mamzer. However, since these rules are regarded as applying only to Jews, and since traditional Rabbinical law regards Jewish status as only transmitted through the mother, the child of a male mamzer and a non-Jewish woman cannot be a mamzer.  However, the child of a female mamzer and a non-Jewish man is a mamzer.
caption: Nathan confronts King David for his adultery with Bathsheba, an affair that produced a mamzer. Bronze bas-relief on the door of La Madeleine, Paris.
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