JAMAICA). A Defense of Ancient Rabbinical Interpretation of the Prohibitory Law of Deut. XXIII—3, Being an Answer by M.N. Nathan, Kingston, Jamaica, to a Polemic Essay on That Subject, by the Rev. J.M. De Solla, Montego Bay.

(AMERICAN JUDAICA.

"Gleaner Office" for A. Decordova & Nephew

Kingston

1861

first edition. English text interspersed with Hebrew.

Rev. M.N. Nathan of Kingston upheld the traditional rabbinic interpretation of the term "mamzer" in the verse in Deuteronomy, namely the product of an adulterous union. On the other hand, his rabbinic colleague in Montego Bay, the Rev. J.M. de Solla, had sanctioned marriage to such an individual, arguing on the basis of the medieval exegete Judah ibn Bilam's interpretation (as cited in Ibn Ezra to Zechariah ix-6) that the term "mamzer" refers to one of the peoples of antiquity. The debate was likely a consequence of mixed unions, due to the inter-mingling that existed among the Jews and native populace of the Caribbean. See J. Schorsch, Jews and Blacks in the Early Modern World (2004). Rev. M.N. Nathan was the rabbi of Jamaica's English and German Synagogue for a great many years. His literary bent found expression in his editorship of Jamaica's short-lived Jewish monthly “First Fruits of the West"/ Bikurei ha-Yam (Kingston, 1844). See JE, Vol. VII, p. 67.