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Never-married individuals
#1
How does Judaic law interpret individuals who never marry? They are not homosexual. In particular, does a woman have to marry to be a righteous gentile or a practicing jew?
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#2
Within the Jewish commandments, one commandment (mitzvah) specifies that a Jewish man should produce Jewish offspring in the context of a proper Jewish marriage. Another Jewish commandment specifies how a Jewish man and a Jewish woman can contract with each other to make a proper Jewish marriage within Torah Law. A Jewish man who fails to do this has not fulfilled his obligation.

In contrast, a Jewish woman is not commanded that she must produce offspring. So marriage and childbearing are left up to her choice. But if she does enter into a proper Jewish marriage, she fulfills the Jewish mitzvah of marriage, and if she gives birth to children, she fulfills that Jewish mitzvah as well.

Another of the Jewish commandments stipulates that sexual relations outside of a proper Jewish marriage are forbidden for Jewish men and Jewish women.

Gentile men and women are not commanded that they must get married, either in terms of the secular or the Torah-law definition of marriage for Gentiles.

However, as Rabbi Weiner writes in "The Divine Code," 2nd edition, Part VI, topics 4:1-3,
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Even though Gentiles are not commanded to 'be fruitful and multiply,' it is nevertheless G-d's will that every man who is able should marry a woman and have children from her, as He said to Adam and Hava (Eve): 'Be fruitful and multiply.' Likewise, G-d told Noah after the flood: 'And you, be fruitful and multiply; teem on the earth and multiply on it.'
A man should marry a woman, and she should be an established wife for him, as it says, 'Therefore a man should leave his father and his mother and cling to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.' This is the means of establishing a society, which is accomplished through a man bonding with his wife and having children with her, as it says, 'The L-rd, Creator of the Heavens; He is the G-d, the One Who fashioned the earth ... He did not create it for emptiness; He fashioned it to be inhabited...' Thus it is G-d's will that people should settle the world. ...
**Nevertheless, even though it is fitting to be married and have children, Gentile women or men for whom marriage or having children would be very burdensome are not obligated to cause themselves distress in order to fulfill this obligation.
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On the other hand, if Gentile men and women engage in casual licentious relations, instead of establishing a home together as bonded domestic partners (which at least minimally fulfills the condition for Noahide marriage), then their licentious actions bring harm and chaos to the society. (See "The Divine Code," p. 522.)
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#3
Thanks. I am at a loss to realize I am a believer. Most religions don't really include women. I never married. Mostly because of family responsibilities, lack of a good offer and being a quiet person. I've retired from work because I have several handicapped family members and it was just too hard to work full-time and see about their needs. The extra time has allowed me to think too much and listen too much to people who constantly want to know what is wrong with me that I never married. I basically tell them what I think which is having Miss on my tombstone will not be the worse thing that ever happened to me in life. However you do walk away feeling like a tremendous failure. I realize that there is a shallowness if not a cruel streak in these people. On a personal level, I wonder were my priorities wrong in life. I know this sort of thinking in which you second guess your choices may not be that healthy. Most of the choices I had in life I had to do because that was what was before me. I think licentious actions can dull your senses from relating honestly with another person, you reach a point where you lose that ability to connect with another person. You can also get a bad disease and not be available if someone good comes into your life. I taught children who were illegitimate and the pain was very real for them.
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#4
(09-23-2011, 01:39 AM)ann4992 Wrote: Most religions don't really include women.

Thanks for your valuable comments! The Noahide faith definitely includes women. There are only a few differences in how a few of the Noahide precepts apply for men and women, and these are explained in our series "The Divine Code," by Rabbi Moshe Weiner:

https://asknoah.org/books/the-divine-code

Also, it is worthy to note that in Torah-based Judaism, the observant Jewish women are the mainstay of the religion. The reasons for this also apply for Noahide women, if they wish to take on the mantle of religious responsibility that they are capable of providing -- for themselves, their families and their societies.
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