Jewish Mythbusters: Jews Don’t Do Polygamy

The recent raid of a polygamist sect's ranch in Texas got us wondering about polygamy outside of the Mormon community—specifically among Jews.

Jews have a biblical tradition of men marrying multiple wives (Jacob, for instance, married Leah and Rachel, and had two concubines as well). So why are today’s polygamists living in communities and compounds in Texas, Utah, and Colorado, but not in Jerusalem and Williamsburg? Polygamy was allowed in biblical times, but seems to have been something mainly reserved for the very rich: Basically, those wealthy enough to afford it. Even in those situations, there were limits. Deuteronomy 17:14-17 says, “I will set a king over me, like as all the nations that are about me; Thou shalt in any wise set him king over thee, whom the LORD thy God shall choose: one from among thy brethren shalt thou set king over thee…Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn not away.” Kings were seen as standard bearers for all Jews, so Jews shouldn’t have too many wives. The rabbis limited the allowed number of wives at 18, though that would have been extremely rare even in the centuries when the Talmud was being written. By the time the Mishnah and Talmud were being written, polygamy seems to have fallen out of favor. More than 2500 rabbis are mentioned in the Talmud, and only one of them had more than one wife. Polygamy is discussed at length in the Talmud, which parses situations having to do with inheritance and greed in families with more than one mother, but it seems to be more of a legal exercise than a useful guide. Rabbi Gershom b. Judah (often referred to as Rabennu Gershom), a Rabbi living in France in the 10th century, famously decreed that polygamy was prohibited—along with reading other people’s mail. This prohibition has been held up by the Ashkenazi community since its inception, but the Sephardi community has actually never adopted it, and no major Sephardi rabbinate is on record making a similar statement.

Believe it or not, Israel’s Chief Sephardi Rabbi Ovadia Yosef has come out in favor of legalizing polygamy in contemporary Israel, and the Jerusalem Post published a pro-polygamy editorial by Greer Fay Cashman. There’s a pro-polygamy ultra-Orthodox Jewish blog, and a page at polygamy.com devoted to “an open analysis and review of the Cherem (excommunication) Rabbeinu Gershom and the issue of polygamy for Orthodox Jews.” There are even some underground groups within the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community that still practice polygamy. We might wish it was a myth, but it’s not.

Previously: There Are No Jews in China