Is the Talmud Racist?

(18) The sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth—Ham being the father of Canaan. (19) These three were the sons of Noah, and from these the whole world branched out. (20) Noah, the tiller of the soil, was the first to plant a vineyard. (21) He drank of the wine and became drunk, and he uncovered himself within his tent. (22) Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father’s nakedness and told his two brothers outside. (23) But Shem and Japheth took a cloth, placed it against both their backs and, walking backward, they covered their father’s nakedness; their faces were turned the other way, so that they did not see their father’s nakedness. (24) When Noah woke up from his wine and learned what his youngest son had done to him, (25) he said, “Cursed be Canaan; The lowest of slaves Shall he be to his brothers.” (26) And he said, “Blessed be the LORD, The God of Shem; Let Canaan be a slave to them.

[To his brothers] To Kush and Mitzrayim and Put who are his father's sons. And there are those who claim that Kushim are slaves because Noah cursed Ham; yet, they have forgotten that the first king after the deluge was from Kush and thus one should say that the head of the kingdom of Babylonia was from Kush.

And from where do we know that it was prohibited [to have sex on the ark]?

Since is written: “And you shall come into the ark, you, and your sons, and your wife, and your sons’ wives with you” (Genesis 6:18); and it is written: “Emerge from the ark, you and your wife, and your sons and your sons’ wives with you” (Genesis 8:16),

and Rabbi Yoḥanan says: From this [ie, the separation of husbands and wives in the initial command to enter the ark], it was said that they were prohibited from intercourse.

The Sages taught: Three had sex in the ark, and all of them were punished for doing so. They are: The dog, and the raven, and Ham, son of Noah. The dog was bound; the raven spits; and Ham was punished with his skin.

(P. Taanit 1.6, 64d):

As it was taught: Ham, the dog, and the raven offended through their actions. Ham came out blackened; the dog became promiscuous in sex; and the raven came out divergent from other creatures.

. . . And Rabbi Ḥiyya teaches: One who wishes to beautify his wife should clothe her in linen garments, and one who wishes to whiten his daughter, should feed her young chickens, and should give her milk to drink toward the time of her maturity.

(13) So Boaz married Ruth; she became his wife, and he cohabited with her. The LORD let her conceive, and she bore a son. . . . .

(17) and the women neighbors gave him a name, saying, “A son is born to Naomi!” They named him Obed; he was the father of Jesse, father of David.

(1) When this was over, the officers approached me, saying, “The people of Israel and the priests and Levites have not separated themselves from the peoples of the land whose abhorrent practices are like those of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites. (2) They have taken their daughters as wives for themselves and for their sons, so that the holy seed has become intermingled with the peoples of the land; and it is the officers and prefects who have taken the lead in this trespass.”

(1) There were ten kinds of lineage among those who ascended from Babylonia: Priests; Levites; Israelites; disqualified priests; converts, and emancipated slaves; mamzerim [i.e., offspring of prohibited sexual relationships]; netinim [i.e., descendants of the Gibeonites who converted in the time of Joshua]; children of unknown paternity; and foundlings. Priests, Levites, and Israelites are permitted to marry one another.

Levites, Israelites, disqualified priests, converts, and emancipated slaves are permitted to marry one another.

Converts, and emancipated slaves, mamzerim, and netinim, children of unknown paternity, and foundlings, are all permitted to marry one another.

The Children of Noah were commanded with regard to seven commandments: Regarding laws (or courts); [cursing God's name]; idolatry; sexual transgression; bloodshed; theft; and limbs from a living animal...

And concerning bloodshed, in what manner [is a transgressor culpable]?

A non-Jew against a non-Jew, and a non-Jew against a Jew is liable; a Jew against a non-Jew is exempt.

And concerning theft in what manner [is a transgressor culpable]?

[In the case of] a kidnapper, a thief, [one who seizes] a beautiful [war captive], and the like: A non-Jew against a non-Jew, and a non-Jew against a Jew is prohibited; a Jew against a non-Jew is permitted.

(See discussion in B. Sanhedrin 57a)

Don't put cattle in the stalls of non-Jews, because they are suspected of bestiality. And a woman should not be alone with them, because they are suspected of sexual transgression.

And no person should be alone with them, because they are suspected of shedding blood. . .

. . . as Rabbi Yoḥanan says: At the time when the snake came upon Eve, it infected her with contamination.

If that is so, a Jew also [should be suspected of engaging in bestiality.]

The Jewish people, when they stood at Mount Sinai, their contamination ended; Non-Jews, who did not stand at Mount Sinai, their contamination did not end.

(See parallels on Shabbat 146a and Yevamot 103b)

How are witnesses admonished in a capital case? They would bring them in and admonish them:

. . .

"It was for this reason that the first human [Adam] was created singly, to teach you that anyone who destroys a life is considered by Scripture to have destroyed an entire world; and anyone who saves a life is considered as having saved an entire world."

And also, to promote peace among the creatures, since no one could say to a friend, "My ancestors are greater than yours.". . .

And to express the grandeur of The Holy One blessed be He: For a person strikes many coins from the same die, and all the coins are alike. But the King, the King of Kings, The Holy One blessed be He strikes every human from the die of the first human, and yet no human is quite like another. This is why each and every person need say, "For my sake the world was created.". . .