Why a Husband Leaves His Parents' House at Marriage

Midrash Aggadah Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on Genesis 2:24 View source

Curated by The Jewish Mythology Team · Published January 14, 2025

The Torah's famous line — "therefore a man leaves his father and mother and cleaves to his wife" — gets a pointed rewording in Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on (Genesis 2:24). A man "shall leave, and be separate from the house of the bed of his father and of his mother, and shall consociate with his wife, and both of them shall be one flesh."

The Targumist adds a single phrase — "the house of the bed" — and it does a lot of work. Marriage is not just a new household. It is a new intimate life, built apart from the intimacy of the previous generation. The child who marries stops being a son or daughter of that bed and becomes a partner in another. The Torah does not outlaw the bond to parents; it simply reassigns primary allegiance. The Targumist wants this boundary clear.

Themes

Marriage Parenting Ethics Community

Biblical References

Genesis 2:24

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