Editing Incest (section)

===Judaism===
{{main|Jewish views on incest}}
The first religious resource found that prohibits incest, is the Torah, in book of Leviticus, chapter 18,<ref>''Hebrew-English Bible'', {{bibleverse||Leviticus|18|HE}}</ref> "the children of Israel"{{nbsp}}{{ndash}} Israelite men and women alike{{nbsp}}{{ndash}} are forbidden from sexual relations between people who are "near of kin" (verse 6), who are defined as:
* Children and their mothers (verse 7);
* Siblings and half-siblings (verses 9 and 11). Relationships between these are particularly singled out for a curse in [http://www.mechon-mamre.org/e/et/et0527.htm Deuteronomy 27], and they are of the only two kinds of incestuous relationships that are among the particularly singled-out relationships{{nbsp}}{{ndash}} with the other particularly singled-out relationships being ones of non-incestuous family betrayal (cf. verse 20) and bestiality (cf. verse 21);
* Grandparents and grandchildren (verse 10);
* Aunts and nephews, uncles and nieces, etc. (verses 12–14).<ref>Also see the [[Central Conference of American Rabbis]]' [https://ccarnet.org/responsa/142-marriage-mothers-sister-or-half-sister-aunt-or/ Responsum 142].</ref> Relationships between these are the second kind of relationships that are particularly singled out for a curse in [http://www.mechon-mamre.org/e/et/et0527.htm Deuteronomy 27], and the explicit examples of children-in-law and mothers-in-law (verse 23) serve to remind the Israelites that the parents-in-law are also (or at least should also be) the children-in-law's aunts and uncles:<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.mechon-mamre.org/e/et/et0436.htm|title=Numbers 36 / Hebrew Bible in English / Mechon-Mamre|website=www.mechon-mamre.org|access-date=14 August 2021|archive-date=25 September 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210925053705/https://www.mechon-mamre.org/e/et/et0436.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref>

<blockquote>And Moses commanded the children of Israel according to the word of the LORD, saying: 'The tribe of the sons of Joseph speaketh right. This is the thing which the LORD hath commanded concerning the daughters of [[Zelophehad]], saying: Let them be married to whom they think best; only into the family of the tribe of their father shall they be married. So shall no inheritance of the children of Israel remove from tribe to tribe; for the children of Israel shall cleave every one to the inheritance of the tribe of his fathers. And every daughter, that possesseth an inheritance in any tribe of the children of Israel, shall be wife unto one of the family of the tribe of her father, that the children of Israel may possess every man the inheritance of his fathers. So shall no inheritance remove from one tribe to another tribe; for the tribes of the children of Israel shall cleave each one to its own inheritance.' Even as the LORD commanded Moses, so did the daughters of Zelophehad. For Mahlah, Tirzah, and Hoglah, and Milcah, and Noah, the daughters of Zelophehad, were married unto their father's brothers' sons.<ref>''Hebrew-English Bible'' {{bibleverse||Leviticus|18:12–14|HE}}</ref></blockquote>

Incestuous relationships, along with the other forbidden relationships that are mentioned in Leviticus 18, are considered so severe among [[Chillul Hashem|''chillulim HaShem'']], acts which bring shame to the name of God, as to be punishable by death as specified in [http://www.mechon-mamre.org/e/et/et0320.htm Leviticus 20].

In the 4th century BC, the [[Soferim]] (''scribes'') declared that there were relationships within which marriage constituted incest, in addition to those mentioned by the Torah. These additional relationships were termed ''seconds'' (Hebrew: ''sheniyyot'') and included the wives of a man's grandfather and grandson.<ref name="TosYeb23">Yebamot ([[Tosefta]]) 2:3</ref> The classical rabbis prohibited marriage between a man and any of these ''seconds'' of his, on the basis that doing so would act as a ''safeguard'' against infringing the biblical incest rules,<ref name="Yeb21a">Yebamot 21a</ref> although there was inconclusive debate about exactly what the limits should be for the definition of ''seconds''.<ref name="JewEncInce">{{Jewish Encyclopedia|article=incest|url=http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=126&letter=I}}</ref>

Marriages that are forbidden in the Torah (with the exception of uncle{{ndash}}niece marriages) were regarded by the rabbis of the Middle Ages as invalid{{nbsp}}– as if they had never occurred;<ref name="EbenezerSA">''[[Shulchan Aruch|Shulchan 'Aruk]]'', ''Eben ha-'Ezer'', 16, 1</ref> any children born to such a couple were regarded as [[mamzer|bastards under Jewish law]],<ref name="EbenezerSA" /> and the relatives of the spouse were not regarded as forbidden relations for further marriage.<ref>Yebamot 94b</ref> On the other hand, relationships that were prohibited due to qualifying as ''seconds'' and so forth were regarded as wicked but still valid;<ref name="EbenezerSA" /> while such a couple may have been pressured to divorce, any children of the union were still seen as legitimate.<ref name="EbenezerSA" />