Be on your guard, son, against every form of immorality, and above all, marry a woman of the lineage of your forefathers. Do not marry a stranger who is not of your father's tribe, because we are sons of the prophets. My boy, keep in mind Noah, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, our fathers from of old: all of them took wives from among their own kinsmen and were blessed in their children. Remember that their posterity shall inherit the land. Therefore, my son, love your kinsmen. Do not be so proudhearted toward your kinsmen, the sons and daughters of your people, as to refuse to take a wife for yourself from among them. For in such arrogance there is ruin and great disorder. Likewise, in worthlessness there is decay and dire poverty, for worthlessness is the mother of famine. (Tobit 4:12-13)

Despite prejudice, oppression, and genocide an abiding sense of Jewish identity persists. The identity is religious and cultural. It is also - or can be - strongly tribal.

The glorious branches of the Jewish tree reach to heaven and embrace the best of many places and cultures. But the roots prefer a particular soil of ancient origin.

Modern life is often torn between tolerance and tribalism. Those advocating tolerance at all costs see tribal tendencies as a source of strife.

To those within a tribe the demands of tolerance often seem to obscure reality and threaten ruin and great disorder.

Despite the odds Jewish tribalism has succeeded when many other tribes have failed because its deepest roots draw on a river of profound love that extends to all.