The Damascus Document on Separation from Non-Jews

Many ancient Jewish writers, such as Philo, Josephus, and the author of the Letter of Aristeas, deplore intermarriage with idolaters because of the moral corruption it will bring. By contrast, the separatism found in works from the sectarian community at Qumran (the Dead Sea Scrolls), including Jubilees and the Damascus Document, is grounded in an ontological conception of non-Israelites and Israelites as distinct seeds—one profane, one holy—that can never be mixed.