Posted for Rabbi Jeremy Milgrom
I began this series of comments on Parashat Hashavua a few weeks ago while in western Germany, where the closest thing to a Torah commentary in the nearby Saarbruecken synagogue was a translation of the Bible... into Russian! I travel with CD ROM of basic sources, but it’s not that user-friendly, and was delighted to discover the same daf yomi website that Jerry Abrams mentioned a while ago, which included a livestreamed shiur in Haredi singsong that helped me with the Aramaic of Yevamot 78b-79a (on David and the Gibeonites)...I finally arrived this morning at a decent Jewish library in the Berlin JCC, and, after skimming through a good number of volumes, ranging from the Chofetz Chayim to Everett Fox, none of whom were addressing my concerns, I came across The Women’s Torah Commentary (ed. Elyse Goldstein) which hit the spot with Reconstructionist Rabbi Judith Gary Brown’s essay. Her opening paragraph reads as follows:
Parashat Ki Tetzey continues the enumeration of laws for the social well-being of Israel. In general, this parasha deals with laws that are focused on the private, inner workings of the Israelite community – specifically, who can be part of the community and how those within the community should interact with each other. But Ki Tetzey abounds with laws that truly challenge our women’s sensibilities.
Brown’s analysis focuses on 22:13-21, motsi shem ra, (or, to be exact, on the accused, rather than on the accuser). Below, I have outlined elements from this sugya and others in the parashah to show how great the challenge actually is. Meanwhile, allow me to bring Brown’s conclusion:
The rabbis of the talmudic period did progress to a somewhat more complex understanding of the role of women in society. Women were viewed less as objects and more as subjects in society. For example, in the case of rape, although the Bible provided only for the father receiving the bride-price of fifty shekels of silver (Deut. 22:28-29), the rabbis demanded that the rapist must also compensate the woman for her physical and psychological damage (Ketubot 43 a-b). And although, according to our biblical text, the rapist was compelled to marry the woman, under talmudic law, the girl could could refuse to marry the rapist (Ketubot 39b).
If we look to our texts as representative – evidence, if you will – of the development of our current social mores, we would see a progression towards our more balanced understanding of women’s and men’s roles in society. It is in this way that we can most powerfully experience the dynamic nature of our heritage. Our task, then, is to listen to the voice of history as we seek to uncover what the text is trying to tell us, and to honestly acknowledge our reactions to that text. We may not find the answers we want, but we will develop a better understanding of where we have been and how far we have traveled. And perhaps we will discover those who traveled this same path before us.
It is reassuring for me, as well, to discover those who travel the same path as I do.
Shabbat shalom,
Jeremy Milgrom
This is a Man’s World...
Ki Tetze is written for men. Men who go to war, men with their families, men who are executed, men who find their brothers’ lost animals, men in the town and in the field, in commerce and on the farm (and, unfortunately, men who are still being commanded to wipe out a nation, and this time, one that is not described as presenting any danger to Israel, only a bitter memory to her).
It deals with their bodily functions (semen, excretion).
It protects their genitals from being seized by an opponent’s wife
It addresses their sexual desires (eshet y’fat to’ar)
It regulates their treatment of their wives and children:
a. protecting the rights of inheritance of their first born sons;
b. establishing their control over their children’s behavior (even to the point of death, for boys, ben sorer umoreh, and for girls, if, upon marriage, it is discovered that they lost their virginity while still living at home)
c. setting a monetary value, to be given to their fathers, for the reputation of their daughters, if their daughters are unjustly defamed
d. setting a monetary value for their daughters’ virginity, to be paid to their fathers by the man who takes their virginity
e. establishing their right to get rid of undesirable wives for whatever reason – ervat davar
f. establishing, if they die without male heirs, their right to continuity by giving their widows to a yavam
Women are objects: a woman belongs either to her father or to her husband. They are given by their fathers to their husbands; when a man „takes“ her without her father’s permission, she must remain in this man's permanent possession. Women are acquired by sexual intercourse/rape. They are captured as booty in war. When a woman encounters her husband in a fight and tries to help him by grabbing his opponent’s testicles, her hand is cut off (her husband would not suffer this punishment). In each relationship that women find themselves, their tenuous status is underlined by concluding statements indicating under what circumstances they can be gotten rid of: if she is acquired according to procedure, she can be gotten rid of at whim, otherwise, only death, his or hers, will set her free.
In this parasha, women exist only in conjunction with their husbands and/or as sexual partners.
Whoops, there is one cause for celebration:
g. The parashah expects newlywed men to bring happiness to their wives for one year (good ol’ Deuteronomist!)
This is a man's world, but it wouldn't be nothing, nothing without a woman or a girl.
He's lost in the world of man (yesh omrim: in the wilderness); he's lost in bitterness.
James Brown/B. Newsome
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