Parshat Ki Tetzeh

Defending the Indefensible

This week's parsha has many actions that are forbidden on moral grounds. We have discussed two of them in previous Sedra Shorts (see The Beautiful captive Woman and The Stubborn and Rebellious Son, below).

This week I would like to discuss the following three cases:

• If a man has two sons from two different wives, he may not give the younger one the first-born rights, even though he may be the first-born of the favorite wife.

• Girls may not be used in religious prostitution ceremonies (kedesha).

• A person should marry wife of a deceased brother if she had no children (yibum).

I bring these three cases because we see Biblical heroes of the Jewish people actually doing these things.

Firstly, Yaakov had two main wives: Rachel and Leah. He loved Rachel while Leah was hated (See Bereshit 29:31). Leah was the first to give birth (Reuven). Rachel eventually had Yoseph. So while Yoseph was the first-born for Rachel, Reuven was Yaakov's first born.

Yet, Reuven did not receive the double portion of tribes that he should have inherited. Shortly before his death, Yaakov took Yoseph's two sons, Ephraim and Menashe, and said: "they are my sons" (ibid 48:8). Essentially, Yoseph became two tribes. He was given the rights of the first born and Reuven was disinherited.

A number of years earlier, we see Yehuda, the father of the tribe that brought Israel its kings, violating the rules of yibum. Two of his sons, Er and Onan died childless. According to the laws of yibum, Tamar, their wife, should have married his third son, Shela. However, Yehuda refused this relationship (See ibid 38:11)

This led to a violation of the third law. In order to induce a child, Tamar dressed herself up as holy prostitute and tempted Yehuda to be intimate with her (ibid 21).

How do we handle these violations of basic moral laws by our heroes? The same way the Bible does.

The Torah does not shy away from difficult decisions our ancestors took – whether it was the ones we just mentioned or Avraham calling Sarah his sister to protect himself, or whether it is King David's adultery and his committing of murder.

We accept that our heroes were human with human failings who sometimes made major mistakes. They were not angels or demi-gods who were flawless. Indeed they achieved greatness despite their flaws – that is what makes them great.

This message is a comforting message for us. We all are human. We all have weaknesses. We all make mistakes. Despite this, we can overcome this and we can achieve greatness.

Last year's Sedra Short on Parshat Ki Tetseh entitled: "The Beautiful Captive Woman" appears at http://parshablog.blogspot.com/2008/09/parshat-ki-tetsei-beautiful-captive.html.

Another Sedra Short on Parshat Ki Tetseh entitled: "The Stubborn and Rebellious Son" appears athttp://parshablog.blogspot.com/2007/08/parshat-ki-tetseh-stubborn-and.html.

A further Sedra Short on Parshat Ki Tetseh entitled: "The Impaled Criminal" appears at http://parshablog.blogspot.com/2006/08/parshat-ki-tetseh-impaled-criminal-in.html.

Parshat VaYeshev

Yoseph and Yehuda

From this week's parsha until the end of Sefer Bereshit, Yoseph is the central character. We witness his attempt and failure to set up himself up as the fourth patriarch. However, one episode in the parsha ignores Yoseph completely. Between Yoseph's sale and his descent to Egypt, the Torah recounts the Yehuda/Tamar episode.

What is the purpose of this episode and why does it interrupt the Yoseph narrative. The obvious answer is that it is in chronological order. "Around that time (i.e. when Yoseph was sold) Yeuhda went down from his brothers…"

However, if we consider the time span, we will see that this cannot be correct. Yoseph was 17 years old when he was sold to Egypt (Bereshit 37:12). He "was 30 years old when he stood before Pharoah" (ibid 41:46). There were then 7 years of plenty and two years of famine before his family went down to Egypt – a total of 22 years.

Yet the following things occur in the Yehuda/Tamar episode:

• He leaves the family, goes to Timna and marries Batshua.
• He has three children: Er, Onan and Shela.
• Er marries Tamar
• Er dies. Tamar marries Onan.
• Yehuda tells Tamar to wait for Shela to grow up.
• "Many days passed and Batshua died" (ibid 38:10).
• Tamar entraps Yehuda and she becomes pregnant.
• Tamar gives birth to Peretz and Zerach.
• Peretz has two sons when they go down to Egypt (ibid 46:12).

It is unlikely that all this could have occurred in only 22 years.

So why does the Yehuda/Tamar episode interrupt the Yoseph narrative.

It is true that many themes in this episode parallel the Yoseph narrative:

• Certain words appear in both, e.g.ירד (go down), ,הכר(recognize), נחם (comfort), ערב (pledge)
• Deception - the brothers to Yaakov, Tamar to Yehuda
• Temptation – Yehuda/Tamar, Yoseph/Potiphar's wife
• A kid goat - Yoseph's coat was dipped in its blood, payment for Tamar's services

These parallelisms clearly show that there is a thematic link between these episodes. Indeed, both show the rise of leaders and the eclipse of Reuven. The route to Yoseph's leadership was through his position in Egypt. Yehuda's, however, was far more natural. At first Yehuda strays away from his brothers, perhaps signifying the tribe of Yehuda''s secession from the rest of Israel in the pre-monarchial era, i.e. the Judges. However, circumstance brings Yehuda to leadership. His older brothers Reuven, Shimon and Levi have fallen out of favor with Yaakov. Yoseph, Yaakov's favorite son was missing, presumed dead. Yehuda, therefore, found himself taking on the mantle of leadership when the brothers run into trouble in Egypt, he placates Yaakov into releasing Benyamin, he negotiates with Yoseph over Benyamin and he is sent by Yaakov to prepare for heir descent to Egypt.

These two represents two distinct realms of leadership within Israel, and show fulfillment of God's promise to Yaakov that "kings shall come forth from your loins" (ibid 35:11).

Last year's Sedra Short on Parshat VaYeshev entitled: "Who sold Yoseph?" appears at http://parshablog.blogspot.com/2006_12_01_archive.html

Another Sedra Short on Parshat VaYeshev entitled "Yoseph: The Fourth Patriarch", appears at: http://parshablog.blogspot.com/2005_12_01_parshablog_archive.html