Sunday, 3 December 2017

Vayeishev (Part 3) - Genesis 37:1-40:22

A Quick Review


As we have already seen, getting to the story of Jacob going into slavery has a number of other fragmented stories getting in the way. We have yet another unrelated story in the telling of Judah's travels, making a family, a career, and a home away from his brothers, with events that would have to finish within 22 years, which is unlikely. (22 years is the period of time between when Joseph was taken and sold, and when the family reunites).

I'll get to that, hopefully, at another post. But in this post, I want to focus on yibum and chalitzah, the former action is told in the story of Tamar wanting to get pregnant by her father in-law. The fact that this process is codified much later (in Deuteronomy, followed by the Book of Ruth), seems to indicate that this story of Judah is much later, unless someone can find any evidence that yibbum was a tradition by the Canaanites.

The Status of Women


It should be noted that, in the Torah, women are property to be bought and sold. They have no property of their own and their tribal affiliation is tenuous. If a man from the tribe of Dan acquires a woman as his wife from the tribe of Judah, then the woman is no longer considered part of the tribe of Judah when it comes to passing tribal property rights. If her husband dies, but she has sons, then she can remain within the tribe of Judah by virtue of her sons' status. If she has no sons, then her status reverts back to her birth tribe.

Prior to the Book of Ezra, the Tanach tells us that the patriarchal lineage was all-important. After all, if you wanted some land, and "You shall count them according to the tribes of their fathers" was the rule, then one's birth father needed to be from a specific tribe for the offspring to also be from that tribe. If the child did not have a birth father from one of the tribes, then he was, in effect, "tribeless", and while he could rent land or be someone's guest, he could not take part in the sharing of the land owned by a specific tribe.

So while the men needed to be Jews and part of a specific tribe for the child to be a Jew and part of that same tribe, the mother became Jewish (if she was not already) and part of that tribe by virtue of her ba'al (lord, master, owner, husband). When Ezra took charge, he declared that for a child to be Jewish, both parents had to be Jewish, and was against "conversions" (which did not exist in the early days). 

Some people will cite the "Daughters of Zelophehad" as exceptions to the rule. They weren't. Read the two different versions of the story. The Deuteronomy held that the could not marry outside of their tribe, and some held that to have any property, they could not marry at all. And given that they had no brothers and that their father was dead, it is only then that they could participate in the tribal cooperative.

Yibbum


Yibbum is part of the cultural belief in the male-lineage tribal affiliation. This is strongly repeated in the Torah but, as I stated before, I cannot find any reference that this was the normalized view of Canaan and its neighbors 4,000 years ago.

The way it works is this:

If a woman becomes a widow, and never had any children, then in order to continue her husband's legacy, she is required to be impregnated by her deceased husband's brother. (This can result in a polygamous marriage, which is permitted in the Torah). Based on the nuances of the text, the order of which brother is determined, and she becomes his inheritance.

In the story of Judah, he has three sons. One of them dies childless, so he gives Tamar to his second son who, while willing to bed her, is unwilling to impregnate her, so God kills him. Judah's youngest was too young, and he sent Tamar away. Time passes, the younger son gets older, Judah's wife dies, he mourns, and he goes away on a business trip.

Tamar decides to trick Judah into a Yibbum arrangement, dressing like a prostitute (the description is very odd), and getting pregnant right away.

And the result was twins. 

It is important to note that a woman who does not participate in Yibbum cannot have a relationship with any other man but that of her brother's representative. Otherwise, it is considered adultery, and the offspring will be treated as mamzer, forbidden to marry within any tribe.

Chalitzah


The work-around for this problem is something known as chalitzah. This is the case where the man refuses to take the woman (not the other way around). This is generally the expected response to a possible Yibbum, especially if the man is already married and my live in a country that frowns on polygamy. And as with any Rabbinical OCD, the ceremony for this is pretty bizarre.

A special sandal, owned by the religious court, is used. It have very specific materials, design, and so forth. It has a tied strap to keep it on. It is inspected for perfect cleanliness, as well as the one foot of the man who will be denying the Yibbum. Once both are clean, he stands, walks 4 amos (cubits), in front of the judges, says some words that are part of the ritual. The woman then goes on her knees and unties the sandal and takes it off of the man. She then spits at him (typically on the ground, between his feet), and recites her response, that he has rejected her.

Judah and Yibbum


In this case, Tamar took it upon herself to be impregnated by Judah, rather than do Yibbum with Judah's last son. Most authorities would say that doing Yibbum with the father in-law is not learned from this story and is to be rejected.

It is, however, worth noting that the laws of Yibbum and Chalitzah are still in effect for Jews, to this very day.

And the fact that Yibbum is in the story at all may tell us when this fragment was inserted into the Genesis text.


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