Spiritual and
Ethical Issues For the next number of weeks, Dr. Tamari's column will focus on an important and sadly neglected area of Torah Life. We hope that Dr. Tamari's words will not only be of academic value, but will also impact on a "Tachlis level" to help improve our behavior as individual Jews and as Klal Yisrael. Yosef and his Brothers [6] The Rambam's clarification of K'DEISHA, that the text calls Tamar, is crucial for a correct moral view of the actions of both players. "Before Matan Torah, if a man met a woman in the market, if she consented, he paid her hire and consorted with her and went on his way. She is known as a K'DEISHA. After the Torah was given, a k'deisha was forbidden" (Hilkhot Ishut 1:4). The Torah (38:15) refers to Tamar as a harlot, one who prostitutes herself to anybody, but later in verse 20, refers to a kedeisha; according to the Raivid, the equal of a concubine. Yehuda had promised Tamar a young goat and, although as a kedeisha she had no rights to a ketuba, nevertheless, he immediately sends the goat as payment. This is to teach us that one may not waste or endanger the rights assured to a wife under her ketuba. This is a ratification of the Torah's classing as me'ila, treachery against G-d, the denial of loans, and pledges, the personal use of funds entrusted to one or not returning lost articles (Vayikra 5:21). "Why is this treachery against G-d? Rabbi Akiva says that these are all cases where knowledge of the obligations is limited to the parties concerned and to G-d, so that one denying his obligations is denying G-d Himself" (Sifra). As king and leader, Yehuda presides over the court that condemns Tamar to death for adultery of her pregnancy. To that accusation she replies, "haker na [identify please], to whom these belong I am with child", using the identical phrase whereby the brothers had shown Yosef's blood-soaked coat to their father; mida keneged mida (measure for measure). "One should cast themselves into a fiery furnace rather than shaming another in public, as did Tamar when she risked death but would not accuse Yehuda directly" (Sota 10b). Yehuda's words on seeing his seal, shawl of office and stave, "She is more righteous than I am" (26), have become the classic public admission of fault and acceptance of responsibility. "I intended merely to satisfy my desires but she desired to do chesed to the dead. She acted for the sake of Heaven while I acted out of lust" (Haketav v'ha- kabbala). "She defrauded me into thinking that she was a kedeisha while I dealt with her in honesty by hastening to pay my promise of the goat. However, her purpose was to ensure the continuation of the species while mine was for my own honor to redeem my signs of office [and our Sages taught, more praiseworthy is the aveira for the sake of Heaven than fulfilling a mitzva for an ulterior motive]" (Soforno). "Yosef who sanctified G-d's Name in secret, merited the addition to his name of one letter of G-d's Name (T'hilim 81); Yehuda who did so publicly, merited bearing all the letters" (Sota 10). "Yaakov's blessing of Yehuda, 'Your brothers shall acknowledge you', refers to the righteous who conquer their desires and acknowledge their actions; one who does so merits the world to Come" (B'reishit Rabba 85:12). "Yehuda merited thereby that he ruled over the brothers and that his descendants were kings" (Yalkut Shimoni). Why all the rewards? Surely that is the way of all the righteous leaders? However, we know that to admit errors and accept responsibility for failures is a rare ability. "[Religious, political and business] leaders, even when they are conscious of their own errors, at the best try to rectify them secretly, to blame others for physical errors, to rationalize the causes and even to claim that Chilul Hashem or other damage that will result from disclosure, outweigh the morality of public acknowledgement of responsibility" (Or Yahel). Potifar's wife sought to entice Yosef as she saw that a Mashi'ach was to be born to him and she wanted to bear that son. Tamar also sought questionable means to ensure the continuation of the royal house of Israel and its redeemers. The moral difference lies in that the former sought to harm Yosef in revenge for his rejection, whereas Tamar was prepared to die when the results of her actions became known. The pledges asked for by Tamar, his seal, shawl and staff, were signs of her future descendants. The seal was the sign of the kings of the Davidic dynasty, the threads or shawl the sign of the Sanhedrin (Ralbag) and the staff, a sign of the Mashi'ach. [The Parshat To-l'dot Homepage]
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