The tenth commandment- an improvement in the women status?

Posted by Eli Dahan on November 28, 2009 under Bible, Biblical Hebrew, Gender, Jewish Folklore | Be the First to Comment

As we saw last time in our journey to understand the biblical Hebrew, the ten commandments appear two times in The Scriptures- the first in the book of Exodus; the second in Deuteronomy. A question that always rises is why Moses needed to say the Ten Commandments twice? One time isn’t good enough?

Though those 40 years have passed by, the generation is not the same. This is off course the traditional answer- Moses needed to say the words one more time before the people of Israel entered the promise land in order tom remind them and also in order to tell them for those who are new to the crowd – the new generation….

But, my dearest friends, if we will look close enough we will find some differences between the ten commandments in the book of Exodus to those which appears in the book of Deuteronomy. Today we will focus on the tenth from the tenth…

In exodus (20:13) the tenth goes like this:

“לֹא תַחְמֹד, בֵּית רֵעֶךָ; לֹא-תַחְמֹד אֵשֶׁת רֵעֶךָ, וְעַבְדּוֹ וַאֲמָתוֹ וְשׁוֹרוֹ וַחֲמֹרוֹ, וְכֹל, אֲשֶׁר לְרֵעֶךָ”

“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”

In Deuteronomy (5:17) the tenth goes like this:

“וְלֹא תַחְמֹד, אֵשֶׁת רֵעֶךָ; וְלֹא תִתְאַוֶּה בֵּית רֵעֶךָ, שָׂדֵהוּ וְעַבְדּוֹ וַאֲמָתוֹ שׁוֹרוֹ וַחֲמֹרוֹ, וְכֹל, אֲשֶׁר לְרֵעֶךָ. 

“You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife.You shall not set your desire on your neighbor’s house or land, his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”

Not just the words are different, also the order- at first the house was more important than the wife; in the book of Deuteronomy the wife is more important than the house- my question is this – is this reflects a change of 40 years or a change of an author, who had more feministic stile in his writings….?

Main phrases of the post + transcription + translation

Eli@eteachergroup.com

Lilith-Queen of the demons

Posted by Eli Dahan on June 3, 2009 under Gender, Jewish Folklore | Be the First to Comment

According to Jewish mythology, Lillith was the first wife of Adam. She was also one of the wives of Sammael , the angel of death.In the Old Testament, there is no mention to Lilith as a demon.

The Book of Isaiah (34:14-15), describing the desolation of Edom, is the only occurrence of Lilith in the Hebrew Bible, and even there she appears as a screech owl:

“וּפָגְשׁוּ צִיִּים אֶת-אִיִּים, וְשָׂעִיר עַל-רֵעֵהוּ יִקְרָא; אַךְ-שָׁם הִרְגִּיעָה לִּילִית, וּמָצְאָה לָהּ מָנוֹחַ. 

שָׁמָּה קִנְּנָה קִפּוֹז וַתְּמַלֵּט, וּבָקְעָה וְדָגְרָה בְצִלָּהּ; אַךְ-שָׁם נִקְבְּצוּ דַיּוֹת, אִשָּׁה רְעוּתָהּ”

^“The wild beasts of the desert shall also meet with the wild beasts of the island, and the satyr shall cry to his fellow; the screech owl also shall rest there, and find for herself a place of rest.”

The Origin of Lilith

The first reference to Lilith can be found in the Epic of Gilgamesh and the Huluppu Tree (circa 2000 BCE).   In Gilgamesh Lilith and a snake haunt a great tree situated in a holy garden of the gods.

The most famous reference to Lilith can be found in The Alphabet of Ben-Sira. Lilith is described as the first woman created by God, and Adam’s first wife. However Lilith refused to assume a subservient role to Adam, instead seeing herself as his equal. In response Lilith invoked the name of God and took off into the air, leaving the Garden of Eden and deserting Adam. She settled near the Red Sea, where she mated with demons and gave birth to countless Lilim .Adam asked God to return Lilith to him, and three Angels, Semangelaf, Sanvi, and Sansanvi,were sent to retrieve her. The Angels threatened to kill one hundred of Lilith’s demonic children each day that she did not return, however she would still not return to Adam.

According to the Kablistic legends, Lilith later returned to the garden as the Serpent whom tempted Eve.

In the Zohar , we can find the first identification of Lilith as the Serpent of the garden of Eden.  She is described as innately animated and possessed by the spirit of Lucifer, and she is held responsible for the fall of Eve.  There is a version of the Lilith myth in every religion known to mankind. Many of them have different names, such as Marilith or Lilitu, but all of them connect with the common theme: A demon woman, often with wings, who kills men and babies.

Lilith and babies

According to legend Lilith’s attraction for children comes from the belief that God took her demon children from her when she did not return to Adam. It was believed that she launched a reign of terror against women in childbirth and newborn infants, especially boys. However, it also was believed that the three angels Semangelaf, Sanvi, and Sansanvi,forced her to swear that whenever she saw their names or images on amulets that she would spare the babies life.

main phrases of the post + transcription + translation

Eli@eteachergroup.com

The power of temptation-Seductive women in the Bible- Part 2

Posted by Eli Dahan on May 17, 2009 under Bible, Biblical Hebrew, Gender | Be the First to Comment

Yael

In the book of Judges we can find the story of Yael .Ya`el (“a wild or mountain goat” )was the wife of Heber the Kenite .After the death of the judge Ehud,God allowed Jabin, king of Canaan to oppress Israel through Sisera .After twenty years, God allowed Deborah, a prophetess and judge, to lead with Barak an attack against Sisera.At first, Deborah sends Barak to fight the Canaanites. However, she prophesies that “the Lord will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman“(Judges 4:9).

Sisera , the Canaanite general of King Jabin ,escaped from the battele with Barak, and arrived to the tent of Yael. When Sisera approached her tent, he was invited to take shelter in the tent .Jael greeted him, tempted him to get into her tent and covered him with a rug. When Sisera asked for water,Yael gave him milk.. After Sisera had fallen asleep,Yael took a tent-pin and a hammer in her hand and smote the pin into his temples. Then she called Barak ,took him inside and showed him Sisera’s body.The act fulfilled the prediction of Debora and Jael was blessed among women by all who loved Israel as written:

 תְּבֹרַךְ, מִנָּשִׁים–יָעֵל, אֵשֶׁת חֶבֶר  הַקֵּינִי:  מִנָּשִׁים בָּאֹהֶל, תְּבֹרָך

“Most blessed of women be Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite”

Judges 5;24

Delilah

In the end of the Book of Judges(chapter 16), we can find one the most famous seductive woman in the Bible: Delilah.The Pilestines asked Delilh to allure Samson , in order to find out where is string came from. Only after three failed attmpations, Delilah’s craftiness helped her to find the source of Samson power- his hair. He had fallen asleep on Delilh’s knees. Then she called a Pilestine man and asked him to cut Samson’s hair.When Samson wake up, he found out that he lost all of his powers (see the blog”Samson- a true hero?”)

 This act of Delilha was the final chapter of Samson’s life.

main phrases of the post + transcription + translation

Eli@eteachergroup.com

The power of temptation-Seductive women in the Bible- Part 1

Posted by Eli Dahan on May 14, 2009 under Bible, Biblical Hebrew, Gender | Be the First to Comment

Eve

Eve was the first woman created by God and the first seductive woman in the Bible. According to Genesis 3,she allured Adam to taste the forbidden fruit of the Tree Of Knowledge and as a result ,both of them were expelled from Garden Of Eden.

Tamar

Tamar was the wife of Er, the son of Judah. Er died and Tamar was left childless. Tamar wanted children and demanded to have sexual intercourse with Er’s brother Onan. In ancient times this was a reasonable request as we can learn from Deuteronomy 25;5:

“כִּי-יֵשְׁבוּ אַחִים יַחְדָּו, וּמֵת אַחַד מֵהֶם וּבֵן אֵין-לוֹ–לֹא-תִהְיֶה אֵשֶׁת-הַמֵּת הַחוּצָה, לְאִישׁ זָר: 

 יְבָמָהּ יָבֹא עָלֶיהָ, וּלְקָחָהּ לוֹ לְאִשָּׁה וְיִבְּמָה“

“If brothers are living together and one of them dies without a son, his widow must not marry outside the family. Her husband’s brother shall take her and marry her and fulfill the duty of a brother-in-law to her”

This was a Levirate Law called “Yibbum”( levirate marriage).When Onan also died Tamar didn’t give up and wanted to marry the youngest brother Shelah. However, Juda, that both of his sons have died, refused.Tamar, who was very assertive and smart woman, came out with a plan to seduce Juda. By dressing as a harlot she lured Judah ,conceived and gave birth to two sons.

Potiphar’s wife

Also in Gensis (chapter 39), we can find the story of Joseph and Potiphar’s wife. Joseph was sold into slavery and taken to Egypt .He became the slave of Potiphar, who was One of Pharaoh’s officers and the chief steward.Pothifer had a beautiful wife , that according to Muslim tradition, named Zelicha.She fell in love with Joseph – to the point of obsession.Joseph was known for his good look as , mentioned in Gensis 39;6:

וַיְהִי יוֹסֵף, יְפֵה-תֹאַר וִיפֵה מַרְאֶה ““

“Now Joseph was well-built and handsome “

Zelicha tried to seduce Joseph to sleep with her. Joseph , who was loyal to Potiphar, refused. One day ,when they were alone in the house, she went into his room.Joseph was naked, and ran out of the room, leaving his clothing behind.Zelicha didn’t appraised the fact that Joseph rejected her again . She Grabbed his cloths ,called the guards and claimed that Joseph tried to rape her.

to be continued………..

main phrases of the post + transcription + translation

Eli@eteachergroup.com