A look at the Holy Book series

The Jewish Family Identity Forum By Candace R. Kwiatek, The Dayton Jewish Observer

In a (N.J.) opinion piece, Revive the dying art of reading, Frank Breslin notes, “Few high-school students read anymore…It takes too long and is too much trouble…” His observation is mirrored by my own students’ comments that they like short stories because they don’t require a lot of work.

“With few exceptions,” Breslin continues, “students today have lost the ability to sit still with a book…They have neither the time nor the desire to find…the meaning of things…”

This trend plagues adult readers as well. How often have you heard the Bible offhandedly dismissed because it advocates “eye for an eye” or “stoning unruly children?”

How often has someone in your presence judged the Bible irrelevant because it “promotes slavery,” “undermines women’s equality,” or “systematizes tribal sacrifices?”

Do you nod in agreement, or respond by peering beneath the surface details to discover the ideas and purposes behind troubling passages?
If the Bible is truly wisdom literature, then it must offer enlightenment across time and place.

Does the Bible really sanction slavery? It seems contradictory that Exodus recounts a narrative of freedom but Sinai offers a legal system that recognizes slavery. Granted, in the ancient world slavery was universal, providing tradesmen, soldiers, laborers, and servants. But couldn’t the Bible have issued a point-blank prohibition to slavery?

“It is a fundamental principle of God’s relationship with us,” writes Rabbi Jonathan Sacks in The Slow End of Slavery, “that he does not force us to change faster than we are able to do so of our own free will…He wanted slavery abolished but he wanted it to be done by free human beings coming to see of their own accord the evil it is and the evil it does.”

So instead of another “thou shalt not,” the Bible’s many rules about the acquisition, treatment, and emancipation of slaves made slave-owning a difficult and undesirable proposition. Kidnapping for slavery and selling a person into slavery were capital offenses. Beating a slave to death was a capital offense, and maiming a slave meant instant freedom. Slaves were not allowed to work on the Sabbath. One was prohibited from returning a runaway slave to his master. Slaves were to be treated justly, and after six years of service they were to be freed with enough supplies to start a new life. The Bible’s stringent regulations — along with its clear anti-slavery message in the Exodus story — were designed to reduce the appeal of slavery in such a way that it would eventually die out: a natural evolution.

Is the Bible misogynistic? After all, a woman’s vows can be annulled by her father or husband, a suspected adulteress is subjected to an ordeal, and only men can inherit except in special circumstances. All true, although misleading out of context.

Uprooting the traditional roles of women as defined by ancient societies would have caused chaos, so, working within the system, the Bible created rules that would encourage change over time.

A father or husband could only annul a woman’s vow if he objected to it within 24 hours of her making the vow, and the vow of a divorced or widowed woman was considered binding.

By these rulings, women were able to take some control over their own lives, control that was typically in the hands of men.

As for the woman suspected of adultery, she was protected from her husband’s vengeance by a ritual that involved drinking a concoction of holy water and soil administered by a priest. Unlikely to fail, she was publicly cleared of all charges. More importantly, no fathers, husbands, or brothers could take it upon themselves to stone a suspected wayward female, as in other cultures.

Finally, it’s true that inheritance of land or property in ancient Israel was limited to men, since it supported their professions.

Yet, in the case of no sons, the inheritance hierarchy favored daughters over other male family members, in defiance of ancient tradition. Once again, the door is left open for evolution.

Is the sacrificial cult irrelevant today? Yes, if you’re focused on sheep and incense, but not if you’re looking for bigger ideas. With the binding of Isaac, we see a hint of the coming evolution away from sacrificial rituals, beginning with the elimination of human sacrifice.

In the interim, the priestly sacrificial rituals are both described and practiced in full view of the public, a biblical innovation that would be called transparency today.

The sacrificial system was really about the emotional power of ritual and its necessity for emotional and spiritual well-being. That message resonates today – ask any psychologist.

Was biblical punishment barbaric? In tribal societies, the father had absolute control over the children, even to the point of having them executed.

The Torah begins to take that power away, demanding that both parents — mother and father together — take an unmanageable child to the local elders, whereupon the court takes over.

Roles and rights within the family begin to evolve. In ancient societies an injured person could seek retribution by literally taking an eye for an eye – or worse. Biblical law limited such actions: the retribution had to be equitable, monetary (after all, bodily disfigurement was disallowed), blind to social status, and determined by a court, not the injured party. Retaliation was allowed but was limited by rules that form the foundation of today’s legal principles of retribution.

The Bible is among the great books because it has something to say to every generation. So don’t accept its reduction to a catch-phrase or its dismissal as obsolete or irrelevant.

Sit with it and look beneath the surface. Read. Keep in mind that the Bible isn’t meant to be a revolutionary manifesto: it’s not about an instant overthrow of the status quo through power or command. It’s a blueprint for the evolution of ideas over time.

Family Discussion: Explore a biblical text that appears irrelevant or discomfiting. Ask yourself what role it played in reflecting or rejecting the values of the ancient world. Does it suggest some kind of evolution?

Literature to share

Memories of Babi by Aranka Siegal: Written for the tween set, this memoir collection recounts the author’s childhood in Eastern Europe before World War II. Although she lived in Hungary, Siegal’s stories focus on the summers she spent with her beloved grandmother, Babi, on a small farm in the Ukraine. Beautifully retold by a Newbery-winning author (Upon the Head of the Goat), Babi allows a personal glimpse into an era long gone.

The Rarest Blue by Baruch Sterman and Judy Taubes Sterman: Who could imagine that the late 20th century rediscovery of techelet – the ancient purple/blue of the priestly garments and tallit fringes – would involve a multidisciplinary quest across numerous continents? It’s an adventure tale of the best sort, filled with history, mystery, and chemistry, recounted by the authors in an engaging and highly readable style. Strongly recommended.

To view the print version of the December 2013 Observer, click here.