{"id":39285,"date":"2018-09-03T22:39:47","date_gmt":"2018-09-03T19:39:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=39285"},"modified":"2022-03-28T22:05:24","modified_gmt":"2022-03-28T19:05:24","slug":"she-is-more-in-the-right-than-i","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/she-is-more-in-the-right-than-i\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cShe Is More In The Right Than I\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[302,365,568,412],"acf":{"old_id":"39285","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":38503,"related_cahpter":"38","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"These words reverberate through the narrative of Genesis, the messianic line, and our own era.","content":"

If you were asked to choose the most essential passage in the Torah, you might think of the <\/span>Shma<\/span><\/em>\u2019<\/span><\/i> in Deuteronomy, or maybe the commandment to love one\u2019s neighbor as oneself in Leviticus, <\/span>v\u2019ahavta l\u2019re\u2019acha kamocha<\/span><\/em>. Or you might go to Genesis and pick the creation of the world, or else the beginning of our Jewish story with God\u2019s call to Abram to go forth, <\/span>lech l\u2019cha me\u2019artz\u2019cha<\/span><\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Those are all good choices. But to that list I would like to add two words from Genesis chapter 38: <\/span>tzadka mimeni<\/span><\/em>.<\/em> English, in its clunky way, needs eight words to say the same thing: \u201cShe is more in the right than I.\u201d With these words Judah takes responsibility for having wronged Tamar by not giving his son to her in marriage and for being the father of the twins in her womb. His words reverberate through three timelines: the narrative arc of Genesis, our royal and ultimately messianic line, and our own era.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the Genesis timeline, <\/span>tzadka mimeni<\/span><\/em> marks the beginning of responsibility being a central feature of Judah\u2019s character. He becomes the responsible brother whose actions lead to reconciliation between Joseph and the rest of Jacob\u2019s sons. In so doing, he provides a resounding affirmative answer to the searing question posed by Cain at the beginning of the book: <\/span>Hashomer achi anochi?<\/em> <\/span>\u2014 \u201cAm I my brother\u2019s keeper?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In the royal\/messianic timeline, the encounter between Tamar and Judah, culminating in his acceptance of responsibility, is one of four apparently questionable but ultimately redemptive sexual relationships that, in some mysterious way, lead to the Davidic line from which the messiah will come \u2014 the others being between Lot\u2019s daughters and their father, between Ruth and Boaz, and between Bathsheba and David.<\/span><\/p>\n

And in our own time, Judah\u2019s words provide a more satisfactory response than we have generally heard from men confronted with evidence of their misbehavior towards women. Not \u201cI regarded it as consensual.\u201d Not \u201cI didn\u2019t abuse my power.\u201d Not \u201cIf I do it again, stop me\u201d (yes, I\u2019ve heard that too). Just <\/span>tzadka mimeni<\/span><\/em>. I can see it as a hashtag: #TzadkaMimeni. And this is where our various timelines converge, for if men, en masse, were to take responsibility for their behavior towards women, we would have taken a big step in the direction of the messianic age.<\/span><\/p>\n

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