{"id":55734,"date":"2019-05-19T13:40:39","date_gmt":"2019-05-19T10:40:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=55734"},"modified":"2022-12-11T15:11:46","modified_gmt":"2022-12-11T13:11:46","slug":"misogyny-as-a-moral-failure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/misogyny-as-a-moral-failure\/","title":{"rendered":"Misogyny As A Moral Failure"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The horrific story in Judges 11 depicts a consummated version of the <\/span>Akeda<\/span><\/em>; one in which an adult man promises a sacrifice to God — knowing full well the probability of the sacrifice being a human one — in exchange for military prowess and power. Jephthah vows to sacrifice whatever or whoever comes out of his home to greet him after battle in order to win a victory against the Ammonites. When his nameless daughter greets him with timbrels and dance, <\/span>as she is expected to do after her father wins a military victory<\/span><\/em>, he laments his rash vow but carries out her murder nonetheless. <\/span><\/p>\n

The author clearly wants to convey disgust with Jephthah\u2019s actions. The first description we have of Jephthah is a judgment of the morality practiced in his family\u2019s home: he is the son of a <\/span>zona<\/span><\/em>, a whore. Today, I would hope, we understand that women who choose to engage in sex work of their own free will <\/span>and<\/span><\/em> women who are forced into the sex work industry without their consent are all able to live moral and ethical lives, despite what judgments society may make on their profession. Our text, however, assumes that Jephthah grew up in the house of his father, a man who bought a woman\u2019s body, impregnated her, raised the child, and allowed his other \u201clegitimate\u201d children to torment him so much so that he had to flee. Our text uses Jephthah\u2019s parentage as a judgment on his family\u2019s morality; a family that engages in immoral behavior will promote immoral behavior.<\/span><\/p>\n

Jephthah\u2019s may be a good warrior, but our narrator indicates that he is a morally questionable man. So when Jephthah makes his vow to sacrifice whatever comes forth from his house when he returns from battle, we should read this with misgivings. <\/span><\/p>\n

I refuse to believe he did not know how likely it would be that his daughter would come out to greet him ritually. Either Jephthah knew how probable it was that he would have to sacrifice a woman, or he was so arrogant and inconsiderate of women to not know their ritual role in welcoming soldiers home from battle. We are meant to see his misogyny as a moral failure.<\/span><\/p>\n

The fact that <\/span>bat-Jephthah<\/span><\/em> is given no name, that the only thing we know about her is her relationship to men, only highlights the misogyny present in this story. She may be <\/span>y\u2019chidah<\/span><\/em>, his only, but she is not <\/span>ahuvah<\/span><\/em>, beloved. She is not even deserving of a name. Jephthah\u2019s misogyny, inherited from Gilead his father, leads him to one of the most horrifically immoral acts in our Tanakh, child sacrifice. It is obvious, even until today, the ways in which misogyny leads to the murder and the dehumanization of women. <\/span><\/p>\n

The story of Jephthah\u2019s daughter is a warning to us. When we allow men (and women!) to live and express misogyny unchecked and unquestioned, our society\u2019s morality breaks down beyond repair.<\/span><\/p>\n

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