{"id":56456,"date":"2019-05-30T13:36:48","date_gmt":"2019-05-30T10:36:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=56456"},"modified":"2022-12-23T11:56:18","modified_gmt":"2022-12-23T09:56:18","slug":"painful-relic-or-contemporary-warning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/painful-relic-or-contemporary-warning\/","title":{"rendered":"Painful Relic, Or Contemporary Warning?"},"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":[365,391,543],"acf":{"old_id":"56456","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":55843,"related_cahpter":"231","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"How many times do we ignore the memories of victims in pursuit of vengeance?","content":"

The murder and dismemberment of the concubine at Gibeah is one of the most gruesome episodes in the entire Tanach. Its events are recapped in 20:4-6 by the husband of the deceased woman, who says, \u201c\u2018My concubine and I came to Gibeah of Benjamin to spend the night. The citizens of Gibeah set out to harm me. They gathered against me around the house in the night; they meant to kill me, and they ravished my concubine until she died. So I took hold of my concubine and I cut her in pieces and sent them through every part of Israel\u2019s territory. For an outrageous act of depravity had been committed in Israel.\u2019\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

The text is terse, factual, and focused primarily on the husband\u2019s experience. The citizens gathered against <\/span>him<\/span><\/em>, meant to kill <\/span>him<\/span><\/em>, ravished <\/span>his<\/em> <\/span>concubine. Both in the crime and in its aftermath, the story of the woman is secondary.<\/span><\/p>\n

This pattern continues throughout the war ostensibly waged due to the harm inflicted upon the concubine. This unnamed woman is not mentioned again in the chapter. She is not recalled; her memory does not serve as a battle cry. Thousands of men from all of Israel gather together to fight against the Benjaminites that perpetrated this violence, yet its female victim is marginalized in the process. The account of the battles that follow consistently repeats the word <\/span>ish<\/span><\/em> or man, speaking of the brave men, the fighting men, the fallen men, the men of Israel and Benjamin. We wonder what the true instigation of this war was, how much the concubine at Gibeah was understood as an individual versus mere property of her aggrieved husband.<\/span><\/p>\n

This is an uncomfortable text. Tremendous violence is enacted upon a woman\u2019s body and the Israelites then slaughter each other out of a flawed desire to restore order. It is easy to look at this entire narrative and discard it as a painful relic, an irrelevant episode. <\/span><\/p>\n

Yet there is something important to be gleaned from this text. Judges is a book that retells many tales from Genesis but mutes the power and presence of God. In Sodom a similar story took place, with citizens seeking to harm a visitor physically and sexually, yet angels intervened to save the men and women at risk. <\/span><\/p>\n

We don\u2019t live in a world with direct divine intervention; we live in a world that can teeter on the edge of the lawlessness exhibited in Judges. If we humans hold the power to prevent and respond to injustice, it is worth asking whether we as a society today do much better. Certainly, this specific type of brutality is distant from our experience, but how many times do we ignore the memories of victims in pursuit of vengeance? How often do we allow fear and rage to overpower logic and righteousness? How often do we sideline the narratives of women to center those of men? <\/span><\/p>\n

We need to continue reading texts like this one if we are to build a society that truly protects the marginalized and is founded on the basis of justice. <\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":56459,"id":56459,"title":"jud20-Concubine-dismembered","filename":"jud20-Concubine-dismembered.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud20-Concubine-dismembered.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/painful-relic-or-contemporary-warning\/jud20-concubine-dismembered\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"jud20-concubine-dismembered","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":56456,"date":"2019-05-30 10:36:23","modified":"2019-05-30 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