WEBVTT 1 00:00:02.670 --> 00:00:10.249 R. Rachel: Good morning, good Shabbos. It is the 30th of May, somehow, amazingly. 2 00:00:10.470 --> 00:00:18.090 R. Rachel: It is the middle of Sivan. I don't know if anyone else saw an incredible, almost full moon last night, but it was there. 3 00:00:18.850 --> 00:00:22.340 R. Rachel: And we are here this morning for some learning. 4 00:00:23.110 --> 00:00:28.309 R. Rachel: And this week, we are in Parashat Naso. 5 00:00:28.780 --> 00:00:40.660 R. Rachel: Which is probably best known as being the Parsha with the trial of the Sota, the woman suspected of adultery, which is, in fact, where we will go this morning. 6 00:00:41.040 --> 00:00:48.550 R. Rachel: And I think and I hope that the materials we've curated will take us to some surprisingly deep soul places. 7 00:00:48.910 --> 00:00:54.989 R. Rachel: Even if we feel a little reactive about The reason for the text. 8 00:00:55.170 --> 00:01:01.259 R. Rachel: So please, in the chat box, put the names of those for whom we're praying for healing this morning. 9 00:01:02.170 --> 00:01:08.120 R. Rachel: Anyone that we're holding in our heart for healing of… Body, heart, mind, and spirit. 10 00:01:09.930 --> 00:01:16.620 R. Rachel: As we make our bracha, As we pause. 11 00:01:16.830 --> 00:01:19.930 R. Rachel: And watch the names cascade into the room. 12 00:01:20.090 --> 00:01:22.180 R. Rachel: Names of all these people that we love. 13 00:01:25.480 --> 00:01:36.729 R. Rachel: Baruch Attah Anunai. Torah, Blessed are you at Anna our God's source of all being. 14 00:01:36.980 --> 00:01:43.860 R. Rachel: You make us holy in connecting command, and you command us to immerse ourselves in words of Torah. 15 00:01:45.250 --> 00:01:50.910 R. Rachel: And as our opening this morning, we have… 16 00:01:51.280 --> 00:01:53.969 R. Rachel: These words may be familiar to us. 17 00:01:54.370 --> 00:01:58.100 R. Rachel: Would someone like to read the words of the priestly blessing? 18 00:01:58.440 --> 00:02:00.239 R. Rachel: As a blessing for the room. 19 00:02:02.390 --> 00:02:03.820 Diana Rico: I would love to. 20 00:02:05.720 --> 00:02:13.380 Diana Rico: Yud-Heh-Vav-Heh spoke to Moses, saying, Speak to Aharon and his sons, saying. 21 00:02:13.500 --> 00:02:17.620 Diana Rico: Blessed thusly the children of Israel, saying to them. 22 00:02:19.280 --> 00:02:22.239 Diana Rico: I'm gonna need help here, Rabbi Rachel. 23 00:02:23.770 --> 00:02:24.549 R. David (he/him): Is that a racist? 24 00:02:24.550 --> 00:02:26.469 R. Rachel: I don't know, Vishma Recha. 25 00:02:27.170 --> 00:02:32.770 Diana Rico: Yva Recha, Yev… Viyiv Mireja? 26 00:02:33.800 --> 00:02:35.150 Diana Rico: Yair? 27 00:02:40.870 --> 00:02:44.070 Diana Rico: Isa Yudhiv Panav? 28 00:02:44.400 --> 00:02:48.330 Diana Rico: Elecha, oyasim, lecha. 29 00:02:48.460 --> 00:02:49.610 Diana Rico: Shalom. 30 00:02:50.080 --> 00:02:54.670 Diana Rico: They will put my name on the children of Israel, and I will bless them. 31 00:02:55.220 --> 00:02:55.920 R. Rachel: Thank you. 32 00:02:56.170 --> 00:03:02.060 R. Rachel: And in that right-hand column, you can see the meaning of those words. Yod-Heh-Vav-Heh, bless you and keep you. 33 00:03:02.770 --> 00:03:06.219 R. Rachel: Yerehavi light God's face to you and grace you. 34 00:03:06.840 --> 00:03:11.239 R. Rachel: Yerehav, lift God's face to you and grant you peace. 35 00:03:12.450 --> 00:03:15.620 R. Rachel: And this is also from this week's Torah portion. 36 00:03:17.620 --> 00:03:18.370 R. David (he/him): Notes. 37 00:03:18.370 --> 00:03:22.010 R. Rachel: this blessing with us into the learning we're about to do. 38 00:03:22.180 --> 00:03:26.410 R. David (he/him): Yeah, notes that… It doesn't make any exceptions. 39 00:03:29.330 --> 00:03:31.170 R. David (he/him): It doesn't say accept a few. 40 00:03:32.580 --> 00:03:38.470 R. David (he/him): Or unless you… And notice that… 41 00:03:38.780 --> 00:03:58.329 R. David (he/him): the blessing comes from God. If you're familiar with temple services, you know, there may be people who come up, and clergy do it, or sometimes the board of directors does it, but it doesn't come from them, it doesn't come from us, because it is God that does the blessing. 42 00:03:59.330 --> 00:04:02.220 R. David (he/him): Put my name on the children of Israel, and I, God, will bless them. 43 00:04:04.740 --> 00:04:10.150 R. David (he/him): So we are, at best, Conduits. 44 00:04:11.650 --> 00:04:12.760 R. David (he/him): Agents. 45 00:04:13.330 --> 00:04:14.300 R. David (he/him): Iris. 46 00:04:16.079 --> 00:04:33.669 Iris Barten: It's also touching to me that some translations are more direct, God bless you, and others have, may God bless you, which to me has a different, a little different meaning, and so I just… 47 00:04:34.800 --> 00:04:35.200 R. Rachel: Excellent. 48 00:04:35.200 --> 00:04:42.909 Iris Barten: I think this one is… Excuse me, I've even seen it with exclamation points after each. 49 00:04:43.630 --> 00:04:44.610 R. David (he/him): Right. Yep. 50 00:04:44.630 --> 00:04:48.829 Iris Barten: So… That's really all I have to say. 51 00:04:49.550 --> 00:04:58.929 R. Rachel: James is asking in the chat why this translation has God's name twice, and part of that, I think, is our attempt 52 00:04:59.050 --> 00:05:06.400 R. Rachel: to allow God to be outside of our strictures of gender. The Hebrew says His face. 53 00:05:07.910 --> 00:05:18.709 R. Rachel: So, for those of us who… for whom the notion of God as male is comfortable, may God light His face to you and grace you. 54 00:05:18.980 --> 00:05:26.959 R. Rachel: But that's not… Necessarily everyone's theology, so we're… we're keeping our translation as neutral as possible. 55 00:05:27.150 --> 00:05:28.749 R. Rachel: So that it can reach… 56 00:05:28.870 --> 00:05:37.350 R. Rachel: all of us, no matter what or how we imagine God to be. Yod-Heh-Vav-Heh is something more like, being-ness. 57 00:05:37.660 --> 00:05:39.519 R. Rachel: Is, was, will be. 58 00:05:40.080 --> 00:05:44.769 R. Rachel: Right, it's all the forms of to be in one, so that's not a gendered construct. 59 00:05:45.140 --> 00:05:47.520 R. Rachel: That's being itself. 60 00:05:47.830 --> 00:05:51.010 R. David (he/him): Alright, so let's bring this… 61 00:05:51.850 --> 00:06:01.380 R. David (he/him): into the part of our Torah portion that we're going to be looking at today, which we alerted everybody will be challenging. 62 00:06:01.840 --> 00:06:04.969 R. David (he/him): And invariably will piss us off. 63 00:06:07.440 --> 00:06:14.480 R. David (he/him): How… Can these two things… coexist. 64 00:06:14.710 --> 00:06:25.089 R. David (he/him): in the same Torah portion, Might we be able to use the first, which we've just looked at. 65 00:06:26.250 --> 00:06:29.490 R. David (he/him): To bring a perspective to the second. 66 00:06:33.120 --> 00:06:34.830 R. David (he/him): Here we go. 67 00:06:35.280 --> 00:06:36.260 R. David (he/him): This… 68 00:06:37.050 --> 00:06:38.310 R. Rachel: Buckle up, folks. 69 00:06:38.310 --> 00:06:44.039 R. David (he/him): Buckle up, return your tray tables to their full upright and locked positions. 70 00:06:44.490 --> 00:06:46.510 R. David (he/him): Numbers 5. 71 00:06:46.840 --> 00:06:53.180 R. David (he/him): includes something that in Jewish, we call the soda. 72 00:06:53.530 --> 00:06:55.100 R. David (he/him): S-O-T-A-H. 73 00:06:55.460 --> 00:06:56.540 R. David (he/him): trial. 74 00:06:57.230 --> 00:07:01.480 R. David (he/him): The soda is the woman who was accused. 75 00:07:01.690 --> 00:07:04.759 R. David (he/him): Of being unfaithful to her husband. 76 00:07:05.760 --> 00:07:11.370 R. David (he/him): We have 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6… chunks. 77 00:07:13.490 --> 00:07:17.699 R. Rachel: We really needed… we need this whole narrative, we couldn't really excerpt it. 78 00:07:18.060 --> 00:07:18.530 R. David (he/him): Yep. 79 00:07:18.530 --> 00:07:20.440 R. Rachel: So, we're just gonna roll with it. 80 00:07:21.700 --> 00:07:25.030 R. David (he/him): So let's do some reading, let's please do what we do. 81 00:07:28.220 --> 00:07:33.620 Brett Chinn: Yet-Heh-Bab-Heh spoke to Moshe, saying, Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them. 82 00:07:33.980 --> 00:07:39.140 Brett Chinn: If any man-wife, any man's wife goes astray and trespasses against him. 83 00:07:39.250 --> 00:07:49.039 Brett Chinn: And a man lies with her, concealed from the husband's eyes and secreted, and she is made tame, and there is no witness against her since she was not caught. 84 00:07:50.490 --> 00:07:58.920 Amy V: And a jealous spirit passes through him. He is jealous of his wife, and she is in tumor. 85 00:07:59.230 --> 00:08:05.879 Amy V: Or, she is not in Tuma. Then the man will bring his wife to the Kohane. 86 00:08:06.060 --> 00:08:15.240 Amy V: And bring her offering a tenth of an eff of barley meal, pouring no oil on it. 87 00:08:15.450 --> 00:08:21.370 Amy V: And putting no frankincense on it, for it is a jealousy offering. 88 00:08:21.580 --> 00:08:27.920 Amy V: An offering of memorial, bringing iniquity into remembrance. 89 00:08:28.410 --> 00:08:35.029 Amy V: That's very poetic. The Kohane will bring her near and set her before you, hey, Bob Hed. 90 00:08:36.159 --> 00:08:40.329 Marcia's iPad: The cohain will take an earthen vessel of holy water. 91 00:08:40.699 --> 00:08:48.729 Marcia's iPad: and put in the water dust of the Mishkan's floor, Stand the woman before Yud-Heh-Vaveh. 92 00:08:49.019 --> 00:08:55.749 Marcia's iPad: Uncover the woman's head. Put her hands… the remembrance offering. 93 00:08:56.429 --> 00:08:59.809 Marcia's iPad: Or put in her hands the remembrance offering. 94 00:09:00.129 --> 00:09:03.139 Marcia's iPad: the meal offering of jealousy. 95 00:09:03.319 --> 00:09:08.919 Marcia's iPad: And take in his hand, The bitter curse-causing waters. 96 00:09:09.339 --> 00:09:15.209 Marcia's iPad: The cohane will put her… Put her on oath, saying to her. 97 00:09:15.989 --> 00:09:18.409 Marcia's iPad: If no man laid with you. 98 00:09:18.679 --> 00:09:20.989 Marcia's iPad: And you have not gone astray. 99 00:09:21.129 --> 00:09:25.509 Marcia's iPad: to… to Ma, with one not your husband. 100 00:09:25.769 --> 00:09:30.009 Marcia's iPad: Be free from this bitter, curse-causing waters. 101 00:09:34.470 --> 00:09:44.679 David Green: In case she went astray, the Kohain will swear her on this oath, and say to her, it will be Adonai's curse on you, sworn among your people. 102 00:09:44.930 --> 00:09:50.540 David Green: If Adonai makes your thigh fall and your belly swell by this water. 103 00:09:51.070 --> 00:09:54.090 David Green: the woman will say, Amen, amen. 104 00:10:00.400 --> 00:10:01.210 R. David (he/him): Two more. 105 00:10:06.800 --> 00:10:08.529 R. David (he/him): You know you want to, Cheryl. 106 00:10:10.220 --> 00:10:13.379 Sherrill Cropper: The Kohain will write these curses in a book. 107 00:10:13.570 --> 00:10:16.340 Sherrill Cropper: And blot them out with the bitter water. 108 00:10:16.910 --> 00:10:20.160 Sherrill Cropper: He then will give the woman to drink the water. 109 00:10:20.550 --> 00:10:32.329 Sherrill Cropper: The Kohain will take from the woman's hand the meal offering of jealousy, wave the offering before Adurnai, and Korbonify it on the altar. 110 00:10:39.470 --> 00:10:40.370 R. David (he/him): and more. 111 00:10:42.580 --> 00:10:49.729 Joan Green: The Kohen will take the remembrance offering, burn it on the altar, and make the woman drink the water. 112 00:10:49.800 --> 00:11:04.109 Joan Green: If after she drinks the water, she is made to me, and she breached against her husband, the cursing water will enter her, grow bitter and swell her belly, and her thigh will fall. 113 00:11:04.290 --> 00:11:13.899 Joan Green: And the woman will be a curse among her people. If the woman is not made to Mei, but is Tahora, then she will be acquitted and bear seed. 114 00:11:15.420 --> 00:11:18.070 R. David (he/him): Thank you all for coming today, it's been a lovely Shabbat. 115 00:11:18.860 --> 00:11:19.380 Joan Green: - 116 00:11:21.010 --> 00:11:22.000 Marcia's iPad: Who knows? 117 00:11:24.490 --> 00:11:24.960 R. Rachel: What… 118 00:11:24.960 --> 00:11:25.330 R. David (he/him): Okay. 119 00:11:25.330 --> 00:11:28.500 R. Rachel: Are we going to make of this? 120 00:11:30.560 --> 00:11:34.869 R. David (he/him): Let me make this a little bigger, this is as much as I can put on the screen at one time. 121 00:11:34.870 --> 00:11:40.029 ert: I raised my hand because I just want to bring this up. 122 00:11:40.490 --> 00:11:45.649 ert: I… I come to Soul Spa to be spiritually uplifted. 123 00:11:45.840 --> 00:11:58.370 ert: And I would like the rabbis for a moment to address how studying this would spiritually uplift me. I personally am trying to apply it 124 00:11:58.500 --> 00:12:03.769 ert: to something beyond what I'm reading, but I don't have the capacity to do that. 125 00:12:03.770 --> 00:12:13.310 R. Rachel: I can promise you that by the time we are done today, you will feel differently about this text and where it takes us. 126 00:12:14.260 --> 00:12:19.830 R. Rachel: I recognize that on the surface, this looks like one of the more disturbing texts in Torah. 127 00:12:21.460 --> 00:12:24.659 R. Rachel: We will go somewhere real with it, I promise. 128 00:12:25.960 --> 00:12:29.359 R. David (he/him): One of the reasons we bring this forward, 129 00:12:31.200 --> 00:12:33.979 R. David (he/him): is not just that it's in Torah, and… 130 00:12:34.620 --> 00:12:46.579 R. David (he/him): if you find Torah meaningful, we don't get to pick and choose, you know, we need to engage with the entirety of it. But also, let's face it, there are things in our world that are unpleasant and pissy. 131 00:12:47.300 --> 00:12:48.750 R. David (he/him): And unfair. 132 00:12:49.620 --> 00:12:56.570 R. David (he/him): And it is important that we cultivate tools And to… navigate that. 133 00:12:57.180 --> 00:12:59.039 R. David (he/him): And that, too, is spiritual. 134 00:13:00.100 --> 00:13:05.650 R. David (he/him): How we do that is spiritual, so hang on. We're gonna go, and look at all the. 135 00:13:05.650 --> 00:13:07.239 R. Rachel: Well, here come all the hands. 136 00:13:09.590 --> 00:13:12.410 R. David (he/him): Rabbi Rachel, you're… you're. 137 00:13:12.480 --> 00:13:17.180 R. Rachel: Alright, I, I saw Cheryl, and then James. 138 00:13:17.280 --> 00:13:20.319 R. Rachel: And then Brett, and then Joan. That's the order I saw you in. 139 00:13:21.080 --> 00:13:25.449 Sherrill Cropper: Well, I see a lot, but the first thing that hit me 140 00:13:25.560 --> 00:13:37.420 Sherrill Cropper: was that it almost feels impossible. There's a lot of criteria for… having the… unclean… Ness. 141 00:13:37.900 --> 00:13:40.790 Sherrill Cropper: placed upon the woman. I mean, there's just… 142 00:13:41.280 --> 00:13:48.340 Sherrill Cropper: a lot here. If she goes astray, and trespasses against him. And… 143 00:13:48.480 --> 00:13:54.810 Sherrill Cropper: The man lies with her, concealed from the husband's eyes, and secreted, so, so far, nobody's discovered it. 144 00:13:55.220 --> 00:14:09.419 Sherrill Cropper: And she is made tamil, and there is no witness, and a jealous spirit passes through him, assuming the husband. He is jealous of his wife, but he hasn't discovered her because it's secreted. 145 00:14:09.930 --> 00:14:13.960 Sherrill Cropper: And, you know, it just feels like there's a lot of… 146 00:14:14.320 --> 00:14:18.080 Sherrill Cropper: And we've seen this before, I can't remember, but it was, like. 147 00:14:18.250 --> 00:14:21.900 Sherrill Cropper: Something where the criteria was so enormous. 148 00:14:21.900 --> 00:14:34.669 R. Rachel: The stubborn and wayward, rebellious son is one of the classical examples, right? Yeah, there's so many strictors here, it seems like it could almost be impossible, so what's going on with that? 149 00:14:36.140 --> 00:14:37.660 R. Rachel: Right, James? 150 00:14:39.620 --> 00:14:42.329 James Nerlinger (Cincinnati, Ohio USA): So the question I have whenever this one comes up. 151 00:14:42.930 --> 00:14:49.529 James Nerlinger (Cincinnati, Ohio USA): And, I mean, I've studied this past, I think it's, what, 5 years now? I've done it on 3 or 4 classes a week, it seems. 152 00:14:50.040 --> 00:14:51.220 R. Rachel: It does repeat itself. 153 00:14:51.500 --> 00:14:52.690 James Nerlinger (Cincinnati, Ohio USA): Yeah, yeah. 154 00:14:54.260 --> 00:15:10.770 James Nerlinger (Cincinnati, Ohio USA): Do we look at this as being divine text given to us by God, word for word, et cetera, et cetera, as some would believe it? Or do we look at this as more of an expression of the social structure and culture of the time? 155 00:15:11.170 --> 00:15:16.269 James Nerlinger (Cincinnati, Ohio USA): Because if it's the former, it has a very different meaning from what it would be if it's the latter. 156 00:15:16.270 --> 00:15:16.710 R. Rachel: E.O. 157 00:15:16.710 --> 00:15:19.949 James Nerlinger (Cincinnati, Ohio USA): Because if the latter, we can largely discount it today. 158 00:15:20.350 --> 00:15:21.679 James Nerlinger (Cincinnati, Ohio USA): As being less… 159 00:15:22.070 --> 00:15:30.019 James Nerlinger (Cincinnati, Ohio USA): offensive, if you will, because you understand how it was at the time, and so forth. And, you know, women, of course, were the ones who transmitted the… 160 00:15:30.390 --> 00:15:36.109 James Nerlinger (Cincinnati, Ohio USA): The genes, and everything was wrecking through the women, and so on and so forth, so all that makes more sense. 161 00:15:36.250 --> 00:15:39.619 James Nerlinger (Cincinnati, Ohio USA): But if we're looking at this as the, you know, The unavidated… 162 00:15:40.040 --> 00:15:42.380 James Nerlinger (Cincinnati, Ohio USA): Word of God, that's a very different meaning. 163 00:15:42.920 --> 00:15:47.040 R. Rachel: That's a… that's a big question, right? How is… how are we taking this in? 164 00:15:47.750 --> 00:15:51.970 R. Rachel: And how does it feel different if we think it came from human beings, or if we think it came from God? 165 00:15:52.180 --> 00:16:03.340 R. David (he/him): And there's a third possibility, which… well, there are many possibilities, but here's a third possibility that divinity, or holiness, or call it what you will. 166 00:16:03.590 --> 00:16:04.440 R. David (he/him): book. 167 00:16:04.590 --> 00:16:13.630 R. David (he/him): Where humanity was… And used where humanity was to uplift where humanity could go. 168 00:16:14.890 --> 00:16:26.169 R. David (he/him): If, on that theory, Torah doesn't sit on a shelf completely disengaged from the problems of life and the limitations of human life. Torah uses them, Torah engages with them. 169 00:16:26.740 --> 00:16:31.369 R. David (he/him): And so perhaps the most… 170 00:16:33.040 --> 00:16:36.179 R. David (he/him): One of the most irrational things that one could feel. 171 00:16:36.620 --> 00:16:45.160 R. David (he/him): Or potent things that one could feel, jealousy in a marital relationship, or a sexual relationship. 172 00:16:45.870 --> 00:16:55.360 R. David (he/him): would now become the fulcrum of something spiritual, whether it came from God as such, using where we were, or use… or humanity using it. 173 00:16:57.740 --> 00:16:58.560 R. Rachel: Bread… 174 00:16:58.560 --> 00:17:00.840 R. David (he/him): answer your question at all, I know. 175 00:17:00.840 --> 00:17:03.350 R. Rachel: Why get in the way of a… of a… 176 00:17:03.350 --> 00:17:04.040 R. David (he/him): Question, Greg. 177 00:17:04.040 --> 00:17:07.400 R. Rachel: question. Brett, and then Joan, and then Iris. 178 00:17:07.869 --> 00:17:15.169 Brett Chinn: And I have so many questions, but I will focus on… I don't want to take up too much time. The… 179 00:17:15.299 --> 00:17:19.259 Brett Chinn: Curse-causing water, and the drinking of the water, and… 180 00:17:20.199 --> 00:17:28.739 Brett Chinn: what does it mean for thigh to fall, first of all? Maybe that's a separate question, but also, she drinks the water, and if, like. 181 00:17:29.040 --> 00:17:38.009 Brett Chinn: essentially, if her stomach's okay, then she's fine. You know, then, like, that… but if her stomach deceives her in some way, then she is… 182 00:17:38.170 --> 00:17:52.500 Brett Chinn: guilty. But it's also really interesting, the last line, if she's not made to Mei, but is to Hora, she will be acquitted and bear seed. Does she get pregnant from this water, or is she allowed to have children? And if she's Tame. 183 00:17:52.500 --> 00:17:53.920 R. Rachel: Great question! 184 00:17:53.920 --> 00:17:57.489 Brett Chinn: Is she not allowed to have children anymore? 185 00:17:57.490 --> 00:17:57.870 R. Rachel: And… 186 00:17:57.870 --> 00:18:00.970 Brett Chinn: the water. So is this a sterilization drink? 187 00:18:01.400 --> 00:18:08.749 R. Rachel: That's a great question. Oh, disappeared, it'll come right back. Right, so those are… those are really… first of all, there's something bizarre about this potion. 188 00:18:09.160 --> 00:18:12.930 R. Rachel: which involves dirt from the floor of the Mishkan. 189 00:18:13.300 --> 00:18:16.510 R. Rachel: And the ink of the curses… 190 00:18:16.770 --> 00:18:26.329 R. Rachel: like, flaked off and mixed with water, so there's something weird and magical, apparently, happening here. When else do we use potions in Jewish life? 191 00:18:28.430 --> 00:18:34.989 R. Rachel: And then, what are these phrases actually talking about? What does it mean for the thigh to fall and the belly to swell? 192 00:18:36.420 --> 00:18:41.029 R. Rachel: You know, to me, seeing belly swell makes me think immediately of pregnancy. 193 00:18:41.710 --> 00:18:43.700 R. Rachel: Now I'm sort of thinking of Alien. 194 00:18:43.700 --> 00:18:56.700 R. David (he/him): Okay, there is some commentary on makes your thigh fall. I'm going to say it is a euphemism for something ever so slightly above the thigh. 195 00:18:59.870 --> 00:19:00.650 R. Rachel: Enough. 196 00:19:01.390 --> 00:19:02.040 Brett Chinn: Okay. 197 00:19:03.820 --> 00:19:05.080 R. David (he/him): Glad you asked. 198 00:19:07.010 --> 00:19:12.240 R. Rachel: Yeah, so these could be euphemisms for Other body parts. 199 00:19:13.230 --> 00:19:14.740 R. David (he/him): And a quitter. 200 00:19:14.740 --> 00:19:16.750 R. Rachel: Perlaxed uterus, anyone? 201 00:19:18.420 --> 00:19:27.250 R. Rachel: Alright, so these are great questions. What is… what is happening here, and is this a reward at the end, or what? Joan and then Iris. 202 00:19:28.320 --> 00:19:35.060 Joan Green: In 1416, The… the line, 203 00:19:35.490 --> 00:19:40.630 Joan Green: It's a jealousy offering, and they explain In effect, that… 204 00:19:40.830 --> 00:19:53.809 Joan Green: The man is not bringing his wife to divorce her, he's not eliminating the relationship. He's putting it behind them. 205 00:19:54.390 --> 00:19:58.309 Joan Green: A memorial, bringing iniquity into remembrance. 206 00:19:58.530 --> 00:20:04.939 Joan Green: So that means that this is ritualistically the way you move on. 207 00:20:05.330 --> 00:20:07.219 Joan Green: And it also says… 208 00:20:07.220 --> 00:20:08.010 R. Rachel: Stone. 209 00:20:08.010 --> 00:20:13.170 Joan Green: You're putting on the table, What you think happened. 210 00:20:13.930 --> 00:20:19.529 Joan Green: Because that's what we should do. When something happens, it needs to be talked about. 211 00:20:20.060 --> 00:20:20.670 R. Rachel: Excellent. 212 00:20:20.670 --> 00:20:21.019 R. David (he/him): Could be this. 213 00:20:21.020 --> 00:20:24.360 R. Rachel: This is a way of addressing his jealousy. 214 00:20:24.650 --> 00:20:28.129 R. Rachel: About this perceived infidelity. 215 00:20:28.370 --> 00:20:33.499 R. Rachel: And it's some… it's a ritual for moving on. Assuming, of course, that the… 216 00:20:33.840 --> 00:20:37.659 R. Rachel: Curse water doesn't do anything to the woman, which it seems like it… 217 00:20:38.320 --> 00:20:39.530 R. David (he/him): Probably won't. 218 00:20:39.530 --> 00:20:47.200 R. Rachel: wouldn't, right? I'm pretty sure that if someone gave me a potion of… this… 219 00:20:47.200 --> 00:20:47.640 Marcia's iPad: typing. 220 00:20:47.640 --> 00:20:49.590 R. Rachel: It would do literally nothing to me. 221 00:20:51.000 --> 00:20:56.180 R. Rachel: So… What's going on… what's… who is the ritual for? 222 00:20:58.390 --> 00:21:00.310 R. Rachel: What is it? Iris? 223 00:21:01.080 --> 00:21:03.950 Iris Barten: Yeah, I think it's really interesting about the… 224 00:21:04.110 --> 00:21:13.689 Iris Barten: The alleged deed being written in a book, and then the water is placed Or the… they, 225 00:21:14.170 --> 00:21:26.940 Iris Barten: with water, remove the writing about the, you know, misdeed. And that is, to me, it's symbolic of how that can be, dissolved, literally, you know, dissolved. 226 00:21:26.940 --> 00:21:31.049 R. Rachel: You write down the allegation, and then you literally wash it away. 227 00:21:31.050 --> 00:21:31.790 Iris Barten: Yeah. 228 00:21:31.790 --> 00:21:38.589 R. Rachel: Can anyone think of any other experiences, Jewishly, where we write something down and the words get washed away? 229 00:21:38.960 --> 00:21:44.280 R. Rachel: This is not a traditional way to do this ritual, but yup, some of us have done this at Tashlik. 230 00:21:44.430 --> 00:21:50.289 R. Rachel: Yeah. You write your missteps on a piece of rice paper, and then you dissolve it, and the words… 231 00:21:51.010 --> 00:21:54.570 R. Rachel: So is this somehow prefiguring that experience? 232 00:21:56.100 --> 00:22:03.020 Iris Barten: I wanted to just say quickly about the jealousy, excuse me, I have… 233 00:22:03.600 --> 00:22:08.720 Iris Barten: But it is addressing the men's jealousy and… 234 00:22:08.850 --> 00:22:15.089 Iris Barten: So it's kind of a psychological thing, which a lot of our practices are. 235 00:22:15.850 --> 00:22:32.009 Iris Barten: And it's… to me, it's about relationship and commitment, because if you can be jealous, it means that you don't trust your partner, or you, don't have much self-esteem. There's a lot of reasons for that to emerge. 236 00:22:32.300 --> 00:22:36.889 Iris Barten: So… and also the thigh is used in… 237 00:22:37.350 --> 00:22:44.549 Iris Barten: between two men, I remember, when they want to make a commitment to each other, or, you know, a plan. 238 00:22:44.550 --> 00:22:45.940 R. Rachel: And under the thigh. 239 00:22:46.270 --> 00:22:46.930 Iris Barten: So… 240 00:22:46.930 --> 00:22:49.040 R. David (he/him): Put the hand under the… 241 00:22:49.420 --> 00:22:49.910 Iris Barten: Yeah. 242 00:22:49.910 --> 00:22:51.030 R. David (he/him): Hi. 243 00:22:51.950 --> 00:22:53.580 Iris Barten: Yeah, it's near… 244 00:22:53.580 --> 00:22:56.930 R. David (he/him): Joan is like, oh, oh. 245 00:22:58.010 --> 00:23:01.360 R. Rachel: Interesting way to seal a bargain, I gotta say. 246 00:23:01.670 --> 00:23:07.820 R. David (he/him): Especially between father and son. Put your hand under my… Phi… 247 00:23:08.190 --> 00:23:08.820 Iris Barten: Yeah. 248 00:23:10.290 --> 00:23:11.520 R. David (he/him): There's a. 249 00:23:11.520 --> 00:23:13.650 R. Rachel: The real gesture of trust right there, no? 250 00:23:13.650 --> 00:23:19.200 R. David (he/him): Yup. Intimacy, vulnerability, totally not modern sensibilities. 251 00:23:21.250 --> 00:23:24.110 R. Rachel: This is not a modern text, in case that wasn't clear. 252 00:23:24.110 --> 00:23:24.570 Marcia's iPad: It's young. 253 00:23:24.740 --> 00:23:30.720 R. David (he/him): Yup, yup, so here we are, laboring to see what's inside it. 254 00:23:31.060 --> 00:23:36.949 R. David (he/him): from its own perspective, and then bring those general principles forward. Exactly right, Marci. 255 00:23:37.850 --> 00:23:48.989 Marcia's iPad: I'm trying to back off and figure out… As someone already raised, Who is this for? 256 00:23:49.690 --> 00:23:54.329 Marcia's iPad: What is the purpose of this whole exercise? 257 00:23:54.610 --> 00:24:03.369 Marcia's iPad: And… It's interesting that… I think Cheryl said there's no witnesses? 258 00:24:04.090 --> 00:24:11.689 Marcia's iPad: And we're gonna call you. It's not… it's not court, so… I guess they're just. 259 00:24:12.130 --> 00:24:12.930 R. David (he/him): It's sort of… Of course. 260 00:24:12.930 --> 00:24:14.739 Marcia's iPad: The, the neighbors? 261 00:24:14.980 --> 00:24:25.309 Marcia's iPad: It's the neighbors. And so… They're gonna figure out a way to demonstrate to the man. 262 00:24:25.990 --> 00:24:34.909 Marcia's iPad: That everything is okay, but there's still no witnesses, and this is very interesting that… 263 00:24:35.640 --> 00:24:39.470 Marcia's iPad: It's almost like that… that evolution… 264 00:24:39.580 --> 00:24:43.039 Marcia's iPad: of… that got us to Me Too, where… 265 00:24:43.450 --> 00:24:55.119 Marcia's iPad: Because everything was so extreme in the opposite direction, it then went to the other extreme, where it's just like, just believe everybody. 266 00:24:55.690 --> 00:24:59.819 Marcia's iPad: Because the process itself was so flawed. 267 00:25:00.090 --> 00:25:09.730 Marcia's iPad: That… It just became… well… Rabbi Manning used to say that if you take anything. 268 00:25:10.360 --> 00:25:13.599 Marcia's iPad: Too far. It just becomes absurd. 269 00:25:13.940 --> 00:25:29.130 Marcia's iPad: And so, it's absurd to say, I'm going to haul you before the neighbors to make you drink dirty water, to prove to this man that you're… 270 00:25:29.980 --> 00:25:35.739 Marcia's iPad: You know, still worthy of being his wife, but we have no witnesses. 271 00:25:36.140 --> 00:25:43.000 Marcia's iPad: That's, like, really… And for people to actually believe that that's… 272 00:25:43.420 --> 00:25:51.950 Marcia's iPad: something valid? You have to ask, what do you think, what do you rabbis think they were actually thinking? 273 00:25:54.380 --> 00:25:59.570 R. David (he/him): So, we're gonna look a little bit at what those rabbis were actually thinking. 274 00:26:00.170 --> 00:26:02.970 R. David (he/him): Deanna, and then I want to put myself in the queue. 275 00:26:05.620 --> 00:26:13.490 Diana Rico: Thank you. The second to the last verse, I think it's really interesting, the very last line, 276 00:26:14.410 --> 00:26:20.879 Diana Rico: the meal offering of jealousy gets waived before Yud-Heh-Vav-Heh and Korbonified. 277 00:26:21.050 --> 00:26:22.380 Diana Rico: on the altar. 278 00:26:24.250 --> 00:26:27.509 R. David (he/him): What strikes you about that? 279 00:26:27.510 --> 00:26:35.830 Diana Rico: Well, it's… it… I'm reading this as Carbonify, as making it holy, purifying it? Is that correct? 280 00:26:36.140 --> 00:26:37.269 R. David (he/him): So, what we… 281 00:26:37.580 --> 00:26:46.600 R. Rachel: It literally, it's… it means it's… we're… it is offered on the altered. It's… the sacrifice is sacrificed, the offering is altered… is offered, so it's… 282 00:26:47.200 --> 00:26:48.369 R. Rachel: Give it safe. 283 00:26:48.370 --> 00:26:52.860 Diana Rico: Sacred. It's made… I'm understanding as it's made sacred, is that correct? 284 00:26:53.100 --> 00:26:54.110 R. David (he/him): Yes. 285 00:26:54.110 --> 00:26:56.289 Diana Rico: So this is a transformation. 286 00:26:56.290 --> 00:26:56.730 R. David (he/him): Yo! 287 00:26:56.730 --> 00:27:01.129 Diana Rico: It's a shamanic transformation of the me jealousy. 288 00:27:03.310 --> 00:27:04.330 R. David (he/him): Yep. 289 00:27:04.700 --> 00:27:06.310 R. David (he/him): members… go ahead. 290 00:27:08.130 --> 00:27:21.410 Diana Rico: I want to say also that my first hit when we read this was it reminded me so much of the ways that women were tested during witch trials in Europe and the United States. 291 00:27:21.690 --> 00:27:24.309 R. Rachel: So glad you mentioned that, no reason. 292 00:27:24.310 --> 00:27:29.779 R. David (he/him): No reason! We'll get there in just a moment. Thank you for, the checks in the mail. 293 00:27:29.920 --> 00:27:41.699 R. David (he/him): I sail in Ruth's hand, hang on. So, yes, this is about transforming energy. Yes, this is about dealing with emotional complexity. Yes, this is… 294 00:27:41.850 --> 00:27:48.049 R. David (he/him): On the surface, but notice, it… on the surface. 295 00:27:50.960 --> 00:27:54.749 R. David (he/him): I'm more angry than I'm hearing in the room. 296 00:27:56.670 --> 00:28:01.100 R. David (he/him): Does this group need one of those Keenan Beetle anger translators? 297 00:28:02.920 --> 00:28:05.829 R. Rachel: Oh, I think there's probably some anger at the room. 298 00:28:06.390 --> 00:28:14.700 R. David (he/him): I mean, I'm happy to, you know… Anger? …go there, but does someone wanna… You know, save a thing. 299 00:28:15.210 --> 00:28:17.410 R. David (he/him): What's not being said here? 300 00:28:18.750 --> 00:28:19.330 Sherrill Cropper: The man. 301 00:28:19.330 --> 00:28:19.780 R. David (he/him): Cheryl. 302 00:28:19.780 --> 00:28:21.730 Sherrill Cropper: The man isn't… 303 00:28:21.730 --> 00:28:23.339 R. David (he/him): The man isn't on trial. 304 00:28:23.540 --> 00:28:31.760 R. David (he/him): It isn't. If you accuse your wife falsely, may your thigh shrivel up. It doesn't say that. What else, Brad? 305 00:28:31.760 --> 00:28:35.709 Brett Chinn: Also, the… if she… the man that she's gone astray with. 306 00:28:36.000 --> 00:28:37.750 R. David (he/him): Or not gone astray with. 307 00:28:37.750 --> 00:28:41.629 Brett Chinn: I feel like he's… like, alright, and I… I'm good. 308 00:28:42.910 --> 00:28:51.919 Brett Chinn: all the blame's being put on the woman. I also want to go… I am angry. I really know that… ugh, not… sorry. I know that we said the reward at the bottom. 309 00:28:52.040 --> 00:28:57.260 Brett Chinn: But to me, it feels like… The potion also has a… 310 00:28:57.710 --> 00:29:05.740 Brett Chinn: consequence. Like, if you drink it and you're quote-unquote guilty, which really could be you're drinking dirty water. 311 00:29:06.230 --> 00:29:08.209 Brett Chinn: Can you not bear seed anymore? 312 00:29:08.660 --> 00:29:09.410 R. David (he/him): Oh, hello! 313 00:29:09.890 --> 00:29:13.390 R. Rachel: Could it… is it an abortifacient? Is it a… 314 00:29:13.390 --> 00:29:18.240 Brett Chinn: Yeah, it feels like it's doing something to the woman's reproductive system. 315 00:29:18.470 --> 00:29:31.359 R. David (he/him): and the woman has to stand there in front of everybody, and if the guy has a jealousy problem, this is heteronormative context, if the guy has a jealousy problem, it's the woman who's made the spectacle of. 316 00:29:32.040 --> 00:29:33.720 Marcia's iPad: Yeah, her head. Uncovered. 317 00:29:33.720 --> 00:29:34.760 R. Rachel: her hair… 318 00:29:34.760 --> 00:29:36.000 Brett Chinn: Like, scarlet Letter. 319 00:29:36.330 --> 00:29:37.810 R. Rachel: Yeah, exactly. 320 00:29:37.810 --> 00:29:41.360 R. David (he/him): Basically, like, where do you think they got it from? 321 00:29:42.940 --> 00:29:51.030 R. David (he/him): all of those, quote, trials, the Salem Witch Trials, the Scarlet Letter. 322 00:29:51.130 --> 00:29:59.380 R. David (he/him): I mean, Rachel's like, yeah, Radansky, yeah, yeah, and so… 323 00:30:00.330 --> 00:30:06.509 R. David (he/him): There's a lot of material on how this text, even though we are here trying to redeem it. 324 00:30:06.850 --> 00:30:10.600 R. David (he/him): Does bear an element of misogyny. 325 00:30:11.190 --> 00:30:19.999 R. David (he/him): Flat out, An element, right? Thank you, I'm trying to be subtle. An element. Like, a big element. 326 00:30:21.040 --> 00:30:23.570 R. David (he/him): Cheryl, and then back to Ellen Ruth. 327 00:30:24.000 --> 00:30:35.279 Sherrill Cropper: We're not trying to redeem it, though. We're trying to break it down in understanding. I don't see any redemption that we're doing here. We're just recognizing what's here and taking it apart. Okay. 328 00:30:35.900 --> 00:30:37.009 R. David (he/him): Because… 329 00:30:37.450 --> 00:30:52.150 Sherrill Cropper: as I said to start, it's almost impossible for this to happen. If no one sees you, it's basically just the husband accusing you. But even then, if the husband is accusing you, there has to be other qualities that come forth. Someone has to have seen you. 330 00:30:52.150 --> 00:30:52.750 R. David (he/him): Somewhere. 331 00:30:52.750 --> 00:30:54.160 Sherrill Cropper: NASDA. 332 00:30:54.160 --> 00:30:55.280 R. David (he/him): odds, right? 333 00:30:55.900 --> 00:30:57.899 Sherrill Cropper: Well, it doesn't say or not. 334 00:30:58.090 --> 00:31:02.029 R. Rachel: You know, this happens, Dovka, because, in some ways. 335 00:31:02.030 --> 00:31:02.660 R. David (he/him): There was no… 336 00:31:02.660 --> 00:31:04.130 R. Rachel: There are no witnesses. 337 00:31:06.390 --> 00:31:07.750 R. David (he/him): No witnesses here. 338 00:31:08.390 --> 00:31:10.630 Marcia's iPad: The only witness is the jealousy. 339 00:31:10.630 --> 00:31:11.090 R. David (he/him): Lights. 340 00:31:11.090 --> 00:31:11.500 Marcia's iPad: That's… 341 00:31:11.500 --> 00:31:16.080 R. Rachel: Alright, let's… Ellen Ruth, and then I see Joan's hand, and then we've got some places to go. 342 00:31:17.930 --> 00:31:19.670 R. David (he/him): Which we may go out of order. 343 00:31:19.670 --> 00:31:26.389 ert: I'm wondering… Who at this time could read? 344 00:31:28.500 --> 00:31:29.200 ert: No. That's a. 345 00:31:29.200 --> 00:31:30.010 R. David (he/him): Wonderful question. 346 00:31:30.010 --> 00:31:32.049 ert: Who were the people who could read? 347 00:31:33.130 --> 00:31:34.310 R. David (he/him): Priest? Certainly. 348 00:31:36.170 --> 00:31:38.139 R. David (he/him): I don't know the answer to that question. 349 00:31:38.460 --> 00:31:53.440 ert: If I was a woman living at that time, I would have liked to have known what the rules were by being able to read it in their Torah, and 350 00:31:53.590 --> 00:31:57.460 ert: I'm thinking, if I dream into that time. 351 00:31:57.740 --> 00:32:02.690 ert: Who… who's explaining all of this to me? 352 00:32:03.990 --> 00:32:06.210 ert: Because I can't read. 353 00:32:06.390 --> 00:32:12.570 ert: And I don't know what it says. And have I been told about it? 354 00:32:12.670 --> 00:32:14.170 ert: Beforehand… 355 00:32:14.240 --> 00:32:15.999 R. David (he/him): Hold on to that. I know. 356 00:32:16.000 --> 00:32:19.129 ert: I know this exists in my culture. 357 00:32:19.690 --> 00:32:25.610 R. David (he/him): Hold on to that, Ellen Ruth. That's a beautiful and a very important question. We are going to answer it. 358 00:32:31.750 --> 00:32:33.720 R. Rachel: Joe's hand, and then I… 359 00:32:34.100 --> 00:32:37.679 R. David (he/him): Yep, there's a question that Deanna just asked in the chat box, 360 00:32:37.850 --> 00:32:54.220 R. David (he/him): Does this happen in front of the people, or is it just the husband, wife, and Kohen? Because it's in front of Adonai at the Mishkan, she's not allowed to go behind the veil, because she's not a Kohen. Therefore, it's in front of the veil, and therefore everybody can see. 361 00:32:56.880 --> 00:32:58.640 R. David (he/him): This is a public trial. 362 00:33:01.410 --> 00:33:10.780 R. David (he/him): Public. Which makes sense, because if the man is jealous and walking around saying she blah-blahed, there needs to be some public aspect to this. 363 00:33:11.350 --> 00:33:13.490 R. David (he/him): Which raises the stakes. 364 00:33:13.900 --> 00:33:15.450 Marcia's iPad: Who's doing the judging? 365 00:33:16.470 --> 00:33:17.360 R. David (he/him): The water. 366 00:33:18.560 --> 00:33:20.429 R. Rachel: God, arguably. 367 00:33:20.530 --> 00:33:21.060 Marcia's iPad: Okay. 368 00:33:21.060 --> 00:33:25.089 R. Rachel: If this magic spell does something visible to her. 369 00:33:25.350 --> 00:33:32.629 R. Rachel: and her thigh falls and her belly descends in front of everybody, then obviously she is guilty. And if it doesn't… 370 00:33:32.630 --> 00:33:33.000 R. David (he/him): Easily. 371 00:33:33.000 --> 00:33:34.310 R. Rachel: Apparently, she's not. 372 00:33:34.310 --> 00:33:40.220 R. David (he/him): Obviously. Joan, last thing, and then we are going to, show you something a little funny, and then we're gonna do. 373 00:33:40.220 --> 00:33:43.150 R. Rachel: And then we're gonna dive into the tradition. Yeah, you're right, do it in that order. 374 00:33:43.150 --> 00:33:51.830 Joan Green: Thank you. From… from start to finish, you have the… you have a man bringing his wife out of his own jealousy. 375 00:33:51.830 --> 00:33:52.210 R. David (he/him): Yes. 376 00:33:52.210 --> 00:34:07.880 Joan Green: that, as has been said, that there's any reason to bring her. And it finalizes with saying, she may not have done this. So it's almost farcical, because any man could do it. 377 00:34:07.880 --> 00:34:08.350 R. David (he/him): Mmm. 378 00:34:08.350 --> 00:34:19.889 Joan Green: I can't help, I must say this, I have to think of a get today. It's something that men were given the opportunity to do or not to do. 379 00:34:20.090 --> 00:34:24.500 Joan Green: And the, they play it out, But… 380 00:34:24.810 --> 00:34:28.590 Joan Green: She has to go through it, because that's the way the system works. 381 00:34:30.659 --> 00:34:31.739 R. David (he/him): That's right! 382 00:34:32.800 --> 00:34:34.029 R. Rachel: Let me just… 383 00:34:34.210 --> 00:34:45.879 R. Rachel: while we're waiting for this clip to become available, I just want to name the fact that for some of us in the room, this may land in a tender place if we have ever been accused of infidelity. 384 00:34:48.150 --> 00:34:52.399 R. Rachel: So, I'm just… Naming that as someone who's… 385 00:34:52.600 --> 00:34:57.920 R. Rachel: I'm just naming that and want to say that if anyone else in the room is feeling that way. 386 00:34:58.110 --> 00:35:00.269 R. Rachel: We honor that, and… 387 00:35:00.550 --> 00:35:03.940 R. David (he/him): Oh, you're not gonna be able to hear this unless I do it a certain way, hang on. 388 00:35:05.480 --> 00:35:06.120 R. Rachel: Hannah, everybody. 389 00:35:06.120 --> 00:35:09.399 R. David (he/him): Share, share systems… 390 00:35:09.400 --> 00:35:11.529 Diana Rico: May I say something quickly? 391 00:35:11.530 --> 00:35:12.390 R. David (he/him): Yes. 392 00:35:12.390 --> 00:35:23.450 Diana Rico: what was just said. Didn't it say in the first line that God said, if a woman has done this, here's the procedure? 393 00:35:23.450 --> 00:35:27.290 R. David (he/him): What that means is, I've been alone with another guy. 394 00:35:28.360 --> 00:35:28.830 Diana Rico: That doesn't. 395 00:35:28.830 --> 00:35:33.060 R. David (he/him): Doesn't mean she's actually been… unf… unfaithful. 396 00:35:33.490 --> 00:35:34.010 Diana Rico: Oh, okay. 397 00:35:34.010 --> 00:35:37.429 R. David (he/him): It does not say, she did the deed, but no one saw. 398 00:35:37.610 --> 00:35:38.680 Diana Rico: Okay. 399 00:35:38.680 --> 00:35:39.000 R. David (he/him): Alright. 400 00:35:39.290 --> 00:35:42.629 James Nerlinger (Cincinnati, Ohio USA): Isn't that, like, 7 minutes or something like that? Isn't that the… 401 00:35:42.630 --> 00:35:43.790 R. Rachel: 87 is September. 402 00:35:43.790 --> 00:35:52.530 R. David (he/him): Yeah, someone's been to high school, right? You know, 7 minutes in the… okay. Something like that, exactly right. 403 00:35:52.530 --> 00:35:54.260 Audio shared by R. David (he/him): Here we go. 404 00:35:56.100 --> 00:36:00.500 Audio shared by R. David (he/him): The second you know what this is, raise your hand. 405 00:36:04.210 --> 00:36:06.840 Audio shared by R. David (he/him): Gotta wait! 406 00:36:07.630 --> 00:36:10.080 Audio shared by R. David (he/him): We've had a role! 407 00:36:12.340 --> 00:36:19.089 Audio shared by R. David (he/him): A witch! A witch! A witch! We have found the witch! May we burn up? 408 00:36:21.720 --> 00:36:26.420 Audio shared by R. David (he/him): Who do you know she is a witch? She looks like one! 409 00:36:26.590 --> 00:36:28.139 Audio shared by R. David (he/him): Bring her forward! 410 00:36:29.240 --> 00:36:39.059 Audio shared by R. David (he/him): Not a witch, I'm not a witch! But you are just as one! They dressed me up like this. And this isn't my nose, it's a false one! 411 00:36:43.370 --> 00:36:46.399 Audio shared by R. David (he/him): Well, we did do the nose. The nose? 412 00:36:46.630 --> 00:36:49.559 Audio shared by R. David (he/him): And the hat. But she's a witch! 413 00:36:52.170 --> 00:37:00.499 Audio shared by R. David (he/him): Don't dress her up like this? No! No! Yes, yes, yes, a bit, a bit, a bit, a bit. She has got a wart! 414 00:37:00.780 --> 00:37:05.219 Audio shared by R. David (he/him): What makes you think she's a witch? Oh, she turned me into a newt! 415 00:37:06.140 --> 00:37:07.120 Audio shared by R. David (he/him): A newt. 416 00:37:11.220 --> 00:37:12.360 Audio shared by R. David (he/him): We got better. 417 00:37:13.270 --> 00:37:14.000 Audio shared by R. David (he/him): Alrighty! 418 00:37:18.760 --> 00:37:19.470 Audio shared by R. David (he/him): What? 419 00:37:20.610 --> 00:37:31.479 Audio shared by R. David (he/him): There are ways of telling whether she is a witch. Tell me, what do you do with witches? 420 00:37:34.120 --> 00:37:38.399 Audio shared by R. David (he/him): And what do you burn apart from witches? Oh, witches! 421 00:37:39.110 --> 00:37:39.900 Audio shared by R. David (he/him): Wood! 422 00:37:40.010 --> 00:37:42.970 Audio shared by R. David (he/him): So, why do witches burn? 423 00:37:53.350 --> 00:37:58.629 Audio shared by R. David (he/him): Because I'm made of wood. Good! Oh, yeah. So… 424 00:37:58.960 --> 00:37:59.579 R. David (he/him): They wouldn't care. 425 00:37:59.580 --> 00:38:01.769 Audio shared by R. David (he/him): Whether she is made of wood. 426 00:38:02.260 --> 00:38:05.310 Audio shared by R. David (he/him): Build a bridge out of her! But can you not post on me? 427 00:38:05.310 --> 00:38:05.750 R. David (he/him): Great job. 428 00:38:05.750 --> 00:38:07.369 Audio shared by R. David (he/him): She's out of stone? 429 00:38:07.940 --> 00:38:09.530 Audio shared by R. David (he/him): Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah, cool. 430 00:38:09.800 --> 00:38:17.170 Audio shared by R. David (he/him): Does wood sink in water? No! No! No, it floats! It floats! Oh, into the pool! 431 00:38:19.080 --> 00:38:23.229 Audio shared by R. David (he/him): What also flutes in water? Braid! 432 00:38:23.730 --> 00:38:31.799 Audio shared by R. David (he/him): Apples! Very small rocks. Cider! A great gravy! Cherries! Mud! A churches! Churches! Lead! Lead! A duck! 433 00:38:34.030 --> 00:38:35.800 Audio shared by R. David (he/him): Exactly! 434 00:38:36.700 --> 00:38:43.909 Audio shared by R. David (he/him): So, logically, if… She… Weighs the same as a duck. 435 00:38:45.870 --> 00:38:52.259 Audio shared by R. David (he/him): She's made of wood, and therefore… A witch! A witch! 436 00:38:57.170 --> 00:38:59.509 Audio shared by R. David (he/him): We shall use my larger scales! 437 00:39:09.110 --> 00:39:12.150 Audio shared by R. David (he/him): The chickens are for you, sir. 438 00:39:18.260 --> 00:39:22.580 Audio shared by R. David (he/him): Right! Remove the supports! 439 00:39:29.210 --> 00:39:30.150 Audio shared by R. David (he/him): Fairchildren. 440 00:39:38.840 --> 00:39:45.569 Audio shared by R. David (he/him): Who are so wise in the ways of science? I am Arthur, King of the Britons. My liege! 441 00:39:46.050 --> 00:39:53.749 Audio shared by R. David (he/him): Good tonight, will you come with me to Camelot and join us at the round table? My liege, I would be honored! 442 00:39:53.930 --> 00:39:55.210 Audio shared by R. David (he/him): What is your name? 443 00:39:55.340 --> 00:39:59.960 Audio shared by R. David (he/him): Betterbeer, my liege. Then I dub you… Sir Bedemere! 444 00:40:00.250 --> 00:40:02.810 Audio shared by R. David (he/him): Night of the Round Table! 445 00:40:03.410 --> 00:40:04.780 Audio shared by R. David (he/him): The wise submit-. 446 00:40:08.170 --> 00:40:11.679 R. Rachel: So, for those of us who grew up on Monty Python. 447 00:40:12.170 --> 00:40:17.179 R. Rachel: This is a classic scene, and wow, it still makes me laugh 40 years later. 448 00:40:17.460 --> 00:40:24.220 R. David (he/him): And the reason is because, unfortunately, there's… Truth… 449 00:40:24.350 --> 00:40:26.849 R. David (he/him): To the social commentary here, right? 450 00:40:27.900 --> 00:40:29.020 R. David (he/him): So let's go. 451 00:40:31.750 --> 00:40:41.660 R. David (he/him): Dean Steinsaltz is a modern guy, and he's bringing forward a whole… 1500 years of commentary. 452 00:40:43.270 --> 00:40:46.309 R. David (he/him): And look what he says. Now, granted, this is a modern perspective. 453 00:40:46.990 --> 00:40:53.740 R. David (he/him): In the absence of witnesses and given the wife's denial, the husband's suspicion may be based solely on his paranoia. 454 00:40:53.950 --> 00:40:55.350 R. David (he/him): Or, you might be right. 455 00:40:56.920 --> 00:41:02.230 R. David (he/him): So, it starts with the premise that we don't know, The husband doesn't know. 456 00:41:03.670 --> 00:41:08.469 R. David (he/him): And he could just… Be totally messed up in his own heart. 457 00:41:13.250 --> 00:41:18.669 R. David (he/him): Where have we seen in quote-unquote, infidelity before in Torah? 458 00:41:19.820 --> 00:41:21.470 R. David (he/him): Anyone have a sense? 459 00:41:27.050 --> 00:41:30.349 R. David (he/him): The hint is looking at you in the second text. 460 00:41:33.630 --> 00:41:35.609 R. Rachel: Somebody want to read the Ava de Zara? 461 00:41:36.260 --> 00:41:37.300 R. David (he/him): This is from Talmud. 462 00:41:38.560 --> 00:41:39.600 R. Rachel: Moshe sprinkled? 463 00:41:42.490 --> 00:41:45.150 Marcia's iPad: I'm the golden calf, you guys need? 464 00:41:47.500 --> 00:41:49.809 Marcia's iPad: Whatever. 465 00:41:49.810 --> 00:41:50.590 R. Rachel: Read that one? 466 00:41:52.600 --> 00:41:53.470 R. David (he/him): Someone. 467 00:41:54.210 --> 00:41:55.550 R. David (he/him): It's 3 lines. 468 00:41:55.960 --> 00:42:03.590 Marcia's iPad: Mostly sprinkled the ground-up half on the water, and made the children of Israel drink it. 469 00:42:04.050 --> 00:42:10.170 Marcia's iPad: It is the same intent for inspecting the SOTA women. 470 00:42:10.170 --> 00:42:11.930 R. David (he/him): This is these people. 471 00:42:12.510 --> 00:42:14.499 R. David (he/him): What is this an allegory for? 472 00:42:22.750 --> 00:42:24.760 R. Rachel: What was the sin of the golden calf? 473 00:42:27.430 --> 00:42:28.730 Marcia's iPad: Idolatry? 474 00:42:29.260 --> 00:42:30.250 R. Rachel: Hidolatry? 475 00:42:31.310 --> 00:42:36.799 R. Rachel: And if our paradigm for covenant with God is marriage. 476 00:42:37.740 --> 00:42:44.059 R. Rachel: There are a lot of places that use the same language of making ourselves kadosh, set apart for God. 477 00:42:44.440 --> 00:42:47.469 R. Rachel: Our relationship with God is a monogamous one, dammit. 478 00:42:49.150 --> 00:42:52.379 R. Rachel: So, in that view, what was the calf? 479 00:42:53.610 --> 00:42:54.870 R. Rachel: But an affair. 480 00:42:55.530 --> 00:42:56.690 R. David (he/him): is infidelity. 481 00:42:58.720 --> 00:43:03.560 R. David (he/him): So, anyone know what last week was on the Jewish calendar? 482 00:43:04.570 --> 00:43:05.650 Marcia's iPad: Oh, whoa. 483 00:43:05.650 --> 00:43:07.370 R. David (he/him): Shavuot, which was… 484 00:43:07.750 --> 00:43:11.220 Marcia's iPad: They're giving, and receiving of the Torah. 485 00:43:11.220 --> 00:43:20.040 R. David (he/him): Which… was our ketubah when we, quote, collectively married God. 486 00:43:21.090 --> 00:43:23.020 R. David (he/him): So, last week. 487 00:43:23.770 --> 00:43:38.659 R. David (he/him): we commemorated our collective engagement betrothal to the sacred, using the Ten Commandments, the Torah, as our ketubah. And immediately, we're hit with the Sota trial. 488 00:43:39.610 --> 00:43:42.499 R. David (he/him): Harkening back to the story of the golden calf. 489 00:43:44.200 --> 00:43:45.470 R. David (he/him): Immediately. 490 00:43:46.210 --> 00:43:57.230 R. David (he/him): But as… I… was it Joan who said? And I think Cheryl agreed, this is so unlikely to cause 491 00:43:57.400 --> 00:44:02.759 R. David (he/him): Any real distension of body and awfulness. 492 00:44:04.360 --> 00:44:07.280 R. David (he/him): Can we really violate the covenant? 493 00:44:08.060 --> 00:44:09.200 R. David (he/him): Completely? 494 00:44:10.420 --> 00:44:15.360 R. David (he/him): And irredeemably, Probably not. 495 00:44:17.820 --> 00:44:18.850 R. David (he/him): Probably not. 496 00:44:19.220 --> 00:44:27.080 R. Rachel: So already this has become bigger than just one marital relationship, and possibly one jealous guy. 497 00:44:27.460 --> 00:44:31.640 R. Rachel: Suddenly, this is about our relationship with God. 498 00:44:35.470 --> 00:44:39.570 R. Rachel: I'm, I'm seeing hands. Amy, and then Ellen Ruth. 499 00:44:43.000 --> 00:44:45.780 Amy V: This may be the glass half full. 500 00:44:46.440 --> 00:44:56.739 Amy V: But… as… cruel and petty at times. This, you know, the whole procedure is, and the ritual. 501 00:44:57.270 --> 00:45:10.479 Amy V: It strikes me that there's an element of, preservation of the relationship, and also safety. I mean, just the assumption 502 00:45:10.810 --> 00:45:17.740 Amy V: That the jealousy in the marriage is a community issue. 503 00:45:17.940 --> 00:45:29.610 Amy V: It's not taking place just between the two of them. It becomes a community issue, which makes it, in modern terms, safer for the woman. 504 00:45:30.000 --> 00:45:30.470 R. Rachel: Right. 505 00:45:30.470 --> 00:45:41.929 Amy V: And it's also about the preservation of it, but I just… I find it very interesting that it's immediately a community issue. It's not something… 506 00:45:42.240 --> 00:45:42.800 Amy V: I don't. 507 00:45:42.800 --> 00:45:54.049 R. Rachel: I thought about the safety piece, Amy. Thank you for that. Yeah, right, it's really… it's… the man… the jealous guy is not gonna just beat his wife up at home where nobody can see it. It becomes a public issue. 508 00:45:54.990 --> 00:45:57.830 R. Rachel: Which changes the dynamic of safety for her. 509 00:45:59.080 --> 00:46:09.919 R. David (he/him): Ellen Ruth asked in the very beginning, why is this spiritual? And already we're starting to see some answers to this. Because at one level, this is about our relationship with God. 510 00:46:10.880 --> 00:46:12.539 R. David (he/him): And the nature of covenant. 511 00:46:12.970 --> 00:46:19.150 R. David (he/him): And maybe we need ritual to bring us, quote, back in, because we're gone astray. 512 00:46:19.540 --> 00:46:27.440 R. David (he/him): And… This ritual is intended To benefit the woman. 513 00:46:28.520 --> 00:46:38.650 R. David (he/him): And it's… and then at the… or us, and then at the level of the individual, it's a break on the jealous husband's unilateral authority. 514 00:46:38.780 --> 00:46:45.050 R. David (he/him): it… Publicizes the whole thing, and protects the woman against 515 00:46:45.330 --> 00:46:52.310 R. David (he/him): being the victim of Lashon Hara, of evil speech, and calling her heaven-knows-what in public. - 516 00:46:52.780 --> 00:46:56.299 R. David (he/him): And we're gonna pick that up in a little bit. 517 00:46:56.300 --> 00:46:59.909 R. Rachel: Victim of… potentially the victim of physical violence in the home. 518 00:47:00.220 --> 00:47:09.589 R. David (he/him): Right, right, exactly. Bamidbah Rabbah just takes every step of, you know, the priest does this, and the priest does that, and the priest does the other thing, I see hands. 519 00:47:09.590 --> 00:47:26.030 R. David (he/him): And every single one of these things maps in Exodus to an experience that Moses had with the people committing them to the covenant. And then, oops, golden calf. So, every piece of this Sotah trial finds an allegory. 520 00:47:26.440 --> 00:47:30.219 R. David (he/him): in the story that precedes the Golden Calf, and then moving into it. 521 00:47:30.540 --> 00:47:36.369 R. David (he/him): Which is exactly what MidRash does, it connects text to text. Ellen Ruth, and then Cheryl. 522 00:47:38.100 --> 00:47:40.850 ert: I'm… I'm seeing this now. 523 00:47:41.000 --> 00:47:49.179 ert: As a developmental story of growth in learning how to judge. 524 00:47:49.780 --> 00:47:57.299 ert: So… And I'm seeing it in a different way. 525 00:47:57.410 --> 00:48:07.579 ert: As this is the beginning of a process in terms of us understanding how to see what the truth is. 526 00:48:07.580 --> 00:48:12.790 R. David (he/him): Yes, exactly, Ellen Roof. And it may not be what appears on the surface. 527 00:48:14.560 --> 00:48:15.850 R. David (he/him): Exactly. 528 00:48:16.070 --> 00:48:19.820 R. David (he/him): Oh, this is a terrible, terrible thing, and there are elements that… 529 00:48:19.970 --> 00:48:22.529 R. David (he/him): You know, really do smack of misogyny. 530 00:48:22.790 --> 00:48:29.509 R. David (he/him): elements. And… A bunch of comments here, not so fast. Not so fast. 531 00:48:29.820 --> 00:48:30.710 R. David (he/him): Cheryl. 532 00:48:32.820 --> 00:48:38.200 Sherrill Cropper: I think we moved very quickly over something that really struck me, and I'd like to go back to it for a moment. 533 00:48:38.200 --> 00:48:38.750 R. David (he/him): Right. 534 00:48:39.110 --> 00:48:48.669 Sherrill Cropper: Which is… The breaking or impossibility of actually fully ever breaking the covenant with God. 535 00:48:49.310 --> 00:48:51.449 Sherrill Cropper: And, for me. 536 00:48:51.450 --> 00:48:53.260 R. David (he/him): Or at least, at least permanently. 537 00:48:53.910 --> 00:48:54.360 Sherrill Cropper: Yeah. 538 00:48:54.360 --> 00:48:55.080 R. David (he/him): Irredeemably. 539 00:48:55.080 --> 00:48:58.870 Sherrill Cropper: Like, can that ever happen? Because 540 00:48:59.970 --> 00:49:03.870 Sherrill Cropper: In the beginning, we are the image, 541 00:49:04.390 --> 00:49:08.010 Sherrill Cropper: But more on my thinking is. 542 00:49:08.210 --> 00:49:24.750 Sherrill Cropper: we are the actual essence. It's a similar vibrational energy that is within all of us as in the divine, and we are connected to the divine. And so, in the past, when we've talked about people who no longer 543 00:49:25.540 --> 00:49:32.829 Sherrill Cropper: are con… like, they may forget. We may… in this human existence, we may forget. 544 00:49:32.980 --> 00:49:43.890 Sherrill Cropper: But that doesn't mean we are truly separate. And when we, you know, we've also talked about what it means to be separate from God, and… 545 00:49:44.400 --> 00:49:53.650 Sherrill Cropper: that's the feeling of being lost and whatnot, and finding our way back. So I think that the concept of a broken covenant 546 00:49:54.240 --> 00:50:05.890 Sherrill Cropper: Is the human concept, and… Can never actually be broken from the side, the view of the energetic connection. 547 00:50:05.890 --> 00:50:13.639 R. David (he/him): Right, and even in… if you remember, if you were here at the end of Leviticus, there was this whole discussion of… 548 00:50:13.930 --> 00:50:24.189 R. David (he/him): You know, if you don't obey, then this'll happen, and this'll happen, and this'll happen. And we didn't go through the whole thing, but we talked about how at the end of all those things. 549 00:50:25.300 --> 00:50:30.539 R. David (he/him): Eventually, you'll remember that I love you, says God, and I'll bring you back. 550 00:50:31.700 --> 00:50:36.760 R. David (he/him): There is no ultimate Being voted off the proverbial island. 551 00:50:36.990 --> 00:50:38.729 R. David (he/him): There may be consequences for your actions. 552 00:50:38.730 --> 00:50:42.400 R. Rachel: And some of the prophets speak as though there is. 553 00:50:42.930 --> 00:50:46.289 R. Rachel: But that's, again, a human element. 554 00:50:46.290 --> 00:50:47.609 R. David (he/him): Yep, let's move forward. 555 00:50:47.610 --> 00:50:55.939 R. Rachel: Let's, so Judy Abrams, who's also contemporary, notes that this can be a ritual of hope and reconciliation. 556 00:50:56.190 --> 00:51:03.280 R. Rachel: We stray from God, and this is a way of salvaging the relationship, which is something that I've heard in the room already. 557 00:51:05.270 --> 00:51:11.510 R. Rachel: And the women's Torah commentary also notes maybe the purpose of the trial is to allay the husband's jealousy. 558 00:51:12.350 --> 00:51:15.860 R. Rachel: And points out that the text does not assume that the woman is guilty. 559 00:51:16.850 --> 00:51:19.569 R. Rachel: Okay? So, just worth noticing. 560 00:51:23.020 --> 00:51:24.150 R. David (he/him): Let's do a little reading. 561 00:51:27.740 --> 00:51:31.160 R. David (he/him): Would someone like, I think… 562 00:51:31.750 --> 00:51:33.600 R. David (he/him): Amy, this might be for you. 563 00:51:34.530 --> 00:51:35.780 R. David (he/him): If you're still here. 564 00:51:41.250 --> 00:51:42.730 R. Rachel: Or it might be for someone else. 565 00:51:42.730 --> 00:51:46.600 R. David (he/him): If someone has seen this text as acquitting the woman. 566 00:51:47.750 --> 00:51:49.939 R. David (he/him): Maybe this first text is for you. 567 00:51:54.430 --> 00:51:55.900 Rachel Rudansky: Oh, go ahead. 568 00:51:56.950 --> 00:51:59.020 Rachel Rudansky: Redeeming the SOTA. 569 00:51:59.470 --> 00:52:17.149 Rachel Rudansky: While it is certainly distressing to imagine biblical women inflicted with humiliation and physical threat, I like to imagine this ordeal as one of the examples of biblical ingenuity. Let us note that the effects of the bitter waters are somewhat paradoxical. 570 00:52:17.150 --> 00:52:24.650 Rachel Rudansky: If the woman is guilty of adultery, she will become barren. If she is innocent, she will be fertile. 571 00:52:24.880 --> 00:52:40.439 Rachel Rudansky: Some interpret this verse to mean that she will get pregnant. In other words, the SOTA trial will enable a jealous, suspicious husband to be assured that his wife's pregnancy is a sign of his… of her. 572 00:52:40.540 --> 00:52:54.220 Rachel Rudansky: faithfulness to him. Surely, this bit of biblical magic was a way of maintaining shalom Bayit, and a means of asserting clear lineage. 573 00:52:54.220 --> 00:52:56.719 R. David (he/him): Shalom bite, peace in the home. 574 00:53:03.040 --> 00:53:08.750 R. David (he/him): So here's Torah using… Jealousy. 575 00:53:10.720 --> 00:53:11.270 R. David (he/him): to… 576 00:53:11.270 --> 00:53:21.269 R. Rachel: as a tool, Recognizing this quality of human nature, And working within it. 577 00:53:21.520 --> 00:53:24.029 R. Rachel: To help us work our stuff out. 578 00:53:26.020 --> 00:53:26.650 R. David (he/him): Huh. 579 00:53:26.950 --> 00:53:33.099 R. David (he/him): And I think… oh, Deanna, go ahead. We may get to skip this one, it's just another way of saying the same thing. 580 00:53:33.100 --> 00:53:41.670 R. Rachel: Yeah, really, I just… the line, she drinks murky waters to settle a murky situation, is just… Chef's kiss. 581 00:53:44.850 --> 00:53:50.280 Diana Rico: I had forgotten I had this thought when we were reading it before, but it comes up here, that 582 00:53:50.390 --> 00:53:55.100 Diana Rico: If she is pregnant, is pregnant. 583 00:53:55.330 --> 00:54:01.339 Diana Rico: When this trial thing happens, And perhaps she's pregnant from having slept with the other guy. 584 00:54:02.250 --> 00:54:04.750 Diana Rico: But the murky water's not gonna do anything. 585 00:54:05.070 --> 00:54:08.010 Diana Rico: I think, as a 21st century person. 586 00:54:08.010 --> 00:54:09.600 R. Rachel: He has to assure the husband that. 587 00:54:09.600 --> 00:54:13.849 Diana Rico: It will assure the husband that this baby that she maybe has. 588 00:54:13.850 --> 00:54:15.649 R. David (he/him): She's not a witch! 589 00:54:15.910 --> 00:54:16.800 Diana Rico: Yeah. 590 00:54:17.820 --> 00:54:19.250 Diana Rico: Very clever. 591 00:54:21.890 --> 00:54:25.250 R. David (he/him): Yeah. Bonnie Python upside down. Ellen Ruth! 592 00:54:26.420 --> 00:54:27.340 R. David (he/him): Okay. 593 00:54:27.340 --> 00:54:29.719 ert: The… the murky waters. 594 00:54:29.950 --> 00:54:33.869 ert: make me think of the splitting of the right sea. 595 00:54:34.310 --> 00:54:40.800 ert: And, she was guilty, she would have drowned. 596 00:54:40.980 --> 00:54:43.909 ert: Instead of being frayed from each other. 597 00:54:44.470 --> 00:54:52.710 R. David (he/him): Suitable to all of this, when you come through the sea, we are reborn. 598 00:54:53.670 --> 00:54:56.380 R. David (he/him): What does water typically symbolize, James? 599 00:55:05.000 --> 00:55:11.500 R. David (he/him): Anyone have a sense of what water typically tends to symbolize in Jewish spirituality? 600 00:55:11.790 --> 00:55:12.120 Joan Green: life. 601 00:55:12.120 --> 00:55:12.680 Marcia's iPad: Torah? 602 00:55:12.680 --> 00:55:15.520 R. David (he/him): Yeah, Torah, life, what else? 603 00:55:15.700 --> 00:55:16.679 Amy V: the wound. 604 00:55:16.930 --> 00:55:18.180 R. David (he/him): the womb. 605 00:55:18.180 --> 00:55:19.009 Rachel Rudansky: All of these… 606 00:55:19.880 --> 00:55:20.450 R. Rachel: Period. 607 00:55:20.450 --> 00:55:20.930 R. David (he/him): the. 608 00:55:21.890 --> 00:55:24.989 R. Rachel: James is asking in the chat, did this really work? 609 00:55:25.580 --> 00:55:27.520 R. Rachel: We don't actually know. 610 00:55:27.750 --> 00:55:31.210 R. Rachel: But there's a whole lot of Talmud dedicated to it. 611 00:55:31.210 --> 00:55:34.109 R. David (he/him): Hang on, we're about to go there. Yep. So… 612 00:55:34.770 --> 00:55:52.390 R. David (he/him): In Jewish mysticism, the flow of water, the flow of things that flow, this is all associated with Shekhena, the indwelling presence, the Jewish feminine, the divine feminine. So here we're using the symbol of the divine feminine. 613 00:55:52.520 --> 00:56:02.719 R. David (he/him): In relation, which is water, in relation to male jealousy about a woman's putative chastity or fidelity or infidelity. 614 00:56:03.800 --> 00:56:05.369 R. David (he/him): And the cure is God. 615 00:56:08.260 --> 00:56:13.769 ert: Isn't water also Hesed on the Tree of Life? 616 00:56:14.350 --> 00:56:15.990 R. David (he/him): So, maybe love… 617 00:56:15.990 --> 00:56:17.069 ert: and kindness. 618 00:56:20.440 --> 00:56:26.390 R. David (he/him): things that… I mean, everything flows, but the fact of the flow is shehina. 619 00:56:31.410 --> 00:56:36.139 ert: I thought Guevara was fire, and Hesed was water. 620 00:56:36.810 --> 00:56:40.700 R. David (he/him): In a sense, but the fact of flow is Shekhena. 621 00:56:41.080 --> 00:56:47.789 R. David (he/him): The fact of things that flow is Shekhina. The particular form that the flow takes is a different conversation. 622 00:56:47.790 --> 00:56:53.390 ert: I'm not saying it isn't shaken, I'm saying in addition, It's had. 623 00:56:53.390 --> 00:56:59.500 R. David (he/him): Yes. Yep, sure, sure. So we're using… so in that understanding, we're using chesed. 624 00:56:59.980 --> 00:57:02.709 R. David (he/him): As a remedy for jealousy. 625 00:57:03.410 --> 00:57:06.219 R. David (he/him): Talk about spiritual lessons. 626 00:57:07.620 --> 00:57:12.980 R. Rachel: So let's… let's keep moving. I… Blue Greenberg, another contemporary Orthodox feminist. 627 00:57:13.330 --> 00:57:15.059 R. Rachel: Same thing. Yeah. 628 00:57:17.380 --> 00:57:26.840 R. David (he/him): So… Let's talk about… let's take up James' question, like, did this ever happen? What… what happened here? 629 00:57:28.370 --> 00:57:31.329 R. David (he/him): As often happens in Midrash, where you try to 630 00:57:31.660 --> 00:57:44.100 R. David (he/him): uplift a moral theme. The moral theme that the rabbis were fighting with is the fact that even though we can, you know, read into this text, redeem this text, whatever language we want to use for it, Cheryl, I hear ya. 631 00:57:44.330 --> 00:57:47.210 R. David (he/him): The rabbis were still really uncomfortable about it. 632 00:57:48.170 --> 00:57:49.260 R. Rachel: As they should be. 633 00:57:49.260 --> 00:57:50.380 R. David (he/him): As they should be, right? 634 00:57:50.380 --> 00:57:51.500 R. Rachel: Problematic! 635 00:57:51.500 --> 00:57:58.189 R. David (he/him): Right? So one of the things that tradition did with it is limit the circumstances. 636 00:57:58.390 --> 00:57:58.790 Marcia's iPad: Hmm. 637 00:57:58.790 --> 00:58:02.200 R. David (he/him): In which it could be used, or what 638 00:58:02.900 --> 00:58:12.990 R. David (he/him): we would make of it when it was used. Anybody want to read very quickly? And then we're actually going to look at what Talmud did, and some of the stories that came out of it. 639 00:58:15.400 --> 00:58:18.499 R. David (he/him): A couple of them are just completely ingenious. Someone want to read? 640 00:58:19.750 --> 00:58:25.839 David Green: The rabbis are interested in limiting the implementation of this ordeal to the extent they can. 641 00:58:26.220 --> 00:58:34.050 David Green: Second, they believe that with divine intervention, the paramour, too, if there was one, will be punished exactly as she is. 642 00:58:34.680 --> 00:58:40.930 David Green: Third, they believe that a history of good deeds on her part will postpone the implementation of the punishment. 643 00:58:41.040 --> 00:58:45.689 David Green: And finally, because so many men were committing adultery with so many women. 644 00:58:46.020 --> 00:58:51.269 David Green: They abolished the ideal… the ordeal of the bitter waters altogether. 645 00:58:51.450 --> 00:58:52.379 R. David (he/him): I don't know. 646 00:58:52.940 --> 00:58:53.790 R. David (he/him): Keep going. 647 00:58:54.770 --> 00:59:03.559 David Green: As grossly unjust as Sota may seem to the uninitiated reader of the Bible, when read in the context of the ancient Near Eastern literature. 648 00:59:03.810 --> 00:59:16.030 David Green: The ritual appears to have been reworked by the priestly legislators in order to protect a suspected but unproved adulteress from the vengeance of an irate husband or community. 649 00:59:16.200 --> 00:59:19.100 David Green: By mandating that God will decide her case. 650 00:59:19.100 --> 00:59:20.070 R. David (he/him): Not us. 651 00:59:21.020 --> 00:59:21.579 David Green: That's pretty dry. 652 00:59:21.580 --> 00:59:22.389 R. David (he/him): right there. 653 00:59:22.390 --> 00:59:30.780 David Green: Strange as it may sound, the point of the biblical reworking of the ordeal, according to Jacob Milgram, is to improve women's lives. 654 00:59:31.230 --> 00:59:40.369 R. Rachel: So it's worth noting here that this kind of ordeal or ritual seems to have been common across the ancient Near East. We weren't the only ones 655 00:59:40.810 --> 00:59:46.250 R. Rachel: To have something like this, but what made ours different is that… 656 00:59:46.490 --> 00:59:51.690 R. Rachel: First of all, the ultimate decision is made by God, either the magic trick works or it doesn't, and… 657 00:59:51.920 --> 00:59:53.279 R. Rachel: Seems pretty clear it's not involved. 658 00:59:53.280 --> 00:59:54.470 R. David (he/him): Not gonna work. 659 00:59:54.470 --> 00:59:56.090 R. Rachel: Right. So… 660 00:59:56.670 --> 01:00:06.000 R. Rachel: Rather than having a man with ultimate authority, whether that's the husband, or the cohain, or the patriarchy, this puts God in charge. 661 01:00:07.150 --> 01:00:09.710 R. Rachel: And that means that, ultimately. 662 01:00:10.320 --> 01:00:15.460 R. Rachel: The only thing the ritual could do was make it safer for the woman. Unless, of course. 663 01:00:15.630 --> 01:00:17.030 R. Rachel: Maybe she had? 664 01:00:18.560 --> 01:00:20.570 R. Rachel: Acted incorrectly. 665 01:00:20.570 --> 01:00:22.410 R. David (he/him): In which case, it's no worse off. 666 01:00:22.410 --> 01:00:28.440 R. Rachel: her own belief in the efficacy of the process might have caused a psychosomatic reaction. We don't know. 667 01:00:29.420 --> 01:00:33.610 R. David (he/him): Amy, Cheryl, and then someone… We're gonna start moving this forward. 668 01:00:34.570 --> 01:00:43.080 Amy V: I was hoping we could just read the last two lines of Blue Greenberg's commentary. 669 01:00:43.080 --> 01:00:43.630 R. David (he/him): Go for it. 670 01:00:43.630 --> 01:00:46.360 R. Rachel: Would you read those for us? Scroll a little there. 671 01:00:46.610 --> 01:01:04.540 Amy V: Yeah, maybe it's just the last sentence, yeah. In many ways, it is a paradigm for the dialectic regarding women that runs through Torah and Talmud, simultaneously hierarchical and protective, callous and compassionate. 672 01:01:07.450 --> 01:01:08.279 R. Rachel: Love that. 673 01:01:08.390 --> 01:01:09.340 R. Rachel: I really loved them. 674 01:01:09.340 --> 01:01:12.680 R. David (he/him): Indiana writes, it's an anger management strategy for men. 675 01:01:19.410 --> 01:01:20.460 R. David (he/him): Okay. 676 01:01:21.630 --> 01:01:23.819 R. David (he/him): Ellen Ruth, this is for you. 677 01:01:24.100 --> 01:01:27.260 R. Rachel: Do you want to read this one? We happen to have the author in the room. 678 01:01:27.450 --> 01:01:28.140 R. David (he/him): Nope. 679 01:01:31.190 --> 01:01:32.730 R. Rachel: Alright, somebody want to read? 680 01:01:32.910 --> 01:01:34.100 R. David (he/him): Ellen Ruth, go ahead. 681 01:01:37.090 --> 01:01:38.840 R. David (he/him): Ellen Ruth, you're muted. 682 01:01:43.900 --> 01:01:45.700 R. David (he/him): Okay, can someone else please? 683 01:01:48.470 --> 01:02:02.999 Joan Green: Torah in its day was about changing society one step at a time, and here, Torah's method was downright ingenious given its time. If the woman confessed before she drank, then the couple divorced and proceedings stopped. 684 01:02:03.010 --> 01:02:15.100 Joan Green: If she went through with the ordeal and became distended, then she was exiled. But in most circumstances, nothing happened. And if nothing happened, then the husband could never divorce the wife or accuse her again. 685 01:02:15.100 --> 01:02:19.269 R. David (he/him): That's one of the things that Talmud did with this. So think about it. 686 01:02:19.620 --> 01:02:21.669 R. David (he/him): If you accuse your wife. 687 01:02:25.420 --> 01:02:26.560 R. David (he/him): And you're wrong. 688 01:02:28.450 --> 01:02:32.130 R. David (he/him): You lose all power in the relationship forever. 689 01:02:36.610 --> 01:02:40.440 R. David (he/him): That's huge, and that's a human development of this. 690 01:02:41.840 --> 01:02:50.520 R. David (he/him): So one of the things the rabbis did is raise the stakes even more to give the woman even more power. 691 01:02:50.840 --> 01:02:54.579 R. David (he/him): Recognizing the injustice of being falsely accused. Keep going. 692 01:02:55.250 --> 01:02:56.539 Joan Green: And that was the point. 693 01:02:56.540 --> 01:03:20.980 Joan Green: By accusation and judgment, relational power inverted. Gone was the near East male dominance. Instead, henceforth, the accused woman controlled. Knowing this risk, the husband would be hesitant to accuse his wife, even in a fit of jealousy, because the fact of the accusation would be public and diminish him. As Tom had put it, it was as if the husband drank bitter waters, which then 694 01:03:20.980 --> 01:03:22.810 Joan Green: Remained with him forever. 695 01:03:23.790 --> 01:03:26.470 R. Rachel: His reputation will be forever. 696 01:03:28.040 --> 01:03:29.020 R. Rachel: Tarnished. 697 01:03:31.700 --> 01:03:34.950 R. David (he/him): We didn't live back then in a say-anything culture. 698 01:03:38.030 --> 01:03:40.290 R. David (he/him): Here come all the hands. Cheryl Marcy. 699 01:03:40.460 --> 01:03:45.609 R. David (he/him): And then we're gonna go right back into what happened, and there's gonna be a story about Hannah. 700 01:03:45.920 --> 01:03:48.520 R. David (he/him): That I just find magnificent. 701 01:03:48.870 --> 01:04:05.470 Sherrill Cropper: The comment I had was… I'll tell you in a minute, but I just want to say that there are other ways for people to be controlling and mean in a relationship… Oh, yeah. Than what happens out, you know, what happens behind closed doors, so I appreciate what you wrote, Rabbi David, but… 702 01:04:05.580 --> 01:04:19.389 Sherrill Cropper: I want to say that, you know, even especially if this happened and, you know, the husband was ridiculed in a way by having been proven wrong, I would not want to be in that relationship going forward, so… 703 01:04:19.390 --> 01:04:19.970 R. David (he/him): No. 704 01:04:19.970 --> 01:04:21.360 Sherrill Cropper: Yeah, so… 705 01:04:21.360 --> 01:04:21.730 R. David (he/him): Nope. 706 01:04:21.730 --> 01:04:31.549 Sherrill Cropper: What really strikes me here is, from the very first words that we read in Torah, is the use and importance of ritual, of a delineated. 707 01:04:31.670 --> 01:04:42.860 Sherrill Cropper: step-by-step ritual, whether we're brushing our teeth or we are making a woman drink bitter water. It creates an importance 708 01:04:43.380 --> 01:04:52.379 Sherrill Cropper: In our lives, in a structure, and which goes back to holding the community together and creating laws and things. 709 01:04:52.490 --> 01:04:56.050 Sherrill Cropper: for everything to work. So, ritual, you know… 710 01:04:56.050 --> 01:05:01.070 R. David (he/him): Huge. Huge. And Cheryl, you're absolutely right. The… 711 01:05:02.080 --> 01:05:05.140 R. David (he/him): There are many ways for relationships to go sideways. 712 01:05:05.840 --> 01:05:14.200 R. David (he/him): And you… maybe we wouldn't want to be in that relationship if we were falsely accused. I mean, why would we want to? Hang on to that, we're gonna go there. Marci. 713 01:05:14.790 --> 01:05:22.469 Marcia's iPad: This reminds me of, capital punishment? And how the rabbi just bent over backwards. 714 01:05:22.470 --> 01:05:23.940 R. David (he/him): Whacked it away. Whack! 715 01:05:23.960 --> 01:05:28.330 Marcia's iPad: To… to avoid, doing it. 716 01:05:28.330 --> 01:05:28.730 R. Rachel: Right. 717 01:05:29.320 --> 01:05:32.650 Marcia's iPad: And… even though this sounds… 718 01:05:33.530 --> 01:05:50.690 Marcia's iPad: You know, in that time, I can't look at it through the lens of now, although I can look at now and see that sometimes we haven't really evolved very much, unfortunately. 719 01:05:50.690 --> 01:05:55.300 R. Rachel: Human beings are human beings, and Torah is very recognizable. 720 01:05:55.630 --> 01:05:56.760 R. David (he/him): Okay, so tell me… 721 01:05:56.760 --> 01:06:00.230 R. Rachel: Let's do this kind of story, and then I really want to get to the one from Midrasha. 722 01:06:00.230 --> 01:06:04.289 R. David (he/him): We're gonna. So, I noticed the name of this track date of Talmud. 723 01:06:04.800 --> 01:06:08.200 R. David (he/him): There's a whole track date of Talmud about this! 724 01:06:09.290 --> 01:06:10.700 R. Rachel: Called SOTA, that day. 725 01:06:10.700 --> 01:06:19.160 R. David (he/him): There's one about brachot, blessings, you would imagine, okay, that makes sense, but a whole track date of Talmud for this? That's how important it was. 726 01:06:20.490 --> 01:06:24.360 R. Rachel: And how many thoughts and feelings our ancestors have had about it. 727 01:06:24.360 --> 01:06:34.370 R. David (he/him): The Balk of Talmud! Right. So, what did it mean when Torah said, you know, if nothing happens, because nothing's gonna happen, she'll be acquitted and bear seed? 728 01:06:35.220 --> 01:06:41.240 R. David (he/him): Well… The rabbis had 300 ideas, and one of them was, if she's not 729 01:06:41.240 --> 01:07:01.190 R. David (he/him): if she ordinarily would be given birth in pain, she'll give birth without pain. If she wasn't gonna have children, now she is gonna have children, because that was the paradigmatic vision of… of the role of the woman back then that was public in the writings, and we are all gonna have feelings about that. Absolutely. 730 01:07:01.190 --> 01:07:01.455 R. Rachel: Oh. 731 01:07:03.480 --> 01:07:06.810 R. David (he/him): And… this became… 732 01:07:07.690 --> 01:07:18.900 R. David (he/him): a profound source of a story in Talmud about Hana. Chana is the person who we read in Rosh Hashanah in the Haftarah. 733 01:07:18.900 --> 01:07:30.500 R. David (he/him): That she wanted to have a son, and went to the temple, and is praying with her mouth moving, but no one hears, and she's accused of being drunk. 734 01:07:30.500 --> 01:07:32.369 R. Rachel: What, are you, drunk? Yeah. 735 01:07:32.370 --> 01:07:36.690 R. David (he/him): Right? So, what did she say? 736 01:07:38.460 --> 01:07:39.849 R. David (he/him): What did she say? 737 01:07:40.130 --> 01:07:41.619 R. David (he/him): What happened? Someone. 738 01:07:41.620 --> 01:07:43.670 R. Rachel: Someone read to us from Broughvoad. 739 01:07:44.020 --> 01:07:49.040 Amy V: Hana said before the Holy Blessed One, Master of the Universe. 740 01:07:49.230 --> 01:07:54.780 Amy V: If you look on me now, good. If not, then you will see. 741 01:07:55.310 --> 01:07:59.650 Amy V: I will go and seclude myself with another man. 742 01:07:59.770 --> 01:08:08.479 Amy V: Before Elkanah, my husband. Since I secluded myself, they will force me to drink soda water. 743 01:08:08.620 --> 01:08:12.309 Amy V: And, as I am innocent, I will be acquitted. 744 01:08:12.430 --> 01:08:23.350 Amy V: Since you will not falsify your Torah, I will bear children, as in Numbers 528. She will be acquitted and bear seed. 745 01:08:23.350 --> 01:08:24.770 R. David (he/him): Hang on there. 746 01:08:25.310 --> 01:08:32.760 R. David (he/him): Hannah is saying, okay, God, you give me what I'm asking for, or else I'm gonna force you… 747 01:08:34.240 --> 01:08:39.999 R. David (he/him): To subject me to the SOTA trial, find me innocent, and give me a baby that way. 748 01:08:40.170 --> 01:08:49.039 R. David (he/him): She's throwing the SOTA trial directly at God, inverting the putative disempowerment of the woman into 749 01:08:49.189 --> 01:08:51.809 R. David (he/him): Rachel… Rachel is loving this moment. 750 01:08:52.109 --> 01:08:54.069 R. Rachel: I will just use it… 751 01:08:54.889 --> 01:09:02.129 R. Rachel: to make you give me the child I'm asking for in the first place. How do you like them apples? 752 01:09:03.609 --> 01:09:06.380 R. David (he/him): Isn't that… Wow. 753 01:09:06.729 --> 01:09:13.909 R. David (he/him): 2,000 years ago, talk about empowering women. And then rabbi, the rabbis had a hissy fit. 754 01:09:14.719 --> 01:09:20.639 R. Rachel: If that works, then all childless women will go seclude themselves with men who are not their husbands. 755 01:09:20.640 --> 01:09:23.080 R. David (he/him): Oh my gosh! The women! 756 01:09:23.180 --> 01:09:41.769 R. David (he/him): are gonna understand the game, and either we're going to be encouraging infidelity, or we're gonna be encouraging more jealousy, because all, all women want to be Hana, right? -Oh, this is a problem! Iris, solve the problem, please. 757 01:09:42.109 --> 01:09:44.329 R. Rachel: You don't have to solve the problem. What are you thinking? 758 01:09:44.330 --> 01:09:47.909 Iris Barten: So, one other part of that, in addition to what you said. 759 01:09:48.229 --> 01:09:57.839 Iris Barten: that there is, the opportunity… I'm sorry, the possibility that the man is infertile, not the woman. So that… 760 01:09:59.030 --> 01:10:03.759 Iris Barten: If you're with other men, you might become pregnant where you couldn't with your husband. 761 01:10:04.210 --> 01:10:10.100 R. David (he/him): I mean, why was it that Hana and Elkhanah were not having a baby and Hana needed to go pray? 762 01:10:11.050 --> 01:10:17.690 R. Rachel: Although, Elkinah had… apparently fathered many other children with the other wife. So, with Panina. 763 01:10:18.280 --> 01:10:19.669 R. Rachel: Who knows, right? 764 01:10:20.140 --> 01:10:22.979 R. Rachel: These stories operate on many levels. Alright, so there's that. 765 01:10:23.480 --> 01:10:25.279 R. David (he/him): Next. 766 01:10:25.450 --> 01:10:34.270 R. David (he/him): the rabbis, Desperately, desperately needed to prevent the SOTA trial from happening. So what did they do? 767 01:10:35.890 --> 01:10:38.159 R. David (he/him): They started making it impossible. 768 01:10:38.670 --> 01:10:40.080 R. David (he/him): Who wants to read? 769 01:10:46.860 --> 01:11:00.759 Brett Chinn: And there was no witness against her. There must be two witnesses, as in Deuteronomy 19.15. None will charge a capital offense on one witness. This teaches the general principle that two witnesses must not be secreted from each other. 770 01:11:00.960 --> 01:11:07.399 R. David (he/him): So the first thing is, someone has to see the two of them having walked off into the woods together for 5 minutes. 771 01:11:07.400 --> 01:11:07.760 Marcia's iPad: We're selling. 772 01:11:07.760 --> 01:11:16.399 R. David (he/him): 7 minutes. Next, two people have to have seen it. 3. The two witnesses who saw it need to see each other seeing it. 773 01:11:18.460 --> 01:11:23.030 R. Rachel: we've now pretty much already made it impossible. This is also what our sages did with. 774 01:11:23.030 --> 01:11:24.050 R. David (he/him): With capital punishment. 775 01:11:24.050 --> 01:11:27.150 R. Rachel: To stone the stubborn and rebellious son. 776 01:11:27.400 --> 01:11:31.110 R. David (he/him): Impossible. It becomes impossible. Next! 777 01:11:33.190 --> 01:11:38.499 R. David (he/him): Carol and Ruth asked a great question earlier. Did the woman know about this? 778 01:11:40.520 --> 01:11:41.570 R. David (he/him): And so… 779 01:11:41.570 --> 01:11:42.770 R. Rachel: This was the rule? 780 01:11:43.150 --> 01:11:47.929 R. David (he/him): Right? So now, The rabbi's like, that's a good point. 781 01:11:48.220 --> 01:11:54.049 R. David (he/him): If we did that with capital punishment, we'd better do it here, too. So, someone else want to read? 782 01:11:57.360 --> 01:12:07.640 Sherrill Cropper: Rabbi Yahushua said… says, the husband forewarns her in the presence of two, and causes her to drink by the word of two. 783 01:12:07.850 --> 01:12:21.939 Sherrill Cropper: For if it would follow, if only one witness is insufficient to testify later that she had secreted herself to condemn her, then surely two witnesses would be necessary to the forewarning 784 01:12:22.070 --> 01:12:28.559 Sherrill Cropper: This is the intent of Numbers 513, and there is no witness against her. 785 01:12:28.560 --> 01:12:30.270 R. David (he/him): So, NOW! 786 01:12:30.630 --> 01:12:32.369 R. David (he/him): We add the following. 787 01:12:33.130 --> 01:12:38.859 R. David (he/him): The husband has to see her about to walk into the woods with Mr. Shmoopy. 788 01:12:39.630 --> 01:12:44.080 R. David (he/him): The husband has to go warn her, if you do this. 789 01:12:45.230 --> 01:12:45.650 R. Rachel: these. 790 01:12:45.650 --> 01:12:58.720 R. David (he/him): such a trial will result. And two witnesses need to see her, him forewarn her that this is about to happen, and then she goes and does it anyway, and those same two witnesses see that she went and did it anyway. What are the odds? 791 01:13:00.520 --> 01:13:01.730 R. Rachel: Zero. They are zero. 792 01:13:01.730 --> 01:13:12.389 R. David (he/him): Zippo! Zippo! Because otherwise, everybody, all the women, would flip this over, And wait, there's more. 793 01:13:12.840 --> 01:13:14.310 R. David (he/him): Maimonides. 794 01:13:14.790 --> 01:13:19.099 R. David (he/him): Maimonides has a whole track date on… Sotop! 795 01:13:20.190 --> 01:13:20.920 R. David (he/him): So… 796 01:13:21.800 --> 01:13:23.060 Marcia's iPad: Oh, wow. 797 01:13:23.320 --> 01:13:24.999 R. Rachel: Any Maimonides fans in the room? 798 01:13:25.150 --> 01:13:25.940 Marcia's iPad: Go! 799 01:13:26.820 --> 01:13:27.690 R. David (he/him): Someone. 800 01:13:28.280 --> 01:13:36.709 Marcia's iPad: Upon the accusation, the woman is prohibited to him, he must divorce her, and pay her the ketubah money. 801 01:13:36.710 --> 01:13:38.629 R. David (he/him): So there's an economic penalty. 802 01:13:38.630 --> 01:13:45.860 R. Rachel: accusation, whether it was reasonable or not, he can't touch her anymore. He has to divorce her and pay her what he owes her. 803 01:13:45.860 --> 01:13:51.020 R. David (he/him): Only if she chooses to refuse the money and stay in the relationship. 804 01:13:52.020 --> 01:13:52.540 R. David (he/him): will. 805 01:13:52.540 --> 01:13:54.229 Marcia's iPad: Now, who has the power? 806 01:13:54.230 --> 01:13:57.499 R. David (he/him): Exactly, Cheryl, that's your point. I don't want to stay in this relationship. 807 01:13:58.660 --> 01:14:00.280 R. David (he/him): Now it's up to the woman. 808 01:14:00.590 --> 01:14:02.000 R. David (he/him): Keep going! 809 01:14:04.900 --> 01:14:11.750 Marcia's iPad: If a man engaged in forbidden relations from the time he attained majority onward. 810 01:14:11.860 --> 01:14:15.440 Marcia's iPad: The curse-bearing waters do not test his wife. 811 01:14:15.440 --> 01:14:27.399 R. David (he/him): It will not work if the man has been unfaithful at any time in his life, if the man has ever done anything bad. 812 01:14:27.820 --> 01:14:34.419 R. David (he/him): whatever bad means here, right? So, don't throw rocks in your glass house, keep going. 813 01:14:34.770 --> 01:14:46.340 Marcia's iPad: Even if he engaged in relations with the woman he consecrated while she was living at her father's house, the waters do not test his wife, as in number. 814 01:14:46.340 --> 01:14:46.880 R. David (he/him): premarital. 815 01:14:46.880 --> 01:14:47.450 Marcia's iPad: 31. 816 01:14:47.450 --> 01:14:48.700 R. David (he/him): It don't work. 817 01:14:48.700 --> 01:14:52.729 R. Rachel: It won't work, because he already did something wrong, so now… 818 01:14:52.730 --> 01:14:54.489 R. David (he/him): In its day, in its day. 819 01:14:54.700 --> 01:15:01.630 Marcia's iPad: The man will then be free of sin, and the woman will bear her sin. 820 01:15:01.850 --> 01:15:05.159 Marcia's iPad: Only when the man is free of sin. 821 01:15:05.260 --> 01:15:07.449 Marcia's iPad: The woman will bear her sin. 822 01:15:07.450 --> 01:15:11.390 R. Rachel: So if he has ever done anything sexually inappropriate since he 823 01:15:11.770 --> 01:15:19.169 R. Rachel: an adult ever, including premarital sex with the very woman to whom he later became married. 824 01:15:19.560 --> 01:15:23.619 R. Rachel: He can't test her, it won't work, because he's already sinned, and so… 825 01:15:23.990 --> 01:15:25.450 R. David (he/him): He has sinned. 826 01:15:25.840 --> 01:15:32.170 R. David (he/him): So, what, what have we done? This, this SOTA trial is about our relationship with God. 827 01:15:33.120 --> 01:15:35.679 Marcia's iPad: Well, I have to come with clean hands. 828 01:15:35.680 --> 01:15:42.989 R. David (he/him): We have to… and even within its four corners, people have to come with clean hands. Things are not what they first appear. 829 01:15:43.960 --> 01:15:54.749 R. David (he/him): It empowers the exact people it seeks to disempower, seems like it disempowers, and then… It re-empowers even more. 830 01:15:56.310 --> 01:16:01.720 R. David (he/him): This is not hocus Pocus stuff that we pulled up. 831 01:16:01.840 --> 01:16:10.310 R. David (he/him): Because we wanted specially to redeem this text. This is the tradition's core teachings about this text. 832 01:16:10.800 --> 01:16:22.849 R. David (he/him): The teachings themselves, the core of the tradition, which sometimes has been patriarchal, and we've seen that, here it is the exact opposite. Here, the tradition responded to the Sota. 833 01:16:23.320 --> 01:16:26.750 R. David (he/him): By being feminist itself. 834 01:16:27.520 --> 01:16:35.089 R. Rachel: So we have two final texts to look at. One of them is classical, from Midrashtan Khumah, and the other is contemporary. 835 01:16:35.690 --> 01:16:37.570 R. Rachel: And I had not… 836 01:16:38.060 --> 01:16:43.570 R. Rachel: delved into this particular text until we dug it up this week, and I think this is an amazing 837 01:16:43.980 --> 01:16:50.580 R. Rachel: one-two combo, and hopefully a deep and meaningful way to end. Does someone want to read Midrashtan Khumah? 838 01:16:51.740 --> 01:16:53.280 R. Rachel: A story is told. 839 01:16:54.860 --> 01:16:58.779 Diana Rico: The story is told of two sisters who resembled one another. 840 01:16:58.880 --> 01:17:05.919 Diana Rico: One sister was married and lived in one city, and the other sister was married and lived in another city. 841 01:17:06.100 --> 01:17:14.190 Diana Rico: The husband of one of them grew jealous of his wife, and wanted to bring her to Jerusalem to drink the bitter waters. 842 01:17:14.420 --> 01:17:18.880 Diana Rico: That sister went to the city where her sister lived with her husband. 843 01:17:19.180 --> 01:17:23.260 Diana Rico: Her sister said to her, Why did you see fit to come here? 844 01:17:23.370 --> 01:17:31.840 Diana Rico: She said to her, my husband wants me to drink the bitter waters. Her sister said, I will go in your stead and drink. 845 01:17:32.180 --> 01:17:34.120 Diana Rico: She said to her, go. 846 01:17:34.380 --> 01:17:42.229 Diana Rico: She dressed herself in her sister's clothes and went in her stead. She drank the bitter water and was found to be innocent. 847 01:17:42.290 --> 01:18:00.550 Diana Rico: She returned to the home of her sister, who came out happily to greet her. She embraced her sister and kissed her on the lips. When they kissed one another, her sister breathed in the smell of the bitter waters, and immediately she died to fulfill what is stated in Ecclesiastes. 848 01:18:00.550 --> 01:18:07.990 Diana Rico: No human has control over the wind to contain the wind, nor is there control on the day of death. 849 01:18:11.090 --> 01:18:13.809 R. Rachel: So we've got two identical sisters. 850 01:18:15.340 --> 01:18:19.159 R. Rachel: And one of them goes to take the SOTA trial for the other. 851 01:18:20.150 --> 01:18:22.490 R. Rachel: Which suggests to me, maybe, that 852 01:18:22.930 --> 01:18:26.570 R. Rachel: That other sister might, in fact, have strayed. 853 01:18:27.290 --> 01:18:31.260 R. Rachel: Right? And her sister says, oh, I'll go take the test for you. I'll spare you this. 854 01:18:32.520 --> 01:18:38.030 R. Rachel: But in the end, what is meant to be is what is meant to be, and it happens anyhow. 855 01:18:44.750 --> 01:18:49.229 R. David (he/him): So, one of the things I take from this is that even knowing 856 01:18:51.250 --> 01:18:57.079 R. David (he/him): that… I mean, obviously, this is a Midrash about a Midrash, right? That's why we call it Meta Midrash. 857 01:18:57.960 --> 01:19:01.089 R. David (he/him): Even knowing that the SOTA trial doesn't work. 858 01:19:03.870 --> 01:19:10.829 R. David (he/him): It's still hugely important for us to invest in the fact of experience of ritual. 859 01:19:11.520 --> 01:19:17.610 R. David (he/him): Because it's not about… You know, is someone's thigh gonna distend? 860 01:19:17.810 --> 01:19:19.420 R. David (he/him): It's never about that. 861 01:19:20.080 --> 01:19:29.359 R. David (he/him): It's about what Deanna was talking about, the transformation of energy and experience. It's what Cheryl was talking about, that sometimes we need ritual. 862 01:19:29.600 --> 01:19:36.109 R. David (he/him): to mark Passage from one state to another. 863 01:19:37.380 --> 01:19:50.629 R. David (he/him): to enfold community, to enfold relationship, to enfold spiritual experience, and even to bring that about. I mean, do we really… do we really stand at Sinai when we open the Torah scroll? 864 01:19:50.810 --> 01:19:51.780 R. David (he/him): No. 865 01:19:51.980 --> 01:19:57.850 R. David (he/him): Sinai's… it's a very hot place over there. But do we stand at Sinai? You bet we do. 866 01:20:02.000 --> 01:20:04.760 R. David (he/him): So if we think of it in our left brain, it doesn't work. 867 01:20:05.210 --> 01:20:08.549 R. David (he/him): We think of it in our right brain, There's no pretend. 868 01:20:10.070 --> 01:20:17.790 R. Rachel: So that when you get this… when you get this source sheet, you'll see that Sisters is a hyperlink to this whole story. This is a whole short story. 869 01:20:18.230 --> 01:20:19.979 R. Rachel: Which we excerpted. 870 01:20:20.210 --> 01:20:25.920 R. Rachel: And we have a couple of paragraphs of the story, and then a few paragraphs from the author about the story. 871 01:20:31.200 --> 01:20:36.930 R. Rachel: does anyone want to read? Or I can read the story, and then others can read the meta-commentary. 872 01:20:39.560 --> 01:20:40.829 R. David (he/him): Let's do it that way, Rabbi Rachel. 873 01:20:40.830 --> 01:20:49.170 R. Rachel: that way, yeah, right. So, we're beginning in the middle of the story, but this is, right, the sister who has gone to take the trial on her twin's behalf. 874 01:20:49.670 --> 01:20:54.460 R. Rachel: One of the priests grabbed hold of my garment and tore it until my chest was bared. 875 01:20:54.870 --> 01:20:56.359 R. Rachel: I was not ashamed. 876 01:20:56.910 --> 01:21:00.699 R. Rachel: It seemed fitting to be exposed in such a holy place. 877 01:21:01.350 --> 01:21:04.809 R. Rachel: My breath rose and fell, but I did not lower my gaze. 878 01:21:05.630 --> 01:21:09.870 R. Rachel: Afterward, they brought an Egyptian rope and tied it above my breasts. 879 01:21:10.630 --> 01:21:15.450 R. Rachel: The priest tried to avoid touching me, but he brushed against me and trembled as he did. 880 01:21:16.050 --> 01:21:23.819 R. Rachel: A large crowd had assembled, excited at the chance to witness the trial of a suspected adulteress upon visiting the temple. 881 01:21:24.320 --> 01:21:27.379 R. Rachel: But I was hardly conscious of their presence. 882 01:21:27.700 --> 01:21:30.719 R. Rachel: I turned my face toward the Holy of Holies. 883 01:21:31.240 --> 01:21:36.020 R. Rachel: The most senior priest among them lifted a marble tablet affixed to a ring. 884 01:21:36.510 --> 01:21:44.160 R. Rachel: With a silver ladle, he brushed dust into a clay cup that was already filled with a half-measure of water from the temple sink. 885 01:21:44.630 --> 01:21:51.340 R. Rachel: He took a parchment scroll with the verses from the Torah about the curse of the adulteress written in ink upon it. 886 01:21:51.990 --> 01:21:56.480 R. Rachel: Next, he lowered the scroll into the glass of water until the letters dissolved. 887 01:21:56.680 --> 01:21:59.789 R. Rachel: Then he mixed the dust and ink in the water. 888 01:22:00.230 --> 01:22:08.200 R. Rachel: He brought the water to my lips, and I closed my eyes, feeling as calm and content as a baby nursing at its mother's breast. 889 01:22:08.630 --> 01:22:16.870 R. Rachel: I sensed the eyes of the crowd on my face, and I felt a new beauty spreading from my lips to my whole body like a wave of warmth. 890 01:22:17.140 --> 01:22:22.199 R. Rachel: The water in my mouth tasting salty as seawater, or as a man's body. 891 01:22:23.000 --> 01:22:26.710 R. Rachel: Suddenly, my face lit up, and I opened my eyes. 892 01:22:27.570 --> 01:22:30.540 R. Rachel: She is pure, I heard the priest declare. 893 01:22:31.630 --> 01:22:40.080 R. Rachel: The days of my journey back to my sister's husband's home passed quickly, and behold, now we were approaching the gates of the city, the market square. 894 01:22:40.360 --> 01:22:44.000 R. Rachel: She and I had arranged that she would wait inside her house for me. 895 01:22:44.410 --> 01:22:49.160 R. Rachel: And passed through the gate to the courtyard, I heard her footsteps approaching. 896 01:22:49.430 --> 01:22:52.240 R. Rachel: My heart was overflowing with joy. 897 01:22:52.410 --> 01:22:56.980 R. Rachel: In just a moment, she would come out, and I would greet her with a kiss. 898 01:22:59.110 --> 01:23:01.459 R. Rachel: Three readers for these 3 paragraphs. 899 01:23:07.150 --> 01:23:08.450 R. David (he/him): This is how it all closed. 900 01:23:11.190 --> 01:23:13.479 Sherrill Cropper: This is a story about sisterhood. 901 01:23:14.060 --> 01:23:26.789 Sherrill Cropper: Although it was written when the Sota ceremony was no longer performed, if indeed it ever was, it served as a warning to women who might be tempted to collude against male power. 902 01:23:27.410 --> 01:23:33.879 Sherrill Cropper: The narrator of the story warns that anyone who tries to circumvent the law will pay with her life. 903 01:23:34.210 --> 01:23:36.969 Sherrill Cropper: And that the final kiss will be a kiss of death. 904 01:23:37.570 --> 01:23:42.069 Sherrill Cropper: Feminine loyalty will not triumph over masculine rule of law. 905 01:23:42.460 --> 01:23:48.350 Sherrill Cropper: Actions must be met with consequences, and ultimately, justice conquers all. 906 01:23:52.990 --> 01:23:54.100 R. David (he/him): But… 907 01:24:01.680 --> 01:24:02.889 R. David (he/him): Brett, go for it. 908 01:24:04.930 --> 01:24:08.000 Brett Chinn: But I am not willing to read the story this way. 909 01:24:08.400 --> 01:24:16.829 Brett Chinn: I took the liberty of freezing the end of the story one moment prior to the sister's arrival, just before the sisterly kiss turns into a kiss of death. 910 01:24:16.970 --> 01:24:25.579 Brett Chinn: I searched within the Talmud's pan to quiet obedience for the subversive story that lies hidden between the lines, between the letters. 911 01:24:25.990 --> 01:24:35.099 Brett Chinn: I sought out the story that was told in the scullery and the kitchens, that is awash with the scent of clean babies, fresh laundry, and fragrant spices. 912 01:24:35.520 --> 01:24:51.420 Brett Chinn: This story features sisters in solidarity and a god who is accepting, assisting, winking at the woman from behind the back of her jealous husband, like a mother who smiles at her eldest son behind the back of his grumbling younger brother, like an accomplice. 913 01:24:54.110 --> 01:24:55.080 R. Rachel: Last reader. 914 01:25:06.920 --> 01:25:22.319 Rachel Rudansky: I picture the woman who dared to plead innocent, who came to Jerusalem and stood before God, facing the holy sanctum with her secret hidden from the entire world, drinking the bitter water mixed with dust, and with letters. 915 01:25:22.670 --> 01:25:30.250 Rachel Rudansky: Erased from the scroll, such a woman converts the sutta ritual into a religious act. 916 01:25:30.300 --> 01:25:44.989 Rachel Rudansky: She who is not scared off by her husband or by the priests of their warning will attain a position of power superior to theirs. She has undertaken a sort of feminine hajj. 917 01:25:45.340 --> 01:25:49.550 Rachel Rudansky: When she arrives home, who would dare to defy her? 918 01:25:53.650 --> 01:26:04.600 R. Rachel: What I love about this Is how this modern Midrash takes Talmuds… Midrash about Torah. 919 01:26:05.240 --> 01:26:07.630 R. Rachel: And continues turning it on its head. 920 01:26:09.720 --> 01:26:16.610 R. Rachel: and finds here… I love this image of God as the mother, Who is winking. 921 01:26:17.140 --> 01:26:22.799 R. Rachel: At one child behind the scowling other child, right? 922 01:26:23.680 --> 01:26:29.100 R. Rachel: God as the co-conspirator, the one who is… 923 01:26:29.460 --> 01:26:36.299 R. Rachel: working with us in all the ways God can to help us bring about actual justice. 924 01:26:37.210 --> 01:26:43.860 R. David (he/him): Which sometimes means taking the text of Torah, Looking beneath its surface. 925 01:26:44.540 --> 01:26:51.149 R. David (he/him): To see that it's about our relationship with God, and not… just between people. 926 01:26:52.410 --> 01:26:57.369 R. David (he/him): Finding in it not things that aren't there, but things that are. 927 01:26:57.890 --> 01:27:10.919 R. David (he/him): The consequences of structure and things that we put in place may not be only what's on the surface, and that actually the disempowered people may become quite empowered and vindicated 928 01:27:11.340 --> 01:27:18.190 R. David (he/him): And jealousy and rage and potential for abuse can be stopped. 929 01:27:20.270 --> 01:27:29.130 R. David (he/him): even within its four corners, the rabbis had a problem with it, so what did they do? They tried to… they imagined Hana using it 930 01:27:30.370 --> 01:27:34.430 R. David (he/him): to, you know, sort of give it to God, and then the rabbi said, oh my gosh. 931 01:27:34.570 --> 01:27:37.429 R. David (he/him): The Sota trial's gonna totally ruin civilization. 932 01:27:37.620 --> 01:27:38.339 R. David (he/him): So we've been… 933 01:27:38.340 --> 01:27:41.200 R. Rachel: You better stop doing it ever again, and we did. 934 01:27:45.220 --> 01:27:46.890 R. David (he/him): That was people who did that. 935 01:27:47.250 --> 01:27:54.049 R. David (he/him): That was people who saw Even within the four corners of something that could be redeemed. 936 01:27:55.420 --> 01:27:59.020 R. David (he/him): The potential for unintended consequences. 937 01:28:00.800 --> 01:28:03.160 R. David (he/him): Every step of that was a human step. 938 01:28:04.310 --> 01:28:08.500 R. David (he/him): Every step of that was… harnessing rightness. 939 01:28:10.120 --> 01:28:16.519 R. David (he/him): To help shift things, including some of the biggest dynamics, since we crawled down from trees. 940 01:28:17.590 --> 01:28:20.099 R. David (he/him): Maybe that's the ultimate spiritual lesson. 941 01:28:21.200 --> 01:28:23.729 R. David (he/him): That we're not passive bystanders in this. 942 01:28:24.180 --> 01:28:26.819 R. David (he/him): That we not only can act, but we must. 943 01:28:27.450 --> 01:28:30.740 R. David (he/him): And the SOTA trial is one of the great examples of that. 944 01:28:32.590 --> 01:28:35.519 R. David (he/him): Ellen Roof, and then we're gonna close and stay on. 945 01:28:37.920 --> 01:28:43.880 ert: I had a strange thought process. First, I was thinking about… 946 01:28:44.340 --> 01:28:50.580 ert: Why this whole ritual is necessary when there's so many people committing adultery. 947 01:28:50.670 --> 01:29:00.730 ert: But then… then I went broader, and I thought, well, God refers to itself as being a jealous God. 948 01:29:00.810 --> 01:29:11.910 ert: So maybe this is a bigger idea, and that we all have to do so to… to. 949 01:29:11.910 --> 01:29:12.460 R. David (he/him): Yo. 950 01:29:13.020 --> 01:29:16.530 ert: so, allegiance to God. 951 01:29:17.730 --> 01:29:23.250 R. David (he/him): And the notion that God is being anthropomorphized, of course, as 952 01:29:23.440 --> 01:29:28.360 R. David (he/him): Not just a jealous God, but the word in Hebrew for jealousy is a choir. 953 01:29:29.200 --> 01:29:29.970 R. Rachel: Hmm. 954 01:29:30.250 --> 01:29:34.090 R. David (he/him): God acquires Us. 955 01:29:34.210 --> 01:29:35.780 R. David (he/him): as liberator. 956 01:29:36.830 --> 01:29:40.709 R. David (he/him): And God yearns to be in relationship with us. 957 01:29:41.610 --> 01:29:42.800 R. David (he/him): Think Heschel. 958 01:29:44.000 --> 01:29:48.200 R. David (he/him): And therefore, all the dynamics of relationship 959 01:29:48.420 --> 01:29:59.840 R. David (he/him): Trust and distrust, distancing, questioning, yearning for… making ourselves better in the presence of… all of those things come to play. 960 01:30:04.640 --> 01:30:07.370 R. Rachel: A blessing as we wrap up today. 961 01:30:07.480 --> 01:30:10.409 R. Rachel: Sinking back to where we began with… 962 01:30:11.090 --> 01:30:13.430 R. Rachel: God bless us and keep us. 963 01:30:13.690 --> 01:30:17.830 R. Rachel: The light of God's face shine upon us and grace us. 964 01:30:18.700 --> 01:30:22.209 R. Rachel: May the learning and the wrestling that we've done this morning 965 01:30:22.320 --> 01:30:26.720 R. Rachel: Continue to percolate in us and permeate us. 966 01:30:27.710 --> 01:30:33.759 R. Rachel: And impact how we are with each other in the world, how we are with God in the world. 967 01:30:34.760 --> 01:30:37.849 R. Rachel: And how we live through this Shabbos. 968 01:30:38.190 --> 01:30:41.479 R. Rachel: And who we become when the new week begins. 969 01:30:45.250 --> 01:30:46.630 R. Rachel: And you are muted. 970 01:30:50.230 --> 01:30:58.669 R. David (he/him): as I put the completed source sheet in the chat box, there are some other materials in there. We have some bonus materials, and the links 971 01:30:58.940 --> 01:31:07.750 R. David (he/him): in there are live, so you can see more of the materials that we excerpted from. Next week. 972 01:31:07.820 --> 01:31:24.160 R. David (he/him): It's got a lot of yummy stuff in there, including, where the menorah comes from, the lighting of the menorah, and also the story of Moses, Miriam, and Aaron. 973 01:31:24.450 --> 01:31:30.350 R. David (he/him): They have a little sibling to do, and the first prayer for healing comes. 974 01:31:30.370 --> 01:31:48.399 R. David (he/him): So, that's gonna be an awesome text, and I would look forward to being with you, but I will not be with you next week. Next week, I have not one, but two weddings to do. So, you will be with Rabbi Rachel. Thank you, Rabbi Rachel, for holding the space. It's gonna be a fabulous, fabulous. 975 01:31:48.400 --> 01:31:55.429 R. Rachel: This time, we will resolve the tech issues in advance, so that I can actually… 976 01:31:55.580 --> 01:31:59.519 R. Rachel: open and run this regular Zoom room. 977 01:31:59.520 --> 01:32:01.130 R. David (he/him): In the correct Zoom room. 978 01:32:01.130 --> 01:32:03.170 R. Rachel: That is my aspiration. 979 01:32:03.170 --> 01:32:04.470 R. David (he/him): Yes, it will be done. 980 01:32:04.840 --> 01:32:11.219 R. Rachel: If for some reason we fail at that, if you get to next Saturday and you log in here and I'm not here. 981 01:32:11.540 --> 01:32:18.470 R. Rachel: then please check your email, because that will mean that I had to punt and go back to my own Zoom room again, but hopefully that won't happen. 982 01:32:18.470 --> 01:32:33.679 R. David (he/him): No, it won't. We will be in this space, and by we, I mean you. So, Shabbat Shalom, everybody! As we always do, we're gonna stop the recording and stay on. Thanks, everyone, and go and make it just and empowering and loving. 983 01:32:34.060 --> 01:32:34.750 R. Rachel: On May.