[Avodah] Tamar's Theatrics

[kennethgmiller at juno.com]

On my suggestion that:

: Why didn't she say something like, "Keep your collateral. I am Tamar. I
: tricked you because I was tired of waiting for Shelah." But she didn't.

R' Micha Berger asked:

: What is wrong with Chazal's assumption, that this is a textbook case
: of someone trying to avoid being "malbin penei chaveiro" [MPC] (Sotah
: 10b, BM 58a-59a)?

I apologize. I should have made my point more clearly, which is that if she had revealed herself to Yehudah immediately, then she would not have been embarrassing him *at* *all*. She could have left it totally in his hands how to deal with the situation, and he could have spun it however he'd like.

I suppose Yehudah would have felt that he was being manipulated and used, but still - he could have chosen to gamble that she would not become pregnant and that no one would ever know anything. And if she would indeed turn out to be pregnant, well, we have a few months to figure out what to do.

In every respect, coming clean at the beginning would have been better for all parties, rather than continuing the subterfuge and hoping no one finds out. Especially for a tzadekes who is willing to allow herself and her unborn child to be sentenced to death, wouldn't she have considered how this thing is going to play out? These questions are what led me to guess that the answer is that she kept silent specifically because of the fear that if she was *not* pregnant, then she'd have to do this all over again.

Akiva Miller

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