[Avodah] Yael [was: The Main Idea of Judaism]

[T613K at aol.com]

From: "Chana Luntz" _Chana at kolsassoon.org.uk_ 
(mailto:Chana at kolsassoon.org.uk) 


>>  Thus my reading of the situation is that she willingly accepted upon  
herself
a detriment, zuhuma, not the usual benefit that comes with the act  of
relations.  But the only reason she was even aware of zuhuma was  because 
she
was such a tzadekes (as the gemora and midrash makes clear when  discussing
it in relation to her).  That is, for somebody on her  spiritual level, it
was an additional disincentive to have relations, and  hence part of what
made the act so clearly lishma - because there was and  could be no ulterior
motive in Yael's mind, knowing that she would get no  benefit from the
encounter 

....And so similarly is this in Yael's  head - if she had intended to have
pleasure/benefit from Sisera, she would  have been guilty of an averah
b'mazid.  But her act was not shogeg (she  did not forget that adultery was
assur, or have it happen thinking that he  was her husband when he wasn't),
nor was it mesasek, she intended the act to  occur.  Thus the gemora
characterised it as an averah, but an averah  lishma.  <<
 

Shavuah Tov

Chana

 
 
>>>>>
 
I would like to point out a couple of things here that may be  relevant:
 
[1] First of all, the text does not say that Yael had relations with  
Sisra.  Maybe that's implied in the pesukim but it is not stated.  I  think that 
there are differing opinions about whether she did or did not.   The fact 
that it is not explicit might argue in favor of saying that the navi  wanted 
to cover up what she did because her intention was good and the end  result 
(the demise of Sisra) was good, so her aveira -- if she did actually  have 
relations with Sisra -- is covered up.  Could be not to shame  her, since she 
was a tzadekes, or could be because it really was a sin and  normatively, 
the navi did not want people to read this story and conclude that  it is 
halachically permissible for a married woman to "give" herself to a  man in order 
to save Klal Yisrael.   (It may be for similar  reasons that Esther's 
marriage to Mordechai is not mentioned in the megillah, if  in fact she was 
married to him -- about which there seems to be some  dispute.)
 
 
[2] Second of all, there is disagreement as to whether Yael was even Jewish 
 or not.  She was a descendant of Yisro and there are meforshim that say  
Yisro's descendants were Jewish (they're called gerim even though in modern  
parlance we wouldn't refer to the descendants of gerim as gerim).  Others  
say his descendants were not Jews but were allied with the Jews.  And some  
say that some of Yisro's descendants were Jews and some were not.  So  Yael's 
Jewish status is a matter of doubt.   If she was not Jewish,  she was still 
a tzadekes -- everybody agrees about that.  Bnai Noach are  forbidden to 
commit adultery, but it is possible that the halacha is less strict  for bnai 
Noach who commit an aveira lishma, as Yael did.  (If she  did.  See [1])
 

--Toby  Katz
=============
Romney -- good  values, good family, good  hair


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