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<DIV><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" color=#000000 size=2
face=Arial>From: "Chana Luntz" <A
href="mailto:Chana@kolsassoon.org.uk">Chana@kolsassoon.org.uk</A><BR><BR><BR>>>
Thus my reading of the situation is that she willingly accepted upon
herself<BR>a detriment, zuhuma, not the usual benefit that comes with the act
of<BR>relations. But the only reason she was even aware of zuhuma was
because she<BR>was such a tzadekes (as the gemora and midrash makes clear when
discussing<BR>it in relation to her). That is, for somebody on her
spiritual level, it<BR>was an additional disincentive to have relations, and
hence part of what<BR>made the act so clearly lishma - because there was and
could be no ulterior<BR>motive in Yael's mind, knowing that she would get no
benefit from the<BR>encounter <BR><BR>....And so similarly is this in Yael's
head - if she had intended to have<BR>pleasure/benefit from Sisera, she would
have been guilty of an averah<BR>b'mazid. But her act was not shogeg (she
did not forget that adultery was<BR>assur, or have it happen thinking that he
was her husband when he wasn't),<BR>nor was it mesasek, she intended the act to
occur. Thus the gemora<BR>characterised it as an averah, but an averah
lishma. <<</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" color=#000000 size=2
face=Arial><BR>Shavuah Tov<BR><BR>Chana</FONT></FONT></DIV>
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<DIV>>>>>></DIV>
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<DIV>I would like to point out a couple of things here that may be
relevant:</DIV>
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<DIV>[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.)</DIV>
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<DIV>[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])</DIV>
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<DIV><FONT color=#0000ff></FONT><BR><FONT color=#0000ff><STRONG>--Toby
Katz<BR>=============</STRONG></FONT><BR><FONT color=#0000ff>Romney -- good
values, good family, good
hair<BR><BR><BR>-------------------------------------------------------------------
</FONT></DIV>
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