I discuss the parsha with Rabbi Rabbs Monday at 7pm PST on my live cam.
Parashat Vayeshev (Genesis 37-40):
Here are my challenges for R. Rabbs:
* How on earth did the Talmudic rabbis say that the sin of Onan was masturbation and thereby prohibit masturbation because of this story? To read this story and to say it is the sin of masturbation is to read the text wrong in a desire to prohibit something you don’t like.
* The Talmudic rabbis have a completely different attitude towards sex and masturbation than the Torah. The Talmudic rabbis prohibit any non-marital sex, including masturbation. The Torah does not prohibit pre-marital sex. All prostitutes in the Torah are portrayed positively. The Torah is not hung up with sex. The Talmudic rabbis and the New Testament appear hung up about sex by contrast to the Torah.
* Why no condemnation in the text of the sexual behavior of Judah and Tamar?
* Can you believe that our holy ancestor Judah had sex with Tamar without even asking her for her name? (Gen. 38:20) How shocking is that? How meaningful can sex be when you don’t even know the name of the person you’re porking? How could Jacob do this cosmically significant act and not know who it was with? How could such meaningless sex be truly fulfilling and pleasurable? He must’ve slept with her and never looked at her face. So where was he looking?
* Do you think more men would come to shul if there were cult prostitutes you could use before kiddish? Did Judaism miss the boat on cultic prostitution?
