Today we discussed Bloom's idea of misreading the bible. Bloom appreciates strong misreadings, but disproves weak misreadings.

Is J writing in Irony? Well let's see...I guess I am trying to understand J's sense of Irony. After Dr. Sexson's class on gender and the bible, I see the irony a little differently than I saw it before. I was stuck on words and meanings (a horrible thing to base any opinion on from the bible) and also morality from a modern perspective. But now I see differently. It is hard for people of this generation to avoid applying our own moral codes as universal rules. But if you really want to understand the Bible, you have to own the cultural beliefs of the time.

I thought I'd start with Solomon's Court, knowing nothing of it, but always hearing about it...The Songs of Solomon in the bible, refrences to Solomon's Court, and one of my favorite books, Song of Solomon (for example). But mainly, because Bloom believes that J resided in King Solomons Court. To understand J, dont we need to know what her life was like?

My questions were: Was King Solomon a real person, or a biblical character? Do we have evidence that any one individual from the Old Testament truly existed? What was life like in King Solomons Court? What were womens' lives like in the court?

after a bit of googling, I realised that I hit a controversial topic. The next link is authored by ADL, which seems a little dangerous to use in class, although it is a group claiming to protect all human rights (The Anti-Defamation League (or ADL) is an organization founded by B'nai B'rith in the United States whose stated aim is "to stop, by appeals to reason and conscience and, if necessary, by appeals to law, the defamation of the Jewish people. Its ultimate purpose is to secure justice and fair treatment to all citizens alike and to put an end forever to unjust and unfair discrimination against and ridicule of any sect or body of citizens.") so I think it is okay. Please let me know it it's inapropriate. Thanks.

The Temple Mount

King Solomon's Court

Archeologist site on Washington Post

The myth of Solomon entails a wise King, who was blessed by God, who built a magnificient Temple, who had many lovers. But I haven't found what life was like in his courts. I need to read more of the bible, perhaps the answers are in there.

THE LAWS OF YIBBUM.
The Torah describes the practice of Yibbum in the Parsha of Ki Setzei (Devarim 25:5,7,9):

"If there are brothers, and one of them dies without children, the wife of the deceased man may not marry out to another man. Her brother-in-law (her deceased husband's brother) must marry her and thus perform Yibbum on her ... If the man does not want to marry her, she shall approach the elders and declare 'My brother-in-law refuses to establish his brother's name in Israel; he does not consent to perform Yibbum on me'

... Then she shall approach him in the presence of the elders and remove his shoe from his foot, and spit in front of him and proclaim "Such should be done to a man who would not build up his brother's house!"

Yibbum is a Halachic rite which must be performed when a man who has a living brother dies childless. If this uncommon situation occurs, the widow must not remarry unless one of two actions are taken - either she must marry the brother of the deceased or she must be released from the obligation of marrying her brother-in-law by having him perform the Chalitzah ("removing" of the shoe) ceremony.

It is obviously uncomfortable for a woman to be trapped in this situation, wherein she would be subject to the will of another man. Her brother-in-law may not be locatable, compliant or appealing.

There are several fundamental laws concerning the childless nature of the deceased and the age of the bother that control whether Yibbum applies:


LAWS CONCERNING THE CHILDLESS NATURE OF THE DECEASED
1. Rule #1: The man must die childless. According to the Talmud Yevamos 87b, Dying childless includes instances where a man once had children, but these children were already dead at the time of his own death.
2. Rule #2: Grandchildren: According to the Talmud Yevamos 70a, if the deceased man has no living children but he does have living grandchildren, he is not considered to be childless, and therefore, there is no Yibbum obligation.
3. Rule #3: Offspring: According to Talmud Yevamos 11 lb and Shabbos 136a, if the deceased left behind any offspring at all, there is no Yibbum - even if the offspring is only one day old. Even if the offspring is still a viable fetus at the time of the husband's death, its mother is exempted from being bound to the living brother. If the fetus is a stillborn or is aborted, or dies, or is killed before it lived for thirty days, it is not considered to have ever been a viable offspring, and Yibbum would be required.

LAWS CONCERNING THE AGE OF THE DECEASED'S BROTHER
4. Rule #4: Brother-In-Law: According to the Talmud Yevamos 17b, the widow is obligated to marry her deceased husband's brother. If the deceased husband does not leave a living brother, his wife is free to marry whoever she pleases.
5. Rule #5: Minor: According to the Talmud Yevamos 1 05b, if the brother of the deceased is a minor, the widow is still bound to him, and does not have the option of freeing herself through Chalitzah since a minor lacks capacity to perform the ceremony. Instead she must wait until the brother reaches the age of majority (Bar Mitzvah 13) in order for him to render Chalitzah at that time. Only then may she remarry. According to the Talmud Niddah 45a if she wants to marry him, she must wait until he reaches 9 years of age.



This information was taken from: Law Office of
Baruch C. Cohen, Esq.
A Professional Law Corporation






These were my first attempts at understanding irony:
Genesis 3:6
"but God said 'you should not eat of the fruit .... and he ate."

Genesis 10:6
"And the Lord said, "Look, they are one people, and they have all one language; and this is only the begginning of what they will do; nothing that they will propose to do will now be impossible to them . Come, let us go down, and confuse their language there, so that they will not understand one another's speech."

Genesis 16:3
"So, after Abraham had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Sarai, Abram's wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her slave-girl, and gave her to her husband Abram as a wife. He went in to Hagar, and she concieved; and when she saw that she had concieved, she looked with contempt on her mistress. Then Sarai said to Abram, "May the wrong done to me be on you! I gave my slave-girl to your embrace, and when she saw that she had concieved, she looked on me with contempt....Then Sarai dealt harshly with her, and she ran away from her."