{"id":55609,"date":"2014-06-10T03:13:05","date_gmt":"2014-06-10T11:13:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=55609"},"modified":"2014-06-10T03:13:05","modified_gmt":"2014-06-10T11:13:05","slug":"jewish-honor-killings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=55609","title":{"rendered":"Jewish Honor Killings"},"content":{"rendered":"

Marc B. Shapiro writes<\/a>:<\/p>\n

…we indeed have some examples in Jewish history of \u201chonor killings\u201d. For example, in 1311 a Jewish woman who married a Christian and became pregnant was killed by her brothers.[27]<\/p>\n

In 1557 an Italian Jew killed his sister because her alleged sexual activity embarrassed the family. Elliot Horowitz, who mentions this case, adds: \u201cAzariah Finzi, the girl\u2019s father, saw fit to defend this action by his only son, asserting that it was \u2018inappropriate for one calling himself a Jew, especially a member of one of the best families, to suffer a veil of shame upon his face, being mocked by all who see him for the blemish attached to his family\u2019s reputation.\u2019\u201d[28]<\/p>\n

In Teshuvot Hagahot Maimoniyot to Sefer Nashim, no. 25 (found in the standard printings of the Mishneh Torah), there is a responsum which describes how a woman cheated on her husband, apparently with a local non-Jew, and became pregnant. According to her father, she also killed her baby (\u201cthe mamzer\u201d[29]) after it was born. Her father, worried that she would apostatize, asked, indeed pleaded with, the local rabbis to permit him to kill his daughter by drowning her in the river. The rabbis turned the request down.<\/p>\n

\u05d1\u05d0 \u05d0\u05d1\u05d9\u05d4 \u05e9\u05dc \u05e9\u05e8\u05d4 \u05dc\u05e4\u05e0\u05d9 \u05e9\u05e0\u05d9\u05dd \u05de\u05de\u05e0\u05d5 \u05d4\u05d7\u05ea\u05d5\u05de\u05d9\u05dd \u05dc\u05de\u05d8\u05d4 \u05d5\u05d1\u05d0 \u05dc\u05d9\u05de\u05dc\u05da \u05d1\u05e0\u05d5 \u05dc\u05d4\u05d5\u05e8\u05d5\u05ea \u05dc\u05d5 \u05d0\u05dd \u05de\u05d5\u05ea\u05e8 \u05dc\u05d4\u05e8\u05d5\u05d2 \u05d1\u05ea\u05d5 \u05dc\u05d8\u05d5\u05d1\u05e2\u05d4 \u05d1\u05e0\u05d4\u05e8 \u05d5\u05dc\u05d0\u05d1\u05d3\u05d4 \u05de\u05df \u05d4\u05e2\u05d5\u05dc\u05dd . . . [\u05d0\u05de\u05e8 \u05d0\u05d1\u05d9\u05d4] \u05d0\u05e0\u05d9 \u05de\u05d1\u05e7\u05e9\u05db\u05dd \u05d1\u05db\u05dc \u05de\u05d9\u05e0\u05d9 \u05ea\u05d7\u05d9\u05e0\u05d4 \u05e9\u05ea\u05ea\u05d9\u05e8\u05d5 \u05dc\u05d9 \u05dc\u05d4\u05d5\u05e8\u05d2\u05d4.<\/p>\n

The case is actually quite sad since she was probably a teenager in over her head. The responsum describes how she would run away from home but her mother would convince her to come back. When her father rebuked her for her behavior, her reply was, \u201cI am not the first woman who did something bad.\u201d<\/p>\n

R. Asher Ben Jehiel, She’elot u-Teshuvot ha-Rosh 18:13, deals with a case of a woman who was intimate with a non-Jew and became pregnant from him. R. Asher affirms the local rabbi’s decision to cut off her nose. (See also R. Matityahu Strashun, Mivhar Ketavim [Jerusalem, 1969], p. 158 n. 3.)<\/p>\n

Also relevant is a very strange story recorded in Ta\u2019anit 24b. It begins by telling us that R. Yose ben Abin left his teacher, R. Yose of Yokeret. His reason was, \u201cHow could the man who showed no mercy to his son and daughter show mercy to me?\u201d Let\u2019s leave aside the story of R. Yose of Yokeret and his son. Here is what the Talmud records about him and his daughter.<\/p>\n

He had a beautiful daughter. One day he saw a man boring a hole in the fence so that he might catch a glimpse of her. He said to the man, “What is [the meaning of] this?\u201d The man answered: “Master, if I am not worthy enough to marry her, may I not at least be worthy to catch a glimpse of her?” Thereupon he exclaimed: “My daughter, you are a source of trouble to mankind, return to the dust so that men may not sin because of you.”<\/p>\n

Although he did not physically kill his daughter, he did express the wish that she die (according to some it was an actual curse), and in the opinion of many commentators this is exactly what happened (see Hagahot ha-Bah, ad loc.). What makes this text so shocking is that the daughter was entirely innocent of any improper behavior. In other words, it was her very existence as a beautiful woman that created the problem, and as such it was better that she simply exit this world before any more men were led into sinful thoughts. I see no way that this story can be brought into line with mainstream rabbinic thought, despite many attempts to do so.[30] (At a future time I can present some lessons that contemporary moralists have derived from this story, which also are quite shocking.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Marc B. Shapiro writes: …we indeed have some examples in Jewish history of \u201chonor killings\u201d. For example, in 1311 a Jewish woman who married a Christian and became pregnant was killed by her brothers.[27] In 1557 an Italian Jew killed … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[29,69],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-55609","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-jews","category-marc-b-shapiro"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t