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By Rabbi Gustavo Kraselnik,
Kol Shearith Israel Congregation, Panama

Translated by Inés Baum - Proofreading by Ellen Zindler

The story of Tamar and Judah – one of my favorites – appears as a loose page in the midst of Joseph’s story, which begins in this week’s parashah and continues for the next few weeks.

Joseph is sold into slavery by his brothers (it is not clear whether to the Midianites or to the Ishmaelites), and is acquired by an important officer of the Egyptian court. Before telling what happened to Joseph in his new situation, the Torah interrupts the account and brings us the story of Judah and Tamar (Gen. 38).

Er, Judah’s first-born, marries Tamar, a Canaanite woman, and dies with no heirs. In accordance with the Levirate Law, Onan, Judah’s second son, makes her his wife, but knowing that the children he fathers would not bear his name but that of his dead brother, “he went in unto his brother's wife, that he spilled (the seed) on the ground” (38:9), reason why he was also punished by God and died.

Facing the death of his two sons, Judah decided not to give his last son, Shelah, to Tamar, sending her instead to her family, “till Shelah my son be grown up”. Seeing that time went by and she was not called forth, Tamar dressed up as a harlot, had sexual relations with her father-in-law (without his knowing who she was), and got pregnant. From this incestuous relation (which Judah had already acknowledged), twins were born: Perez and Zerah.

Although at first sight Tamar’s attitude may disgust us, a more profound reading teaches us that her behaviour was due to her thirst for justice and her disposition to solve her situation, so that the Levirate law – which her father-in-law was not planning to fulfill – would be carried out. Judah himself acknowledges the equity of Tamar’s behaviour and, when he learned he was the one responsible for her pregnancy, said: “She is more righteous than I; forasmuch as I gave her not to Shelah my son” (38:26). The birth of the twins, one of which will be an ancestor of King David, seems to give a happy ending to the story.

One of the most enthralling elements of this story is the variety of associations with other biblical texts that emerge, among them:

• The daughter of David (descendant of Judah) who was raped by her half-brother Amnon (2 Samuel 13), in another story with strong sexual content, was also called Tamar.
• The scarlet thread (38:28) tied by the midwife to Zerah’s outstretched hand (who is born second), reminds us of the thread of the same color that the prostitute Rachav had to tie to her window at her house in Jericho, in order to remind Joshua’s men of their promise to spare her life and that of her family. (By the way, according to Graves & Patai, in “The Hebrew Myths”, the scarlet thread was the mark of prostitution.)
• The birth of the twins sends us back to Jacob and Esau. The dispute for the birthright also appears here: Zerah’s hand aims to show his right to be considered first-born, although he was born second.

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Forwarded by Rabbi Gustavo Kraselnik, from Kol Shearith Israel Congregation, Panama.
Translated by Inés Baum and proofread by Ellen Zindler, from B’nei Israel Congregation, Costa Rica.

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