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OK, some folks have asked me to talk about the whole "stone to death your wayward and rebellious son" in Deuteronomy 21, which I am happy to because the Rabbis' take on this is one of my favorite examples of activist readings of text.
A thread! 1/x
A thread! 1/x
So. Deut 21, or Terrorize Your Teenager In Four Short Verses.
"If a man has a wayward and defiant son, who does not heed his father or mother and does not obey them even after they discipline him, his father and mother shall take hold of him...+" https://www.sefaria.org/Deuteronomy.21.18?lang=bi&with=all&lang2=en
"If a man has a wayward and defiant son, who does not heed his father or mother and does not obey them even after they discipline him, his father and mother shall take hold of him...+" https://www.sefaria.org/Deuteronomy.21.18?lang=bi&with=all&lang2=en
"and bring him out to the elders of his town at the public place of his community. They shall say to the elders of his town, “This son of ours is disloyal and defiant; he does not heed us. He is a glutton and a drunkard.” Thereupon the men of his town shall stone him to death."
"Thus you will sweep out evil from your midst: all Israel will hear and be afraid."
I'm gonna focus on later readings of this passage, not gonna spend time on the ancient Near Eastern context here. (As it happens, this is, like, my least favorite Torah portion, +
I'm gonna focus on later readings of this passage, not gonna spend time on the ancient Near Eastern context here. (As it happens, this is, like, my least favorite Torah portion, +
I don't feel a lot of need to apologize for things in Torah that do not square with my vision of justice today.) But that's honestly part of why what the Rabbis did here was so notable.
So, some dates. Maybe the Torah was given by God to Moses on Sinai, or maybe it was developed over a few centuries. Either way, everybody agrees that by the 6th-4th c. BCE, the thing was prolly in final form.
The Mishnah, known as the Oral Torah, was either given by God to Moses on Sinai or developed organically over a few hundred years, depends on your theology. We do know that it was redacted after the fall of the Second Temple and Bar Kochba, probably 150-200 CE. Rabbinic era.
So let's look at the Mishnah's discussion of this Torah passage, shall we? We're in Sanhedrin chapter 8.
"A wayward and rebellious son: at what age does he become liable [to be stoned]? From the time that he produces two hairs until the beard is full." https://www.sefaria.org/Mishnah_Sanhedrin.8.1?lang=bi&with=all&lang2=en
"A wayward and rebellious son: at what age does he become liable [to be stoned]? From the time that he produces two hairs until the beard is full." https://www.sefaria.org/Mishnah_Sanhedrin.8.1?lang=bi&with=all&lang2=en
The Mishnah then clarifies: "by which is meant the hair of the genitals, not that of the face," So the time between pubic hair starting & finishing to grow in. Why? "it says, “If a man has a son” (Deut. 21:18) a son, but not a daughter; ‘a son’, but not an adult man."
Since kids couldn't be liable, the kid has to be old enough to be a legal adult (aka puberty, like bar mitzvah) but not yet a real adult.
Did you catch it? We've just narrowed the time frame that this kid could be stoned WAYYYY down. Def not a girl, and only a pubescent boy.
Did you catch it? We've just narrowed the time frame that this kid could be stoned WAYYYY down. Def not a girl, and only a pubescent boy.
What's the crime? "When does he become liable [to be stoned]? Once he has eaten a tartemar of meat & drunk 1/2 a log of wine. Rabbi Yose said: “A maneh of meat and a log of wine." He can't get killed for talking rudely, or flunking that test, or getting caught with weed.
The crime is very specific. The Torah says "glutton & drunkard!" so he has to do BOTH those things, consume a VERY SPECIFIC AMOUNT! The Mishnah also tells us it can't be at a religious act--holiday celebration, wedding, etc--and everything has to be kosher. Otherwise, no killing!
I'm not quoting the whole Mishnah, you can check the link, I'm just paraphrasing a lot. More limiting conditions! "he does not become a “wayward and rebellious son,” until he steals from his father and eats on another’s property." Got it? Steal from home, eat elsewhere.
"If his father wants [to have him punished], but not his mother; or his father does not want [to have him punished] but his mother does, he is not treated as a ‘wayward a rebellious son’" Both parents have to agree. And neither parent can be disabled!
And! The stoning can only take place if a) he was warned in the presence of 3 and b) does the EXACT SAME THING another time c) DURING this little window where his pubic hair is growing in and d) the original 3 witnesses are at the big full second trial!
& If he runs away & his pubic hair grows in before they deal with him, forget it.
Do you see what the Rabbis are doing? They are coming up with such a wild, specific, narrow, fakakte case--the only case where this could apply!--that it could never really happen. No kids hurt.
Do you see what the Rabbis are doing? They are coming up with such a wild, specific, narrow, fakakte case--the only case where this could apply!--that it could never really happen. No kids hurt.
The Rabbis of the Mishnah are being profoundly activist. They don't negate the fact of the Torah as our holy text, but they understand that what might have made sense in its ancient Near Eastern context doesn't anymore, isn't a sustainable way to create a whole, holy society.
(Or maybe it didn't make sense in the ANE context--I'm certainly not here to pretend that everything in Torah is perfect, in this same Torah portion we're told about the "more moral" way to rape captives of war and to stone to death a woman if she can't produce virginity proof.)
But the Rabbinic approach is not to throw the whole thing away--because there is SO MUCH that is powerful and holy and shows us, profoundly, how to encounter and serve the divine, how to bravely resist tyranny, how to create a society that cares for the most vulnerable.
But rather to say, Torah is a process and our relationship with it is a process. This is all unfolding and we're not required to translate these words literally into our context today. We can find ways to engage with it that bring more light, more holiness, more justice NOW.
And so they read text with a wink. A glutton, huh? Must have been that he stole and ate meat--not just any amount of meat, but a whole-ass tartemar. And he must have eaten it.. not here, not there.. but ...
They choose to read in order to cut off air where it's needed.
They choose to read in order to cut off air where it's needed.
And sometimes the Rabbis expand in their readings, or shift, or change, or grow. But we understand the *process* of reading, interpreting as holy, as Torah itself. Torah isn't (only) a fixed book but rather our dynamic relationship & engagement with that book.
We sometimes talk about Torah having 4 levels of interpretation--the plain meaning, the hidden meaning, the interpretive meaning, the secret meaning. Literal, ethical, spiritual, theological. Every verse. And we jump around between them. That's OK! We LIKE new readings.
Another one of my favorite activist readings is Talmud Bava Kamma 83b, looking at paying damages. Torah says "eye for eye, tooth for tooth" etc, right? The Talmud's like, "did God mean that literally? We're supposed to poke someone's eye out????"
And then immediately responds: OBVIOUSLY NOT! What kind of a question is that?? OBVIOUSLY "eye for an eye" means you pay financial damages! Duh! https://www.sefaria.org/Bava_Kamma.83b.8?lang=bi&with=all&lang2=en
So part of the process of Torah is one of refining, of bringing the idea of holiness into the now, into what we understand the work of caring for one another & serving the divine to be now, here, today. Sometimes it is done by expanding possibilities. Sometimes by narrowing them.
In the Talmud (ok so Mishnah is part of Talmud technically, but usually this means the 3rd-5th c. discussion of the Mishnah) they bring another Mishnah-era oral text for discussion.
"There has never been a stubborn & rebellious son & there will never be one." The case narrowed by Mishnah (& then Talmud--I didn't even talk about how Talmud says the puberty time is only 3 mos or how the wine must be ITALIAN wine or etc) is so narrow it could never happen.
So, Talmud asks: "why, then, was this passage written in the Torah?"
And answers: "So that you may expound upon new understandings of the Torah and receive reward for your learning." https://www.sefaria.org/Sanhedrin.71a.16?lang=bi&with=all&lang2=en
And answers: "So that you may expound upon new understandings of the Torah and receive reward for your learning." https://www.sefaria.org/Sanhedrin.71a.16?lang=bi&with=all&lang2=en
That's the work, people. Go deep into the sacred texts, wrestle with them, and find yourself new understandings.
