I find chapter 18 of Leviticus (in parshahAcharei Mot) to be very interesting, especially when considered in the context of modern society.
This chapter basically says:
Do not do the things the Egyptians did
Do not do the things the Canaanites did
Follow God’s rules and laws
Do not have sex with:
a. anyone of your family
b. your mother
c. your father’s wife (even if not your mother)
d. your sister (your father’s daughter or your mother’s daughter)
e. your granddaughter
f. your father’s wife’s daughter
g. your paternal aunt
h. your maternal aunt
i. your paternal sister-in-law
j. your daughter-in-law
k. your sister-in-law
l. a woman and her daughter
m. a woman and then her granddaughter
n. a woman’s sister while still the woman is still alive
o. a woman during her period
p. your neighbor’s wife
q. another man
r. an animal (applicable to men and women)
Do not offer your children to Molekh
If you disobey God, the land will vomit you out
In today’s society, all of points 4 and 5 would be considered morally and naturally imperative and mandatory, except for 4q (imagine that, “q,” hehehehe). (Point 5 would be considered applicable today because people believe children should not passed through a fire, even for religious reasons.) Conservatives believe that 4q is part of 4, which is still applicable today: there is no room for discussion or change in this list of rules. The sexual ethic of Leviticus 18 is absolute. (This is espoused most especially by conservative Christians and very Orthodox Jews.) Others believe that 4q may now be dispensed with, the rule being outdated and unwise and misguided for today.
So, question: are any other points (besides q) under 4 negotiable, or is “q” the only exception for today’s world?
I forgot that there is nothing in Christianity that says that a man should not have sex with a woman during her period: thus, in modern society this rule is no longer adhered to as much. (I say “as much” because taharat ha-misphachah, which deals with menstruating woman and sex, is a very important part of Orthodox Jewish observance. Also, Islam forbids sex with a woman during her period. As, I believe, do Hinduism and Zoroastrianism but not, I believe, Buddhism, Sikhism, etc. So there are two to four groups of people for whom sex with a woman during her period is forbidden.)
The translation is: “Do not marry a woman as a rival to her sister and uncover her nakedness in the other’s lifetime.” I guess this means not to marry a woman and one of her sisters at least while the woman is alive. Once she’s dead, then marrying a sister would be permitted.
I hate to be a spoilsport and throw in a serious post, but here it is.
These laws have to do with reproduction and survival. Making sex between two family members taboo, for example, is a way of ensuring that offspring will not have any genetic problems due to inbreeding. Banning adultery is a way of ensuring that a child’s paternity is not called into question. That sort of thing.
Other laws have to do with populating the earth with as many kids as possible. If you look at the laws of niddah (menstruating woman), you’ll see that sex is permissible only during those times of the month when the woman is most fertile and thus most likely to become pregnant. Relations between men, relations between women, and relations with animals don’t result in reproduction, and so are a waste of effort and gamete cells.
Don’t forget, too, that some civilizations weren’t as rigid with their sexual practices, and these laws became a way of distinguishing “us” and “them”. “We don’t fuck our sisters, so they’re not civilized.”
Over time, these laws left the realm of the practical and entered the realm of the moral; that is, any practical purpose was forgotten, and these laws were followed for the sake of following the laws.
This is a conflation of world history, sociology and some stuff my rabbi taught my Hebrew school class.
You know I have a really hard time believing that these laws have much to do with producing healthy children. You have to do a fair amount to record keeping to find out that inbreeding causes problems.
Except that doesn’t apply to in-laws, or to your father’s wife if she isn’t your mother, your father’s wife’s daughter or l,m,n or o.
Given divorce as a prerequisite, these wouldn’t be taboo today, although they might make Thanksgiving dinner a little dramatic:
i. your paternal sister-in-law
j. your daughter-in-law
k. your sister-in-law
and these aren’t taboo anymore, although you might be considered a bit of a cad:
l. a woman and her daughter
m. a woman and then her granddaughter
n. a woman’s sister while still the woman is still alive
This one’s not only a choice, for some it’s a bonus:
o. a woman during her period
And, of course, everyone’s favorite, and practically our national pastime:
p. your neighbor’s wife
But why are all these needed, anyway? Seems like it could be edited down a bit:
4. Do not have sex with:
a. anyone of your family
l. a woman and a relative of hers
p. your neighbor’s wife
q. another man
r. an animal (applicable to men and women)
Is it true that lesbianism isn’t forbidden, or it that just due to the “rough translation” in the OP? And how come 4p was the only one to make the final cut into the Commandmants?
Waste of gamete cells??? I don’t know about you, but using up all my gamete cells has never been a problem. Give me 15 minutes after having sex with some goat and I’m able and willing to go impregnate someone. I’m a little skeptical that these laws are to prevent “wasting” sexual encounters that could be used to procreate.
I agree with the rest of your post though.
It’s debatable whether they’d be aware of this, but we are actually innately programed with an incest taboo (look up the Westerarck effect), so this law just codifes what the Israelis gut instinct was, regardless of whether or not they understood what the concequnces were.
My take on that is, if you’re screwing goats, you’re not screwing women. Ditto for sleeping with other men and that sort of thing. The point of it is, these laws codify the prohibitions of relationships that aren’t very productive. (Besides, if you’re screwing goats, it explains your user name rather well. ;))
True enough, but why go to the effort of specifically making it illegal when you see the people around you do it?
Actually, one would be less likely to impregnate a woman fifteen minutes or even a few hours after having had sex with anything else. The sperm count needs a little time to build back up.
“I shall waste no gamete cell before its…Oh! Look! It’s time!”
Maybe. I guess I have trouble beliving that it’s that hard getting all the women in the tribe pregnant, even if a few of the men are off screwing each other or doing the livestock. The ancient greeks, for example, were both famously fertile and certainly not against homsexuality. Also, if modern humans are any guide, I would think enough of the hebrews would be horny enough to get the women folk knocked up every year or two. Especially in the case of the menstration prohobition, if I had sex with my wife while she was menstrating, I don’t think I’d be “spent” for the month and not want to do it while shes ovulating. After all, we live in a tent in the middle of the desert, its not like we have anything else to do with our evenings.
WhyNot, according to Etz Hayim, the Conservative Jewish commentary of the Torah, “The Torah prohibits male homosexual relations, and the Sages understood the Torah to forbid lesbian relations as well (Sifra Aharei Mot 9:8).” (From Etz Hayim. New York, NY: The Rabbinical Assembly, 2004; p. 691 of the travel edition; parenthetical italic cite in original.)
I would have to say that I am inclined to strongly consider what MsRobyn has to say concerning the reason behind the rules of point 4. (But, as there are no longer any Hebrews around from the time of Moses or the Redaction, we will never really know.) It may not be entirely logical, but Judaism, I believe, has had both an emphasis on being different and expanding the tribe.
Even if the “these rules are to promote procreation” line sinks, I think a strong case may be made that these rules would nevertheless have been imposed and be crucial if only to mark the Hebrews/Jews as different from other peoples. (This is the reason, inevitably, that pig-meat became forbidden, to keep the Israelites different from the rest of the peoples.)
But the question still remains: in all seriousness, is point 4 still valid for modern society (taking away a few points, such as sex with women in their period, and marrying the wife’s sister (polygamy is illegal anyway))?
Diogenes the Cynic, is that fear still extant in modern society (outside of the few religious groups that still believe in the impurity of the flowing of blood)?