Saturday, June 06, 2020

The Sotah of our times?

Numbers, Chapter 5 (Parshat Naso)

יד  וְ. . .; אוֹ-עָבַר עָלָיו רוּחַ-קִנְאָה וְקִנֵּא אֶת-אִשְׁתּוֹ, וְהִיא לֹא נִטְמָאָה. 14 . . . ; or if the spirit of jealousy come upon him, and he be jealous of his wife, and she be not defiled;


Think about it.  Why does a man's jealousy result in the only trial by ordeal in the Torah (Bible), with the husband subjecting his wife to a "trial" precisely because there's *isn't* any evidence?

The answer is that a woman of that era was almost always subject to the authority of a man, be he her father or her husband.  The Sotah ritual was a means of reminding all women that men were in charge.

Who in our day is routinely suspected and often punished whether or not they've actually done anything wrong?

Does the phrase "driving while black" sound familiar?  :(

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