Sex Saturates Our Torah: Parshah Ki Tetzei
Sex saturates our Torah. So many of the stories central to our tradition thrive on sexuality, sensuality and straight eroticism. Entirely of her own volition, Sarah gives her handmaid, Hagar, to her husband for purposes of procreation. Lot’s daughters get their father drunk and seduce him. Onan resorts to the withdrawal method to avoid the risk of impregnating his late brother’s wife. Tamar disguises herself as a prostitute and tricks her former father-in-law into marrying her. Potiphar’s wife attempts to seduce Joseph and then accuses him of rape when he rebuffs her advances. And Shir HaShirim was clearly intended for languid recitation under the enticing glow of a Spring moon, the scent of jasmine in the air.
Of course, our holy text devotes considerable space to delineating the prohibited and the permissible within the realm of sexuality. This week’s parshah, Ki Tetzei, addresses adultery, virginity, rape, the problem of favoring one wife over another, cult prostitution, divorce and family honor. Included in the mix is a rather fascinating step-by-step guide to taking captive a woman from a people a soldier has only just vanquished on the battlefield; as well as the parental responsibility to provide proof of a daughter’s virginity and the punishment of stoning.
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