HHMI Newsgroup Archives
Subject: Jephtha's vow
Date: Tue, 3 Dec 1996 09:50:44 +0000
From: heb_roots_chr@mail.geocities.com
Reply-To: heb_roots_chr@geocities.com
To: "Hebraic Heritage Newsgroup"<heb_roots_chr@geocities.com>
To: heb_roots_chr@geocities.com
Subject: Re: Question for Rabbi 0
From: (Yehoshua M Othniel)
Rabbi 0,
In the TANAKH Judges 11.29 - 11.40 Jephtha's vow, does he offer her
as a burnt offering in your under standing ?
Shalom James,
Thanks for bringing up this question, as you're probably aware, there
is a great deal of argument regarding the fate of Jephthah's daughter.
Some say that Jephthah did offer his daughter up as a burnt offering,
and others say that he only dedicated her to a life of celibacy in service
to G-d, and His holy sanctuary. However, you asked for my
understanding of his actions, so here is what I believe...
Quite frankly, until you brought up this specific question, I had
always concluded that Jephthah had indeed sacrificed his daughter as a
burnt offering. As I researched this issue, I found that our earliest sages,
along with Josephus the Jewish historian of Imfamous note, also
concluded that the girl was sacrificed. It was not until the Middle Ages
that certain rabbis put forth the view that the girl ' s life was spared. I will
not go into the details here as it would make my reply to your question
rather lengthy and quite boring to read. My sources are as follows...
1. The Ryrie Study Bible, (N.A.S.) page 385, (see footnotes for 11:31 &
11:39.) Moody Press, Chicago, IL. (C) 1978.
2. Commentary on the Old Testament, Keil & Delitzsch, Vol. 2, page 388.
W. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, Grand Rapids, MI. Reprinted 4/91.
3. The New Unger's Bible dictionary, page 667, Merrill F. Unger. Moody
Press, Chicago, IL. Revised and Updated Edition (C) 1988
In Genesis 18. 6-8 Abraham served three men a roast beef and cheese
sandwich and they were from the LORD . If I understand jewish kosher
teachings, this is not kosher, to mix dairy with meat .
thanks for your time .
BLESSED BE THE LIVING GOD .
James.
****************************
James,
You are correct about the laws of Kashrut, (kosher) in that it is not
permissible to serve meat and dairy together. As for what Avraham
(Abraham) served to the three visitors, one of whom was YHVH, Himself,
the other two were angels.
Let me digress here for a moment. I know that Rashi, one of our great
sages, says that this particular angel was not G-d, Moshe ' Rabbenu,
Moses our Teacher said it was G-d. I'll go with Moses any day over
Rashi. This is not to say I don't find Rashi's teaching credible, many are.
I just don't agree with his conclusions in this case. I also might ad that
my rabbi, (mentor) does not agree with Rashi either. But let's not get
off the subject with this tangent.
Avraham didn't serve his heavenly guests a roastbeef & cheese
sandwhich. He did however serve meat, cheese, and milk. Now we get
into some interesting interpretive rabbinical gymnastics. Many of my
rabbinic colleagues, including the late Rabbi Dr. J.H. Hertz believed that
Avraham served the soft dairy products first while the meat was being
prepared and roasting. By the time the meat was served, the dairy
products had passed through the digestive tracts and therefore eating
meat at this point would not violate our laws of Kashrut. Rav Hertz may
indeed be correct, as we do not have any specific time references in this
passage whereby we can determine how long a time period actually
elapsed between dishes.
I would point out that this event took place long before the giving of
Torah, both Torah shel yad, (written) and Torah shel pel, (oral). That
and the fact that none of Abraham's visitors raised any objections to the meal, the
I'd have to say that no laws were violated.
One final note, I personally observe the separation of meat and dairy
in my observance of Kashrut. You are not likely to see me eat a
cheeseburger any time soon!
Yehoshua M. Othniel
Rabbi on line.
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