GEN791 One may violate most religious injunctions in order to save his life. Even an infant who is one day old, legally not considered viable, is entitled to the same consideration Shabbat 151b. There are three cardinal prohibitions which may not be violated even at the cost of one’s life: idolatry, adultery, and murder Sanhedrin 74a. Any commission of suicide for the sake of avoiding a transgression of other religious injunctions is a serious offense. Maimonides Yesodei haTorah 5:4.  The moral question whether religious laws may be transgressed in order to preserve a life was in issue for a long time. Some sectarian groups, such as the Qumran sect, apparently believed that the primacy of the law should never be via compromised (See Bloch, The Biblical and Historical Background of Jewish Customs and Ceremonies, p 117). On the other hand, a Hasmonean court (2nd cent. B.C.E.) ruled that one may desecrate the Sabbath to defend his life I Macc. 2:41. It seems that no such dispensation was ever granted prior to the Hasmonean era. The Talmud accepted the principle of the primacy of life. Rabbi Ishmael (3nd cent.) voiced a minority opinion that even the law forbidding idolatry may be transgressed (not in public) when one ordered to do so at the risk of his life. He based his view on the verse in Leviticus 18:5 “You shall therefore keep my statutes and my judgments, which if a man do he shall live in them.” Rabbi Ishmael commented on the last phrase of the verse: “’he shall live in them’ but not die by them” Sanhedrin 74a  The primacy of life was apparently paramount in the moral code of the Semitic patriarchs. Abraham requested Sarah to tell Pharoah that she was his sister, not his wife, so that the king would have no need of killing him [This verse]. This request can only be rationalized by the prevailing ethical principle that all virtues, including marital fidelity, maybe waived in the interest of saving a life. The rabbinic majority opinion was crystallized after a long debate in the upper chamber of the House of Nitzah in Lydda (ca. 135). It was during the Hadrianic persecution, when the practice of Judaism was forbidden, that the issue is finally resolved. “In every law of the Torah, if a man is commanded: ‘Transgress and suffer not death,” he may transgress and not suffer death, excepting idolatry, adultery, and murder” Sanhedrin 74a BLOCH 243-4

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GEN790 Rabbi Hanina ben Dosa said: Any person in whom the fear of sin comes before wisdom, his wisdom shall endure; but anyone in whom wisdom comes before fear of sin, his wisdom shall not endure.  Pirkei Avot III:11.  Here we have a clear, superb statement of one of Judaism’s basic insights:  Wisdom, thought is subservient to the will, which is so inextricably bound up with the motions; therefore, unless a person be first imbed with “fear of sin,” a strong moral sense, his wisdom cannot itself be influential in any fundamental way, no matter how marvelously developed it may be.  For sooner or later the mind and its wisdom become a rationalizing handmaiden, subservient to the wishes and demands of the self that wills.  When Abraham journeyed to the Land of the Philistines, as a measure of self-defense he concealed the fact that beautiful Sarah was his wife, and announced instead that she was his sister. [this verse]. Later Abimelech king of the Philistines felt hurt that Abraham should have suspected his people of being wife-snatchers, wince taking another man’s wife was forbidden, under one of the Seven Noachian Laws, as a crime punishable by death. Abraham replied, however, that “I though: there is no fear of God at all in this place, and they will kill me on account of my wife.” Genesis 20:11 By this he meant: Of course you have a law that no one may take another man’s wife. But where there is no “fear of God,” no wisdom, no abstract knowledge of the law is enough to overcome the evil inclination. You would probably find some way of disposing of me, and then there is no law to prevent you from marrying Abraham’s attractive widow!  Where “fear of sin” does not come before wisdom, to form a basis and background for it wisdom cannot endure. Consider the man who swears that he will never touch a single dollar that belongs to the next fellow. Under his breath he may well add, “Try to convince me that this dollar really belongs to the next fellow.”  SINAI1 273-4

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GEN793 Sarah does not dispute Abraham’s fears.  She proceeds to tell the lie Abraham asked her to related, and even stands by it when the king takes her into his home.  Only when God sends a plague on Pharaoh’s house does the Egyptian monarch learn that Sarah is a married woman, and he immediately releases her.  Abraham lies about this matter once again Genesis, chapter 20) and his son Isaac acts in the same way Genesis 26:6-11. On none of these occasions does God express displeasure with what Abraham or Isaac has done (since God communicates with the Patriarchs on other occasions, He could have easily expressed disapproval of their actions).  TELVOL 1:427

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GEN795 Judaism does truly admire physical beauty.  However, like any other special quality given by God, it should not be shown off with revealing clothes except on special occasions, which Judaism defines as in the bedroom with one’s spouse.  Sarah, Abraham’s wife, remained in the tent when strangers came to visit Genesis 18:9 despite the fact that she was exceedingly beautiful.   Western culture tells husbands to “show off” the beauty of their wives.  Yet, because Sarah stayed inside the tent, the Talmud Baba Metzia 87a calls the beautiful Sarah modest.  This is the meaning of the verse Psalms 45:14 that says that the honor is paid to the princess who remains hidden. Like the use of jewelry or the Torah, using that special quality only on an occasional basis and in the proper context is what makes that talent more appreciated, not less appreciated.  Because the mountain did not symbolically try to “show off” how great it was, Mount Sinai was called modest and was chosen as the site of the giving of the Torah.  Thus, hiding one’s special talent except for special occasions (as part of Jewish holiness) is one important aspect of Jewish modesty.  AMEMEI 184

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GEN796 R. Chelbo said: “One should always be solicitous of his wife’s honor, for blessing abides in a man’s house only for the sake of his wife, as it is written: ‘And he benefited Avram for her sake’” Baba Metzia 59a TEMIMAH-GEN 59

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GEN797 Deception is one of the ways marginal people imagine themselves improving their situation at the expense of those with greater power, as in the many underdog tales of Genesis or the Afro-American tradition of trickster-tales (Niditch, 1987: 44 – 50). The sons of Jacob use their own wits to succeed. God’s help is not mentioned. And yet, their success is of an unstable variety as are all tricksters’ victories. Abram deceives Pharaoh only to be thrown out of town [this verse], Jacob deceives Esau and suffers exile and the prospect of again confronting his brother, and so on. The old trickster himself, Jacob, warns his hot-headed suns at genesis 34:30: “you have brought trouble upon me by making me hated among the inhabitants of the land… they will gather against me, strike me, and I shall be destroyed, myself and my household.” The suns have the last word, again an appeal to honor based upon the man’s capacity to protect his women.” Should he be allowed to treat our sister like a harlot?!” The victory, how are, is not neat or final as the Karen text would have it. This tale of war comes from the time and people who enjoy and find relevant the image of Israelites as tricksters who defy those who would control them or there is. They do not defy the enemy directly, but employee with, while, and deception and assume that no victories are final or neat. Theirs is a world-review it Differs strongly of the bardic text NIDITCH 110-1

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GEN798 The Torah tells us that Abraham was extremely wealthy with cattle, gold, and silver, and showed the world that it is possible to have wealth and power and not necessarily become greedy.  AMJV 338

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GEN799 A person should not change the place of his lodging.  When Abraham returned from Egypt to the land of Canaan, he lodged at the same inns in which he had stayed on his way down to Egypt.  From this we learn that a person should not change his place of accommodation Erchin 16b Rashi.  A change in lodgings could harm the reputation of both host and guest. People might think something is wrong with the host, and therefore the guest does not want to stay with him, or vice versa.  PLYN 47 

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GEN801 R. Yehudah said in the name of Rav: “Whence is it derived that one should not change his accustomed lodging place? From the verse: ‘Until the place where his tent was in the beginning.’” R. Yossi b. R. Chanina said: “From the verse: ‘And he went to his travels.’” What reflects the difference between the two views? – And incidental lodging place [where one was compelled to stop because of unforeseen circumstances. According to the first view, the rule does not apply to such a place, and according to the second view, it does] Erchin 16b TEMIMAH-GEN 60

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GEN800 One must endeavor to lodge at the place to which he is accustomed; he may only desist if he is physically evicted from the premises by the owner of the lodging.  Rashi explains the reason for this laws: People will say, “How difficult are those two – they could not even manage to live in peace together!”  This rule applies even if one pays rent to the landlord.  WAGS 168

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