Hebrew Bible Study
Hebrew Bible Study

Tosefta for Deuteronomy 28:30

אִשָּׁ֣ה תְאָרֵ֗שׂ וְאִ֤ישׁ אַחֵר֙ ישגלנה [יִשְׁכָּבֶ֔נָּה] בַּ֥יִת תִּבְנֶ֖ה וְלֹא־תֵשֵׁ֣ב בּ֑וֹ כֶּ֥רֶם תִּטַּ֖ע וְלֹ֥א תְחַלְּלֶּֽנּוּ׃

Thou shalt betroth a wife, and another man shall lie with her; thou shalt build a house, and thou shalt not dwell therein; thou shalt plant a vineyard, and shalt not use the fruit thereof.

Tosefta Megillah

All the verses in the Torah which are written in obscene language are read in refined language, such as (Deut. 28:30), [which is written,] "You will betroth a woman, but another man will yishgalenah ('ravish her)," in every place where it is written yishgalenah, we read it as yishkavenah ("lie with her"); and such as (Deut. 28:27), [which is written,] "[God will strike you] with the boils of Egypt and with afolim ('hemmerhoids')," in every place where it is written afolim, we read it as tehorim ("tumors"); and such as (2 Kings 6:25-26), "a quarter of a kav of doves' divyonim ('excrement', considered softer than chiryonim, 'dung', as written) sold for five shekels," [and] (Is. 36:12), "to eat tzo'atam ('their own excrement', considered softer than chareichem, 'their own dung', as written) and drink their urine," [and] (2 Kings 10:27), "and they turned it (i.e., the temple of Ba'al) into motzaot ('latrines,' considered softer than chara'ot, 'outhouses', as written) until today." Rabbi Yehoshua ben Karcha says, [with respect to the last example,] "and they turned it into chara'ot (per GR"A)," we read it as it is written because the thing itself (i.e., the temple of Ba'al) is obscene.
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