Pemikiran Yahudi Ulangan 21:12: Nineteen Letters & Guide for the Perplexed

Chukkim. — Arbitrary or apparently inexplicable Statutes. — The same thoughtful regard which you show to man, show as well to every lower being; to the earth which bears and sustains all; to the world of animals and plants, to your own body, to your own mental faculties, to your "ego," that which is most of all your own. It is the same justice which you owe to other human beings. What in the case of the Mishpatim results from the concept of identical personality, flows here from the fundamental notion of equal subordination to God, who defends all which is lower in order and subject to you against your caprice and the ebullitions of unregulated will. Your duties towards humanity are more intelligible to you simply because you have only to think of yourself, your own views and feelings, in order to recognize and sympathize with the demands and needs of your fellow-man. Could you put yourself as thoroughly in the place of other beings, could you even understand the conditions of the union and the combined activity of your own body and soul, you would find it as easy to comprehend Chukkim as Mishpatim. They ask of you to regard all beings as God's possessions; destroy none; abuse none; waste nothing; employ all things wisely; the kinds and species of plants and animals are God's order; mingle them not. All creatures are servants in the household of creation. Respect even the feelings and desires of beasts. Respect the body of man even when the personality has departed. Respect your own body as receptacle, messenger and instrument of the spirit. Limit and subdue your impulses and animal actions under the law of God that they be used in a manner truly human and holy for the upbuilding of the holy purpose of the human race, that man sink not into a mere beast. Respect your soul in nourishing your body; give the latter only so much and such food as will permit it to be a pure, obedient messenger of the world to the soul, of the soul to the world, but not such as to produce sluggishness or sensuality. Therefore conceal and elevate, do not esteem too highly thy animal part, in order that in the end all contradictory dispositions be eliminated from you, and even the beast-like become truly human. Finally, respect yourself in your purest emanation, your word.

To the same class belongs also the law concerning “the marriage of a captive woman” (Deut. 21:10 seq.). There is a well-known saying of our Sages: “This law is only a concession to human weakness.” This law contains, nevertheless, even for the nobler class of people, some moral lessons to which I will call your attention. For although the soldier may be overcome by his desire which he is unable to suppress or to restrain, he must take the object of his lust to a private place, “into the inner of his house” (Deut. 21:12), and he is not permitted to force her in the camp. Similarly our Sages say, that he may not cohabit with her a second time before she leaves off her mourning, and is at ease about her troubles. She must not be prevented from mourning and crying, and she must be permitted to abstain from bathing, in accordance with the words, “and she shall weep for her father and for her mother” (ibid.); for mourners find comfort in crying and in excitement till, the body has not sufficient strength to bear the inner emotions; in the same manner as happy persons find rest in various kinds of play. Thus the Lord is merciful to her and gives her permission to continue her mourning and weeping till she is worn out. You know certainly that he married her as a heathen, and that during the thirty days she openly keeps her religion and even continues her idolatrous practices; no interference with her faith was allowed during that time; and after all that she could not be sold, nor treated as a handmaid, if she could not be induced to accept the statutes of the Law. Thus the Law does not ignore the cohabitation of the Israelite with the captive woman, although it involved disobedience to God to some extent, having taken place when she was still a heathen. The Law prescribes: “Thou shalt not make merchandise of her, because thou hast humbled her” (ibid. 14). We have thus shown the moral lessons contained in these laws, and we have explained the reason of every precept of this section.