(27) And God created man in His image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. (NJPS)
JPS Contemporary Torah (Gender-Sensitive) 1:27 "And God created humankind in the divine image, creating it in the image of God--creating them male and female."
(1) This is the record of Adam’s line.—When God created humankind, it was made in the likeness of God; (2) male and female were they created. And when they were created, [God] blessed them and called them Humankind.—(Contp. Torah)
(18) You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against members of your people. Love your fellow as yourself: I am the YHVH. (Based on Contemp. Torah)
The broken tablets were placed in the holy Ark along with the second, intact set ; (Talmud Bava Batra 14b).
היך עבידא הוה מקטע קופד ומחת סכינא לידוי תחזור ותמחי לידיה. (ויקרא יט) ואהבת לרעך כמוך. רבי עקיבה אומר זהו כלל גדול בתורה. בן עזאי אומר (בראשית ה) זה ספר תולדות אדם זה כלל גדול מזה.
עברית
Rabbi Akiva (second century CE) taught: “‘Love your neighbor as your self.’ (Leviticus, 19:18) This is the most important rule in the Torah.” Ben Azzai says: ‘This is the scroll of the generations of humanity… Humans was created in the image of God.’ (Genesis, 5) This is an even greater principle, so that one should not say ‘Because I have been humiliated, let my friend be humiliated with me, because I have been cursed, let my friend be cursed with me’.
Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (UN, Dec. 9, 1948)
Article I: The Contracting Parties confirm that genocide, whether committed in time of peace or in time of war, is a crime under international law which they undertake to prevent and to punish.
Article II: In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:
(a) Killing members of the group; (b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; (c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; (d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; (e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.
Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UN, Dec. 10, 1948) Article 1.
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
The Lovesick Man --- Babylonian Talmud Sanhedrin 75a ( a discussion about kiddush ha-shem -- sanctifying God's name)
R. Yehudah said in the name of Rav [There is] a story of a man who placed his eyes on a woman and his heart filled with black bile. And they came and asked the doctors, and [the doctors] said “he has no treatment unless she has intercourse [with him].” The sages said, “Let him die, but she will not have intercourse with him.”
[The doctors said] “She should stand before him naked,” [the sages said] “Let him die, but she will not stand before him naked.” [the doctors said] “She should converse with him from behind a barrier,” [the sages said] “Let him die, but she will not converse with him from behind a barrier.”
R. Yaaqov bar Iddi and R. Shmuel bar Nahmeni disagreed about it. One said she was married, and the other said she was unmarried. For the one who said she was married the story works well, but for the one who said she was unmarried, what is this all about? R. Pappa said because of family shame. R. Aha son of Rav Iqqa said so that the daughters of Israel should not be prostituted for illicit sex.
So let him marry her? That would not settle his mind because of R. Yizhaq. For R. Yizhaq said from the day of the destruction of the temple the flavor of intercourse was taken and given to sinners as it is written, “Stolen waters will be sweet and hidden breads will be pleasant.”--Translation from American Bar Assn Foundation
R. Tabak-discussion: On one reading this Bava Batra text is about patriarchy, and men's control of women, in particular their bodies. We don't hear the voice of the woman in this story--we can only imagine it.
But I wonder if we can read it in a more empowering way, by looking back to the texts in Genesis, and those that Rabbi Akiva and Ben Azzai found most important.
1. Can we see in this text (and others) a refusal to make a person an instrument or tool for another's desires?
2. Can we see dignity (kevod ha-briyot) and other values of human infinite value in this story?
3. Who is vulnerable? Who is supporting the lustful man and his desires? Who is concerned about the potential victim? Who speaks up to stop a man, presumably more powerful, who is overstepping his boundaries?
4. Can we re-tell this story today?