Tamar and Judah: A 3-Act Story

Context: "Tamar" means "palm tree". These are date palms from near Jericho (June 2023).

The Story of Tamar and Judah "on one foot":

After Joseph was sold to the Ishmaelites, Judah separates from his brothers and gets married. This story explains what happens to Judah's daughter-in-law.

Act 1

Context: This happens after Joseph gets sold to the Ishmaelites by his brothers and the brothers tell Jacob that his son has died. The Midrash wonders why the story is put here and concludes that Judah is going to find out what it’s like to have a child die just like he inflicted that pain on Jacob. (Tanchuma Buber, Vayigash 10:3)

Note that Judah marries the daughter of Shua; Shua is not the name of his wife. The Midrash names Judah’s wife “Aliyah” (Sefer HaYashar, Vayeshev 22). “Tamar” means “date palm”, which flowers in the desert and has fruit that is super-sweet. The idea of an unmarried brother marrying his deceased brother’s wife is called “yibbum”, or “levirate marriage”, and both ensures that the deceased has a continued lineage and also that the widow stays part of the clan. Levirate marriage only applies if the deceased brother did not already have a child. Later in the Torah there was a way to refuse to do levirate marriage (Deut. 25:7-9), but that doesn’t seem to have been an option here.

1. At what points could this part of the story have turned out differently?

2. Since the text is silent on this, make up a midrash -- what might Er have done that was displeasing to G-d?

3. How might Tamar have felt about Onan's refusal to give her a child that would be considered his brother's lineage?

4. Why might Onan have not wanted to give a child to his brother's lineage?

5. Should Judah have given his youngest son to Tamar as a spouse? And if he didn’t want to, what could he have done instead?

Act 2

Context: At this point in the story, Tamar is associated with the death of two husbands. She has no spouse and no children, and she can’t remarry because she is supposed to be waiting for Shelah to be given to her in marriage.

A “seal and cord” was a hard hollow cylinder that people wore around their necks with a unique design on it. It functioned like a signature. Walking sticks also had unique markings or additions to them. These all have been found by archeologists in the Near East.

1. At what points could this part of the story have turned out differently?

2. Tamar, like Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel, and Hannah, has no child, particularly not one connected with her (first) husband. What were her options?

3. Avoiding the Sarah Route (resignation), the Rebecca Route (delegation of prayer), the Rachel Route (despair), and the Hannah Route (prayer), Tamar takes action. How might she have been feeling before Judah encountered her?

4. Why is Judah worried about becoming a laughingstock?

5. The phrase “sat down at the entrance to Eynayim” could also be translated as “sat down at ‘Petach Eynayim’ “, meaning “sat down at ‘Opening the Eyes’ “. Whose eyes are opened at this spot and how? Whose eyes are deceived?

Act 3

Context: Although Shelah doesn’t get married to Tamar (one of Judah’s goals), he must have gotten married because he is recorded as having a “clan” of descendants in Numbers (26:22). Also, because Peretz becomes a key figure, he gets a name explanation, though “Zerach” means “brightness” and that might refer to the crimson thread.

1. At what points could this part of the story have turned out differently?

2. Was it more or less effective to not call out Judah publicly?

3. Would you say that Tamar handled her situation well or did she make some poor choices?

4. Act 3 builds on what happened in Act 2 at “Petach Eynayim”, “Opening the Eyes”. How have Tamar’s eyes been opened now? How have Judah’s eyes been opened?

5. In Act 2, Tamar assumes a disguise in order to get what she wants. Yet this disguise also costs her, nearly causing her to lose her life. Only when she reveals who she is under the disguise and gets Judah to see who she really is can she move on without hiding herself. When has this happened in your life?

Epilogue

Context: This is from the Book of Ruth. It shows that because of Tamar’s actions, we get to David. David becomes the ancestor of the Messiah. Tamar (and Ruth) is active in determining her fate, and her boldness is rewarded.

Context: This is by Alicia Jo Rabins, part of her "Girls in Trouble" musical midrash.

With appreciation to: Listen to Her Voice, by Miki Raver, Sarah Laughed, by Vanessa Ochs, Reading the Women of the Bible, by Tikva Frymer-Kensky, and Etz Chayim, by God.

A Readers’ Theatre Version of Tamar

Adapted from the Book of Genesis, Chapter 38, by David Schwartz

Act 1

(Setting: Canaan)

Narrator: Judah married and had three sons, Er, Onan, and Shelah. He married Er to Tamar. Er died.

Judah: Onan, marry Tamar and provide a child for your brother’s lineage.

Narrator: Onan married Tamar, but he refused to provide a child for Er’s lineage. Onan died too.

Judah: Tamar, you should go live in your father’s house until Shelah is old enough to get married.

Narrator: Judah was worried that if Shelah married Tamar then he would die like his brothers. And Tamar went to live in her father’s house.

Act 2

(Setting: A crossroads)

Narrator: A long time later, Judah’s wife died. After he had mourned for her, Judah went up to Timnah to shear his sheep.

Person: Tamar, your father-in-law is coming up to Timnah for the sheepshearing.

Narrator: Tamar saw that Shelah was old enough to get married yet hadn’t been given to her in marriage yet. She took off her widow’s garb, covered her face with a veil, wrapped herself up, and sat down at Petach Eynayim, on the way to Timnah. When Judah saw her, he thought she was a harlot, for her face was covered.

Judah: Let me be intimate with you.

Tamar: What will you pay me?

Judah: I will send a kid goat from my flock.

Tamar: You must leave a pledge until you have sent it.

Judah: What pledge shall I give you?

Tamar: Your seal and cord, and the staff which you carry.

Narrator: Judah gave these to her; they were intimate and she conceived. Then she went on her way. She took off her veil and put on her widow’s garb. Judah sent a goat with his friend Hiram in order to redeem his pledge, but Hiram couldn’t find the woman. He asked the council of the locale about her.

Council: There has been no harlot here.

Hiram: Judah, I couldn’t find her, and the council said there wasn’t a harlot in the area.

Judah: Let her keep the pledges then. I sent the goat, but you weren’t able to find her.

Act 3

(Setting: Canaan)

Narrator: Three months went by.

Person: Judah, your daughter-in-law Tamar has played the harlot. In fact, she is pregnant from harlotry.

Judah: Bring her out. She should be burned!

Tamar: Judah, it’s by the man to whom these belong that I am pregnant. Examine these: whose seal and cord and staff are these?

Judah: She is more in the right than I, inasmuch as I did not give her my son Shelah.

Narrator: Six months later, Tamar gave birth to twins. One put out his hand first, and the midwife tied a red string on it, but then it drew back its hand and the other one came out first. The one fully born first was named Peretz, and the one with the red string was named Zerach.

Appendix A: The Full Story

Appendix B: The version in Numbers and I Chronicles

Appendix C: Midrash on Er's Error

Based on Yevamot 34b:4