The Tamar Scroll

Yehuda blessed his three sons mightily with every earthly good with which the LORD had blessed him. Yet Er and Onan did not follow in the ways of their father but those of their mother. Er and Onan had not the manly physique of their father but were slight in body, soft and feminine. They worshiped the false gods of their mother and committed many abominable acts in the sight of the LORD. They refused their father's entreaties to sport with him among the women of the neighbouring towns. Instead, they consorted with the male prostitutes of the Canaanite temples. Yehuda was greatly distressed at the behaviour of his two older sons, yet he held his peace and admonished them not.

Francis concluded her reading with the comment: "I believe that this scroll is the original scroll that was summarized as Genesis Ch. 38 and subsequently became lost. As you know, the Deuteronomic Redactor used many scrolls such as the Book of Yasher and the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel to create the Deuteronomic narrative as we now have it. I believe that this will prove to be the first of the Dead Sea Scrolls that was definitely written by a woman. Clearly from the style, this scroll sets out the woman's point of view of these events."

The staff meeting broke into pandemonium and shouting after listening to Francis' comments. "Blasphemy. A woman couldn't possibly be the source of Torah." And; "Doesn't the fact the writer excuses Yehuda's adultery prove that a man wrote this scroll?"

"Of course not. I believe that the weak excuse for Yehuda's behavior is merely an interpolation by a later male scribe. Furthermore, some of the Torah must reflect women's oral traditions, such as Sarah's laughter at the thought of giving birth or Zipporah's circumcision of Gershon. Women have the same spiritual needs as men. I think that Orthodox Jews are wrong to exclude women from prayers. Yehuda was one of the patriarchs whose all too human behavior had to be sanitized by later generations of men."

The meeting became uncontrollable. Dr. Altman brought the meeting back to order. "Gentlemen and Dr. Lajeunesse, please put aside your differing theological views. What Dr. Lajeunesse has discovered does follow the text of the Torah but it adds details not found in B'rosheet. We know that our sages consulted sources that have been lost through time. Your new scroll could be one of these lost books or it could be just a later piece of pseudepigrapha. By me, I'm not convinced that it's a new book of the Tanach. Despite my doubts, please keep working, Dr. Lajeunesse. However, can you please see me in my office with your next translation a few days before you present your findings to a staff meeting?"

The Marriage of Er

"6 And Judah took a wife for Er his firstborn, whose name was Tamar. 7 And Er, Judah's firstborn, was wicked in the sight of the LORD; and the LORD slew him." (Genesis 38: 6-7, KJV)

Four weeks after the rowdy staff meeting, Francis Lajeunesse was ready to meet with her boss in his office. She checked and rechecked the translations against her database of archaic Phoenician and proto-Hebrew philology. Her presentation was perfect; nothing was left to chance. This was Francis' first job after graduation and the key to success was to make a good impression on Dr. Altman. The old man wasn't quite as bad as she had thought after her first day at the University. After all, he had taken her side against all the other staff members. Perhaps she shouldn't have gotten off on the wrong foot by wearing low-cut jeans on her first day of work.

On the other hand, she was still banished to the basement and she had to work all covered up. Dr. Altman had given her orders about her clothes but he never said anything about perfume. She would defy her boss by wearing the French perfume she bought when she studied in Paris. That would assert her will around here. Just a touch here and there, enough to stimulate a male but not so much as to reek. No point in putting any perfume between her breasts, given that nobody could see them in these dowdy clothes.

Francis sat down at Dr. Altman's desk, checking the old man's face for signs of approval or disapproval of her perfume. Dr. Altman was a hard read but Francis Lajeunesse thought she could discern a wry smile and a twinkle in the old man's eyes. So he didn't mind a little femininity in his women after all.

"I reconstructed another segment of the scroll. As you requested, Dr. Altman, I want you to read it before I present it to the other researchers. But first I want to thank you for defending me and my theories against all the others. The way we started out when I came to work here, I never thought you would take my side."

"Dr. Lajeunesse, I'm first and foremost an impartial scholar. My religious views don't get in the way of searching for the truth. As long as you put forward the truth, I have no alternative but to give you my support. Let's see what you've got there."

So, it came to pass that, when his eldest son came of age, Yehuda sought a woman for his son among the Canaanites. Had not Shuah pleasured him mightily and blessed him with offspring in abundance? Surely such a woman would cure his eldest son of his wicked ways. Yehuda hastened to the camp of Hirah with another offer the Canaanite could not refuse. "Hear me, oh Hirah and all his house. Give me a woman for my eldest son, Er. Your women are fair and, yea, they are fertile. I know of my own experience it is true that their skill at love cannot be excelled. I offer the same price for this woman as I paid for my wife."

Hirah pondered this demand. He had another woman within his gates, a cousin of Shuah, whom he had adopted as his own daughter. She was fair and much desired of men but she was without patrimony as her parents had died. She would be troublesome and require of Hirah a dowry of considerable size to have a Canaanite man to take her off his hands. Yet, this rude country bumpkin who worshipped the strange, invisible god was offering to pay to take a burdensome, worthless woman off his hands. Hirah hesitated to bargain and to cheat his kinsman by marriage but the merchant within his soul quickly directed his words.

"I have a woman of marriageable age, the maiden Tamar. See for yourself her beauty and her charm. It will be difficult for me to give her to you for the meager price you offer because I have come to love her as a daughter. Hear me, oh Yehuda; increase your offer by only ten percent and the woman shall be yours. I do this thing only because of the bond that has grown between your family and mine with the marriage and for no other reason. My slaves shall talk to your slaves and ensure that all the sheep and cattle we have agreed to join my herds. We shall eat and drink to this bargain and to the sealing of this renewed covenant between our families?"

So it was that Yehuda traveled with me from the Camp of Hirah to his camp. I saw that Yehuda admired me despite my veiled face and was engulfed in lust for my body. What man could resist the sight of a young Canaanite woman's breasts outlined through her robes? My lithe body sorely tempted Yehuda's manhood as he led the donkey along the dusty trail. The man was in rut, yet I knew that I was safe with this Habiru. His invisible god was all-seeing and all-knowing, unlike our Canaanite idols whose jurisdiction ended at the border of each town. The invisible god would restrain the hand of the Habiru from violating my maidenhood. The idea of this churlish man constrained by a being neither he nor I could see somehow delighted me. From that moment on, I sorely tempted the Habiru and played upon his lustful impulses. I let my robe slip at times to allow the base of my breasts to be seen. Upon dismounting from the donkey, I let my leg be visible well above the knee. Yehuda became quite solicitous of my comfort, assuring that I had choice food and sufficient water during our journey as well as many opportunities to dismount and relieve myself.

Our silent game ended when we reached the camp. Yehuda ordered many fatling kids and lambs to be slaughtered. The women of the camp washed the dust from my body that had accumulated during the journey. They placed the wedding robe upon me and decorated my face with henna. There was dancing and merriment throughout the camp. Finally the groom was brought to the wedding feast, dressed in a colourful robe and golden finery. The gold jewelry he wore multiplied his feminine countenance. Er played the part of the bride better than did I.

"Behold, my son Er. I have brought to you the maiden Tamar intact and a virgin. Behold her in all her womanhood. She shall use her body to make you become a real man. You shall sire me many children and I will become the most powerful of the Sons of Israel."

I left the wedding feast and the women prepared me for consummation of the marriage. They washed me of the henna and placed a white linen robe on me. Er entered the marriage tent with a sullen look upon his face. "My father has ordered me to take you as my bride. I shall do what my father tells me in order to keep my inheritance but I shall do it in my own manner. On your knees, woman."

I knelt in submission and prepared for whatever pleasure this effeminate creature could provide me. He summarily raised the hem of my robe and came into me in the manner in which one man comes into another man. My lord Er committed the abomination of the men of Sodom upon me. I would have cried in pain but the man's member was tiny and soft. When this loathsome creature left me in the tent to cavort with the other men of his ilk, I cried unto the God of the tribe to which I now belonged by marriage. "Oh Lord, hear your servant Tamar. I am blameless in this disgusting act. I did not do this thing of my own will but I was forced to commit this abomination by my evil husband."

The God of Yehuda and his forefathers heard my prayers and answered with His mighty outstretched arm. A shepherd tending a portion of Yehuda's flocks told the story to me. The morning after our wedding, Er and the shepherd were pasturing flocks on opposite sides of the Valley of Elah. The shepherd watched Er committing the same abominable act upon a sheep with which he dishonoured me. Suddenly, he noticed a lion stalking the sheep on a rock above Er. It was too far for Er to hear the shepherd's shouts of alarm and he could not leave his own flock unattended for fear that the lion would attack the sheep entrusted to his own care. The lion sprang upon both Er and the sheep, devouring the first for the entrée and the second for the dessert. When help arrived, all that was left of Er were some gnawed bones and his tiny manhood, spit out on the ground by the beast.

A rumour circulated within the camp of Yehuda that I had placed a Canaanite curse upon my lord Er. Yet, I know in my heart that it was not I who caused the destruction of Er. His own wickedness had earned him the retribution of the Hand of the Invisible God he rejected. Oh God of the Habiru, I give Thee thanks for my deliverance from the evil Er and from the hand of those who hate me.

Francis looked up from her notes. Dr. Altman face bore no expression. Was he offended at her perfume or was he just not listening? Francis nervously continued: This portion of the scroll convinces me more than ever that the scroll was written by a woman and that the woman who authored this scroll was none other than Tamar herself. Once she enters the story, the narrative changes to the first person. What do you think, Dr. Altman?"

Dr. Altman gave a smile, the first that Francis had seen since she began working with him. He wasn't offended after all, just deep in thought. In fact, he seemed to be enjoying himself. "There's a lot to think about in what you say. I'm still not convinced that a woman wrote this scroll, yet the narrative is consistent with the Torah. Somehow, it's far richer in the details it adds. For example, Torah states that God killed Er for his wickedness. Now we know exactly what that wicked act was. We always thought that Er's sin was denying Tamar children and his father, Yehuda, grandchildren. Your scroll says that it's the sin of anal rape. Dr. Lajeunesse, your scroll solves a problem that has baffled rabbis for ages."

"But, isn't that a little far-fetched, killing someone for sodomy? Lots of men have…ummmh, well, never mind. Let's just say that I don't have any dead men on my résumé. I mean God doesn't go around killing gay men these days."

"I hear that there are those in your country who believe that God should get back into the business of killing homosexuals. In China and Russia, they still consider homosexuality to be a criminal act. Are we, in modern times, acting any better than God and man did in ancient times?"

"Point taken, Dr. Altman. I won't get into any of that at the staff meeting; just the straight translation. Let me continue to recover the text of the scroll. Thanks so much for your input."

As Francis returned to her basement office, she mulled over her latest encounter with the old man. He had actually complimented her work! Dr. Altman wasn't such a bad old fart after all.

The Sins of Onan and Er

"8 And Judah said unto Onan, Go in unto thy brother's wife, and marry her, and raise up seed to thy brother. 9 And Onan knew that the seed should not be his; and it came to pass, when he went in unto his brother's wife, that he spilled it on the ground, lest that he should give seed to his brother. 10 And the thing which he did displeased the LORD: wherefore he slew him also." (Genesis 38: 8-10, KJV)

Francis Lajeunesse finished her assembly and translation of the next section of the scroll. She was looking forward to her one-on-one meeting with Dr. Altman, now that she saw that he accepted some feminine teasing. He supported her when the other scholars had dumped on her ideas. The old man had been so much warmer the last time they met in his office. Perhaps she could get the old man to warm up even a little more. "What can I do for the old man this time?" she pondered. Francis stood up and caught her reflection in the mirror behind the office door. Damn, these clothes are so unfashionable. The long sleeves and the dress flowing downwards to her shoe tops left much to the imagination. The imagination was the key and she took her cue from Tamar. In the Tamar Scroll, Tamar teased Yehuda's imagination and, as a result, had a much more pleasant journey with the older man.

Francis opened a strategic button on her blouse. She reached behind, unsnapped her bra and withdrew one strap through her sleeve and then the whole brassiere through the other sleeve. Miss Dror demonstrated how to take her brassiere off under her clothes one day when the University's masgan (air conditioning) failed and, since that day, Francis had made the trick her own. She unfastened a strategic button, turned to the right and admired herself in the mirror. Perfect. Her breasts were not overly large but they were a typical firm and well-shaped French chest. No man could resist the outline of her nipples through the cotton blouse. The curving skin of her left breast was clearly visible through the open blouse. A flash of a young woman's breast should be just the right friendly gesture to a widower of two years.

Yehuda was mightily grieved with the loss of his eldest son. The God of Abraham his great-grandfather was even more grieved that Yehuda did not learn by his mistakes and cut his losses immediately. When his period of mourning was completed, Yehuda inquired of the women of his camp as to my state. The women replied that I was barren. They spared him not the reason for my barrenness as the evil Er had debauched their own sons. Yehuda declared: "I will have offspring from my loins until the seventh generation. Bring Onan, my second son, unto me." Yehuda's servants brought the trembling Onan into the tent of his father. "You will sire for me the children your brother did not and you will get down to business immediately. Tonight, you shall lie with the woman, Tamar, and bring forth a man child to carry on my name," thundered Yehuda.

He told the men to kill a fatted calf and the women to prepare me to wed Onan. The women, who had just finished the sorrowful wails of mourning for Er, danced without enthusiasm. Onan came to the wedding feast dressed in the same wedding clothes as had his brother. His visage was sullen and sour. We ate the meal in silence. To complete this sad spectacle, a storm approached from the Great Sea to the west as I retired to the tent of Onan.

The women removed what little henna they had wasted on me. I put on my white wedding gown and awaited the entrance of my new husband. All too soon, he parted the flap of the tent. "We will get this over with as soon as possible, woman. On your knees!" Whereupon he removed all his clothes and then attempted to enter my behind. Behold, Onan's member was as tiny and soft as that of his dead brother. He could penetrate my bowels only to the depth of one joint of my thumb.

In disgust at his pitiful performance, Onan stood up, took his tiny member in his hand. Onan proceeded to spill his seed all over my naked back. The act disgusted me so I hid my face from Onan's sight. Then he said, "Now I will go out in the rain and wash your stink from my body." Without dressing, he left to walk in the rainstorm. I heard nothing but the rain as it pelted my tent and Onan splashing in puddles like a child. Suddenly I heard a thunderous voice speak from on high. "Onan, you have maltreated the woman Tamar and committed even more abominable acts than your brother Er. I will take your life from you as I did your brother Er but I will burden you with an additional humiliation for all time. From this time henceforth, the name of Onan will be known as the Father of All Handjobs."

At this curse upon the name of Onan, I saw a flash of light and heard the crash of thunder. Then there was only the sound of the rain. I feared to see what had happened, but I looked out. All that remained of Onan was a pile of ashes. It was at this moment that I began to believe and to honour this invisible God worshipped by the Habiru. He had vindicated me and destroyed the two men who were not men who had humiliated me.

Avi Altman started his questions even before "Have you decided to give your book a better name than the number of the cave where it was found?

"I have tentatively named this scroll "The Tamar Scroll." I'm more than ever convinced it was not only written by a woman but that woman may have been Tamar herself. Do you see how the narrative changes to the first person singular once Tamar enters the narrative?"

"That's nonsense, Dr. Lajeunesse. The Canaanites had not developed proto-Hebraic script until centuries after the times of the Avot."

"I realize that. However, that doesn't leave out the possibility that the scroll was written in cuneiform. To check that out, I did a philological comparison on my computer. The result is that there is a 28% affinity between the Hebrew words in this text and Sumerian roots."

Avi Altman was stunned. Computers, now. The woman was brilliant and could back up her theories using leading-edge technology. "I think we may have something for those hidebound so-called scholars to think about."

"We, Dr. Altman? Does that mean you'll collaborate on the translation and the presentation to the other scholars?"

Avi sheepishly grinned and agreed to collaborate on the translation. Francis then discussed the various archaisms in the original with the reasons for any novel translations. At the end of this technical discussion, the old man gave no answer. "Is this chapter ready to be discussed at the meeting, Dr. Altman?" He gathered together her notes and the translated chapter.