Bit at a Time Bible Hebrew -- Genesis 2:18

Genesis 2:18

 

יח וַיֹּאמֶר יְהוָֹה אֱלֹהִים לֹא־טוֹב הֱיוֹת הָאָדָם לְבַדּוֹ אֶעֱשֶׂה־לּוֹ עֵזֶר כְּנֶגְדּוֹ:

 

Transliteration: va-yomer **** elohim lo-tov heyot ha-adam l’vado eeseh lo ezer k’negdo.

Translation:    **** Gd said it is not good, the man being alone, I shall make for him a help like an opponent.

Vocabulary in this lesson:

לְבַדּוֹ	Alone, by himself
עֵזֶר	Help (n)
נֶגְדּוֹ	Opposite to him

 

Here is the genitive/possessive and indirect object preposition, combined with the personal endings.  This not only means “to him,” it also means “for him.”

 

Singular	Plural	Person/gender
לִי	לָנוּ	First
לְךָ	לָכֶם	Second/masculine
לָךְ	לָכֶן	Second/feminine
לוֹ	לָהֶם	Third/masculine
לָה	לָהֶן	Third/feminine

 

The third person feminine singular sometimes has dagesh in the final heh in the Jewish Bible but not always.

 

Now try to do the same for l’vad and neged. 

 

The translation reflects Midrash (Breshit Rabbah 17:3).  It says that Gd intended for a woman to be a help to her husband when he is doing right, but to be an opponent to him when he is doing wrong.  There is a reference to R. Yossi ha-Glili and his wife, who would contradict him in front of his students, and they asked him why he put up with it.  Eventually he divorced her for her bad behavior because it also brought the law into ill repute, but when she remarried and they became impoverished, R. Yossi supported them.  R. Yossi is cited in Talmud as declaring that Torah was to be taught to girls, in one of many places where he is cited.

 

At any rate, Jewish women were never second class in the house.  They were expected to assert themselves to prevent wrong-doing.  They could testify in court in business cases, operate their own property, keep their earnings if their husbands refused to provide for them, and bequeath property without asking their husbands’ permission.  They could get courts to force a divorce from husbands who tried to isolate them from the community or wouldn’t sleep with them, or even if the woman simply couldn’t  bear the husband’s profession.  For example, copper is absorbed through the skin and gives a bad smell.  A woman who thought she could put up with this but later found she couldn’t, could have somebody go to court with her and present her case.

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