Gershon Wolf Poet Couplet

Notes About The Poem

Chapter 5, verses 11-31, of the Book of Numbers, relates the Laws of the 'Sotah,' the woman who goes astray, the adulteress. It is not a passage for the faint-hearted! ... This Saturday morning, Jewish congregants around the world will hear it read in their synagogues, as part of the Torah Portion titled 'Naso' (total of 176 verses). ~ gw

When the Verdict Is Wrong

A Jewish woman, accused of being an adulteress
    The determination: a gruesome, stressful test  

  Yet something somehow seems awfully wrong
    A verdict of guilty cannot possibly belong

  in a case where an adulteress is seen to be insane
    where a 'spirit of folly' has invaded her brain...  

  And how is adultery even conceivable for a holy Jewish soul
    Which knows that acts of outright evil trigger a Halakhic* boil ~ 

  Only the Devil himself, the Evil Inclination, could cause such a tragedy
     Fight him with the holy Torah, the antidote for all iniquity


  ___________________________________________________________
  *'Halakhic' references 'Torah Law'
  ___________________________________________________________  
  Just in case (JIC) you were wondering, the gruesome test of the adulter-
  ess, as well as its verdict, were discontinued with the destruction of the 
  Jerusalem Temple by the Romans in 70 C.E... However, the law against
  adultery remains part and parcel of the Decalogue: 'Thou shalt not com-
  mit adultery.' This law is applicable to Jews and non-Jews alike, punish-
  able by the 'Heavenly Court.' (cc to FDR, JFK, Bill Clinton, Donald Trump, 
  Jeffrey Epstein, Eliot Spitzer, Sheldon Silverman, ... et al.)

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Jennifer Proxenos May 31, 2023 at 12:49 PM Since Abraham came down from Mount Sinai with the 10 commandments man or so called civilized man has not adhered to all of them. As for adulterers and adulteress es they have dug themselves into deep sin ....... Blessings galore Jennifer. Gershon Wolf May 31, 2023 at 6:50 PM Jennifer, I'm just wondering: Which Bible do you read? Mine clearly states that Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the Ten Commandments (today, aka 'suggestions.') ... As for Abraham, I think he came down from Mt. Moriyah with Isaac. That mountain is known today as 'the Temple Mount.' ~ Bibles abounding, gw