Beautiful woman taken in captivity
One of the more difficult commandments in the Torah for me to fully understand, is the Law of an Israelite soldier who falls in love? with a girl he finds among those taken captive in war. As a former soldier in the IDF, it was made very clear to us that we are to have no interaction whatsoever with the civilian population in Lebanon & Syria when I was there on guard, protecting the Northern border of Israel. In fact, one of the more well-known protest movies at the time: SHTAY ETZBA'OT MITZIDON (literally, 2 fingers on the map from Sidon) – showed one of the soldiers falling in love with a Lebanese girl, and how detrimental it was to his unit from an ethical & security points of view!
So, G-d commands us in Deuteronomy 21:11-14 that if we fall in love with a girl after we (most likely) killed her father & brothers – she must become unpretty for a month, in which she will mourn for her family.
Of the following stamps, all of mourning women, it is hard for me to decide which one fully shows what the Bible is teaching us. Are the stamps from the Netherlands New Guinea, issued for World Refugee Year (1960) the most appropriate? Or, maybe the stamp from Bulgaria? I wish there was some way to know why the artist in both cases viewed the woman as mourning? In my very limited understanding of art, the first 2 actually have the woman as barefoot and sitting on what looks like a small suitcase, which would represent the poor state of mind & body; on the other hand, the very full (physically) woman in the painting of Tintoretto – although dressed in black, may suggest that the death of her husband or father was very sudden, as in the above mentioned captive woman!
Last, according to our Sages in the Midrash Tanchuma, Ma'acha – King David's 4th wife, and mother of his son Absalom and daughter Tamar, was the daughter of Talmai, King of G'shur (II Samuel 3:3). Therefore, a woman (most likely) taken in captivity by King David (or one of his men). That is the reason they give for Absalom's rebellious nature, since the Torah gives us the Law of the rebellious son follows immediately after the Law of a captive woman!
I like the Nederlands ones, they seem to more depict the state of the OT woman - soooo reliant upon a man; and, barefoot and suitcase in hand looks like David maybe found Abigail after the death of her HORRIBLE husband.
ReplyDeleteIt is often hard to know the intentions of the artist (something, however, that makes it possible to offer university programs in art appreciation and understanding) but I believe that all three of these stamps have served the purpose, with your insights, of teaching us something. Thank you!
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