“ The issue here isn't sex. The issue here is objectification. So that can take place in a sexual context, but it can also take place in other contexts. So this potentially gives us the opening to say in a case where you have a disease that you're going to die where the cure would require the treating of another person as an object, that is not permitted. That's a much larger category. ” - Dan Libenson

Welcome to The Oral Talmud, our weekly deep dive chevruta study partnership, discovering how voices of the Talmud from 1500 years ago can help us rethink Judaism today. 

This week’s conversation begins with a lovesick man, a woman he barely knows, and a rabbinic ruling that seems almost impossible to understand. The doctors insist the man will die unless he has the woman. The rabbis refuse. They refuse when sex is proposed. They refuse when the doctors suggest she merely stand before him. They even refuse when all that’s required is a conversation from behind a fence. Again and again, they choose to let him die.

What unfolds is far larger than an ancient argument about desire or modesty. We discover a hidden crack inside the rabbinic system itself: a moment that’s in conflict with a principle we thought we had established: saving a life trumps everything. But here, saving a life is not the highest value. The conversation moves from misogyny and objectification to feminism, queer liberation, systemic injustice, and the possibility that every tradition contains the tools needed to remake itself. If the rabbis could add new values to Torah, what values might we be called to add today?

This week’s text: Sanhedrin 75a

Find an edited transcript and full show notes (references and further reading) on The Oral Talmud webpage for this episode! Access the Sefaria Source Sheet to explore key Talmud texts and find the original video of our discussion. The Oral Talmud is a co-production of Judaism Unbound and SVARA: A Traditionally Radical Yeshiva. If you’re enjoying this podcast, please help us keep both fabulous Jewish organizations going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation at oraltalmud.com. You can find a donate button on the top right corner of the website.