Dear Friends,
How do we value a person? Monetarily.
It’s an odd question. Today, mostly, we do not ascribe monetary valuations to people. We believe such practices belonged to an archaic time and place. Yet, having traveled last month to Georgia and Alabama with a group from TBJ and Orange County, we visited the Equal Rights Institute in Montgomery, which graphically chronicled the brutal and violent history of slavery in America. We witnessed in art, documents, photographs and artifacts the cruel and inhumane manner in which slaves were valued, and devalued. It happened in America, not so long ago.
But, a longer time ago, it also was codified in our most holy of documents. Torah recounts the values of persons should they be rendered into slavery. Leviticus states:
“The following scale shall apply: if it is a male from twenty to sixty years of age, the equivalent is fifty shekels of silver… if it is a female, the equivalent is thirty shekels. If the age is from five years to twenty years, the equivalent is twenty shekels for a male, and ten shekels for a female; If the age is sixty years or over, the equivalent is fifteen shekels for a male and ten shekels for a female.” (Lev. 27:3-7)
It is difficult to read this in our covenantal text of Torah.
But, if one looks very carefully at the values, one sees a fascinating adjustment in the values given differences of gender and age. At younger age levels, a female is assessed either three-fifths or half the value of a male. However, at the upper age bracket, the woman’s value increases to two-thirds that of the male. Talmud offers a captivating explanation for why a woman’s value increases: “In old age, the usefulness of a man decreases more than that of a woman. An old man in the house is a nuisance; an old woman in the house is a treasure!” (BT Arachin 19a)
Wow! Firstly, Talmud rendered a terrible text into a jewel! But more, it captured a nuance of aging, which may or may not be true in every instance but suggests a potential truism. We do age differently. Some, as they age, become grumpy as they remember what they can no longer do. Others salvage wisdom from their decades and reflect on what has been learned. Some begrudge their losses; others emanate sagacious insight. Talmud suggests the former behaviors are more commonly of the male, and the latter of the female.
What do you think? How do our values evolve as we age? How do we measure our value?
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Douglas Kohn
How do we value a person? Monetarily.
It’s an odd question. Today, mostly, we do not ascribe monetary valuations to people. We believe such practices belonged to an archaic time and place. Yet, having traveled last month to Georgia and Alabama with a group from TBJ and Orange County, we visited the Equal Rights Institute in Montgomery, which graphically chronicled the brutal and violent history of slavery in America. We witnessed in art, documents, photographs and artifacts the cruel and inhumane manner in which slaves were valued, and devalued. It happened in America, not so long ago.
But, a longer time ago, it also was codified in our most holy of documents. Torah recounts the values of persons should they be rendered into slavery. Leviticus states:
“The following scale shall apply: if it is a male from twenty to sixty years of age, the equivalent is fifty shekels of silver… if it is a female, the equivalent is thirty shekels. If the age is from five years to twenty years, the equivalent is twenty shekels for a male, and ten shekels for a female; If the age is sixty years or over, the equivalent is fifteen shekels for a male and ten shekels for a female.” (Lev. 27:3-7)
It is difficult to read this in our covenantal text of Torah.
But, if one looks very carefully at the values, one sees a fascinating adjustment in the values given differences of gender and age. At younger age levels, a female is assessed either three-fifths or half the value of a male. However, at the upper age bracket, the woman’s value increases to two-thirds that of the male. Talmud offers a captivating explanation for why a woman’s value increases: “In old age, the usefulness of a man decreases more than that of a woman. An old man in the house is a nuisance; an old woman in the house is a treasure!” (BT Arachin 19a)
Wow! Firstly, Talmud rendered a terrible text into a jewel! But more, it captured a nuance of aging, which may or may not be true in every instance but suggests a potential truism. We do age differently. Some, as they age, become grumpy as they remember what they can no longer do. Others salvage wisdom from their decades and reflect on what has been learned. Some begrudge their losses; others emanate sagacious insight. Talmud suggests the former behaviors are more commonly of the male, and the latter of the female.
What do you think? How do our values evolve as we age? How do we measure our value?
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Douglas Kohn
