In Biblical times, children were said to issue from the
YAREH of their father (Gen. 46:26). The question is, what does this Hebrew word
mean?
According to the Bible dictionary, BDB, a YAREH refers to:
a) the outside of a thigh, where a sword is worn (Ex.32: 27); b) the side of an
altar (2 K 16.14); c) the base of a candlestick (Ex. 25: 31), and d) the loins,
as the seat of the procreative power in humans (see below).
Furthermore, in
ancient times, during oath taking, one used various gestures: Raising the hand
(Gen. 14: 22), holding a sacred object (See, Talmud, Shev. 38b) or touching a
sexual organ.
In the Bible, putting one’s hand under the thigh of another
person appears to have been used in connection with a promise: a) Abraham asks
his senior servant, maybe Eliezer, to place his hand “under the thigh” of
Abraham, swearing that he, the servant, will not take a wife for his master’s son,
Isaac, from the Canaanites among whom he lived (Gen. 24: 2, 9). b) The
patriarch Jacob asks Joseph, his son, to place his (Joseph’s) hand under the
“thigh” of his father Jacob, promising him that he will not bury him in Egypt
(Gen. 47: 29).
What does the “thigh”
refer to in these texts? It is not clear if the subordinate is expected to
touch his superior’s testicles or his penis, and for what purpose. In an Old
Babylonian letter from the city of Kisurra, in southern Mesopotamia, the author
refers to an envoy who is about to get hold of both organs simply as a sign of
loyalty, not during an oath taking. He states, “Let your envoy grasp my
testicles and penis and then I will give it (an object, perhaps) to you.”
(Malul, “Touching sexual organs,” VT, 37, 1987, 491).
The Jerusalem Targum renders YAREH as “penis.” Similarly, most
of the ancient rabbinic commentators state that the subordinate must touch his superior’s
penis, arguing, like Rashi (12th cent. France), that according to
Jewish law, one touches a sacred object during a promise, and, in the case of
Abraham, circumcision was the first commandment that God gave him. Others, like
Ibn Ezra (12th cent. Spain), disagreed, and stated that putting the
hand under the thigh simply means to acknowledge the authority of the superior,
and does not mean touching a sexual organ.
It is interesting to note a parallel in ancient Rome: In
Latin, the word TESTIS, means both “witness” and “testicle”. It looks like
there was an old Italic rite in which the participant held his own testicles or
those of a sacrificial animal while making some kind of solemn pronouncement.
Some critics therefore assume that even in Rome, as it was in the ancient Near
East, one touched a sexual organ during the act of witnessing. However, the
likelihood that Roman and ancient Biblical customs coincide is very slim,
especially because there is hardly any written confirmation of this Roman
practice. Besides, it is strange that a person swearing does not touch his own
penis, instead of the other person’s.
What would be the purpose of this touching, anyway? Some
argue that it is a sign of loyalty to a superior. Most likely, however, it
implies a self-curse. In other words, the person who is uttering an oath,
touches the sexual organ of the other, the organ that stands for life and
productivity, by saying, if I do not carry out my word, let me suffer from
sterility or loss of children.
The custom is strange to us; we favor privacy and modesty,
but in the past, people obviously had a different attitude regarding their
bodies.
Rabbi Rifat Sonsino, Ph.D
SONSINO’S BLOG, rsonsino.blospot.com
Jan. 16, 2020
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