– The Sins of and Onan (5778-2018) Rabbi Uriel Romano

Yehuda had three children: Er, Onan and . According to the Torah, the first two sons did what was “evil in the eyes of the Lord” and for that reason they died. The Torah is explicit about the transgression of Onan: “Now Onan knew that the progeny would not be his, and it came about, when he came to his brother’s wife, he wasted [his ] on the ground, in order not to give seed to his brother.” (Gen. 38:9) But what was Er’s transgression? The Torah is silent about it but the Midrash, quoted by Rashi, tells us that his transgression was the same as Onan’s: “Now, why should Er waste his semen? So that she () would not become pregnant and her beauty be impaired.” (Yebamot 34b). Er and Onan sinned in the same way but with different purposes: the first did not want to make his wife pregnant so that she would not lose her beauty and the second did not want to have a child named after his deceased brother. In other words, the Sages want to tell us that “doing evil in the eyes of God” is often related to selfishness and pettiness. Er and Onan were punished for thinking only about themselves without thinking about others. While there is no certain and accurate criteria to be sure that our actions will find grace before God we can venture to say that if we act only on self interest to the detriment of others, surely those actions will not find favor in the eyes of God.

Shabbat Shalom, Rabbi Uri