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The Concept of Virginity in Judaism Marian Studies Volume 13 Article 6 1-9-1962 The onceptC of Virginity in Judaism Joseph J. DeVault Follow this and additional works at: https://ecommons.udayton.edu/marian_studies Part of the Catholic Studies Commons, Christianity Commons, and the Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion Commons Recommended Citation DeVault, Joseph J. (1962) "The oncC ept of Virginity in Judaism," Marian Studies: Vol. 13, Article 6, Pages 23-40. Available at: https://ecommons.udayton.edu/marian_studies/vol13/iss1/6 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Marian Library Publications at eCommons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Marian Studies by an authorized editor of eCommons. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. DeVault: The Concept of Virginity in Judaism THE CONCEPT OF VIRGINITY IN JUDAISM To delimit precisely the subject of our discussion it will be useful to specify the terms of the assigned title, "The Concept of Virginity in Judaism." By the expression "the concept of virginity," in contra­ distinction to simply "virginity," we shall understand not the notion of physical virginity, but rather that of the spirit of virginity; not a de facto physical integrity, but a mind-set variously manifested which itself manifests one thing: total dedication to God. For if we regard virginity in the religious context of the Catholicism which is ours, we see at once that the physical fact is but a sign of an interior attitude. In other contexts, of course, other motives may be operative; with these, or with mere physical immaturity, we are not concerned. Our in­ terest is in the attitude of mind which deliberately chooses vir­ ginity over a perfectly legitimate married state for a religious motive. This motive, however nuanced it may be in dif­ ferent persons or however shaded in its presentation by spir­ itual writers, is simply one of consecration, of dedication to God. Few will quarrel with the words of Pius XII: This then is the primary purpose, this the central idea of Christian virginity: to aim only at the divine, to turn thereto the whole mind and soul; to want to please God in everything, to think of Him continually, to consecrate body and soul com­ pletely to Him.t Now the basic attitude thus enunciated will manifest itself in terms of the culture in which it occurs, and will break out of the accepted forms of that culture only under extraordinary circumstances. 1 De sacra virginitate, in AAS 46 (1954) 165. 23 Published by eCommons, 1962 1 Marian Studies, Vol. 13 [1962], Art. 6 24 "The Concept of Virginity in Judaism" When we read the Old Testament, for example, we read it, if we are mindful of right reason and the directives of the Holy See,2 with the background and intention of its human authors in view. Our understanding of biblical inspiration, whether we favor the individualistic or the social character of that charism, requires that we allow the sacred author to write as a man of his time. Similarly, we must allow people devoted to God and His service to manifest that devotion according to the forms to which they are accustomed. This does not preclude a change in such forms, but it seeks recognition that such change will be gradual, short of the introduction of a radically modifying factor. We wish to study this concept of virginity, this spirit of total dedication to God, in Judaism. What is Judaism? We may accept the common understanding of the term as formu­ lated by George Foot Moore: "The name Judaism is now generally appropriated to the religion of this period [Persian, Greek and Roman periods of Jewish history] and what came after it, in distinction from that of the preceding centuries down to the fall of the kingdom of Judah (586 B.C.), which is called the religion of Israel." 3 'Ioudazsmos occurs three times in the Old Testament, all in 2 Me. (2 :21; 8:1; 14:38), and twice in the New Testament (Gal. 1:13, 14). It seems to have been an expression originat­ ing in the Diaspora, meaning either the objective totality of Jewish life (2 Me. 2:21; Gal. 1:14) or the subjective con­ dition of being a Jew and of acting and thinking as one (2 Me. 14:38).4 Judaism, of course, should not be thought of as terminat­ ing with the Old Testament. Indeed, only the late books of the 2 Divino aff/,ante Spiritu, in EB 556-559. NCWC edition of English trans­ lation (Washington, 1943) nn. 33-37. 8 G. F. Moore, Judaism in the First Centuries oj the Christian Era, 1 (Cambridge, Mass., 1927) 3, note 1. 4 Cf. W. Gutbrot, 'Ioudaismos, in TWNT 3 (Stuttgart, 1938) 385. https://ecommons.udayton.edu/marian_studies/vol13/iss1/6 2 DeVault: The Concept of Virginity in Judaism "The Concept of Virginity in Judaism" 25 Old Testament (and several even of these are excluded from the Hebrew canon) were written during the period under dis­ cussion. If we agree with Jewish tradition and the findings of modern criticism, we shall place the beginnings of Judaism, properly so called, in the post-exilic period when Ezra brought the Book of the Law of Moses from Babylonia to Judaea, with authority to promulgate and enforce that law (Esd. 7:14, 25-26) about the year 428 B.C.5 After many vicissitudes the definitive stage of development of Judaism was reached around the turn of the second Christian century into the third with the completion, promulgation and 6 acceptance of the body of traditional law called the Mishnah. Accordingly, during the very years when the New Testament was being composed and the Christian church was developing into the organism we know, normative Judaism was achieving the form which was to dominate in the wide Jewish world to the Enlightenment and beyond, indeed in Orthodox circles to our own day. What is it, we may ask, that requires us to distinguish Judaism from the religion of Israel? Is it merely the historical break provided by the destruction of Jerusalem and the period of the Exile? Or, from a different point of view, is it a change of deities, so that pre-exilic Israel worshiped Yahweh, whereas post-exilic Judaism shifted its allegiance elsewhere? Of course, neither of these is correct, although the Exile did provide the conditions which were to give rise to the dramatic shift of emphasis which distinguishes the religion of Israel from Judaism. The monarchy, which at the beginning of the last pre­ Christian millennium succeeded the tribal league of Israel, 5 For a defense of this date and a balanced exposition of the other chief theories in this very controversial question of the date of Ezra's mission and its relationship to that of Nehemiah, see now John Bright, A History of Israel (Philadelphia, 1959) 356-386, esp. 375-386. 6 Cf. Moore, op. cit., 3-4. Published by eCommons, 1962 3 Marian Studies, Vol. 13 [1962], Art. 6 26 "The Concept of Virginity in Judaism" continued the earlier emphasis on the covenant between Yahweh and His people, to such a degree that covenant law was state law. Indeed, the repeated clashes between prophet and king had their genesis precisely in the failure of the latter to main­ tain the ethical standards and the purity of worship demanded by the covenant relationship. With the destruction of the Temple in 587 B.C., the termination of political autonomy under the Davidic house, and the scattering of important ele­ ments of the people, that entity which was called Israel ceased to exist. The Israel which was to rise eventually from the ashes of the hopes of the past was constituted on a new basis and is designated by a new name, Judaism. The old Israel "had remained a definable entity with geo­ grapical boundaries and national institutions: 'Israel' was the visible community of citizens who gave allegiance to the na­ tional god, participated in his cult, and hoped in his prom­ ises." 7 The returned exiles floundered about trying to pick up the loose ends of a shattered system until, as mentioned, Ezra, a scribe and priest, returned from Babylonia a century after the Edict of Cyrus ending the Exile, bringing with him the Book of the Law of Moses. This law, backed by the Per­ sian court, he imposed on the Jewish community in solemn covenant (Neh. 8-10). It was this imposition and acceptance of the law which marked the great turning point. "Israel would no longer be a national entity, nor one coterminous with the Israelite tribes or the inhabitants of the old national territory, nor even a community of those who in some way acknowledged Yahweh as God and offered Him worship. From now on, Israel would be viewed (as in the theology of the Chronicler) as that remnant of Judah which had rallied around the law. 7 Bright, op. cit., 414. For an enlightening treatment of this whole matter, see M. Noth, Die Gesetze im Pentateuch (Halle [Saale], 1940; now most easily available in id., Gesammelte Studien zum Alten Testament [Munich, 1957] 9-141). Bright's own excellent presentation, op. cit., 413-445, profits much from Noth. https://ecommons.udayton.edu/marian_studies/vol13/iss1/6 4 DeVault: The Concept of Virginity in Judaism "The Concept of Vwginity in Judaism" 27 He would be a member af Israel (i.e., a Jew) who assumed the burden of that law." 8 Here we have the dramatic shift of emphasis we have been seeking which distinguishes the religion of Israel from Juda­ ism.
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