JUDAICA - Wisdom In Torah

ha-Darshan” frequently referred to by Michael Jospes in his
Birkat ha-Mayim (1861), and has also been identified by several
scholars (Zunz and Landshut) with Isaac b. Abraham
Moses Israel, the author of a seliḥah bewailing the massacre
of the Jews of Podolia and Ukraine in 1648–49. Lewin, however,
maintains the author to have been a rabbi of Posen who
bore the same name.
Bibliography: Landshuth, Ammudet, xiii–xv, no. 7; H.N.
Dembitzer, Kelilat Yofi, 2 (1893), 97b; S. Buber, Anshei Shem (1895),
114, no. 271; Wettstein, in: Sefer ha-Yovel… N. Sokolow (1904), 297f.,
no. 21; L. Lewin, Geschichte der Juden in Lissa (1904), 173f., 372f. (no.
18), 378.
[Itzhak Alfassi]
EUNUCH. The Hebrew word sārīs (Heb. סירָ ִס),
a loanword
from Akkadian, has two meanings in the Bible: the first and
most common is “eunuch” (e.g. II Kings 8:6; 9:32; 20:18 (= Isa.
39:7); Isa. 56:3–5; and Jer. 39:7) (ʾīš sārīs and all the instances in
the Book of Esther (2:3 passim)); and second, a government
official or officer, not necessarily a eunuch (I Sam. 8:14–15;
I Kings 22:9). Inasmuch as eunuchs in some cultures were
married, it is not impossible that Potiphar (Gen. 37:36; 39:1)
was a eunuch, which could account for the notorious actions
of his wife (Tadmor, apud Zevit in Bibliography). Daniel and
his companions, though not specifically called “eunuchs,” are
supervised by the chief of the eunuchs (Dan. 1:3, 7, 10, 18),
in apparent fulfillment of the prophecy (II Kgs. 20:18 = Isa.
39:7) that some of Hezekiah’s offspring would be eunuchs in
the palace of the king of Babylonia. As was the case in Assyria
(see Grayson in Bibliography, 98), eunuchs could rise
to high positions, as shown by the place they occupy in the
list in Jeremiah 29:2, where the hierarchical order of the captives
is given as the king, his mother, the sarisim, the sarim
(“leaders”), and the craftsmen (but cf. II Kings 24:12, 15). The
Akkadian ša rēši, elliptical for ša rēš šarri izuzzū, “the one who
stands by the head of the king,” was pronounced sa rēsi in Middle
and Late Assyrian, resulting in the Hebrew and Aramaic
forms with samekh. There are clear attestations of Akkadian
ša rēši in the meaning “eunuch.” In court circles the ša rēši is
sometimes opposed to ša ziqni, “the one of the beard.” Middle
Assyrian royal ordinances regulating women’s quarters prescribed
examination of the ša rēši to assure his status of eunuch,
and subsequent castration if he failed the examination.
Being turned into a ša rēši (ana ša rēšēn turrû) was a punishment
for adultery in the Middle Assyrian laws (A15) and for
sodomy (A20). There are attestations of ša rēši that do not demand
the sense “eunuch” (See CAD R, 289–97) and that is true
for the Hebrew loan as well. The law excluding eunuchs from
the Israelite community (Deut. 23:2) describes the eunuch as
the one with crushed testicles (the normal form of childhood
castration) rather than by the ambivalent term sārīs. II Kings
18:17 mentions Rab-saris (mistakenly treated by the Hebrew
writer as a proper name) together with other high-ranking
officials in the Assyrian kingdom. The reference to Rab-saris
in Jeremiah 39:3, 13 testifies to the existence of this class in
euphemism and dysphemism
the Neo-Babylonian kingdom as well. The date of a bilingual
Akkadian-Aramaic inscription from Nineveh is indicated by
the limmu (i.e., eponym) of a rab ša rēši. Since the office of
limmu was held only by high officials, it is evident that the office
of Rab-saris was of high rank. Isaiah 56:3–5, comforts
the eunuchs who keep the Sabbath and observe the covenant;
they are promised “a yad, either a memorial stele (Talmon) or
a share (Japhet) in the temple precincts, and a name, better
than sons and daughters.”
Bibliography: M. Springling, in: AJSLL, 49 (1932), 53–54; E.
Weidner, in: AFO, 17 (1955–56), 264–5; H.G. Gueterbock, in: Oriens, 10
(1957), 361; A. Goetze, in: Journal of Cuneiform Studies, 13 (1959), 66;
M. and H. Tadmor, in: BIES, 31 (1967), 77–78. Add. Bibliography:
S. Talmon, in: H. Beinart and S. Loewenstamm (eds.), Studies …Cassuto,
1987, 137–41; S. Japhet, in: MAARAV, 8 (FS Gevirtz; 1992), 65–80;
M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (1988), 112; A.K. Grayson, in: M.
Dietrich and O. Loretz (eds.), Von Alten Orient zum Alten Testament
FS von Soden (1995), 85–97; H. Tadmor, in: Z. Zevit et al. (eds.), Solving
Riddles …Studies J.C. Greenfield (1995), 317–25; idem, in: S. Parpola
and R. Whiting (eds.), Papers XLVII Recontre Assyriologique
Internationale (2002), 1–9; R. Mattila, The King’s Magnates (2000),
61–76, 163–64; N. Fox, In the Service of the King (2000), 196–203; P.
Mankowski, Akkadian Loanwords in Biblical Hebrew (2000), 123–25;
COS 2, 355.
[S. David Sperling (2nd ed.)]
EUPHEMISM AND DYSPHEMISM.
Euphemism
Euphemism is the substitution of an agreeable or inoffensive
word or term for one that is indelicate, blasphemous, or taboo.
Various types of euphemisms are found in the Bible, including
(1) avoidance of direct implication of the speaker – “Should
you gouge out these men’s eyes” rather than “our eyes” (Num.
16:14; similarly, I Sam. 29:4); (2) avoidance of direct implication
in an oath – “God do so to the enemies of David” rather
than “my enemies,” David being the speaker (I Sam. 25:22; similarly,
I Sam. 20:16); (3) avoidance of the expression “to die”:
several different euphemistic expressions are employed, e.g.,
(a) “I am about to go the way of all the earth” (I Kings 2:2);
(b) “I shall go the way whence I shall not return” (Job 16:22);
(c) “Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, for God
took him” (Gen. 5:24; cf. II Kings 2:3); and (d) “They shall sleep
a perpetual sleep and not wake” (Jer. 51:39, 57); (4) avoidance
of “cursing” (or rather, “blaspheming”) God: the Hebrew verb
barakh ךרב (“bless” or “praise”) is employed (I Kings 21:10, 13;
Job 1:5, 11; 2:5, 9), or, instead of the verb, the object is changed
from “YHWH” to “the enemies of YHWH” (II Sam. 12:14); and
(5) avoidance of indelicate and offensive expressions: (a) the
expression “to cover one’s legs” (Heb. hasekh raglayim) is substituted
for “to defecate” (Judg. 3:24; I Sam. 24:3); “the bread
he eats” (Gen. 39:6) for “the woman with whom he has sexual
relations” (cf. Prov. 30:20); (b) the following are changed by
the keri (qeri) of the masoretic text: the verb shagal (“to rape”)
to shakhav (Deut. 28:30; Isa. 13:16; Jer. 3:2; Zech. 14:2); ʿafolim
(“hemorrhoids”) to teḥorim (Deut. 28:27; I Sam. 5:6, 9, 12; 6:4,
5); ḥare(ʿe)hem (“their excrement”) to ẓo’atam (II Kings 18:27;
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 6 549