JUDAICA - Wisdom In Torah

lindness
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helplessness and exploitability of the blind made blindness a
natural metaphor for oppression and injustice in Deuteronomy
28:28–29 and Isaiah 59:9–10 (cf. Lam. 4:14; M. Weinfeld
has noted that the association of blindness and darkness with
oppression in these passages also reflects the Mesopotamian
association of the sun-god with justice (cf. a related association
in II Sam. 23:3–4; Hos. 6:5b; Zeph. 3:5)). A related metaphor
is the use of blindness to describe those who dwell in
the darkness of prison or captivity (Isa. 42:7, 16–19; 43:8; 49:9;
61:1; cf. Ps. 146:7–8; this use has roots in Mesopotamian royal
inscriptions).
[Jeffrey Howard Tigay]
In Talmud and Jewish Law
The unusually large number of talmudic sages who were blind
probably reflects the wide prevalence of this disability in ancient
times. In addition to Bava b. Buta, who was blinded by
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The Hebrew Braille system adopted universally in the 1950s.
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Herod (BB 4a), mention may be made of Nahum of Gimzo
(Ta’an. 21a), Dosa b. Harkinas (Yev. 16a), and R. Joseph and
R. Sheshet in Babylon (BK 87a), as well as a number of anonymous
blind scholars (cf. Ḥag. 5b; tj Pe’ah, end). Matya b.
Heresh is said to have deliberately blinded himself to avoid
temptation, but his sight was subsequently restored by the
angel Raphael (Tanḥ. B., ed. Buber, addition to Ḥukkat). The
talmudic name for a blind man is suma (Ḥag. 1:1; Meg. 4:6),
but the euphemism sagi nahor (“with excess of light”) is often
used (Ber. 58a.; TJ Pe’ah end; and especially Lev. R. 34:13 “the
suma whom we call sagi nahor”).
Unlike the deaf-mute, who is regarded in Jewish law as
subnormal, the blind person is regarded as fully normal, and
most of the legal and religious restrictions placed upon him
are due to the limitations caused by his physical disability. The
statement (Ned. 64b) based on Lamentations 3:6 – “He hath
made me to dwell in darkness as those that have been long
dead” – that “the blind man is regarded as dead,” is of purely
homiletic interest and has no practical application. In the second
century R. Judah expressed the opinion that a blind man
was exempt from all religious obligations, and as late as the
time of the blind Babylonian amora Joseph (fourth century)
the halakhah had not yet been determined (see his moving
statement in bk 87a), but it was subsequently decided against
his view. Even the statement of R. Judah that a person blind
from birth cannot recite the Shema, since the first of the two
introductory blessings is for the daily renewal of light (Meg.
4:6; TB Meg. 24a), was later amended since he enjoys the benefit
of light (Rosh, resp. 4:21); the law that a blind man could
not be called up to the reading of the Torah, since the passage
must be read from the scroll (OḤ 53:14), was abolished
with the institution of the ba’al kore, who reads the passage for
those called up (Taz. to OḤ 141:1). The ruling of Jair Ḥayyim
Bacharach (Ḥavvot Ya’ir 176) that if there were a person more
suitable, a blind person should not conduct the service is an
individual opinion and Yehudai Gaon, who himself was blind,
gives a contrary opinion (J. Mueller, Mafte’aḥ li-Teshuvot ha-
Ge’onim (1891), 67).
Similarly, although it was laid down that a totally blind
person may not act as a judge, it is stated that when R. Johanan
heard of a blind man acting as judge he did not forbid it (Sanh.
34b, cf. ḤM 7:2; for instances in the Middle Ages see Paḥad
Yiẓḥak S.V. Suma). Even as late as the time of Joseph Caro in
the 16th century, it was laid down that a blind person is forbidden
to act as a shoḥet only “in the first instance”; the total
prohibition was enacted later (YD 1:9 and commentaries). A
special case was the exemption of a blind person from the duty
of going up to Jerusalem on the Pilgrim Festivals. The special
nature of this law, which is derived from the homiletical interpretation
of a word, is seen in the fact that it applied even to a
person blind in only one eye (Ḥag. 1:1, and TB Ḥag. 2a).
During the Middle Ages, blinding was imposed by some
battei din as a form of extrajudicial punishment and was condoned
by contemporary rabbis (Assaf in bibl. nos. 97, 98, 135).
Blindness was said to be caused by bloodletting at unfavor-
754 ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3