Theos-Talk Archives (March 2003 Message tt00325)

leonmaurer@aol.com wrote:
> Also, it should be noted that for the majority of world Jewry, the Talmud is 
> not a fixed body of law, and has always been subject to interpretation, 
> revision, and change. Like most religions, the modern Jews have many degrees 
> of conformance with scripture ranging from the small minority of extreme 
> orthodox to the relatively large majority of conservative, reformed and 
> secular Jews. 
One additional thing; there are sections of the Talmud which are 
describing one purpose, and have been purposely misinterpreted for 
another. For example, in inheritance laws, there is a rule that if a man 
rapes a woman or girl, and then dies, the victim is entitled to a full 
share of the man's estate, as if they had been married. This has been 
frequently twisted into stating that the Talmud legitimatize rape, and, 
even worse, allows marriage by rape. Many actual quotes can be similarly 
taken out of context.

Bart Lidofsky