In a new book, author Jonathan Kirsch
has rewritten and interpreted
seven Bible stories.

JULIE WIENER STAFF WRITER

S

everal years ago while reading to
his 5-year-old son, author and crit-
ic Jonathan Kirsch felt compelled
to censor a book.
Like generations before him, Mr.
Kirsch was afraid it contained sex
and violence that was too graphic and
morally ambiguous for its audience. No, the
book wasn't Lady Chatterley's Lover or
Ulysses. Instead, it was the Bible, known to
centuries of pious folks as simply "the Book."
Ban the Bible? In The Harlot by the Side

of the Road: Forbidden Tales of the Bible,

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Mr. Kirsch argues that contrary to popular
opinion, the Bible contains stories which
are "some of the most violent and sexually
explicit in all of Western literature." By com-
paring numerous translations and using
his own knowledge of biblical Hebrew, Mr.
Kirsch has rewritten and interpreted sev-
en "forbidden tales."
So why don't we learn these tales in re-
ligious school? And
when we do study
these tales, why are
certain details glossed
over or left unex-
plained? According to
Mr. Kirsch, centuries
of religious leaders
have been retranslat-
ing and editing out the
parts of the Bible they
find troubling.
"Some of the mate-
rial that found its way
into the Bible does not
fit very neatly into the
official notions of what
is right and wrong,"
said Mr. Kirsch, in an
Author Jonathan Kirsch:
interview with The
The Bible contains
material which is "some Jewish News. "Clergy,
starting in antiquity,
of the most violent and
sexually explicit in all of had to find a way to
Western literature."
make sense of these
odds and ends. And the
way that made sense was to suppress
them," he added.
The "forbidden tales" Mr. Kirsch retells
include the incest between Lot and his
daughters, Tamar's seduction of her father-
in-law Judah, and the rape of Dinah, sto-
ries he believes "have provocative lessons
to teach us." For Mr. Kirsch, these lessons
are often compatible with the "progressive
nal. ❑
values and love of social justice" that he
learned through his Conservative Jewish
Jonathan Kir
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upbringing and participation in a Labor
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For example, he argues that the story
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PHOTO BY MARILYN SANDER S

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80

of Dinah can actually be interpreted as a
love story between the feuding Jews and
Canaanites, one in which differences are ul-
timately resolved through a marriage.
Furthermore, Mr. Kirsch even detects
a feminist message in some of the "forbid-
den tales." Feminism in stories about girls
offered by their fathers to a pillaging mob
and wily women who achieve their goals
solely through sex? According to Mr. Kirsch,
these are among the few Bible stories in
which women play an active role and stand
up for their rights.
While it's hard to imagine modern fem-
inists endorsing the deception and seduc-
tion these characters employ, Mr. Kirsch
points out that very few tools were avail-
able to women in patriarchal biblical soci-
ety.
For example, for Tamar to ensure a fi-
nancial place for herself in the family of the
husband who abandoned her, she needs a
son fathered by that family. In the absence
of a legal system in which she might be able
to acquire alimony, the only way Tamar can
regain her marital rights is by seducing her
father-in-law.
"She took for herself what the law enti-
tled her to have," said Mr. Kirsch. "Because
she was standing up for her rights, the Bible
regards her as a heroine, not a sinner."
Mr. Kirsch suggests that these tales may
have been suppressed as much for their fem-
inism as for their graphic detail. "Perhaps
most of these forbidden tales show women
in a very dynamic way, much more dynamic
than we are accustomed to ... And there was
a sense of discomfort in traditional bibli-
cal culture when we encounter women who
stand up for themselves."
His interpretations are far from conven-
tional, but Mr. Kirsch says that overall his
book has gotten a positive response. "A few
people are offended by an open-eyed read-
ing of the Bible, and a few have expressed
disapproval of this approach, but vastly
more people find themselves provoked and
fascinated in discovering what's really in
the Bible," he said.
A native of Los Angeles, Mr. Kirsch de-
scribes himself as a "religiously observant"
Jew who belongs to a Conservative syna-
gogue. A book critic for the Los Angeles
Times, he is also a practicing attorney whose
clients include the Los Angeles Jewish Jour-

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