Well said. Just a note on polygamy. No disagreement that this is great for the main male involved, but as a whole it sucks for the rest of us poor male peasants. This is true today in a way. The alpha male always gets all the girls.
But also, let's not consign all of the women participating in this arrangement as unwilling victims. Let's give them some credit! Many make the calculation that it is far better to be one of many wives to the King, than one poor wife to the lowly farmer.
The rabbis of the Talmud noted that the Torah assumes that in a polygamous marriage with two wives, one wife will be "loved" and the other "hated." The disfavored wife therefore needed special legal protections. The rabbis permitted polygamy at the time as a concession to the social needs of the time, but spent long sections of the Talmud discussing the harmful effects that resulted. Ashkenazi Jewry finally banned polygamy outright about a thousand years ago.
Likewise, I suspect that if "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" were to play out in real life, polyandrous marriages etc. would be a lot less idyllic in practice. Note that in "Paint Your Wagon," the polyandrous marriage ultimately collapsed into monogamy.
However, there are circumstances in which "alternative" arrangements become the best of a bad set of options. I remember hearing that in the wake of the Yom Kippur War, in which Israel suffered severe (male) casualties, some women were having great difficulty finding husbands. They supposedly went so far as to petition the rabbinate to allow them to become concubines to otherwise-married men. (The rabbis refused.)
Well said. Just a note on polygamy. No disagreement that this is great for the main male involved, but as a whole it sucks for the rest of us poor male peasants. This is true today in a way. The alpha male always gets all the girls.
But also, let's not consign all of the women participating in this arrangement as unwilling victims. Let's give them some credit! Many make the calculation that it is far better to be one of many wives to the King, than one poor wife to the lowly farmer.
This is so apt. No truer words ever written. It's so well done, David. 👏🏾👏🏾
Oh, and a hearty congratulations! 🎊
The rabbis of the Talmud noted that the Torah assumes that in a polygamous marriage with two wives, one wife will be "loved" and the other "hated." The disfavored wife therefore needed special legal protections. The rabbis permitted polygamy at the time as a concession to the social needs of the time, but spent long sections of the Talmud discussing the harmful effects that resulted. Ashkenazi Jewry finally banned polygamy outright about a thousand years ago.
Likewise, I suspect that if "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" were to play out in real life, polyandrous marriages etc. would be a lot less idyllic in practice. Note that in "Paint Your Wagon," the polyandrous marriage ultimately collapsed into monogamy.
However, there are circumstances in which "alternative" arrangements become the best of a bad set of options. I remember hearing that in the wake of the Yom Kippur War, in which Israel suffered severe (male) casualties, some women were having great difficulty finding husbands. They supposedly went so far as to petition the rabbinate to allow them to become concubines to otherwise-married men. (The rabbis refused.)