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<\/a>Equal Rights Started with Abraham and Sarah<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/h3>\nPini Dunner<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Few revolutions have shouted louder about equality \u2014 or practiced it more selectively \u2014 than the French Revolution. As Alexis de Tocqueville later observed in his study of that turbulent era, \u201cThe French nation is prepared to tolerate \u2026 those practices and principles that flatter its desire for equality, while they are in fact the tools of despotism.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n In 1789, the streets of Paris rang with the cries of Libert\u00e9<\/i>, \u00c9galit\u00e9<\/i>, Fraternit\u00e9<\/i>! It sounded like the dawn of a new moral age, born out of years of indulgent corruption and indifference by the French king and his aristocratic associates. <\/span><\/p>\n The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen<\/i><\/a> was hailed by its revolutionary authors as humanity\u2019s most perfect charter of freedom. Except \u2014 as soon became painfully clear \u2014 the word \u201cman\u201d in the title meant quite literally only men; women were barred from becoming citizens.<\/span><\/p>\n To be clear, this didn\u2019t land well. Thousands of women, including the fearsome fishmarket Poissards<\/em>, all fiercely loyal to the Revolution, had marched to Versailles from Paris in October 1789, demanding bread and justice. As they gathered outside, they presented a petition calling for full equality. The newly formed National Assembly simply ignored it.<\/span><\/p>\n A few brave voices did try to challenge the exclusion of women. The philosopher Nicolas de Condorcet and the feminist pioneer Etta Palm d\u2019Aelders appealed to the National Assembly to grant women the same civil and political rights as men. <\/span><\/p>\n Condorcet put it bluntly: \u201cHe who votes against the rights of another \u2014 whatever that person\u2019s religion, color, or sex \u2014 has henceforth repudiated his own.\u201d But for all its lofty rhetoric, the Revolution had its limits. Their pleas were dismissed, and the march for \u201cequality\u201d rolled on without half the population.<\/span><\/p>\n Then, in 1791, Olympe de Gouges, the scandalous playwright and flamboyant pamphleteer, decided to expose the absurdity of the Revolution\u2019s double standard. She published the satirically pointed Declaration of the Rights of Woman and of the Female Citizen<\/i><\/a>, a transparent rewrite of the men-only manifesto. <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWoman is born free and remains equal to man in rights,\u201d she declared. With biting sarcasm, she observed that women could be guillotined for opinions they weren\u2019t even allowed to express: \u201cIf woman has the right to mount the scaffold, she must equally have the right to mount the rostrum.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n Her audacity sealed her fate. Two years later, the Revolution that had promised equality sent her to the guillotine.<\/span><\/p>\n The man behind this extraordinary hypocrisy was Maximilien Robespierre, known to all \u2014 without a trace of irony \u2014 as \u201cThe Incorruptible.\u201d He had begun as a fierce opponent of capital punishment, denouncing it as inhumane and unworthy of a civilized nation. <\/span><\/p>\n But as the Revolution gathered pace, Robespierre enthusiastically embraced the guillotine. First, the king and queen were executed, then anyone deemed a \u201ctraitor to the Revolution\u201d \u2014 many of them his former allies. The erstwhile champion of virtue became its most zealous executioner, reduced to a despotic murderer. <\/span><\/p>\n His \u201cReign of Terror\u201d descended into the \u201cGreat Terror\u201d until, inevitably, Robespierre himself was dragged to the very guillotine he had glorified. The Revolution he had championed finally devoured its own moral prophet.<\/span><\/p>\n Every age has its Robespierres \u2014 people who loudly preach justice and identify threats, while in reality serving only themselves. The faces have changed, but the pattern remains. Today, they come dressed for television and curated for social media, but they are the same moral frauds who, in every generation, manufacture enemies and thrive on paranoia. <\/span><\/p>\n Tucker Carlson thunders about freedom but gushes over autocrats and neo-Nazis. Candace Owens rails against victimhood even as she builds a brand based on grievance. Dave Smith claims to defend the oppressed although he finds every excuse for his favored oppressors. <\/span><\/p>\n At the other end of the spectrum, Zohran Mamdani and AOC deliver moral lectures while refusing to condemn the chant \u201cGlobalize the Intifada,\u201d while Cenk Uygur and Hasan Piker livestream moral outrage for millions, though their moral clarity seems to blur significantly whenever the topic is Hamas.<\/span><\/p>\n This week, it hit me just how differently morality is projected in the narratives of the Torah compared to the modern moral code shaped by the ideals of the French Revolution. At the beginning of Parshat Chayei Sarah<\/a>, Abraham mourns Sarah, his equal partner in every way. <\/span><\/p>\n The passage opens with an unusually phrased verse (Gen. 23:1<\/a>): \u201cAnd the life of Sarah was one hundred years, and twenty years, and seven years \u2014 these were the years of Sarah\u2019s life.\u201d Rashi observes that the repetitive phrasing means all of Sarah\u2019s years were equally good \u2014 not because her life was easy, but because her faith, integrity, and moral strength remained constant.<\/span><\/p>\n More importantly, Abraham\u2019s reaction to her death \u2014 and the Torah\u2019s deliberate framing of her life \u2014 make it clear that Sarah was not some kind of footnote to Abraham\u2019s mission. She was his full partner, his equal in every respect. <\/span><\/p>\n The Midrash teaches that the beautiful hymn Eishet Chayil \u2014 the \u201cWoman of Valor\u201d (Prov. 31:10\u201331<\/a>) \u2014 was originally composed by Abraham as a eulogy for Sarah. One line captures her essence perfectly: \u201cShe opens her mouth with wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.\u201d Sarah was no passive companion; she was a voice of insight, a moral compass, and a spiritual equal. <\/span><\/p>\n Together, Abraham and Sarah launched a true revolution \u2014 the most revolutionary idea in human history: that God exists, and that all human beings are created equal b\u2019tzelem Elokim<\/i>, in the image of God. Long before France even dreamed of equality, Abraham and Sarah lived it.<\/span><\/p>\n The contrast with Ephron the Hittite \u2014 the antihero of Chayei Sarah \u2014 could not be more striking. When Abraham asks to buy a burial plot for Sarah, Ephron\u2019s reply sounds magnanimous: he insists Abraham take the land for free. But once the crowd disperses, his true colors emerge. \u201cWhat is four hundred shekels between friends?\u201d he says with faux humility \u2014 while shamelessly gouging Abraham. <\/span><\/p>\n Ephron\u2019s civility and generosity are pure theater. Beneath the polished manners lies greed and hypocrisy. Like Robespierre\u2019s \u201cvirtue,\u201d Ephron\u2019s altruism was all performance. When the mask came off, what lay beneath was ugly.<\/span><\/p>\n Abraham and Sarah\u2019s model could not be more different. Their virtue was real. They lived their principles. Their tent was open to all, and their respect for each other sincere. It was Sarah\u2019s wisdom, in fact, that shaped the destiny of their family. <\/span><\/p>\n God tells Abraham, \u201cWhatever Sarah tells you, listen to her voice\u201d (Gen. 21:12<\/a>). In that single line, God affirmed what the French Revolution never could \u2014 that true justice rests not on dominance, but on moral partnership.<\/span><\/p>\n And when Abraham eulogized Sarah, he didn\u2019t speak of liberty, equality, or fraternity. He spoke of kindness, faith, and valor \u2014 qualities that endure long after slogans fade. Robespierre\u2019s Revolution ended in blood and betrayal. Abraham and Sarah\u2019s Revolution endures in blessing. So much for the \u201cRights of Man.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n The real Revolution didn\u2019t begin in Paris in 1789, but in Hebron three millennia earlier \u2014 when a man and a woman stood together as equals before God.<\/span><\/p>\n The author is a rabbi in Beverly Hills, California.<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n Zawarto\u015b\u0107 publikowanych artyku\u0142\u00f3w i materia\u0142\u00f3w nie reprezentuje pogl\u0105d\u00f3w ani opinii Reunion’68,<\/em> Equal Rights Started with Abraham and Sarah Pini Dunner A Torah scroll. Photo: RabbiSacks.org. Few revolutions have shouted louder about equality \u2014 or practiced it more selectively \u2014 than the French Revolution. As Alexis de Tocqueville later observed in his study of that turbulent era, \u201cThe French nation is prepared to tolerate \u2026 those practices […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[33,24],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125949"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=125949"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125949\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":126005,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125949\/revisions\/126005"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=125949"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=125949"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=125949"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n![](\"https:\/\/www.algemeiner.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/torah-scroll-e1504233787694-2.jpg\")
A Torah scroll. Photo: RabbiSacks.org.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n
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