Er and Onan

"Sons of Shelah, son of Yehuda: Er…and Yoash and Saraf who became husbands in

Moab

and those who live in Lehem and these matters are of great depth (Chronicles I, 4:21-23)."

Rav and Shmuel disagree. One says:"Their names were Machlon and Kilyon. Why were they called Yoash (despair) and Saraf (conflagration)? Because they despaired of Redemption and became culpable of destruction by fire." The other one says, "Their names were Yoash and Saraf. Why were they called Machlon and Kilyon? Machlon - because they profaned their bodies. Kilyon because they deserved destruction in God's hand; that they became husbands in

Moab

- they married Moabite wives. Those who live in Lehem - this is Ruth, the Moabite who settled in

Bethlehem

. The matters are of great depths - the One Profound of History enunciated them: "I found David, My servant (in

Sodom

)" and (regarding

Lot

) "your two daughters that are found (Bava Basra 91a)."

Here, the Sages not only identified previously unknown individuals with known Biblical characters but also placed them squarely within the framework of descendants of Shela, son of Yehuda. More remarkably, they draw our attention to the fact that Shelah called his son, the progenitor of Machlon and Kilyon, by the name of his deceased brother, Er. As we see time after time, in one pithy statement the Rabbis succeed in alluding to a number of profound teachings (See Yalkut Rebeni Vayeshev 157a and Koheles Yakov, entry Er). We will attempt to merely gain a surface understanding of this passage by demonstrating that it utilizes an essential rabbinic exegetical technique that is well suited for when information is scanty - recourse to patterns. To understand what the Sages are driving, we will use the principle, that history is a series of cycles in which the later generations are granted the opportunity to repair the mistakes and missteps of the earlier ones.

Although this idea applies to destinies of individuals as well as of nations, it is invoked most aptly in intergenerational sagas of families and may be familiar to some of our readers from certain classics of Western literature. The pattern to which the passage alludes is that of two brothers, both of whom are given an opportunity to lay the claim to history. Yet, one "steps up to the plate" and gives rise to a line of progeny or a nation, and the other one fails and is spiritually lost. This pattern is well known to us from the book of Genesis. Failure is not always complete and final. Often there is a second chance and an opportunity to return. Sometimes it is taken and sometimes it is wasted. This pattern includes Isaac and Ishmael, Esau and Jacob and …, according to the Rabbis, Er and Onan.

And

Judah

took a wife for Er his first-born, and her name was Tamar. And Er,

Judah

's first-born, was wicked in the sight of HaShem; and HaShem slew him.

And

Judah

said unto Onan: 'Go in unto your brother's wife, and perform the duty of a husband's brother unto her, and raise up seed to your brother.' And Onan knew that the seed would not be his; and it came to pass when he went in unto his brother's wife, that he spilled on the ground, lest he should give seed to his brother. And the thing which he did was evil in the sight of HaShem; and He slew him also (Genesis 37, 7-10).

We see in Yehuda's family, the same recurring situation; in fact we encounter it three times. There are two brothers who seemingly are both destined for perdition, yet one is saved and the other one perishes. 1.Er and Onan both sin; however, Er is ultimately redeemed by Yehuda's Levirite marriage to Tamar but Onan is lost. 2.Similarly, Machlon and Kilyon both die but Boaz brings Machlon back via Levirite marriage to Ruth. 3.Lastly, as we just had seen, in Chronicles the name of Er returns to Yehuda's line through his third son Shela, who names his firstborn - Er. Shelah, through this son is an ancestor of Machlon, whose wife was Ruth. Machlon and Kilyon  fuble their chance at redemption; yet, Machlon is yet redeemed by Ruth. Yehuda and Tamar also have two children, Peretz and Zerach. Peretz is an ancestor of Boaz, who redeems Machlon thorugh Ruth and ultimately begets the Davidic line.

Lot

undergoes the same process. Ruth, a descendant of

Lot

, also has the opportunity for redemption. She is a descendant of

Lot

, who had two daughters. Both committed grievous sins, just like Er and Onan. Like they, one is saved through Ruth and the other one is lost with Orpah (See Zohar 188a on Genesis 25, 24 and the discussion by R. A. Z. Naiman in his commentary on Ruth, in Idrei Ts'on, p14-16).

The connection is profound and the idea of transmigration of souls makes its appearance in regard to this topic. The sense of missed opportunity and waste of spiritual potential for Redemption underlies much of the deep abhorrence that classical sources express about the sin that came to be called onanism, after Onan, the brother of Er.