Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- 1 Constructions of Beauty and Ugliness
- 2 Physical Disabilities Classified as “Defects”
- 3 Physical Disabilities Not Classified as “Defects”
- 4 Mental Disability
- 5 Disability in the Prophetic Utopian Vision
- 6 Nonsomatic Parallels to Bodily Wholeness and “Defect”
- 7 Exegetical Perpetuations, Elaborations, and Transformations: The Case of Qumran
- Conclusion
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Subject Index
- Biblical and Non-Biblical Citation Index
3 - Physical Disabilities Not Classified as “Defects”
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 29 July 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- 1 Constructions of Beauty and Ugliness
- 2 Physical Disabilities Classified as “Defects”
- 3 Physical Disabilities Not Classified as “Defects”
- 4 Mental Disability
- 5 Disability in the Prophetic Utopian Vision
- 6 Nonsomatic Parallels to Bodily Wholeness and “Defect”
- 7 Exegetical Perpetuations, Elaborations, and Transformations: The Case of Qumran
- Conclusion
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Subject Index
- Biblical and Non-Biblical Citation Index
Summary
Although many somatic conditions and characteristics are categorized as “defects” (mûmîm) by biblical texts, others that may resemble “defects” are never classified as such. Blindness and lameness are cast as “defects,” whereas deafness and muteness are apparently excluded from this classification, even though like blindness and lameness, both are physical in nature, and both are characterized by somatic dysfunction. Similarly, such nonpolluting skin conditions referred to in the biblical text as garab and yallepet appear in the list of “defects” disqualifying a priest from presenting offerings to the deity in Lev 21:17–23; in contrast, “skin disease” (ṣaraʿat) is never classified as a “defect” in any biblical text, although it is mentioned with some frequency throughout the biblical anthology. This chapter brings together these “defect”-like physical disabilities, as well as a number of other somatic conditions not classified as “defects,” and explores their potential social ramifications, seeking to compare their representation to that of “defects.” Like “defects,” muteness, deafness, “skin disease” (ṣaraʿat), genital “flows” (zôb), menstruation, and parturition are frequently cast as stigmatizing, and texts often seek to marginalize persons affected by these conditions, sometimes to a significant degree. Biblical authors deploy new stigmatizing and marginalizing strategies in their representations of persons with non-“defective” physical disabilities, as well as some of the same strategies familiar from our exploration of the biblical construction of “defects.” Among the new strategies deployed is association with “defective” persons.
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- Chapter
- Information
- Disability in the Hebrew BibleInterpreting Mental and Physical Differences, pp. 47 - 61Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2008