Jews claim the wisdom of the Torah as the most perfect book ever written, and profess to follow it completely. They are used to quoting Proverbs 3:17: "Her ways are pleasant ways, and all her paths are peace."
But are they really?
I was having a discussion with a religious friend of mine, and we somehow got on the topic about how, historically, children were hit by their parents/guardians, and this was considered perfectly normal in society. My friend then interjected, "Of course, Jews never did that!"
Seriously?
First of all, hitting in Judaism is, if not explicit, absolutely condoned in the entire atmosphere of the Torah. From hitting your slave (Exodus 21:20) to warning parents to hit their children (Proverbs 13:24), Judaism's entire premise is one of control, not love. The Rambam, revered by Jews as a Tzadik, wrote explicitly that you may beat your wife, even with a rod (Rambam, Hilchot Ishut, 21-10). This doesn't sound very peaceful, does it?
However, all these verses, though damning, can be argued over - Jewish apologists love to make excuses, no matter how far-fetched. Even though the simple texts are bad enough, I still decided to look if there was any historical evidence outside of scriptural evidence.
Looking no further than a book called, "The History of the Ancient and Medieval World," I found this picture:
Caption: Jewish religion emphasizes reading of the Torah. This illustration from the sixteenth century AD shows a Jewish school in the Middle Ages.
Notice the small boy on the left, with the "Mechanech" on the right (note the payos). The teacher's left hand is in a pointed gesture, demanding the child to read the Hebrew letters on the paper. And in his right hand is a ... wait, what the fuck is that?! Let's zoom in, shall we?
Holy shit! That looks like a whip! This is not BDSM, so why the hell would a teacher be carrying a whip?! What happened to, "Her ways are pleasant ways, and all her paths are peace"?
The evidence is clear. Hitting in the 1400's was not an unusual activity - in fact, it was standard, and Jews are NOT excluded from this. If Jews do not hit their children today (which is great), that simply shows that morality evolves, as does everything. It means that the Jews today are not following what it actually says in the book (which is wonderful!). But they should be aware that they're arbitrarily ignoring what is supposedly sanctioned by their god. Sanctioned and encouraged by Hashem. And that means they're not following every word of the Torah. And if you're not following every word ... doesn't that mean you admit it must not be a perfect book? Why are you not living your life according to it? And if it is perfect, why are you exempt from beating your wife, or child?
This painting, to me, shows a society of primates. Beating and slapping is behavior we observe in macaques, chimpanzees, baboons, and other primate species. Humans, being great apes, are just another one on the chain. Thankfully, with the advent of the enlightenment, science, etc. we've realized that beating your child is not just ineffective ... it's downright abusive, immoral, and wrong.
I think it's wonderful that society can evolve out of following an old book, don't you?
True, Maimonides wrote that a man can use a rod on his wife to compel her. However, this is not his true view, despite the fact that he codified it as law. In Guide (3, 48) he gives the reasons for the law of chasing away the mother bird as showing compassion to animals and notes the contradistinction to what he codifies in the laws of prayer 9, 7. Since there are two opinions in the Talmud, Rambam codifies law according to one opinion while expressing his true view in the Guide. These laws do not necessarily reflect his own views.
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