Sex in the Garden: Consensual Encounters Gone Bad - Hardcover

by Michael J. Broyde (Author), Reuven Travis (Author)

In the #MeToo times in which we live, there are few hard and fast rules that govern personal encounters and sexual liaisons. Consent, so long as it is neither coerced nor forced, dictates all. Astute students of the Bible will see this aspect of our current social milieu reflected in the book of Genesis. Genesis is not a book about laws. There are no "thou shall" or "thou shall not" commandments given over by God to humanity. Instead, its narrative depicts the cultures of its time as operating on personal choices and personal freedoms. And from the first sexual tryst in the garden of Eden to the attempted seduction of Joseph by the wife of Potiphar, these consensual encounters tend to end badly. The cautionary nature of these tales underscores the continued relevance of Genesis for our times.

Author Biography

Michael J. Broyde is a law professor at Emory University in Atlanta who has served in a variety of rabbinic positions throughout the United States. During the 2018 academic year, he was a Senior Fulbright Scholar at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, and in 2019, he is teaching Jewish law at Stanford Law School.



Reuven Travis has taught a wide range of classes, including Jewish law, Bible, and Jewish history, to students from grade two through high school. He holds a master's degree in teaching from Mercer University and a master's in Judaic studies from Spertus College. He is the author of From Job to the Shoah: A Story of Dust and Ashes (2013) and Sefer BeMidbar as Sefer HaMiddot: The Book of Numbers as the Book of Character Development (2018).