B’haalohotcha – Solution for the Question of Isha Cushit / Nachum Stone
Solution for the Question of Isha Cushit / Nachum Stone
I want to suggest an explanation for the mystery of the Kushi woman, which correlates with the Pshat both in Scriptures (Ketuvim) and the Midrashim. I believe that this solution does not refer to and does not interfere with any explanation of the second, third and fourth parts of the story. Hashem’s anger, the punishment and the healing. Avraham, Rivka and Yitzhak have a negative attitude towards the girls of Canaan and call them “Bnot Canaan.” Later on Yehuda marries a woman who is “the daughter of a Canaanite man” and Shimon has a “son of the Canaanite woman.” I believe that the term “Canaanite” parallels to our modern term of “Shiktze” and “Aramite” in Chazal. It could be that most of “Bnot Canaan” were actually Canaanite, as the “Canaanite was living at that time in Israel,” but this term was used mainly in the negative sense. I am suggesting that the term “Kushit” was used for those who came out of Egypt, another family born from Ham, but with the same attitude of total negativity. If so, the Kushit could be Tzipora, who came from Midyan. But, in any case, she came from outside Am Yisrael, and we do not know of any organized conversion procedure at that time. On the other hand, according to the Pshat, Moshe took another woman, but she was also not from Israel and even if she had undergone conversion (and even if Tzipora had undergone conversion), it was not surprising that there were some who treated her like a “Kushit,” i.e. foreigner [as in ‘I will not invite that Kushit for Leil Haseder, you can invite her]. So why now? Because Yitro has just returned to Midyan, with, or without, Tzipora, and this has stirred up the whole story. In short, “Kushit” is a negative term, one of degradation and rejection, like term “shiktze” in our time.