What is meant by, "k'Mishlosh Chodashim"?
Rashi: It is part of the first month, the entire second month and part of the third. A woman's pregnancy is discernable a third of the way along (three months out of the nine), and Tamar gave birth in the seventh month. 1
Why did they add, "v'Gam Hinei Harah li'Zenunim"?
Rashbam: In order to verify their accusation - that she did indeed engage in Zenus.
Seforno: To impress upon Yehudah that she didn't even take the trouble of hiding from him what she had done, by terminating the pregnancy.
Da'as Zekenim: Perhaps they used to kill (for adultery) only for Zenus with pregnancy, or if she was Mezanah with two men.
Why did Yehudah sentence Tamar to Sereifah?
Rashi and Targum Yonasan: Because she was the daughter of Shem, who was a Kohen. 1 (A Bas Kohen who commits adultery is liable to Sereifah - Vayikra 21:9.)
Rashbam: That was the custom with regard to a Yevamah who committed adultery.
Ramban #1: Yehudah, who was a leading figure in his generation, was having Tamar punished for gross disrespect of her revered father-in-law. 2 Ha'amek Davar - The custom was that if someone disgraced a ruler, he would judge her according to his honor.
Ramban #2: It was customary at that time to hand over a woman who committed adultery to her husband, to do as he saw fit. 3 And Yehudah took on that role in place of his son Shelah, to whom Tamar was betrothed (a bond which they considered akin to marriage).
Moshav Zekenim #1, citing R. Yehudah ha'Chasid: He wanted to burn only her face, for she was single. Only a married Bas Kohen is executed through burning. Malbim (to 38:15) - In lands of Yishma'el, the custom is to burn a letter on the face of harlots. 4
Moshav Zekenim #2: Pesikta says that Yehudah was commanded about Yibum. But all agree that a Yevamah who is Mezanah is not liable to the death-penalty! 5 Furthermore, Bnei Noach are killed only via the sword! We can say that designation to [fulfill the Mitzvah of] Hashem is no less than designation to an individual. If a Ben Noach designated a Shifchah for his slave, and her master had Bi'ah with her, he is killed (Sanhedrin 57a). 6
Hadar Zekenim: The custom was to burn anyone who was Mezanah. 7
Moshav Zekenim #3, Hadar Zekenim #2 (citing R. Yosef); Oznayim la'Torah: It was a Hora'as Sha'ah (a one-time ruling), because the people of that generation were lax with regard to Arayos. 8
Ohr ha'Chayim: Shem's Beis Din had decreed about Zenus with the nations (Avodah Zarah 36a). 9 It seems that this is even if there is no Isur Ervah (of a relative) forbidden to Bnei Noach or to Yisrael. Once he realized that her Bi'ah was with him, he exempted her, for there was no decree about Zenus with a Yisrael. A daughter-in-law is permitted to Bnei Noach. The opinion that says that Yehudah kept Tamar as a wife (Sotah 10b) holds that a father was able to do Yibum with his daughter-in-law.
Malbim: The question was whether or not Yehudah had exempted Tamar from Yibum, and she is like a single woman. He answered that he did not, and commanded to burn her. A Shomeres Yavam was considered like a married woman. Yehudah himself could do Yibum, or give her to Shelah, to establish seed for his brother.
See Ramban's objection to this explanation. For Gur Aryeh, see 38:24:3.2:1 .
Similar to the capital punishment for dishonoring a king.
Ramban: As is still practiced in many places in Spain in my times.
Moshav Zekenim: Maharam says that a Ben Noach is killed for any Aveirah. Once Yehudah realized that Tamar is pregnant from him, he recalled that she had Besulim; i.e. Er and Onan had Bi'ah Lo k'Darkah, so she was single. Hadar Zekenim (to 38:26) - She removed her Besulim at (i.e. right before) the time of Bi'ah, which enabled her to become pregnant from the first Bi'ah.
The Ran there says that he is killed due to theft (not adultery). The Me'iri says that it is once it is known that she is designated for him.
Not only a Bas Kohen.
Hadar Zekenim: Therefore, even though there were no witnesses or warning, the generation wantonly transgressed, so they sentenced her to die, lest people get used to this. [For example,] once a man was lashed for having Bi'ah with his wife under a tree (Yevamos 90b). Tamar's first son was therefore called Peretz, for she was judged due to Peritzus of the generation.
See Torah Temimah, note 25.
Why did Yehudah pronounce the sentence? Yitzchak and Yaakov were greater than he!
Chizkuni: They all sat on the Beis Din (Shemos Rabah 30:19). 1 Yerushalmi Sanhedrin, 4:7 #1 - In capital cases, one opens the proceedings with the least important Dayan. 2
Yerushalmi Sanhedrin, 4:7 #2 (according to Korban ha'Edah): According to the opinion that the above does not apply to Bnei Noach, and they begin with the greatest Chacham, indeed, Yehudah did not speak first. Because it was Yehudah who suggested the ruling, it is presented in his name.
Ramban: Refer to 38:24:3:3.
See Torah Temimah, notes 23-23.
Moshav Zekenim, Da'as Zekenim, Riva cite Sanhedrin 36a: We interpret "v'Lo Sa'aneh Al Riv" (Shemos 23:2) like 'Al Rav.'
What is meant by "li'Zenunim"?
QUESTIONS ON RASHI
Rashi writes: "'K'Mishlosh Chodashim' - Most of the first month, the whole second [month], and most of the third." Why would it not mean three full months?
Gur Aryeh #1: The Torah could have written, 'after three months.' It uses the expression, "as the months became three" to mean when the pregnancy became apparent; 1 i.e. a trimester.
Gur Aryeh #2: The prefix letter Kaf indicates that it was about [a set of] three months.
In other words, the partial months could not be called three, were it not for their significance regarding the pregnancy. (EK)
Rashi writes: "K'Mishlosh Chodashim - As the months became three." What does Rashi mean?
Gur Aryeh: The months of pregnancy are not distinct objects that can be counted, but rather a connected set. Rashi's word "K'Hishtalesh" means 'as they became a set of three' -- a trimester.
Rashi writes: "Harah - a noun (i.e. [she is in] pregnancy)." What does Rashi mean?
Gur Aryeh: There is no pronoun 'Hi Harah,' 'she is in pregnancy;' so I might have thought to translate Harah as a past-tense verb, 'she became pregnant.' Nonetheless, it is a noun, and the word 'Hi' is implied. 1
Gur Aryeh: Had it been a verb, it should have been written 'Haresah' in the feminine, as in Bereishis 16:4.
Rashi writes: "She was the daughter of Shem." But Rashi (to Sotah 10a) writes that Tamar was a minor when she married Er; and more than 60 years had elapsed since Shem passed away!
Gur Aryeh: Rashi must be of the opinion that Tamar was not Shem's daughter, but rather his granddaughter. 1
But see Nedarim 32b, that Shem was disqualified from passing on his status as Kohen to his children. Refer to 38:24:153.
Rashi writes: "... That is why they sentenced her to death by burning." But a Bas Kohen is liable to Sereifah for adultery, only if she is Me'orasah (with Kidushin)! Tamar was presently unmarried!
Gur Aryeh: After the Mabul, the Beis Din of Shem decreed that even someone unmarried would be liable to death for illicit relations. 1 Because she was a Bas Kohen, they applied the method of Sereifah, to parallel the Torah's penalty for a Bas Kohen Arusah. 2
See Avodah Zarah 36b, and Rashi to Bereishis 34:7.(In this case, there was no evidence that she was coerced).
Also see Gur Aryeh to 38:15, where he explained further.
Rashi writes that Tamar was sentenced to be burned, because she was the daughter of a Kohen (Shem). But Hashem deposed Shem's offspring from the Kehunah, after the war of the four kings (Nedarim 32b; refer to 14:18:151:1)!
Moshav Zekenim: He must hold that Tamar was born prior to that (i.e. about 175 years earlier)!
A Bas Kohen is burned because she disgraces her father. Perhaps this applies even after Kehunah was removed from his seed, seeing as he himself remained a Kohen. (PF)
