Thamara and Juda

t's a brief and confusing biblical tale. The chapter dedicated to ONAN in the Bible is more an enigma than an explicit tale. This painted comic book suggests several tracks to be followed across the Neguev desert in order to solve dilemmas that the Semites faced during the old ages in order to adopt Juda¯sm or on the contrary that of the eternal absence of guilt leading to the " Paradise " of those who kill . When population is scarce and the desert is huge , man must give women a descendance ( specially if they are young and beautiful ) . It ' s a father ' s duty in such a place , that their sons have an attractive and stimulating wife . Those are Juda ' s whishes . Even if he finds his daughter-in-law irresistible , he chooses to remain a good father . Yet , the obscure memories of the past (Sichem) torture and kill Juda ' s sons after marrying Thamara . Thus , she becomes twice a widow . Fearing the same fate for his third son Juda decides not to marry him to Thamara breaking thus the sacred law . In the end, Thamara re-establishes the law of this beautiful and rude land broken by Juda. She will enable him to recover self-respect by giving again meaning and incarnation to his words.