A Woman May Not Have Relations with an Animal
The Female Clause in Leviticus 18:23
Leviticus 18:23 contains two distinct prohibitions in a single verse: the first addresses men (#369), and the second — “a woman must not present herself to an animal to have sexual relations with it” — addresses women (#370). The Rambam counts these as two separate commandments (Sefer HaMitzvot, Neg #215 and #216). The male prohibition uses “tumah” (defilement); the female prohibition uses “tevel” (perversion/confusion). The difference in terminology reflects different aspects of the same violation: the male’s act defiles him; the woman’s act confuses the categories of creation.
The Hebrew “tevel” appears only twice in the entire Bible: here, and in Leviticus 20:12 (intercourse with a daughter-in-law). This rare word is reserved for acts the Torah treats as category violations — acts that blur boundaries that creation established as fundamental. The daughter-in-law case blurs the boundary between father-role and husband-role; the bestiality case blurs the boundary between human and animal. Both are described not merely as sins but as confusions of created order.
Leviticus 20 — Equal Consequence for Both Parties
Leviticus 20:16: “If a woman approaches any animal and lies with it, you shall kill the woman and the animal; they shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them.” The Leviticus 20 penalty chapter specifies the death of both the woman and the animal — the same double consequence as for the man in v.15. The legal treatment is identical for both sexes: same violation, same consequence. The double consequence (woman and animal) follows the same logic as the male case: the animal is put to death not punitively but to remove a reminder of the violation from the community.
The rabbis (Sanhedrin 55a) discuss whether the animal’s death is technically necessary in terms of the animal’s legal status. The conclusion parallels the male case: the animal bears no moral responsibility and is not guilty. Its death is a communal act, not a judicial punishment. This is consistent with the Torah’s broader pattern: the legal framework is not about the animal’s culpability but about the community’s covenant integrity. An animal used in this way has become part of a covenant violation; removing it from the community is a matter of covenant maintenance.
The Woman’s Position in the Holiness Code’s Sexual Ethics
Commandment #370 is one of several places where the Holiness Code explicitly addresses women in the same terms as men within the sexual prohibitions. Leviticus 18:19 prohibits approaching a woman in her ritual impurity. Leviticus 20:10 states that both the adulterer and the adulteress are put to death. Leviticus 20:16 applies the death penalty identically to the woman and the animal. The Holiness Code treats women as full moral agents within the covenant sexual ethics — capable of violation and equally subject to the covenant’s legal consequences.
The phrase in v.23 “a woman must not present herself” (“lo ta’amod”: she shall not stand before) frames the act as the woman initiating the encounter, not merely being acted upon. The active framing — “present herself” — establishes her moral agency. The legal and ethical framework of Leviticus 18–20 does not treat women as passive objects of law but as actors within the covenant system who are responsible for and subject to its terms. Lev 18:24–26: “Do not make yourselves unclean by any of these things” — the “yourselves” is addressed to the entire covenant community.
- Leviticus 18:23 — Lev 18:23: a single verse containing two commandments (#369 and #370). The verse uses “tumah” for the male prohibition and “tevel” for the female prohibition. The rare word “tevel” signals a fundamental category violation against the created order.
- Leviticus 20:16 — Lev 20:16: the penalty chapter specifies death for both the woman and the animal. The animal bears no moral guilt but is killed to remove a covenant violation reminder from the community (Sanhedrin 55a).
- Leviticus 20:12 — Lev 20:12: the only other use of “tevel” in the Hebrew Bible — intercourse with a daughter-in-law. The shared terminology links two acts the Torah treats as fundamental category violations against the created order.
Read the source passage in the Torah reader.
Read in the Torah Reader — Leviticus 18:23