What Do We Owe in Love?: Ethical Tension in Their Eyes Were Watching God and The Talmud

Abstract

Love, duty, and moral tension are central to both Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God and the ethical discussions of the Talmud. As humans, love is one of the greatest gifts in life. We spend much of our lives in search of it – connection, understanding, belonging. Who are we without those whom we love? In each text, love is portrayed as something that is both beautiful, powerful, and difficult to understand, something that gives our lives meaning, but also something that can become dangerous when it asks too much of us. It's a common misconception that loving well is equivalent to sacrifice, an idea that has been misused, expecting people to bear the weight of harm or silence in the name of love and duty. Hurston writes Janie’s story through an early notion of love, leading to messy relationships, existing in the tension between what she owes others and what she owes herself. The rabbis of the Talmud engage in ethical debates about family, obligation, and the preservation of life, while trying to find truth in the midst of real human struggle. Both texts demonstrate that love asks us to give of ourselves, but also forces us to confront how far we should go when love and duty begin to conflict. When approaching the question of what we owe others, we cannot ignore what we owe ourselves.