Now that Hannukah is here, it would be appropriate to share a thought or two.
Hannukah is an interesting holiday in that the symbols we celebrate really have very little to do with the holiday itself. (For a wonderful history of Hannukah, click here). In fact, this is the only holiday where the Talmud itself asks the reason for its existence. From a terrible civil war and a war against oppression to a celebration with a menorah and latkes is quite a stretch. What's going on?
Very simply we are seeing the rabbinic mind at work. The celebration of Hannukah was transformed into a celebration of religious freedom and its warlike and violent chapters were subsumed under the layer of a necessary evil, but evil nonetheless. As a result, the violence is referred to, to be sure, but only in the context of seeking religious freedoms. In other words, the values of the rabbis - values that extol mitzvot and service to God, adherence to Torah and the freedom to be Jewish - overtook and diluted the history of the confict. Indeed, what we are celebrating is not so much a holiday which commemorates the repurification of the Temple but rather the ultimate success of the rabbinic molding of Judaism. It is a molding of Judaism without which Judaism would never have survived.
How we Jews endure from generation and how we adapt ourselves while staying true to our core is what the celebration of Hannukah is all about. Today, we have the same challenges. How do we stay true to what being Jewish is all about? How do we live Torah - and ancient document - with the demands of the 21st Century? How does our diet express who we are? How does our ethical life express what we believe? Do we stand up for injustice and Jewish rights when it is either inconvenient or even dangerous? There are a thousand more questions like this. And that is what the Hannukah story is really all about.
The cleansing of the Temple and the defeat of the Greeks is a high point and something to celebrate. But the real story of Hannukah is how we recovered from the terrible excesses and corruption of the Hasomoneans and the priesthood and how we as a people never threw in the towel. That is a lesson worth celebrating and worth learning.
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Monday, November 16, 2009
Parashat Toldote - Expulsion and Wandering
וַיֹּ֥אמֶר אֲבִימֶ֖לֶךְ אֶל־יִצְחָ֑ק לֵ֚ךְ מֵֽעִמָּ֔נוּ כִּֽי־עָצַֽמְתָּ־מִמֶּ֖נּוּ מְאֹֽד׃
And Abimelech said to Isaac, "Go away from us, for you have become far too big for us."
After Abimelech, the king of the Philistines saw Isaac and Rebecca making out, he wondered why Isaac had lied to him about Rebecca being his sister. Isaac responded that he was afraid of his being killed and Rebecca being taken because she was so beautiful and so the king forbade anyone from hurting Isaac. Isaac thrived in Gerar and, when he had grown too big, Abimelech expelled him from the place feeling that he might have grown too powerful.
This pattern of "come join us" is often followed by Jewish success. In 1492 the Jews of Spain were expelled and Turkey welcomed them in. They thrived there and, until very recently, were welcomed there as important citizens. Now, however, they are being persecuted by the Islamic authorities who, once again, grow jealous of their success. In Israel, the Jews have settled the Land and the Arabs who peer out from Lebanon and Syria and Jordan and Egypt literally see a cesspool turned into a garden. This embarasses them as they had possession of the Land for 700 years and turned it into a literal garbage dump. They, too, want to expel the Jews. In fact, throughout history it seems that wherever the Jews are, they are eventually kicked out and it always seems to be after they have set down roots and flourished. England, Spain, France, Portugal, Germany - pretty much anywhere Jews lived and thrived has become a place of suffering and exile.
Of course, when countries say such things the Jewish response has been to get out and get out quickly. I learned that the difference between the Ashkenazi sefer Torah scroll and the Sephardic sefer Torah scroll was not in the writing, of course, but in the way it is contained. The Sephardic scroll is encased in a beautiful wood case, elaborately decorated and very, very heavy. Not easy to carry. The Ashkenazic scroll on the other hand is highly portable. Very easy to carry. Why? Because the Jews were not often kicked out of the Sephardic countries - ironically Islamic countries who saw Jews as "People of the Book" - as long as they paid the Jew tax and accepted inferior status, they were allowed to stay, that is until they were all expelled after Israel was established. It was easy to carry out the Torah while fleeing Ashkenazic communities in Europe and so the Torah was made easy to carry.
If you think about it, though, we are all carrying just a little bit of stuff on our backs wherever we go. Everything we own will turn to dust. Everything we cherish will rust and disintegrate. The only thing we can really carry with us is our name and the echo of the good we have done. Jews never defined themselves upon the cities or civilizations they built. They defined themselves upon the thoughts they thought and the values they developed. They created a civilization of learning and of tradition, of family and community that saw all other Jews (by and large) as part of the family no matter where they were found. This is not something that needs a building. Jews have flourished because they knew how to work together for a better good and they enriched every society in which they lived with their prosperity. The sickness that causes expulsion is not the success of the Jews - it is the incessant jealousy of those who want to be served but can't stand that someone whom they deem inferior can have that much success. They can't resolve the congnitive dissonance so they expel the Jews and oftentimes fall back into dire circumstance. Talk about self-defeating. It is not a condition that we see remedied any time soon.
And Abimelech said to Isaac, "Go away from us, for you have become far too big for us."
After Abimelech, the king of the Philistines saw Isaac and Rebecca making out, he wondered why Isaac had lied to him about Rebecca being his sister. Isaac responded that he was afraid of his being killed and Rebecca being taken because she was so beautiful and so the king forbade anyone from hurting Isaac. Isaac thrived in Gerar and, when he had grown too big, Abimelech expelled him from the place feeling that he might have grown too powerful.
This pattern of "come join us" is often followed by Jewish success. In 1492 the Jews of Spain were expelled and Turkey welcomed them in. They thrived there and, until very recently, were welcomed there as important citizens. Now, however, they are being persecuted by the Islamic authorities who, once again, grow jealous of their success. In Israel, the Jews have settled the Land and the Arabs who peer out from Lebanon and Syria and Jordan and Egypt literally see a cesspool turned into a garden. This embarasses them as they had possession of the Land for 700 years and turned it into a literal garbage dump. They, too, want to expel the Jews. In fact, throughout history it seems that wherever the Jews are, they are eventually kicked out and it always seems to be after they have set down roots and flourished. England, Spain, France, Portugal, Germany - pretty much anywhere Jews lived and thrived has become a place of suffering and exile.
Of course, when countries say such things the Jewish response has been to get out and get out quickly. I learned that the difference between the Ashkenazi sefer Torah scroll and the Sephardic sefer Torah scroll was not in the writing, of course, but in the way it is contained. The Sephardic scroll is encased in a beautiful wood case, elaborately decorated and very, very heavy. Not easy to carry. The Ashkenazic scroll on the other hand is highly portable. Very easy to carry. Why? Because the Jews were not often kicked out of the Sephardic countries - ironically Islamic countries who saw Jews as "People of the Book" - as long as they paid the Jew tax and accepted inferior status, they were allowed to stay, that is until they were all expelled after Israel was established. It was easy to carry out the Torah while fleeing Ashkenazic communities in Europe and so the Torah was made easy to carry.
If you think about it, though, we are all carrying just a little bit of stuff on our backs wherever we go. Everything we own will turn to dust. Everything we cherish will rust and disintegrate. The only thing we can really carry with us is our name and the echo of the good we have done. Jews never defined themselves upon the cities or civilizations they built. They defined themselves upon the thoughts they thought and the values they developed. They created a civilization of learning and of tradition, of family and community that saw all other Jews (by and large) as part of the family no matter where they were found. This is not something that needs a building. Jews have flourished because they knew how to work together for a better good and they enriched every society in which they lived with their prosperity. The sickness that causes expulsion is not the success of the Jews - it is the incessant jealousy of those who want to be served but can't stand that someone whom they deem inferior can have that much success. They can't resolve the congnitive dissonance so they expel the Jews and oftentimes fall back into dire circumstance. Talk about self-defeating. It is not a condition that we see remedied any time soon.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
The Life of Sara
וַיִּהְיוּ חַיֵּי שָׂרָה מֵאָה שָׁנָה וְעֶשְׂרִים שָׁנָה וְשֶׁבַע שָׁנִים שְׁנֵי חַיֵּי שָׂרָֽה׃
Sarah's lifetime -- the span of Sarah's life -- came to one hundred and twenty-seven years.
It is very strange for me to write a blog entry on the eve of my daughter Sara's bat mitzvah when the portion she is reading from is "Hayyai Sara: The Life of Sara." Leaving out the obvious problem that the portion deals with Sara's death and not her life, it is still very weird to be looking at this portion - the same portion we read the night she was named. One is, naturally, drawn to a certain amount of reflection on the growth of their child, indeed the same child that crawled up the bima when she was not even a toddler.
All parents have these feelings when their child is about to take the bima and lead the congregation in prayer. There is great joy and, at the same time, great sadness. We adults are passing into the older generation, especially with ascension of our last child to the bima. But there is great joy because we often see glimpses of what that child will be. Like pieces of gold that glint in the bottom of the river or in a pile of stone, we see brief moments of a brilliant future when our children read from the Torah. To have that experience is to have a sublime sense of what the future will hold.
Moments like that don't happen all the time. But when they do, they are a gift. I am hoping that I see that gift this weekend. and that as my Sara is reading about her matriarch Sara and thinking about her namesake Sara she connects with the Saras past, present and future and senses herself as something much bigger than herself but also something of which she is an integral part. When she senses that, we will all sense that moment of magic when we glimpse her future and smile for what we all know that future will be.
Sarah's lifetime -- the span of Sarah's life -- came to one hundred and twenty-seven years.
It is very strange for me to write a blog entry on the eve of my daughter Sara's bat mitzvah when the portion she is reading from is "Hayyai Sara: The Life of Sara." Leaving out the obvious problem that the portion deals with Sara's death and not her life, it is still very weird to be looking at this portion - the same portion we read the night she was named. One is, naturally, drawn to a certain amount of reflection on the growth of their child, indeed the same child that crawled up the bima when she was not even a toddler.
All parents have these feelings when their child is about to take the bima and lead the congregation in prayer. There is great joy and, at the same time, great sadness. We adults are passing into the older generation, especially with ascension of our last child to the bima. But there is great joy because we often see glimpses of what that child will be. Like pieces of gold that glint in the bottom of the river or in a pile of stone, we see brief moments of a brilliant future when our children read from the Torah. To have that experience is to have a sublime sense of what the future will hold.
Moments like that don't happen all the time. But when they do, they are a gift. I am hoping that I see that gift this weekend. and that as my Sara is reading about her matriarch Sara and thinking about her namesake Sara she connects with the Saras past, present and future and senses herself as something much bigger than herself but also something of which she is an integral part. When she senses that, we will all sense that moment of magic when we glimpse her future and smile for what we all know that future will be.
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Parashat Vayere - Emmisaries, Not Angels
Looking up, he saw three men standing near him. As soon as he saw them, he ran from the entrance of the tent to greet them and, bowing to the ground,
וַיִּשָּׂא עֵינָיו וַיַּרְא וְהִנֵּה שְׁלֹשָׁה אֲנָשִׁים נִצָּבִים עָלָיו וַיַּרְא וַיָּרָץ לִקְרָאתָם מִפֶּתַח הָאֹהֶל וַיִּשְׁתַּחוּ אָֽרְצָה׃
וַיָּבֹאוּ שְׁנֵי הַמַּלְאָכִים סְדֹמָה בָּעֶרֶב וְלוֹט יֹשֵׁב בְּשַֽׁעַר־סְדֹם וַיַּרְא־לוֹט וַיָּקָם לִקְרָאתָם וַיִּשְׁתַּחוּ אַפַּיִם אָֽרְצָה׃
What happened to the third angel?
When the three angels come to visit Abraham right after his circumcision at 99 years old (ouch!) to announce that Sara will have a baby even though she is "withered" they go to Sodom - of Sodom and Gommorah infamy - and, when they get there, the text says there are only two angels. The question arises, what happened to the third angel. Rashi answers the question in the following manner, keeping in mind that, according to tradition, each angel has but one purpose. This is what he says, "One to destroy Sedom and one to save Lot. The third one who came to foretell to Sarah [of her giving birth]--- once he fulfilled his mission---departed." This answers the question very well, actually, and it made me think of something else.
Angels are basically robots going through the motions doing what they are supposed to do. After they have done their deed, they go wherever angels go and are either held in reserve until they are needed again or sent to the angel happy hunting grounds and retired. They do their duty and are never heard from again, except in very rare circumstances.
This is the way a lot of people see their connection to the Jewish world. We all know of people who send their kids to religious school until the bar mitzvah and then they disappear, believing that they have fulfilled their angelic duty never to be seen again. Sometimes families have no connection at all to Jewish life and understand Judaism to be the Judaism of their parents or grandparents with its sexism or rigid authoritarianism. Whatever the reason, there are lots of people who have tuned out or never tuned in.
There are lots of Jewish organizations that have taken the initiative to reach out. Chabad are experts at it. Unfortunately, what they offer is neither progressive nor particularly accepting. True, they accept all Jews but only to embrace them to change them into what they believe is acceptable Jewish practice. But it still works.
As well, Birthright-Taglit Israel has outreached to Jews through Israel and travel to Israel which has opened up the minds and hearts of hundreds of thousands of young Jews whose connection to Israel and Judaism was often tenous. In fact, I just got this the other day:
"According to a new study about the long-term effects of the Taglit-Birthright Israel program, 72% of married alumni are wedded to other Jews, compared to a rate of 46% among a control group of young Jews who never went on one of the fully subsidized, 10-day trips to Israel. In this finding, the researchers from Brandeis University’s Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies even factored out individuals raised in Orthodox homes." (http://www.forward.com/articles/117817/)
The fact is, outreach works. It worked in motivating Abraham. It works with Birthright and it works with Chabad. It works because outreach effectively done can touch someone where they are and can fill an need that needs filling. The Reform movement has its own outreach and has welcomed people into the tent respectful of their backgrounds and their experiences. But so much more needs to be done. We all need to stop being angels and start being true emmisaries.
You see, angels do only one thing and are retired forever. Frankly, there are far too many angels around. Emmisaries, on the other hand, can take a message of inclusion and warmth and bring it to families and people who are looking for something that meets them where they are. And the message does not wear out.
Jews have been emmisaries of the message for thousands of years. It is time to share the message of what Judaism has to offer once again. You will be amazed at how many people are willing to listen.
וַיִּשָּׂא עֵינָיו וַיַּרְא וְהִנֵּה שְׁלֹשָׁה אֲנָשִׁים נִצָּבִים עָלָיו וַיַּרְא וַיָּרָץ לִקְרָאתָם מִפֶּתַח הָאֹהֶל וַיִּשְׁתַּחוּ אָֽרְצָה׃
The two angels arrived in Sodom in the evening, as Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose to greet them and, bowing low with his face to the ground,
וַיָּבֹאוּ שְׁנֵי הַמַּלְאָכִים סְדֹמָה בָּעֶרֶב וְלוֹט יֹשֵׁב בְּשַֽׁעַר־סְדֹם וַיַּרְא־לוֹט וַיָּקָם לִקְרָאתָם וַיִּשְׁתַּחוּ אַפַּיִם אָֽרְצָה׃
What happened to the third angel?
When the three angels come to visit Abraham right after his circumcision at 99 years old (ouch!) to announce that Sara will have a baby even though she is "withered" they go to Sodom - of Sodom and Gommorah infamy - and, when they get there, the text says there are only two angels. The question arises, what happened to the third angel. Rashi answers the question in the following manner, keeping in mind that, according to tradition, each angel has but one purpose. This is what he says, "One to destroy Sedom and one to save Lot. The third one who came to foretell to Sarah [of her giving birth]--- once he fulfilled his mission---departed." This answers the question very well, actually, and it made me think of something else.
Angels are basically robots going through the motions doing what they are supposed to do. After they have done their deed, they go wherever angels go and are either held in reserve until they are needed again or sent to the angel happy hunting grounds and retired. They do their duty and are never heard from again, except in very rare circumstances.
This is the way a lot of people see their connection to the Jewish world. We all know of people who send their kids to religious school until the bar mitzvah and then they disappear, believing that they have fulfilled their angelic duty never to be seen again. Sometimes families have no connection at all to Jewish life and understand Judaism to be the Judaism of their parents or grandparents with its sexism or rigid authoritarianism. Whatever the reason, there are lots of people who have tuned out or never tuned in.
There are lots of Jewish organizations that have taken the initiative to reach out. Chabad are experts at it. Unfortunately, what they offer is neither progressive nor particularly accepting. True, they accept all Jews but only to embrace them to change them into what they believe is acceptable Jewish practice. But it still works.
As well, Birthright-Taglit Israel has outreached to Jews through Israel and travel to Israel which has opened up the minds and hearts of hundreds of thousands of young Jews whose connection to Israel and Judaism was often tenous. In fact, I just got this the other day:
"According to a new study about the long-term effects of the Taglit-Birthright Israel program, 72% of married alumni are wedded to other Jews, compared to a rate of 46% among a control group of young Jews who never went on one of the fully subsidized, 10-day trips to Israel. In this finding, the researchers from Brandeis University’s Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies even factored out individuals raised in Orthodox homes." (http://www.forward.com/articles/117817/)
The fact is, outreach works. It worked in motivating Abraham. It works with Birthright and it works with Chabad. It works because outreach effectively done can touch someone where they are and can fill an need that needs filling. The Reform movement has its own outreach and has welcomed people into the tent respectful of their backgrounds and their experiences. But so much more needs to be done. We all need to stop being angels and start being true emmisaries.
You see, angels do only one thing and are retired forever. Frankly, there are far too many angels around. Emmisaries, on the other hand, can take a message of inclusion and warmth and bring it to families and people who are looking for something that meets them where they are. And the message does not wear out.
Jews have been emmisaries of the message for thousands of years. It is time to share the message of what Judaism has to offer once again. You will be amazed at how many people are willing to listen.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Lech Lecha
וַיֹּאמֶר יְהוָה֙ אֶל־אַבְרָ֔ם לֶךְ־לְךָ֛ מֵאַרְצְךָ֥ וּמִמּֽוֹלַדְתְּךָ֖ וּמִבֵּ֣ית אָבִ֑יךָ אֶל־הָאָ֖רֶץ אֲשֶׁ֥ר אַרְאֶֽךָּ׃
The LORD said to Abram, "Go forth from your native land and from your father's house to the land that I will show you.
This is one of the moste well-known lines in the Torah. Everyone seems to know that Avram was called by God to take a hike and find himself and his God.
There are, to me, several interesting things in this phrase. First of all, I have to ask the question "Why did he have to leave?" If God could be found anywhere, why the necessity to leave Ur of Chaldees? The commentators say that he needed to leave the influence of his pagan past. I doubt it, frankly. Since there was no monotheism at that time and everywhere was pagan or idolotrous, then wherever he went would be exaclty the same. That's the first problem.
The second issue is his name. Avram's name is not the name we usually know him by. Rather we know him by 'Abraham.' However, it was not yet time for God to change his name to Abraham. I wonder why.
Here is what I think about both these issues: Avrum had to leave where he lived because whatever was drawing him and tugging at him could not be discovered in his one-camel town. There was simply too much history there and perhaps he felt he could not be taken seriously or create for himself the environment to build a people. Lots of people feel this way and so we should not be surprised that Abram felt the same way, too.
Our children grow up and whether they end up living in the same town or nearby or they leave the state or the country, the dynamic is the same. They stake their own ground. They establish themselves and their own lives on their own terms. In effect, they change their names from "so and so's child" to their own 'name' - i.e., reputation which is theirs and theirs alone. The name they establish for themselves is far more important than the one their parents gave to them.
The same was true for Abraham. He had to deal with kings, with covenants of birds, with a Pharoah, with a wife, a maiden, a child, a captive nephew and other challenges. He was clearly out of his protective environment. He was in the 'real world.'
And lest we think that he somehow was perfect, he was not. He bowed to a jealous wife's demands that he send his child and his mother away (Hagar and Ishamel) and he lied to a Pharoah about his wife (Sarai) being his sister. Living outside his native land and out of his father's house held real challenges and difficult times.
But despite all the troubles, Abram, soon to be Abraham embraced what he had done and learned to live with his decisions. I am sure it was not easy. The road to establishing one's own name is filled with pot-holes (or in Abram's case, bitumen pits - see Genesis 14:10), conficts, and compromises. Maybe what Abraham's story is, is a lesson in how things turned out in the end. In other words, if we were to judge Abraham at any of these challenging times, maybe he would be a failure in our eyes. The paradox is that we have to judge a life when the life is over, not when it is being punctuated by its ups and downs.
Our lives are the same way. We are judged, like Abraham, on what we build. Our failures are preserved and no amount of spin can remove the truth about our deceptions and bad decisions. But failing is not the same as being a failure. Doing lousy things does not make us lousy people. We all fail at times but, like Abraham, we hear the call to reach higher and holier and we are set upon a trail that is filled with difficulties. These are not tests, they are facts of life and how we walk that trail and look back on the good we have done while trying to heal the hurt we have caused and avoid that same hurt in the future is the thing that will give us the name that will accompany us forever. It is the only thing we can take with us to the grave. Protect it well.
The LORD said to Abram, "Go forth from your native land and from your father's house to the land that I will show you.
This is one of the moste well-known lines in the Torah. Everyone seems to know that Avram was called by God to take a hike and find himself and his God.
There are, to me, several interesting things in this phrase. First of all, I have to ask the question "Why did he have to leave?" If God could be found anywhere, why the necessity to leave Ur of Chaldees? The commentators say that he needed to leave the influence of his pagan past. I doubt it, frankly. Since there was no monotheism at that time and everywhere was pagan or idolotrous, then wherever he went would be exaclty the same. That's the first problem.
The second issue is his name. Avram's name is not the name we usually know him by. Rather we know him by 'Abraham.' However, it was not yet time for God to change his name to Abraham. I wonder why.
Here is what I think about both these issues: Avrum had to leave where he lived because whatever was drawing him and tugging at him could not be discovered in his one-camel town. There was simply too much history there and perhaps he felt he could not be taken seriously or create for himself the environment to build a people. Lots of people feel this way and so we should not be surprised that Abram felt the same way, too.
Our children grow up and whether they end up living in the same town or nearby or they leave the state or the country, the dynamic is the same. They stake their own ground. They establish themselves and their own lives on their own terms. In effect, they change their names from "so and so's child" to their own 'name' - i.e., reputation which is theirs and theirs alone. The name they establish for themselves is far more important than the one their parents gave to them.
The same was true for Abraham. He had to deal with kings, with covenants of birds, with a Pharoah, with a wife, a maiden, a child, a captive nephew and other challenges. He was clearly out of his protective environment. He was in the 'real world.'
And lest we think that he somehow was perfect, he was not. He bowed to a jealous wife's demands that he send his child and his mother away (Hagar and Ishamel) and he lied to a Pharoah about his wife (Sarai) being his sister. Living outside his native land and out of his father's house held real challenges and difficult times.
But despite all the troubles, Abram, soon to be Abraham embraced what he had done and learned to live with his decisions. I am sure it was not easy. The road to establishing one's own name is filled with pot-holes (or in Abram's case, bitumen pits - see Genesis 14:10), conficts, and compromises. Maybe what Abraham's story is, is a lesson in how things turned out in the end. In other words, if we were to judge Abraham at any of these challenging times, maybe he would be a failure in our eyes. The paradox is that we have to judge a life when the life is over, not when it is being punctuated by its ups and downs.
Our lives are the same way. We are judged, like Abraham, on what we build. Our failures are preserved and no amount of spin can remove the truth about our deceptions and bad decisions. But failing is not the same as being a failure. Doing lousy things does not make us lousy people. We all fail at times but, like Abraham, we hear the call to reach higher and holier and we are set upon a trail that is filled with difficulties. These are not tests, they are facts of life and how we walk that trail and look back on the good we have done while trying to heal the hurt we have caused and avoid that same hurt in the future is the thing that will give us the name that will accompany us forever. It is the only thing we can take with us to the grave. Protect it well.
Sunday, October 18, 2009
אֶת־קַשְׁתּי נָתַתִּי בֶּֽעָנָן וְהָֽיְתָה לְאוֹת בְּרִית בֵּינִי וּבֵין הָאָֽרֶץ
וַיּאמֶר אֱלֹהִים זֹאת אֽוֹת־הַבְּרִית אֲשֶׁר־אֲנִי נֹתֵן
בֵּינִי וּבֵינֵיכֶם וּבֵין כָּל־נֶפֶשׁ חַיָּה אֲשֶׁר אִתְּכֶם לְדֹרֹת עוֹלָם׃
I have set My bow in the clouds, and it shall serve as a sign of the covenant between Me and the earth.12 God further said, "This is the sign that I set for the covenant between Me and you, and every living creature with you, for all ages to come.
The sign of the covenant between God and humanity was established after the Flood. That seems to indicate that, according to the Bible, there were no such things as rainbows before the Flood! I find this very hard to believe as it would indicate that the laws of physics suddenly changed after the Flood and that, all of a sudden, there were would be the refractive characteristics of water acting upon light that would be different after the Flood as opposed to before!
So, once again, we have a problem in the text. How are we to confront this problem?
I would like to offer one possibility.
We look at the things in all sorts of ways. What may appear to you and I as a tree may be a special place where a first kiss occurred. A knick-knack on a shelf may mean nothing to most people but, to its owner and protector, might be a valuable connection to the past. A person, a family, a people can all determine what something means to them because they look at something in a whole new way. The same thing happened to rainbow. The laws of physics did not change; rather the way the biblical authors looked at that refracted light made the rainbow something special, indeed. It was now a promise of something bigger not simply the aftereffects of a summer rain.
Rashi, the mediaeval commentator par excellence, points out that when the ext says, "for all ages to come" there is a problem with the text. Here is what he says: "for all generations to come" It [the word דֹרֹת] is written defectively [without the letter “vav”] because there were generations that did not require the sign because they were completely righteous, such as the generation of Hezekiah, the king of Judah, and the generation of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai (Gen. Rabbah 35:2).
Rashi is citing the Midrash that tells us that the rainbow is a sign for all generations to warn them about the consequences of their actions. But the word "generations" is written defectively to teach that there are generations that did not need these warnings for they were completely righteous.
I don't know of any completely righteous generation or completely righteous people. But our tradition teaches that, indeed, there were at least two totally righteous generations. We can learn something from this.
Maybe we can extend the meaning of the rainbow a bit based on what Rashi teaches us: Perhaps the rainbow can be a sign that impels us to become one of those generations that need not be given such a sign. Wouldn't it be wonderful if we were so righteous that we didn't need any such warnings?
It would be wonderful never to need such warnings. But I am afraid we are a long way from such a time. Our earth is getting more polluted by the minute. We are in danger of contaminating our environments beyond their ability to repair themselves in a timely fashion, and we seem to be intent of consuming without regard to consequences.
When the earth was destroyed by the Flood, the Bible tells us that "violence filled the earth" and God washed it away with the waters of the Flood. There is violence upon the earth and there is violence to the earth. The rainbow stills stands as a visible warning that the earth can take only so much violence to it. God help us ever we ever look up and don't see the rainbow after the rain - for it would mean that even the clouds are poisoned. The next destruction of the earth will not come from God - it will come from us and the last words uttered by God may very well be, "Why didn't you listen?"
וַיּאמֶר אֱלֹהִים זֹאת אֽוֹת־הַבְּרִית אֲשֶׁר־אֲנִי נֹתֵן
בֵּינִי וּבֵינֵיכֶם וּבֵין כָּל־נֶפֶשׁ חַיָּה אֲשֶׁר אִתְּכֶם לְדֹרֹת עוֹלָם׃
I have set My bow in the clouds, and it shall serve as a sign of the covenant between Me and the earth.12 God further said, "This is the sign that I set for the covenant between Me and you, and every living creature with you, for all ages to come.
The sign of the covenant between God and humanity was established after the Flood. That seems to indicate that, according to the Bible, there were no such things as rainbows before the Flood! I find this very hard to believe as it would indicate that the laws of physics suddenly changed after the Flood and that, all of a sudden, there were would be the refractive characteristics of water acting upon light that would be different after the Flood as opposed to before!
So, once again, we have a problem in the text. How are we to confront this problem?
I would like to offer one possibility.
We look at the things in all sorts of ways. What may appear to you and I as a tree may be a special place where a first kiss occurred. A knick-knack on a shelf may mean nothing to most people but, to its owner and protector, might be a valuable connection to the past. A person, a family, a people can all determine what something means to them because they look at something in a whole new way. The same thing happened to rainbow. The laws of physics did not change; rather the way the biblical authors looked at that refracted light made the rainbow something special, indeed. It was now a promise of something bigger not simply the aftereffects of a summer rain.
Rashi, the mediaeval commentator par excellence, points out that when the ext says, "for all ages to come" there is a problem with the text. Here is what he says: "for all generations to come" It [the word דֹרֹת] is written defectively [without the letter “vav”] because there were generations that did not require the sign because they were completely righteous, such as the generation of Hezekiah, the king of Judah, and the generation of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai (Gen. Rabbah 35:2).
Rashi is citing the Midrash that tells us that the rainbow is a sign for all generations to warn them about the consequences of their actions. But the word "generations" is written defectively to teach that there are generations that did not need these warnings for they were completely righteous.
I don't know of any completely righteous generation or completely righteous people. But our tradition teaches that, indeed, there were at least two totally righteous generations. We can learn something from this.
Maybe we can extend the meaning of the rainbow a bit based on what Rashi teaches us: Perhaps the rainbow can be a sign that impels us to become one of those generations that need not be given such a sign. Wouldn't it be wonderful if we were so righteous that we didn't need any such warnings?
It would be wonderful never to need such warnings. But I am afraid we are a long way from such a time. Our earth is getting more polluted by the minute. We are in danger of contaminating our environments beyond their ability to repair themselves in a timely fashion, and we seem to be intent of consuming without regard to consequences.
When the earth was destroyed by the Flood, the Bible tells us that "violence filled the earth" and God washed it away with the waters of the Flood. There is violence upon the earth and there is violence to the earth. The rainbow stills stands as a visible warning that the earth can take only so much violence to it. God help us ever we ever look up and don't see the rainbow after the rain - for it would mean that even the clouds are poisoned. The next destruction of the earth will not come from God - it will come from us and the last words uttered by God may very well be, "Why didn't you listen?"
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Parashat Bereshit
בְּרֵאשִׁית בָּרָא אֱלֹהִים אֵת הַשָּׁמַיִם וְאֵת הָאָֽרֶץ׃
When God began to create heaven and earth --
We have just completed the Jewish New Year and, according to tradition, we are in the year 5770. What, exactly, is this number supposed to represent? Simply this: the creation of the universe.
It is patently clear that the universe is a whole lot older than 5770 years old despite the silly efforts of those literalists who go to great lengths to prove the biblical account accurate. For instance, we know that the edge of the visible universe is some 13.5 billion light years away. It may be much, much bigger than that but the light from the edge of the expanding universe is moving slower than the expansion of space so we will never, ever see the light from beyond that barrier. At any rate, the universe is at least 13.5 billion years old. How then do we justify celebrating 5770 years of the universe with a straight face?
The year 5770 is traditional since if we were to add up all the years in the bible from the kings and prophets and so forth and count backwards to the story of creation we get a number which, when added up with the subsequent years to the present, equals 5770. Our problem persists, though. After all, the premise that the universe began 6000 years ago is simply incorrect so how can we use a false chronology to prove that the chronology is right! It is a circular and flawed argument. So how do we look at the year 5770?
I can't take it literally, of course, and I suggest that you don't take it literally, either. If you do, you will be consciously repressing the truth of scientific fact and I doubt very much God wants us to ignore the realities of the universe.
But if we look at the year 5770 as the number of years ago that the nascent Jewish people began to give rise to a sophisticated awareness of covenant and responsibility and the total number of years that our people have been struggling with God (and God with us!) then we have a much more meaningful number. 5770 becomes sort of a mile marker of our growing awareness of God and not of the beginning of the world.
The struggle to know God is a miniscule moment of awareness in the history of the universe. 5770 years out of 13.5 billion is almost insignificant. But 'almost insignificant' does not mean 'totally insignificant'. For those 5770 years the Jewish people has changed the world and has created a civilization that continues to inspire and challenge all humanity. That in itself is a cause worth celebrating. So, let's celebrate...Happy birthday world!
When God began to create heaven and earth --
We have just completed the Jewish New Year and, according to tradition, we are in the year 5770. What, exactly, is this number supposed to represent? Simply this: the creation of the universe.
It is patently clear that the universe is a whole lot older than 5770 years old despite the silly efforts of those literalists who go to great lengths to prove the biblical account accurate. For instance, we know that the edge of the visible universe is some 13.5 billion light years away. It may be much, much bigger than that but the light from the edge of the expanding universe is moving slower than the expansion of space so we will never, ever see the light from beyond that barrier. At any rate, the universe is at least 13.5 billion years old. How then do we justify celebrating 5770 years of the universe with a straight face?
The year 5770 is traditional since if we were to add up all the years in the bible from the kings and prophets and so forth and count backwards to the story of creation we get a number which, when added up with the subsequent years to the present, equals 5770. Our problem persists, though. After all, the premise that the universe began 6000 years ago is simply incorrect so how can we use a false chronology to prove that the chronology is right! It is a circular and flawed argument. So how do we look at the year 5770?
I can't take it literally, of course, and I suggest that you don't take it literally, either. If you do, you will be consciously repressing the truth of scientific fact and I doubt very much God wants us to ignore the realities of the universe.
But if we look at the year 5770 as the number of years ago that the nascent Jewish people began to give rise to a sophisticated awareness of covenant and responsibility and the total number of years that our people have been struggling with God (and God with us!) then we have a much more meaningful number. 5770 becomes sort of a mile marker of our growing awareness of God and not of the beginning of the world.
The struggle to know God is a miniscule moment of awareness in the history of the universe. 5770 years out of 13.5 billion is almost insignificant. But 'almost insignificant' does not mean 'totally insignificant'. For those 5770 years the Jewish people has changed the world and has created a civilization that continues to inspire and challenge all humanity. That in itself is a cause worth celebrating. So, let's celebrate...Happy birthday world!
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