Noach: Nations and Dominion

Noach: Nations and Dominion

 

A synopsis of Noach:

1. 
   
   People ( and animals) are bad ( chamath, some kind of greed?)


2. 
   
   Gd  brings a flood to wipe away the evil and saves the worthy Noach and his family




1. 
   
   perhaps the saved animals are the bestial equivalents of Noach and his family


3. 
   
   Gd makes a covenant with Noach's descendants




1. 
   
   clearly forbidding the killing of people and


2. 
   
   allowing the slaughter of animals




1. 
   
   possibly clarifying the error of Cain


3. 
   
   no mention of Cahmath and, thus no clarification of the issue




1. 
   
   unless the sum of the covenant is a restriction of Chamath


4. 
   
   Noach returns to agriculture




1. 
   
   His father had predicted that he would make agriculture better at his naming


2. 
   
   Noach plants a vineyard and gets drunk




1. 
   
   another example ( like the Tree of Knowledge) of drugs leading to problems through loosening of restraints




1. 
   
   N.B. the undoing of the tree of Knowledge ( he gets naked)


3. 
   
   Noach blesses and curses his sons setting one as dominant and one as servant




1. 
   
   I would have thought that this relationship is chamath, but I guess not from the story


5. 
   
   The Birth of the 70 nations




1. 
   
   spiced by the domination of Nimrod




1. 
   
   grandson of Ham




1. 
   
   the servant


2. 
   
   founder of Bavel


6. 
   
   The tower of Bavel (may also be a story of domination; great view; Big Brother: Goebels)




1. 
   
   another time


7. 
   
   The genealogy of Abraham




1. 
   
   people having children at an ever younger age until...Terach




1. 
   
   who is also in his way to Canaan!

Bereshith: How did we get here?

Bereshith: How did we get here?

 

Here we are, back at the beginning of the Torah.  This uncomfortable description of the origin of the world ( No, not the universe, not the big bang.  The flat  world of light and dark that we actually experience; not that blue cloud covered globe that roatates and revolves around a star contained within a galaxy etc. that we memorized)  

 The intention of the story is to make the reader recognize her significance, not his insignificance ( per the scientific story of huge expanses and almost endless eons).  Any creation stories is an  exercise in imagination and yields an image of the self.  these are the stories through which we create ourselves.

 

Cosmology and evolution are no longer threatening or dangerous.

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Creation through speech: the codes

 

 

The premises of the Parshanim includes the literal translation of the story.  This, in turn, leads to the idea that the creation was effected by speech: Vayomer Hashem.... Vayehee.   This, in turn, leads to an idea of the special power of the words used in the Creation and the close analysis of the letters and words. 

 

Let's try some: Cosider the first letter Beth.  A vertical border (start here), a line above ( shomaim), a line below ( aretz) and a dot floating in between.  And the dot isn't even there, it is only in the memeory of the reader and the listener. ( Don't tell me that the Ivrith writing doesn't look the Ashurith letters we now use; it is the Ashurith letters that are my tradition!)

 

The first word contains the  second, Bereshith contains Bara.  As if to say that the idea of creation is embedded in the idea of begining.  

 

IN Chapter 2, the human [N.B. humam come from humus (earth) like Adam comes from Adamah) is pleural.  The text then tuns to a mist ( Ad) that rises up (וְאֵד יַעֲלֶה מִן-הָאָרֶץ וְהִשְׁקָה אֶת-כָּל-פְּנֵי הָאֲדָמָה ) and returns to the (pleural of Ad [chaser]) Adam ( אָדָם ) .  Note that in Yiddish  Aidim  means son-in law. 

 

There are many more.

 

 

 

Vzoth HaBracha: disappointment

Vzoth HaBracha: disappointment

 

 

 

The parsha contains blessings for the tribes of Israel ( sans Shimon )  and the death of Moshe. 

It also ends with the a statement about the greatness of Moshe.  No other navi will rise to the level of Moshe.  . 

The blessings must be disappointing.  They can never be great enough.  Reminds me of Esau.

The death of Moshe is disappointing.  Couldn't Gd forgive the  small trespass that we have trouble understanding?  If Gd could not forgive Moshe, how can we hope for forgiveness?

sans Shimon: the Ramban says that the fundamental reason for skipping Shimon is that there can only be 12 blessings, so because the tribe of Joseph is split in 2, someone ( Shimon) must be left out.

Was Shimon the leader of the tormentors of Joseph?  he is the oldest that was not involved in some kind of rescue plan.

Haazinu: ask your father

 

Iy would seem that Haazinu is the "song" mentioned in Vayelech, the song of testimony that would never be forgotten, that attests to the validity of Jewish sufferering. The text fits the bill ( I guess; it is poetry so I am never sure of what it is saying) (I think that is the nature of poetry; it make ambiguous statements because truth is intrinsically ambiguous)

 

זְכֹר יְמוֹת עוֹלָם בִּינוּ שְׁנוֹת דֹּר-וָדֹר  {ס}  שְׁאַל אָבִיךָ וְיַגֵּדְךָ זְקֵנֶיךָ וְיֹאמְרוּ לָךְ.  {ר}
ח בְּהַנְחֵל עֶלְיוֹן גּוֹיִם  {ס}  בְּהַפְרִידוֹ בְּנֵי אָדָם  {ר}
יַצֵּב גְּבֻלֹת עַמִּים  {ס}  לְמִסְפַּר בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל. 

 

 Remember the days of old, consider the years of many generations; ask thy father, and he will declare unto thee, thine elders, and they will tell thee. 8 When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance, when He separated the children of men, He set the borders of the peoples according to the number of the children of Israel.

 

Ask your father: and he  will affirm Israel's inheritance, and transmit it to you.

Ask your father: and he will give you this world view; all events are centered around the Children of Israel.

 

Those 70 nations have taken their turns at us. Each has its own idea of fairness

In America, we are taught that the view of our fathers' is obsolete and wrong.  We strive for fairness for all people. A noble idea.  But an idea that must be tempered by reality.  Fainess is an important test. Survival trumps it.

 

be careful.

Vayelech: I know their Nature

 

 

כא וְהָיָה כִּי-תִמְצֶאןָ אֹתוֹ רָעוֹת רַבּוֹת וְצָרוֹת וְעָנְתָה הַשִּׁירָה הַזֹּאת לְפָנָיו לְעֵד כִּי לֹא תִשָּׁכַח מִפִּי זַרְעוֹ  כִּי יָדַעְתִּי אֶת-יִצְרוֹ אֲשֶׁר הוּא עֹשֶׂה הַיּוֹם בְּטֶרֶם אֲבִיאֶנּוּ אֶל-הָאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר נִשְׁבַּעְתִּי.

 

21 then it shall come to pass, when many evils and troubles are come upon them, that this song shall testify before them as a witness; for it shall not be forgotten out of the mouths of their seed; for I know their imagination how they do even now, before I have brought them into the land which I swore.'  (JPS)

 

I don't like the punctuation, it removes the ambiguity.  Does Gd know their imagination in that they will sin ( certainly that is part of it).  But does the verse also mean that Gd knows their nature, that they will not lose the song.

The nature of Jews - scholars, they don't lose their writings, they maintain their writings intact ( in the original language and song)  [ they are so cheap, they won't throw away a scrap of parchment]

The trope mark on yitzro is a revii, a sign that links the word to the phrase before and the phrase after.

 

There is also a shared tzadi raish between yitzro and tzaroth in this pasuk.   The nature is a product of their being drawn through the processes that created them ( Mitzraim).  That is why they won't throw away the [formative] curses.

 

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