Re'eh: the invisible

The parsha opens with רְאֵה: re'eh: see!  It then proceeds to instruct the reader to see a blessing and a curse that is laid before him.  It instructs us to see something that is not visible. These  pronouncements would be unintelligible to a machine, the machine would detect an  error: one cannot see  blessings or curses ... or the future.

Clearly, this re'eh does not  mean the usual eye-retina-optic tract-occipital cortex vision. Perhaps re'eh is better translated: imagine, generate the image. There is no object to be seen, only memories, ideas, dreams that can be synthesized into a vision.

The mishna yomi ( daily mishna cycle ) this week includes 2:9, the mishna in which Raban Yochanan ben Zakai asks  his five students to describe  the    דֶרֶךְ יְשָׁרָה שֶׁיִּדְבַּק בָּהּ הָאָדָם , the true path to which a person should cleave. Rabbi Shimon answers: הָרוֹאֶה אֶת הַנּוֹלָד. haroeh eth hanolad, one who sees the offspring, presumably the products, of her actions.  Again, the vision of what is not (yet) there. This is a synthetic vision that combines experience, calculation and honesty. A process that recognizes  the complexity of the consequences of actions and realizes how what is born differs from what is conceived.

This week's New York Times book review mentions a new book by Eric Kandel, a Nobel prize winning neuroscientist whose lectures I attended as a medical student.  I often recall  one lecture that he gave entitled: "Seeing is believing but touching is the real thing."  The lecture dealt with the complexity of the visual pathway in the brain.  The points of sensation of light in the retina are processed into lines and the lines are turned into faces.  Vision is always an amalgam of what is there and what we think should be there. The nervous systems inputs into the process block most humans from perceiving reality.  Walter Isaacson says that  Leanardo Da Vinci was able to represent the true fuzziness of edges, presumably how things really are -  devoid of the neuroprocessing that simplifies the world for most us. 

The distortion of physical reality that constitutes vision ( as we experience it) serves our daily lives very well, presumably better than a purer picture. But we should not distort what we see as the consequences of our actions,  the blessings and the curses. 

Aikev: The Foot

The parsha starts with a reference to the heel, aikev.  It ends with the ball of the foot, Kaf regel:כָּל־הַמָּק֗וֹם אֲשֶׁ֨ר תִּדְרֹ֧ךְ כַּֽף־רַגְלְכֶ֛ם בּ֖וֹ לָכֶ֣ם יִהְיֶ֑ה    Every spot on which your foot treads shall be yours

The aikev, a word meaning heel, consequence and deceive,  first appears as the target of the serpent in the garden of Eden (Gen 3:15).  It evens the match between the human who can crush the head of the snake, and the poisonous creature who, by biting the most insignificant of places, can kill the erect person.

The foot  is the instrument for following the path ( halacha).  It treads upon the earth and whatever is thrown onto the earth.   Rashi  quotes the Midrash TAnchuma : אִם הַמִּצְווֹת קַלּוֹת שֶׁאָדָם דָּשׁ בַּעֲקֵבָיו תשמעון. If, even the lighter commands which a person usually treads on with his heels (i.e. which a person is inclined to treat lightly), ye will hearken to ,

  What does that mean? Certainly there is a special difficulty in the vigilance about things that seem trivial, things you step on or step over ,or try to avoid stepping in.  Growing up in New York City, before people picked up after their dogs, I learned to watch where I stepped. Perhaps that is part of the intention of the mitzoth: to avoid stepping in things that are unpleasant to clean up later.

The eikev word echoes Jacob, Yaakov, the third patriarch. Jacob was so named because he held onto the heel (the vulnerable spot inherited from Adam) as he competed with Esau at birth.  Esau uses the word , Va'yaakaveini: he supplanted me, when he describe the how his brother, Yaakov, obtained the blessing that he thought came to him. He got him by the heel! It is not much of stretch to translate this word that implies cheating, and includes the name of the last patriarch as : he Jewed me.  Jews will not replace us?

The Onkelos translation of eikev is chalaf, in exchange .  This is a contract. Keep the mitzvoth and the reap the benefits of the covenant. Sometimes  a person has to hang on to the covenent by its last vestige, by its heel. The lowly, abused, heel is the pivot, the point that determines direction.

Watch your step!

Ve'ethchanan: Recruitment

Ve'ethchanan: Recruitment

In this parsha, Moshe tries to persuade the Israelites to keep the commandments, edicts and laws that Gd has delivered.  The reward will include a long, stable life in the land they are about to enter.  Note that Moshe will not enter that land because of his violation ( which remain less than explicit).  The chapter is introduced by the immutability of Gd's decision.  We realize that even Moshe did not fulfill the Divine will perfectly enough to win his appeal. Enter the battle hopeless. 

Moshe exhorts the people to recognize the unity and the power of their Gd. The phrase J is E means that J, the Gd of the Hebrews is the embodiment of all the concepts of power , el (as in Kal-el [the Kryptonite name for Superman]).  The monotheistic idea simplifies the universe. 

Maybe monotheism is an example of the broader mono, oneness idea.  The idea that all concepts should (  or can) be reduced to a single  core idea.  One law for all in justice gives us the value of equality.  One law for all in science  gives us universal gravitation, relativity and (perhaps someday) the unified field theory.  The one Gd means that the rules won't change, there  can be no outside alliance. 

Is Gd's special relationship with the Israelites a challenge to Gd's unity?  From the inside, it can be brushed away by the inscrutability of Almighty.  We cannot fathom how Gd orders the world.  But I grew up in America,  where equality should extend to all people.  Here the special  relationship is hidden under the clothes and emerges from the secret meta-value of oneness. 

The special relationship also serves a political purpose - to limit the scope of the national goals.  The Jews are told not to catholic (universal).  They are told to settle in an assigned area, the permit for conquest is limited.  Jews do not proselytize, they exclude.  Jews are born into this relationship with the One Gd and the concepts surrounding.  The Jew can accept ( as the parsha encourages) or reject (the implication that necessitates the parsha) some spectrum of this worldview , and the laws and edicts that come with it.  The package comes with benefits... and costs. 

Dvarim: The Mistake

This parsha is always read under the pall of Tisha Ba'av.  We begin the testament of Moshe as we recall  the severity of Gd's wrath, bemoan the banishment, question the severity of the justice, and regret our national errors.  In the parsha, Moshe emphasizes a prototype of national error: the sin of the scouts ( miraglim). 

I am surprised that the golden calf is not (directly) mentioned.  Rather, it seem that it is the sin of heeding the spies, by itself,  that leads to the 40 year journey to nowhere.  The nation's support for a defeatist approach means that (almost) no one will achieve his destiny.

Punishment is almost always perceived as unfair by the victim.  " NOT FAIR" is always the first protestation of the disciplined child.  It is quite impossible to mete out an exact corrective for a wrong.  We recognize that Hamurabi's code is unfair in practice. There can never be true equality of opportunity,  the punishment never fits the crime.

It feels right to consider the actions that brought us to this place at this time of year.  The days are getting shorter, harder weather is on the distant horizon, the annual days of judgement are anticipated. Will our lives improve? Are more trials ahead? Will I achieve my destiny? Will I wander forever? Have I repeated the treacheries of my ancestors? How long will their extraordinary punishment protect me from the consequences of my errors?

The transgression  that cost Moshe and his generation so much is not simple. Even Moshe agreed to the idea of sending scouts to help plan the approach to the promised land.  The enterprise of conquest was to be a joint effort: Gd would help, not do everything. Miracles would be replaced by a charmed, more normal life.  The people did not understand courage, they could not balance their perception of reality with their faith that the outcome was promised by a greater authority with a clearer perception. This led to a combination of doubt, debility and loss of discipline.

 The  3  body problem of  fusing what we see with what we believe  and what we understand has no closed-form solution, just successive approximations

Matoth-Masei: Capital in the 23 century ( Hebrew calendar)

Matoth-Masei: Capital in the 23 century ( Hebrew calendar)

Karl Marx wrote DasKapital (1867), a book that shaped economic thinking for more than the century that followed; a book that continues as fundamental to an understanding of the organization of the world after the industrial revolution. Capital in the 21st Century was published in 2013 by Thomas Piketty.  The durability  of this book, which emphasizes the recent growth of  wealth inequalities and advocates a wealth tax that crosses national borders, remains to be determined; but its influence on the current Democratic party is obvious.  The end of Bamidbar, the double parsha this week, deals with the distribution of  wealth in Biblical times, the distribution ordained by Gd and Moshe. 

The parsha begins with a principle:  לֹ֥א יַחֵ֖ל דְּבָר֑וֹ כְּכָל־הַיֹּצֵ֥א מִפִּ֖יו יַעֲשֶֽׂה׃    he shall not break his pledge; he must carry out all that has crossed his lips. a person must keep his word.  This is the basis for all agreements.  The Torah involves Gd in this process as the penalizer of  the violator, the enforcer of the agreement.  Without reliance on  the fulfillment of oath,  there can be no planning, no organization for the future, no industry, no society. 

The remainder of the first  parsha (of the two), Matoth, deals with the disposition of the gains of conquest. The war against the Midianites yields a great treasure.  Who should own it? Those 12,000 warriors (1000 from each tribe) who risk their lives and did the actual battle? The nation as a whole, which felt compelled to prosecute the war and drafted the soldiers? The formula was a 50-50 split between the two with a 0.2% tax on the soldiers and a 2% tax on the nation. An early example of wealth redistribution. 

The parsha then deals with the Emorite lands, territory outside the borders of the Promised Land, much of it conquered under the leadership of Moshe and some liberated by elements of the tribe of Menashe (  the firstborn  of Joseph [to whom Jacob assigned the double portion], the relatives of the daughters of Zelophchod).  This is extra land...and the tribes of Reuben (the firstborn, who should have received a double portion ) and Gad (first son of Zilpah, handmaiden of Rachel [Jacob's chosen wife]) want it! What a deal! This extra land can satisfy these tribes with special ( if ambiguous) claims and leave 21% more land for the remaining 9 1/2 tribes. But the  weakening and disheartening effect of peeling off these tribes must be contravened.  Hence the  paradigm of contracts, the oath with consequences.  Reuben and Gad get this land if ,and only if , they join in the conquest of the Promised Land.  Agreed!

Masei, the second parsha, deals with the distribution of the Promised Land.  It lays down a principle: הִתְנַחַלְתֶּם֩ אֶת־הָאָ֨רֶץ בְּגוֹרָ֜ל לְמִשְׁפְּחֹֽתֵיכֶ֗ם לָרַ֞ב תַּרְבּ֤וּ אֶת־נַחֲלָתוֹ֙ וְלַמְעַט֙ תַּמְעִ֣יט אֶת־נַחֲלָת֔וֹ אֶל֩ אֲשֶׁר־יֵ֨צֵא ל֥וֹ שָׁ֛מָּה הַגּוֹרָ֖ל ל֣וֹ יִהְיֶ֑ה לְמַטּ֥וֹת אֲבֹתֵיכֶ֖ם תִּתְנֶחָֽלוּ׃

You shall apportion the land among yourselves by lot, clan by clan: with larger groups increase the share, with smaller groups reduce the share. Wherever the lot falls for anyone, that shall be his. You shall have your portions according to your ancestral tribes. Each individual will receive an equivalent portion. Democracy in action

 The parsha ends with the complaint of Zelophchod's brothers about the decision to grant inheritance rights to women. They argue marriages with other tribes will lead to the reassignment of their  Menashe lands ( some of which they independently conquered) to other tribes.  It is possible that these men wanted the decision to allow women to inherit reversed ( which could have transferred the property  to them).  Instead a compromise is formulated, and the heroic daughters of Zelphchod are permitted to marry whomever they please... within their father's tribe.  They agree. Women's inheritance rights are preserved. 

Today is the first of Av.  The tradition is to avoid contracts until after the 10th of the month.  The 15th of Av was the day that the restriction on marriage outside the tribe was lifted by the Rabbis ( Bava Bathra 120a).  Not all rules are forever.