Lech Lecha: the mission

Lech Lecha: the mission

Avram is the model for those that accomplish great feats. The parasha relates how Avram  overcomes a series of apparently insurmountable challenges to answer Gd's call.

Avram and Sarai leave their home and family.  They come to a land of famine.  The famine is so severe that they must go to Egypt where husbands are killed so that their wives can be trafficked. Sarah is indeed taken for the Pharaoh himself. After Avram has demeaned himself and relied on Sarah's courage, Gd intervenes and smites the royal house with a plague that, somehow, reveals the true relationship between Avram and Sarai: husband and wife.  The Pharaoh compensates Avram and his nephew, Lot, with riches and expels them from Egypt.  Presumably the riches allow them to survive the lack of food in Canaan (perhaps the famine got better). 

Avram and Lot come into conflict because of their wealth, and Lot moves to the Sodom valley. The kingdoms to the East war with Sodom and its allies and take Lot captive. Avram joins the battle to rescue his nephew, and wins the day.  He refuses any profit from this victory. 

Gd promises Avran an heir.  Sarai gives Avran her maidservant so that an heir may be born.  Sarai is not happy with the social consequences of the resulting pregnancy.  She drives Hagar off.  Hagar sees an angel and is convinced to return. Ishmael is born. 

Avram is instructed in circumcision, and proceeds to perform this unusual act on himself an all the male members of his household. 

The first blessing of the amidah, the daily devotional prayer, ends: מֶֽלֶךְ עוֹזֵר וּמוֹשִֽׁיעַ וּמָגֵן: בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה...  מָגֵן אַבְרָהָם:  King, Helper, and Deliverer and Shield.. Blessed are You, ... Shield of Abraham.. 

I have come to wonder: If Gd is the Deliverer, why do I need a Helper?  Why do I need the struggle when I should be confident that I will be rescued?  I can understand the need for a shield after the salvation, but I don't need assistance in the struggle... just (miraculously) save me!

Of course that is not the way world works. As ("Aunt") Chana, ILGWU ( the International Ladies Garment Workers [a very left leaning {communist}union]   member and Freiheit ( The Communist Yiddish Newspaper)  reader  said: "You will find everything in the struggle."

Avram is Divinely instructed.  He is given a mission.  We see how he deals with the mission.  Gd sent  Avram to a famished land. He must leave.  Egypt, the land of plenty is a plutocracy, where the wealthy  legislate to their benefit; where women are at the disposal of the wealthiest. Avram and Sarai are confronted with this system and try to survive it.   This involves a terrible compromise.  It is done as the practical  human solution.  The Divine intervenes ( with the revelatory plague) only after the human decisions are made.  And the mission goes forward. 

Canaan is a battleground. Avram decides to risk everything to rescue Lot.  Gd did not instruct it and heaven's hand in the victory is not apparent.  Avram must make a  difficult decision. 

Gd promises Avram an heir. Sarai takes action and gives Hagar to Avram.  Hagar does not accept the role of surrogate; she mothers Ishmael. Avram recognizes that Ishmael is unsuitable.  Gd instructs Avram in circumcision and  leaves Avram with a promise... that he laughs at. 

Avram's mission was to be Abraham.  He was to be the model for those who remain dedicated to the goal and overcome formidable, almost impossible, obstacles to achieve the goal. He is the prototype of a life of achievement and the achievement of a model life.  Avram  found everything in the struggle.  

 

Noach: child rearing

Gd brought the flood.  Gd's anger at human behavior was inevitable; it  probably devolved from the distortion of  vision that was a consequence of the ingestion of knowledge fruit.  People had opinions and developed schemes.  They oppressed each other. The inevitability of  a reboot is expressed in the words of E to Noah: קֵ֤ץ כָּל־בָּשָׂר֙ בָּ֣א לְפָנַ֔י,   ...the end of all flesh has come before me. 

The Gd chose Noah to lead the greatest industrial effort in history: the rescue of all the animate land creatures and birds. An ark would be built, and the seeds for repopulting the land would be saved. Righteous Noah was chosen to do the project.  His flawless rectitude is the reason given in the proximate verse; but he had been raised as a savior by his father Lemech who declares about the young ( perhaps newborn) Noah: And he named him Noah, saying, “This one will provide us relief from our work and from the toil of our hands.   Noah was reared to be an engineer. Convenient !

For his effort, Noah is rewarded; he beccomes the savior of the species. The animate world is  the posession of Noah and his offspring.  Now humans are permitted meat, the flesh of the animals that they rescued. How will the humans now relate to each other? The law will now ingest the violence: שֹׁפֵךְ֙ דַּ֣ם הָֽאָדָ֔ם בָּֽאָדָ֖ם דָּמ֣וֹ יִשָּׁפֵ֑ךְ Whoever sheds the blood of man, By man shall his blood be shed; 

The  origin story of another social invention, slavery, is also in our parsha.  Noah plants a vinyard and is de-inhibited by wine drunkneness.  He reveals himself. Ham, the father of Canaan sees his father's nakedness.    Canaan, Ham's son, is cursed with enslavement, his descendants are to be the slaves of slaves. 

This story has justified the crime of slavery  for thousands of years. Noah, by virtue of rescuing the seed of Ham, as well as all humanity, has dominion over them and he can  allocate thier portions. He decides to create the position of slave ( to slaves) and relegtates it to  Canaan because he violated his grandfather's privacy (when his grandfather was a bit careless about it.). 

As the story of Israel and the Pormised Land unfolds, it becomes clear thta there is motivation for degrading Canaan.  Canaan's alottment of land will be seized, its peoples replaced, their validity needs to be negated. The name Canaan is a denegration.  It means a peddler ( וַ֝חֲג֗וֹר נָתְנָ֥ה לַֽכְּנַעֲנִֽי׃, she gives a sash to the peddler), but the core of the word is עֲנִֽ, downtrodden.  Canaan was raised to feel inferior and victimized.

When Israel was in Egypt's land, to escape the famine in the land of Canaan, the act of rescue could  have been seen as a justification for the enslavaement of the Hebrews.   Had not Father Noah established this principle of  bondage for diverance? ( Consider employer bestowed health care)

Why does the violation of privacy deserve such harsh punishmment? The secrets that make an indivual unique are powerful and presious. Guarding and respeccting these mysteries is a great, righteous virtue  of  (some) societies.  Where these privacies are not protected, everyone is a slave (to the State). 

The Rosh Hashana liturgy contains a short prayer that follows each blowing of the shofar  in the repitition of the Amidah: 

הַיּוֹם הֲרַת עוֹלָם. הַיּוֹם יַעֲמִיד בַּמִּשְׁפָּט כָּל יְצוּרֵי עוֹלָמִים. אִם כְּבָנִים. אִם כַּעֲבָדִים. אִם כְּבָנִים רַחֲמֵֽנוּ כְּרַחֵם אָב עַל בָּנִים. וְאִם כַּעֲבָדִים עֵינֵֽינוּ לְךָ תְלוּיוֹת. עַד שֶׁתְּחָנֵּֽנוּ וְתוֹצִיא כָאוֹר מִשְׁפָּטֵֽנוּ אָיּוֹם קָדוֹשׁ:

On this day, the world came into being; On this day, Gd stands in judgment— all the creatures of the worlds— whether as children, or as servants; if as children, have compassion on us as a father has compassion on his children! If as servants, our eyes are fixed on You until You favor us, and bring forth our judgment as the light, Revered and Holy One!

The relationship is ambiguous : child - with the expectation of mercy; or slave - with the demand of obedience , even in the face of the odious. 

In the coda to the parsha, Terach begins the journey toward Canaan. The text makes his relationship to his offspring very clear:  וַיִּקַּ֨ח תֶּ֜רַח אֶת־אַבְרָ֣ם בְּנ֗וֹ וְאֶת־ל֤וֹט בֶּן־הָרָן֙ בֶּן־בְּנ֔וֹ וְאֵת֙ שָׂרַ֣י כַּלָּת֔וֹ אֵ֖שֶׁת אַבְרָ֣ם בְּנ֑וֹ  Terah took his son Abram, his son's son Lot the son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, the wife of his son Abram, and they set out together.  The word son is repeated 5 times in this sentence.  The relationships are clear; there is no slavery here.  These are people brought up to beieve they are loved.  Thus does Terah  merit mention in the Passover Hagadah, the retelling of our founding story :  תֶּרַח אֲבִי אַבְרָהָם וַאֲבִי נָחוֹר Terah, the father of Abraham, and the father of Nahor;

May our descendants be righteous and loved, hence free. 

Bereshith: the word

בְּרֵאשִׁ֖ית: The first word of the Torah contains a great deal with in it.  

It contains the second word: בָּרָ֣א.  The first three letters are repeated. בָּרָ֣א, Standing alone is  translated as created.  This pattern of repeating the letters of the first word is also in Psalms. Psalms begins: אַ֥שְֽׁרֵי־הָאִ֗ישׁ. The first word contains the second ( except for the definite article: 'the').  Notice that the letters of  ashrei are all contained in  bereshith.

Thus the word ish אִ֗ישׁ , often translated as "man" is unpacked.  An ish is sometimes a man and sometimes an angel.  When it is a man, it implies a hero ( Latin vir), as opposed to an ordinary man (homo).  The aleph and reish that turn ish into ashrei are components of ohr  אֽוֹר: light, the first definitive creation.  The creator call the light yom י֔וֹם, a word that borrows two letters from the ineffible name of Gd.  Perhaps yom is a daily, repeated  ( the mem in the end makes it pluraloid) manifestation of Gd. 

The first letter, ב contains within it the raish ר, the yod י (on the tip)  and the taw ת  (turn it on its side)  which spell  בְּרֵית brith: covenant.   Since the  ת taw and the ב beith  have similar components, it is as if the covenental nature of creation is repeated at the end of the word.   The creation is part of a covenant.  The world is created on the condition that it will be cared for. The creator, who constructed a habitable  world  and our very existence, deserves obediences. 

When you remove brith בְּרֵית from the word, you are left with אשִׁ֖ aish, fire, the symbol of human mastery  over nature (cf Propmetheus -> pro  me  [vs] theos). Fire, the enemy of life giving water (see Hoshana Rabba liturgy [לְמַֽעַן אֵיתָֽן ﬣַנִּזְרָֽק בְּלַֽהַב אֵֽשׁ׃]), is the only one of the the four element ( earth, air, fire and water) that is not explicitly mentioned  in the second verse describing the nascent world. The earth being unformed and void, with darkness over the surface of the deep and a wind from God sweeping over the water—

The word רֵאשִׁ֖ rosh, meaning head,  is prominent in the word.  The head of  an animal is the first thing to enter, but in humans the head stands over the rest of the body.  I prefer to think that the creation was done with the supervisory head rather than the exploratory head, but I think that the etymology is from the latter. 

Hebrew vowels are optional in writing, so the letters used for them can be left out. If one does that with Bereshith, the word left behind רשִׁ֖ת can be pronoununced reshet which means a network: a lattice that can catch fish or birds;  or the more modern matrix of electronic nodes.  The creation involved things and ideas that are inextricably  conneccted to one another.  It is an enclosure with holes that are  too small for escape. 

The letter for  the word  י שִׁ֖ yesh, existence, are in bereshith - how coud they not be part of the ex nihilo process that dominataed the medieval mind and re-emerged in the thinking of Stephen Hawking. 

 The individual letters carry the meaning.  The בְּ B is the most (ex)plosive of letters, the greatest change in history is announced. Existence  is declared. 

The רֵ Rrrr is the earthquake (רֵשִׁ֖ ) that follows the explosion

The א, silent aleph, is the relative quiet that follows the momentous events

The שִׁ֖ Shhh is the train of events  that have been initiated. As a prefix, שִׁ֖ means "that [which]" It is the letter that is the essence of fire, agent of change.

The י, y,the smallest letter, is the benefit derived.  It is the reminder of Gd's name, it reaasures and warns of a future (gramatically it is a letter used to connote the future tense)

ת, t, is an occlusive sound, an ending. ת is anbivalent. It is the last letter of the alphabet and it also can designate the future (tense). 

So much in the first word, the first letter, followed by so many words and so many letters...

 Hoshanoth

Today is Hoshana Raba: the great Hoshana. What is a Hoshana?

The root of the word means rescue, salvation.  There are seven " basic" verses. On each day of the Suckoth festival, one verse is selected (the order follows one of several traditions) and men march around the synagogue, making sure to pass between the ark containing the Torah the central table, carrying the 4 species ( date palm, the  fragrant  myrtle [whose other name is laurel], the  thirsty, fecund willow [whose name contains that quality so important for success],  and the fragrant, comely citron.  The congregation demonstrates the dependence on the natural forces that produce trees and fruit.

On the day of the Grand Hoshanna, all seven parade songs are recited. These lyrics are 2-5 words, in alphabetical  order , always covering the entire Hebrew alphabet,;  and after every phrase the chorus of Hoasheah Na - please save! 

In the Koren sidur( prayer book) the Hoshanas are not translated.   They are too mystical.  For the mystic, they are betrayed by translatiion, too much of their power and significance is tied to their sound and the shapes of the letters, and the positionsof the tongue and lips when they are uttered.  To the strict rationalist, these are archives to be explored with a taste for such things - just do it and get through it.

For me, Hoshanoth are an exploration of the meaning of prayer.  The first Hoshana recalls that there is an agreement between Gd and Israel and that the Divine party to this agreement has magnificent and wondrous qualities.  This is prayer as reminder  to the granter of good, not failing to mention how great that entity is. ( or can be) 

The second Hoshana is an alphabet of synonyms for the (destroyed) Temple in Jerusalem.  It is an excuse for the inadequacy of the supplication.  It is also a statement that the debt incurred by transgression has been ( partially) paid. 

The third Hoshana emphasizes how severely the Jews have been persecuted.  Those travails are considered Divine punishment.  There is a sense that the punishment was excessive - thus Heaven has incurred a debt to us which should be repaid with beneficences. 

The fourth praises the saving graces that Gd manifests. It emphasizes the capabilities and qualities of the Omnipresent, encouraging the sought salvation

The fifth Hoshana deals with the frailty of the natural world.  Living human and beast, the trees and vegetation are all interdependant and ultimatly dependant on the Dicine forces manifest as rain and sun. 

The sixth Hoshana list plagues to be avoided.  It is a recognition that the most likely outcome of the forces  of nature proceeding unchecked  is famine and disaster.  The implication is an entreaty to avoid that. 

The seventh Hoshana is a recollection of the dedication of our forbearers and their willing to serve Gd in every way, even to death.  It evolves into an exploration of fire ( the antithesis of the rain that we pray for) 

Gd Help Us. Hosheah Na

Sukoth

What a strange holiday! So many physical objects, so much symbolism! 

What do these symbolic objects do for me? The plants are a connection to the natural, biological world. The trees, whose language was known to a few brilliants(like King  Solomon) communicate to us through their branches and fruit, countenance and aromas.  Their message is the essence of the Hebrew idea of bracha, usually translated as  blessing. 

  Its final product of the tree - the fruit- is the most praiseworthy.  The palm produces dates - the sweetest fruit, a source of nourishment for humans , and the pits can be fed to beasts. The citron ( ethrog) is an ancient citrus fruit - beautiful to behold but with a very thick rind.  We, who are accustomed to thin-skinned citrus, leave the ethrog out of our diets ( for the most part).  The myrtle is fragrant and has a beautiful flower, but its fruit is acrid, not a food by itself.  The willow is not fragrant, does not produce an edible fruit.  It is a greedy tree that searches out water. The willow provides shade, a place to hide. I spent my adolescence cloaked in willow trees. 

The life of a tree is long- centuries.

As the year draws to a close, pregnant with the new year, the Torah cycle is completed with  Zoth Habracha: This is the bracha. Trees demonstrate the physical manifestation of bracha.  A bracha is when a tree branch is embedded in the earth, and another tree grows from that branch  The essence of bracha is continuity. Grandchildren are a bracha, the replanting of our generations.  All that is left to the old, passing generation are wishes for the future.  These are expressed as the bracha, the replanting of the dreams 

The succah is a rustic shelter.  Using a more effective structure violates the commandment. The frailty of the human is emphasized.  There are few circumstances (outside of a crowded city, where the land is too precious) that preclude the construction of something that passes as a succah.  This is what  homeless feels like.  This is certainly a situation  in which I prefer symbol over reality.