Titzaveh: alternate reality

 

What is a reality? I propose that it is a set imbued with validity. That sounds very mathematical and it is, but since it conveys (at least to me) what I want to say… it is a reality ( to me).  Since it is a mathematical statement, to many people, it is an alternative reality, a possible truth that is outside the realm of the familiar and thus suspect.  Maybe the statement is not true, and thus, by the definition itself, not a reality  -since it has not been granted validity.

This attempt at a definition of reality places mathematics (and language) in a metaphysical realm, outside of the concepts that are or need validation.  A statement of implication can have meaning, or at least feel like it has meaning, without necessarily being correct or incorrect.  I live comfortably in this netherworld of uncertainty, not entirely sure of what is real. I can do it by accepting conventions well enough that I appear sane (which is itself a convention).  I allow the possibility, perhaps the high probability, that how I see the world is not exactly correct; but rarely admit it.

The Temple service, to me, is a set of rules.  In my lifetime, in the past 1900 years, they have not been performed. I am not sure that I would enjoy their performance. Resurrecting the service would have tremendous political consequences. People could die as a result of the attempt.  And, formulaically, I pray for the restoration of these rituals several times every day. They are a foundation of the Judaism I subscribe to. Is this acceptance overpowering reason? Or is it one set of conventions battling with another and neither of them are fully validated? I actually think that it is the latter. My (strongly held?) values merely have the advantage of environmental validation.

The easy, and thus sanctioned (note the reference to the sacred inherent in the word), view of the temple service is that it was something people did in those ancient times; an obsolete, primitive rite to appease a power that could not be understood; but was demanding and needed to be bought off with death, blood and fire. Now we have electricity and radio waves; powers that can be manipulated in marvelous ways.  Somebody understands these things. We pay our bills: enough understanding, no need for a powerful Gd and rituals. The convenience and pleasures that have come from the control of electrons has removed the need to understand the world. Tik tok is reality – and you know it is not. The temple service, as a set of instructions, is not invalidated by modernity, it is supplanted by more practical considerations. Therefore, I do not reject it.

Every silent devotional prayer ( shemoneh esray) contains statements of longing for the restoration of this temple service. To the zealous, this resumption is an acquired, overwhelming longing. The rabbis told us to want the rites restored, so we want to see that happen with all our hearts. (In my modern mind, I think those rabbis meant rights more than rites). Experiments in social media strongly suggest that humans can ( and are) instructed in what to desire. It is reasonable to mistrust the ambient culture (controlled by the Pharaohs of the age) in their guidance of desire.  An alternative makes that possible, even if that road is not taken.

 

I can conceive of the temple service as an art. In a museum, shrine to nationalism and pluralism, art is presented as a collection of alternative visions of reality.  The relics of the ancients, the vestiges of lost civilizations, modern and contemporary alternate world views, are presented to expand the viewers perspectives.  The temple service is a product of the people with whom I identify and is a valid study on that basis. Having this set of instructions detailed in the Torah and expanded in one sixth of canon rabbinic literature ( seder Kodshim) is a level of detail and ambiguity that far exceeds the robes painted by Rembrandt.  Comfort with the temple service  is blocked by the invalidating scientific competition. I keep that idea before me as much as I can.  Having the alternative of the ritual, even if I understand it as poorly as quantum physics, is useful. It reminds me of how little I understand.  I can be respectful, or I can belittle, these arts that are remote.  I choose interest.