Noach: The Origin of Nations

Noach: The Origin of Nations 

The major theme of  parshath Noach is escape. The parsha  ends with an escape. Terach and his family leave Ur Kasdim,  and go toward Canaan. Before this exodus, Haran,  Terach's third son, the father of Lot dies 

וַיָּ֣מׇת הָרָ֔ן עַל־פְּנֵ֖י תֶּ֣רַח אָבִ֑יו בְּאֶ֥רֶץ מוֹלַדְתּ֖וֹ בְּא֥וּר כַּשְׂדִּֽים׃

Haran died "in the face" of Terach, his father...We  already know that Terach is the father of Haran.  Mentioning it again must have some independent significance. Rashi says that the simple meaning is that Haran died  in the lifetime if his father. Rashi then quotes the midrash which says that Haran died because his father.  

Terah accused his son Abram before Nimrod of having smashed his idols to pieces, and he cast him into a fiery furnace. Haran waited and said to himself, “If Abram proves triumphant I will be on his side; if Nimrod wins I shall be on his”. When Abram was saved they said to Haran, “Whose side are you on?” Haran replied, “I am on Abram’s side”. They therefore cast him into the fiery furnace and he was burnt to death. It is to this that the name of the place Ur-Kasdim (fire of the Chaldees) alludes (Genesis Rabbah 38:13).

Haran died in Ur Kasdim and we are told that this was his birthplace. Ur Kasdim is also the place that Terach leaves with his remaining family.

יִּקַּ֨ח תֶּ֜רַח אֶת־אַבְרָ֣ם בְּנ֗וֹ וְאֶת־ל֤וֹט בֶּן־הָרָן֙ בֶּן־בְּנ֔וֹ וְאֵת֙ שָׂרַ֣י כַּלָּת֔וֹ אֵ֖שֶׁת אַבְרָ֣ם בְּנ֑וֹ וַיֵּצְא֨וּ אִתָּ֜ם מֵא֣וּר כַּשְׂדִּ֗ים לָלֶ֙כֶת֙ אַ֣רְצָה כְּנַ֔עַן וַיָּבֹ֥אוּ עַד־חָרָ֖ן וַיֵּ֥שְׁבוּ שָֽׁם׃

Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot the son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, the wife of his son Abram, and they set out together from Ur of the Chaldeans for the land of Canaan; but when they had come as far as Haran, they settled there.

Terach felt the need to leave Ur kasdim and he needed to take Abraham with him. The family of Nahor,   Rebecca's grandfather, not mentioned here, also left Ur Kasdim and went to Aram. Ur Kasdim was dangerous, The government  ( or lack of order) there had resulted in the death of Haran. 

Thus, the early ancestor of the Jews are portrayed as stateless. People who had to leave their birthplace because they were not protected there.  The need to leave was so great, they had to go to new places as immigrants, where their rights would certainly be fewer and more laxly enforced. This aspect of the Jewish experience starts before Abraham... and continues. 

 The parsha also begins with an escape. Noach and his family escape the situation that doomed all other people. They become the progenitor of the new humanity, the authors of all future history.  They were the sole human survivors of the flood that destroyed all the beings that breathe  - unless they were on the ark.  

Noach was the author of technology.  Rashi  says that Noach invented the plow. He had the technical expertise to build a a giant waterproof ark with facilities that maintained the living seeds of animal life  for a year. On leaving the ark, Noah plants a vineyard. 

וַיָּ֥חֶל נֹ֖חַ אִ֣ישׁ הָֽאֲדָמָ֑ה וַיִּטַּ֖ע כָּֽרֶם׃

Vayichal Noah, the man of the earth; and he planted a vineyard.

The introductory word: Vayichal  seems superfluous and it is ambiguous. It could mean that Noah "was the first" ( ibn Ezra)  but Rashi says

ויחל. עָשָׂה עַצְמוֹ חֻלִּין,  (ב"ר):

He made himself profane, ordinary. 

A  fundamental meaning of the root chal means  something that just happens by itself. That is the nature of fermentation, the process that adds alcohol, the intoxicant to fruit of the vine.  It is a change,  an improvement, that just happens if you just wait. This is the origin of the technology that gives us bread and wine.  Another triumph for Noah.  Another mixed blessing. 

The tower of Babel depended on a new technology: the brick.  When they came to the valley of Shinar, the idea came to them: 

וַיֹּאמְר֞וּ אִ֣ישׁ אֶל־רֵעֵ֗הוּ הָ֚בָה נִלְבְּנָ֣ה לְבֵנִ֔ים וְנִשְׂרְפָ֖ה לִשְׂרֵפָ֑ה וַתְּהִ֨י לָהֶ֤ם הַלְּבֵנָה֙ לְאָ֔בֶן וְהַ֣חֵמָ֔ר הָיָ֥ה לָהֶ֖ם לַחֹֽמֶר׃ 

They said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and burn them hard.”—Brick served them as stone, and bitumen served them as mortar.—

This tower, the product of a united humanity, was not in keeping with the Divine plan. Its construction was blocked by the evolution of distinct languages.  

I have 2 and 3 year old grandchildren.  I marvel at the feat of language acquisition.  I recognize the early acceptance of only the familiar language and the intense rejection of the foreign.  This is clearly an instinctual process that aids in group identification and distinction. Your birthplace is imprinted on your accent. 

This interplay of language, technology, nationhood plays out over the ensuing millennia.  And the Jew remembers her status....He is an outsider; in the best case... survivor 

 Bereshith: Why

What is the purpose of this story? Every writing is created to influence the reader. Where is this Genesis story taking us?

First, it tells us that there is a beginning.  It is an affront to the service of Chronos, the totem of time. Scientific Orthodoxy sanctifies time as the basis for the variety and order seen in the world. Given enough time...everything comes into, and passes out of, existence.  Time allows evolution: biological, geological, cosmological.  Our limited lifespan and memory make the scale of time unimaginable, thus anything is possible, everything will happen. Bereshith does battle with this concept. Existence begins at some moment. Scientific dogma eventually comes around to this idea ( presaged by Aristotle, and hence, Maimonides), borrowing the plosive, calling it the Big Bang. During the Chinese Cultural Revolution, belief in the Big Bang was a punishable offence. The acceptance of the Big Bang is a tribute to scientific integrity [note the One in integrity]

 Every strory starts in the middle. Yes, Bereshith means in the Beginning, but it is only the beginning for the reader; the origins of the Creator and the motivations are outside the explorable area. The  first letter , בְּ , is a bracket. Anything that happened before is off limits. 

 The parsha's story of creation invokes the Creator. This is the simplest explanation, the prime mover unmoved. Soon we are informed that Creator cares about the outcomes. Light is good, life is good. The Creator cares most about the humans. The transgression of the Human brings a curse on the Earth. 

 אֲרוּרָ֤ה הָֽאֲדָמָה֙ בַּֽעֲבוּרֶ֔ךָ

cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;

As the parsha ends, Gd will destroy all non-aquatic life because of Human error: 

וַיֹּ֣אמֶר יְ  אֶמְחֶ֨ה אֶת־הָאָדָ֤ם אֲשֶׁר־בָּרָ֙אתִי֙ מֵעַל֙ פְּנֵ֣י הָֽאֲדָמָ֔ה מֵֽאָדָם֙ עַד־בְּהֵמָ֔ה עַד־רֶ֖מֶשׂ וְעַד־ע֣וֹף הַשָּׁמָ֑יִם כִּ֥י נִחַ֖מְתִּי כִּ֥י עֲשִׂיתִֽם׃

And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth: both man, and beast, and creeping things, and the birds of the air; for I repent that I have made them.

Human centrality in this story is emphasized in the  early events in chapter 2.  Humanity was the purpose in this creation story

 וְאָדָ֣ם אַ֔יִן לַֽעֲבֹ֖ד אֶת־הָֽאֲדָמָֽה

And no plant of the field was yet in the earth, and no herb of the field had yet grown: for the Lrd Gd had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground.

The story of the Tree of Knowledge, the first human blunder is central. The decision to ingest this mind altering drug , despite the warning that it is a lethal poison, determines the trajectory of humanity and ( according to the story) the world  that was created for it. 

The first human death, Abel at the hand of Cain, may have been caused by the judgmental facility introduced into the human epigenome by ingestion of the fruit.  Perhaps, absent this new, acquired, human propensity to judge, the competition and self loathing that led to the murder would not have occurred. Thus, Gd's warning that eating of the fruit brought death was a true prophecy; it caused a murder. And the manslaughter begot retribution and more homocide.  Welcome to the world as we have it.

Does an understanding of the dangers of opinion help us navigate our lives?   Perhaps it can. Knowing it is there, that we are all intoxicated by our opinions and will be envenomated by their consequences opens the possibility of question. The alternative is stated. 

לַפֶּ֖תַח חַטָּ֣את רֹבֵ֑ץ וְאֵלֶ֙יךָ֙ תְּשׁ֣וּקָת֔וֹ וְאַתָּ֖ה תִּמְשׇׁל־בּֽוֹ׃

 sin crouches at the door, and to thee shall be his desire. Yet thou mayst rule over him.

Vzoth HaBracha - Sukoth: vunerability

Such a confusing Shabbath! The Torah is ending, about to begin again.  This could have been the Shabbath of Vizoth Habracha, the last chapter of the Torah. That chapter  has no Shabbath, the end of the torah is tied to the beginning in the holiday - Shmini Atzereth/Simchath Torah- that follows. Ending the Torah is submerged into celebration. It is a wake for the five books. 

The last parsha is a deathbed scene.  Moses recalls his role as the transmitter of Gd's law.  He then addresses the tribes ( except for Simon) poetically and enigmatically. He ascends the mountain and is euthanized. I can feel the urge to quickly mumble past this part and get on with the story, from the beginning, again. This parsha speaks of  the mortality of Moses and the vulnerability of the people he led. The blessings of victory and wealth emphasize the fragility.  What is hoped for can be taken away... or may never materialize. 

Although we do not read  this parhsa on Sukoth, it hangs over the Shabbath that is included in the holiday. It is appropriate. Sukkoth is clearly about vulnerability. We move into a hastily built hut with an insecure roof for the week.  We do a little urban camping/glamping. We feel a shadow of life in the tents in the parkland that abuts the highway. 

How does this Sukoth experience affect us? Do we allow it to impact on how we feel about the tent people? Does it generate sympathy or does it emphasize the separation and distinction; does it add to their otherness? 

The Shulcha Aruch, the code of Jewish Law rarely delves into the reason for the prescribed actions. For Sukoth, it makes an exception

בסוכות תשבו שבעת ימים וגו' כי בסוכות הושבתי את בני ישראל הם ענני כבוד שהקיפם בהם לבל יכם שרב ושמש

On Succot we shall dwell for 7 days etc. Because on Succot I protected the children of Israel. These refer to the clouds of glory who protected them from all the intense heat and the sun of the desert.

Atmospheric conditions, which had been the province of the Divine alone, needed appreciation as a protective intervention. Perhaps it is a warning for the present.

The message of tolerating hardship for a future promise is in here. Implicit is the degradation that develops when that future is delayed or when the dream dissolves.

When I was in Poland, I saw kind of house my parents would have lived in. It was not a kosher succah, but the protection it offered was not much better than a bamboo roof. I saw the foliage covered pit that my parents hid in. There may have been  Jewish legalistic questions about the dimensions, but it was a quintessential succah.  Just enough protection to survive ( with considerable discomfort). 

I would like Sukoth to be a stimulus to  empathy for homeless.  My feelings are strongest and most honest  when they come through experiences close to me, like those of my parents. 

We are vulnerable. We survive by helping each other. 

Ha'azinu: Reality

הַאֲזִ֥ינוּ הַשָּׁמַ֖יִם וַאֲדַבֵּ֑רָה         וְתִשְׁמַ֥ע הָאָ֖רֶץ אִמְרֵי־פִֽי׃ 

Give ear, O heavens, let me speak;

Let the earth hear the words I utter!

Presumably, this is the song that Israel will keep as its legacy. 

Moses addresses Heaven and Earth, the fist creations, the universe in which, and from which, all that we understand was formed.  Echoing back to the first words of the Torah reminds that this limited physical universe is the creation of a greater force.

The song goes on to tell of the   advantages that accrue to the keepers of the covenant and the destruction that results from its violation. A great power  can terraform  or remove the forces that make the land habitable; a force can  favor a nation or its enemy. Recognition  of Gd's intervention, belief in  the outside nature of this entity, is required for Divine favor.  This lack of recognition brings about the downfall of the victorious enemy and the redemption of downtrodden Israel. Gd's power will be manifest: ultimately on the side of those who recognize their own limitation and the true source of  victory. 

The puny human creature is tossed by the invisible wind, survives from meal to meal, makes some scratches on paper and decays. Our greatest power is to destroy: the earth and each other.  Recognizing a far greater, extra-human  source, beyond our conception of nature, can be  a step toward limiting the carnage. It can also be the basis of war.

Gd and the universe have a common property: mystery. Neither can be understood. Making Gd the word for the powerful secrets of nature is an underestimation. The song attributes intention to the Master of the Universe.  This is the hard part. The meager extent of our perceptions, the unwillingness to accept a construct that violates our goals  -and may exist outside the rules as we see them - are formidable barriers. 

The world we experience is a fantasy. We need to simplify the momentum from  a myriad of impulses from within  and without occurring every femtosecond into a coherence that allows us to breathe and feed and, occasionally laugh. Recognizing ( or imagining) Gd is convenient, but fraught.  Accepting the Gd of the Torah, the Gd of the song, recreates a universe.