Ki Thavo: the myth

 

Ki Thavo: the myth

The  bulk of this parsha is a prophecy of horror; the consequence of disobedience. It predicts a series of misfortunes. The detailed description is introduced:

אֶת־הַמְּאֵרָ֤ה אֶת־הַמְּהוּמָה֙ וְאֶת־הַמִּגְעֶ֔רֶת

The curse, the confusion and the ….

הַמִּגְעֶ֔רֶת ( Hamigereth) is a unique word that appears only once in the canon text. A hapax legomenon.

Rashi translates

המארה  (hama’eyrah) means PAUCITY and המהומה   (hamihumah) A TERRIFYING SOUND.

Rashi does not translate הַמִּגְעֶ֔רֶת. (Hamigereth)

Targum translates the word: מְזוֹפִיתָא  (mizofitha): frustration, vexation.  Perhaps this is a reflexive translation, relating to the frustration of translating a word that appears only once.

In context, this ambiguity of the word begins to convey the horror. After a curse and confusion, there is something bad, probably worse coming and what it is: is unclear. Obscurity and uncertainty add to the dread. Trepidation is possibly the worst emotion I have felt. When I imagine my parents experience in the holocaust, it is the confusion and panic that frightens and saddens me most.

The climax, the penultimate verse emphasizes dread:

בַּבֹּ֤קֶר תֹּאמַר֙ מִֽי־יִתֵּ֣ן עֶ֔רֶב וּבָעֶ֥רֶב תֹּאמַ֖ר מִֽי־יִתֵּ֣ן בֹּ֑קֶר מִפַּ֤חַד לְבָֽבְךָ֙ אֲשֶׁ֣ר תִּפְחָ֔ד וּמִמַּרְאֵ֥ה עֵינֶ֖יךָ אֲשֶׁ֥ר תִּרְאֶֽה׃

In the morning you shall say, “If only it were evening!” and in the evening you shall say, “If only it were morning!”—because of what your heart shall dread and your eyes shall see.

The curse is presented as a progression. It starts with natural disasters – drought and disease  - and  progresses to defeat , exile and subjugation. The atrocities described evoke the holocaust. It is distressing that this ancient text, describing the most repulsive scenes Moshe can imagine,  does not quite equal the reality of Poland in 1942.

How did this text prepare the Jews in the Eastren European exile?  When the persecution came, did they see it as the expected fulfillment of the prophecy? Did the passage, heard (by many) innumerable  times since childhood, add a sense of familiarity to the persecution? Was there some comfort in the prediction? Did it make the nation more cooperative and thus help the evil enemy?

My Jewish consciousness is tied inexorably to the Holocaust. My parents were sole survivors of their large families and went through many/most/all the horrors described in the parsha. My personal relationship to the myth of survival from persecution is distorted, but I think that this theme is a most fundamental element of the Jewish collective mythology, the glue of the nation.

Zionism, and the founding of the state of Israel, did not remove this concept. The persecution became a motivation for the assertion of power and independence. There are many brands of Zionism, the (magical) redemption aspects vary across them – from denial to manifest. All are infused with the theme of reaction to persecution.

Perhaps the quality the unites the largest number of Jews is watchfulness. Euphemisms like anti-Zionism and antisemitism cloud the perception of the both the hater and the hated. We all have the prophecy in our hearts:

וְהָיִ֣יתָ לְשַׁמָּ֔ה לְמָשָׁ֖ל וְלִשְׁנִינָ֑ה בְּכֹל֙ הָֽעַמִּ֔ים אֲשֶׁר־יְנַהֶגְךָ֥ יְ

You shall be a consternation, a proverb, and a byword among all the peoples to which the LORD will drive you.

The chapter closes with an undoing of the opening. The chapter starts with a celebration of the miracle of the Exodus from Egypt, the liberation from slavery

וַיּוֹצִאֵ֤נוּ יְ

מִמִּצְרַ֔יִם בְּיָ֤ד חֲזָקָה֙ וּבִזְרֹ֣עַ נְטוּיָ֔ה וּבְמֹרָ֖א גָּדֹ֑ל וּבְאֹת֖וֹת וּבְמֹפְתִֽים׃

The LORD freed us from Egypt by a mighty hand, by an outstretched arm and awesome power, and by signs and portents.

 

It ends with a return to Egypt and status inferior to slavery.

וֶהֱשִֽׁיבְךָ֨ יְ

 

 מִצְרַ֘יִם֮ בׇּאֳנִיּוֹת֒ בַּדֶּ֙רֶךְ֙ אֲשֶׁ֣ר אָמַ֣רְתִּֽי לְךָ֔ לֹא־תֹסִ֥יף ע֖וֹד לִרְאֹתָ֑הּ וְהִתְמַכַּרְתֶּ֨ם שָׁ֧ם לְאֹיְבֶ֛יךָ לַעֲבָדִ֥ים וְלִשְׁפָח֖וֹת וְאֵ֥ין קֹנֶֽה׃ {ס}        

The LORD will send you back to Egypt in galleys, by a route which I told you you should not see again. There you shall offer yourselves for sale to your enemies as male and female slaves, but none will buy.

Is it an endless recursion?  The perception of victimhood is more than a self-perpetuation. Outside forces keep it going. Can we ever be good enough?