Chaye Sarah: Bashert

This Shabbath is the yahrzeit for my mother , the anniversary of her death. It is a day when I remember the reality she made for me. She gave me my life.  She was perhaps the most important influence on how I see the world. She believed in Bashert: the idea that events are fated. 

There is a Judaism that comes from books and Rabbis. (In its extreme form, it is the practice that comes from Art Scroll.)  Then there is the Judaism that comes from watching and listening to parents: The folk customs and view of how the world works.   In Mishlei it says: 

שְׁמַ֣ע בְּ֭נִי מוּסַ֣ר אָבִ֑יךָ וְאַל־תִּ֝טֹּ֗שׁ תּוֹרַ֥ת אִמֶּֽךָ׃

My son, heed the discipline of your father,

And do not forsake the instruction of your mother;

The Malbim comments: 

התורה שתלמד אותך אמך, או ר"ל תורת הכנסיה בכללה שהיא האם הכוללת, אל תטוש, כי יש לה יסוד במוסר ובדעת:

do not forsake the teaching that your mother teaches you. Or perhaps, “your mother” refers to the teaching of the community as a whole, which is the universal mother. Do not forsake it, for it has a foundation in mussar (discipline and knowledge).

 A Jewish culture evolved in shtetlach in Poland. I, as the son of Holocaust survivors,  grew up in its ashen remnants of that destroyed world. I grew up with  folk traditions like bashert.  I have  a visceral sense of bashert. Bashert is not a strong force that makes things happen. You recognize the coincidences and declare they are bashert. The fact that my mother’s yahrzeit falls on parshath Chaye Sara is bashert. 

The Sarah of the Torah  was the archetypal mother. We refer to her as Sarah Emanu, Sarah our mother. How can I not be thinking of my own mother when I read about Sarah?

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The parsha opens with the death of Sarah.  This is the anniversary of my mother’s death. That generates an eerie, but not unpleasant,  feeling. The haftarah which is about Bathsheva protecting her son, Shlomo. It is as if my mother is giving me a gentle poke from the hereafter. There is nothing more bashert than that.  

The connections between the parsha and the events that transpired after my mother’s death are haunting. 

Years before she died, my mother had bought a plot in the Eretz Hachaim cemetery in Israel. Despite the availability of that plot, when my mother died, there was some discussion in the family about the most appropriate burial site. Some  thought that burial in New Jersey, among her landsmen, people from the area around Bialistock, Poland would be more accessible..  At that time most of the family lived in the Northeast US.  They thought that  the convenience of a Northeastern American location would make it more likely for relatives to visit the grave.  I  thought a destination grave in Israel would be better. There is a parsha relationship. 

The second verse in the parsha poses some questions

וַתָּ֣מׇת שָׂרָ֗ה בְּקִרְיַ֥ת אַרְבַּ֛ע הִ֥וא חֶבְר֖וֹן בְּאֶ֣רֶץ כְּנָ֑עַן וַיָּבֹא֙ אַבְרָהָ֔ם לִסְפֹּ֥ד לְשָׂרָ֖ה וְלִבְכֹּתָֽהּ׃

Sarah died in Kiriath-arba—now Hebron—in the land of Canaan; and Abraham proceeded to mourn for Sarah and to bewail her.

Why did Abraham need to travel  (he had last been located in Be’er Sheva)? Many answers are offered, but the Toldoth Yitzchok  (quoting his brother R, Ephrain Karo) has a very appealing answer. 

According to the Toledoth Yizchak, Sarah’s residence in Hebron  had been  planned by Abraham and Sara together: 

כונת אברהם היתה מתחלה להקבר הוא ואשתו בארץ כנען,

ולפיכך כשהרגישה בעצמה אפיסת הכחות ויתרון החולשה, וידעה שלא תאריך ימים, צותה שיוליכוה לחברון למות שם... לפי שהיא בארץ כנען.

Abraham’s intention from the beginning was for him and his wife to be buried in the land of Canaan … Therefore, when she (Sarah) felt that  … she would not live much longer, she commanded [her servants] to bring her to Hebron to die… since it is in the land of Canaan.

מבאר שבע שהיא ארץ פלשתים ואינה ארץ כנען, לא קנה אברהם אחוזת קבר, שבבאר שבע אינו רוצה להקבר,

And thus “Abraham came” from Beersheba, which was in the land of the Philistines and not the land of Canaan.

This idea of a destination burial plot may have been anticipated by Abraham and Sarah. If Sarah died in Hebron, it would make it easier to bury her there, it would be more sensible.  There is always an case for burying a person near the place of death. This also explains why the verse states the obvious 

בְּקִרְיַ֥ת אַרְבַּ֛ע הִ֥וא חֶבְר֖וֹן בְּאֶ֣רֶץ כְּנָ֑עַן 

Sarah died in Kiriath-arba—which is Hebron—in the land of Canaan;

We knew that Hevron was in Canaan. The verse points out the significance. Sara was to be buried in Canaan, not in the land of the Pelishtim, not in Be’er Sheva. 

There is more…

My mother had paid for her internment in  a cemetery near  Beit Shemesh. When the time came for her to use the plot she had purchased, the undertaker offered to buy us out, pay more than we had put down for the plot. The offer of money became a consideration.

In the parsha  Abraham paid the inflated price  that  Efron the Hitite  asked  for the burial plot. Abraham was willing to overpay for the  stake in the Holy land. I learned from his example. It cost more to bury my mother in Israel.  It was worth it. 

Abraham underwent ten trials (Pirkei Avot 5:4)  Raneinu Yonah (of Gerona) lists the burial of Sarah as the tenth test. Bringing my mother to Israel was a test for me. El Al bumped us off the plane. There was a group led by a Cohen. He threatened to remove his group if there was a corpse on the plane.  Cohanim are not permitted to be in the same space  as a corpse. 

Most flights to Israel probably have Cohanim. I called Rabbi Kletenik for advice. He pointed out that the container made for transporting the corpse was constructed so that the tumah, the ritual impurity, is insulated from the surroundings and there was no problem for a Cohen to fly in a plane that transports a corpse to Israel. Misplaced zeal won over halacha  and I was bumped to a later flight on another airline.  It was an adventure.  It was a trial. 

I sat shiva for a few days in Israel. When I came back to Florida, my sisters had opened my mother’s safe deposit box.  It contained one note that said: “Bury me in Israel.”  There was no discussion about where my father would be buried.  I plan to visit them both in a couple of weeks when we go to Israel. 

During these  weeks, when we read the stories of the Patriarchs, the fundamental question is why? Why have these stories been preserved so  carefully in very expensive, constantly corrected, parchment scrolls? The phrase Maase Avoth Siman Lebanim is often invoked. It means that the actions of the ancestors are a sign for their descendants. 

The phrase Maase Avoth simon lebanim does not appear until the 17th century. The Maharsha quotes the phrase, so it must have been in use at the time, but by quoting it, there is an implication that it may have been older. 

 The concept  can be traced to the Talmud Yerushalmi  (4th century) 

אמר ר׳ יהושע דסכנין בשם ר׳ לוי: סימן מסר הקב״ה לאברהם, שכל מה שאירע לו אירע לבניו 

“Rabbi Yehoshua of Sikhnin said in the name of Rabbi Levi: The Holy One, blessed be He, transmitted a sign to Abraham: Everything that happened to him happened to his descendants.” 

This is quoted by Ramban (13th Century). But the phrase itself מעשה אבות סימן לבנים  does not appear in print until much late, . actually about the same time that bashert appears in the Yiddish literature. 

The meanings of מעשה אבות סימן לבנים  (Ma'aseh avot siman lebanim)and bashert  are somewhat fluid. We do not believe in destiny. Although it is a point of contention, Rabbi Yochanan says:  אין מזל לישראל , (Ein mazal leYisrael ) Israel is not under the influence of the constellations. We are not subject to arbitrary fate.   But we do believe in the wisdom of the ancestors and that we should learn from their examples. That is why we preserve the stories. 

  When my mother died, I saw this principle in action. Looking at the stories, looking at how our ancestors behaved taught me what to do and gave me the courage to do it.  When it was all over, I recognized that it was  bashert.  Every year, the parsha and the haftorah remind me. 

Vayerah: Parenting

 Vayerah: Parenting

A major theme in the parsha is how parents sacrifice children. Every child becomes an offering. Parents usually attempt to direct their children down a path of righteousness, and/or success. Some parents abandon their children. This is also a sacrificial rite, akin to the scapegoat ritual of Yom Kippur: the abandoned goat ( probably) dies from a fall down the rocky cliff. Parents always abandon their children and usually hope that they have imparted enough guidance so that their future generations thrive and do good.  That is a quality that Gd saw saw in Abraham: 

כִּ֣י יְדַעְתִּ֗יו לְמַ֩עַן֩ אֲשֶׁ֨ר יְצַוֶּ֜ה אֶת־בָּנָ֤יו וְאֶת־בֵּיתוֹ֙ אַחֲרָ֔יו וְשָֽׁמְרוּ֙ דֶּ֣רֶךְ יְ

לַעֲשׂ֥וֹת צְדָקָ֖ה וּמִשְׁפָּ֑ט

For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment; that the Lord may bring upon Avraham that which He has spoken of him.

The abandonments of  the parsha are its drama. 

Abraham, on Gd’s instruction, left his father. Our Jewish tradition emphasizes the importance of this break. Abraham was leaving the deceptions of idolatry for the truth of monotheism with  the universalism and morality that it implies. 

When Abraham left Haran, he brought his nephew Lot with him. Presumably Lot had some interest in Abraham’s worldview and joined the journey. In a sense, Abraham  adopted Lot. Lot’s separation from Abraham, his descent to the valley of greed and riches (Sodom) and his rescue from  capture by the four kings was told in the last chapter. Lot returned to Sodom and now Gd was contemplating destroying the area because of its evil. When Abraham pleads for the lives  of innocents among the sinful, he does not mention  his nephew. Perhaps the danger to Lot was (part of) the motivation for Abraham’s remarkable bargaining with GD, but it is not explicit.  As the story unfolds, Lot, his wife and two unmarried daughters  are uniquely saved by angelic intervention. This is a pattern in the parsha: Gd rescues at the last possible moment and the rescue comes from a path that was present but  had previously been overlooked. 

Lot had taken two  angelic strangers into his home.  The aggressive, violent people of Sodom wanted them. Lot offers his virgin daughters instead (the offer was refused by the Sodomites). He was  willing to sacrifice his daughters for the safety of the strangers. Lot’s values are perverse, they are a distortion. The sacrifice of female offspring for worldly gain was common and remnants of that practice remain. Subsequent events in that family attest to the distorted  values. 

 Ishmael is sacrificed through abandonment by all three of his parental figures. Sarah had given Hagar, her servant, to Abraham as a wife on the condition that she be the parent of the offspring, Ishamael. That seems not to have worked out.  When Sarah sees Ishamel as a competitor with Isaac ( the issue of her body) for the legacy, she demands Ishmaels’s  exile (abandonment). Abraham, Ishamael's father (on the direction of the Divine) allows the expulsion. He sends Ishmael and his mother, Hagar, into the desert with, what he believes to be, enough water to reach a well (that he has dug). But the well is gone. (Presumably the Philistine subjects of Avimelach have stolen it, as reflected in the subsequent treaty of Be’er Sheva) . When Hagar sees a terrible death by thirst looming, she separates from the boy. Divine intervention, pointing out the overlooked spring, saves Ishmael.

 Avraham is told to take this very special son, the miraculous one, the son designated by Gd to be the legacy and offer him as a Holocaust. Abraham is commanded to do an absurdity. To violate the most fundamental principles, to violate the covenant of the children of Noah. By now, Abraham sees that his understanding of the world is incomplete; he replaces understanding with faith; once more, he undoes the Tree of Daath. 

The Akeida ( binding of Isaac)  is the culmination of rescues. What is really important to Avraham: his biological future? his emotional tie to his offspring? the will of Gd? Avraham demonstrates his willingness to give all for Gd. Avraham realizes that he cannot, ever, rescue anyone. Only the Most Powerful can rescue -  and , fortunately, that is just what happens.

Now, I begin to see that my children and their children will be what they will be. I will be forced to abandon this life and they will carry on, each generation striving toward the ever-changing goals that are called The Go(o)d.

Lech Lecha: Faith and the Promised Land

Lech Lecha: Faith and the Promised Land

 Lech Lecha introduces the concept of the Promised Land. Gd tells Avram: 

לֶךְ־לְךָ֛ מֵאַרְצְךָ֥ וּמִמּֽוֹלַדְתְּךָ֖ וּמִבֵּ֣ית אָבִ֑יךָ אֶל־הָאָ֖רֶץ אֲשֶׁ֥ר אַרְאֶֽךָּ׃ 

GD said to Abram, “Go forth from your (native)land and from your father’s house to the land that I will show you.

Gd’s initial promise is:

 וְאֶֽעֶשְׂךָ֙ לְג֣וֹי גָּד֔וֹל וַאֲבָ֣רֶכְךָ֔ וַאֲגַדְּלָ֖ה שְׁמֶ֑ךָ וֶהְיֵ֖ה בְּרָכָֽה׃

 I will make of you a great nation, And I will bless you; I will make your name great, And you shall be a blessing.

Avram will become a great, blessed nation. 

The land grant occurs after the Avram has returned with cattle  wealth  from Egypt. He and his nephew Lot  are grazing their cattle. But the land cannot sustain them, causing strife between their shepherds.  

וַֽיְהִי־רִ֗יב בֵּ֚ין רֹעֵ֣י מִקְנֵֽה־אַבְרָ֔ם וּבֵ֖ין רֹעֵ֣י מִקְנֵה־ל֑וֹט וְהַֽכְּנַעֲנִי֙ וְהַפְּרִזִּ֔י אָ֖ז יֹשֵׁ֥ב בָּאָֽרֶץ׃ 

And there was quarreling between the herders of Abram’s cattle and those of Lot’s cattle.—The Canaanites and Perizzites were then dwelling in the land.—

The mention of the Canaanites and Perizzites prompts Rashi (quoting Genesis Raba)  to attribute the strife between Avram and Lot to the interpretation of Gd’s promise. Lot’s shepherds argued that the land would eventually belong to childless Avram. Lot would be the heir, Lot would inherit the land currently occupied by Canaanites and Perizzites. Therefore it is acceptable to graze on the land those people currently claim. Avram did not agree. If the land was currently the property of the Canaanites and Perizzites , using the land without permission is theft. Avram needed to separate from  a thief.

Last week, the Rabbi at the Lincoln Square  synagogue quoted this Rashi. ( The Rashi imprimatur makes this the default standard interpretation.)  He was talking about settlers in the West Bank pilfering olives from Arab orchards - an action that had been sanctioned by some Rabbis.  Rabbi Robinson was comparing the settler’s actions to those of Lot’s shepherds. The geography matches. 

There is a small textual problem with Rashi’s interpretation. It assumes that Gd had already promised the land. In the text, the first promise of land follows that episode.  The text is explicit: 

אַחֲרֵי֙ הִפָּֽרֶד־ל֣וֹט מֵֽעִמּ֔וֹ שָׂ֣א נָ֤א עֵינֶ֙יךָ֙ וּרְאֵ֔ה מִן־הַמָּק֖וֹם אֲשֶׁר־אַתָּ֣ה שָׁ֑ם צָפֹ֥נָה וָנֶ֖גְבָּה וָקֵ֥דְמָה וָיָֽמָּה׃ 

And GD said to Abram, after Lot had parted from him, “Raise your eyes and look out from where you are, to the north and south, to the east and west,  

כִּ֧י אֶת־כׇּל־הָאָ֛רֶץ אֲשֶׁר־אַתָּ֥ה רֹאֶ֖ה לְךָ֣ אֶתְּנֶ֑נָּה וּֽלְזַרְעֲךָ֖ עַד־עוֹלָֽם׃ 

for I give all the land that you see to you and your offspring forever.

Now we have a Promised Land (perhaps as a reward for separating from the thief). 

The parsha goes on to describe the geopolitics of that time and place. The Persian and  Mesopotamian kings had conquered  the land. They had ruled over the area around ( what was to become) the Dead sea for 12 years until the locals rebelled. Avram was aloof from these political struggles until Lot, the nephew from whom he had separated, was captured by the Mesopotamian forces. Avram made an alliance with some of the local tribes and rescued his nephew by overcoming the Empire’s forces.  Avram was the liberator of the land. By the custom of the times, he may have become the ruler, the heir to the land on that basis. 

The context of the story weakens that argument. The overarching  history of conquest by the Babylonians and rebellion by the locals illustrates the insecurity of occupation as a road to possession.  

After Avram’s victory over the Mesopotamian Imperialists he has a dream. In the dream, Avram expresses his concern that he has no heir to his legacy. He has been promised the land ( that he liberated) but he has no heir. Gd shows Avram (the secret of infinity by showing him) the stars in the sky and tells Avram that his offspring will be as numerous (uncountable). Avram trusts in Gd’s reassurance and GD credits Avram’s faith. It is not entirely clear whether the dream ends now or goes on.  THe next sentences are: 

וַיֹּ֖אמֶר אֵלָ֑יו אֲנִ֣י יְ

אֲשֶׁ֤ר הוֹצֵאתִ֙יךָ֙ מֵא֣וּר כַּשְׂדִּ֔ים לָ֧תֶת לְךָ֛ אֶת־הָאָ֥רֶץ הַזֹּ֖את לְרִשְׁתָּֽהּ׃ 

Then [Gd] said to him, “I am GD who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans to assign this land to you as a possession.”  

וַיֹּאמַ֑ר אֲדֹ

בַּמָּ֥ה אֵדַ֖ע כִּ֥י אִֽירָשֶֽׁנָּה׃ 

And he said, “O my Sovereign GD, how shall I know that I am to possess it?”

Avram’s faith, trust in the absence of evidence, has been his great merit. Is he now abandoning that? 

The root of the  word  אֵדַ֖ע  is is closely related to the  עֵ֕ץ הַדַּ֖עַת ט֥וֹב וָרָֽע, the Tree of Daath (knowledge?). The eating from that tree gave humanity the ability to ask such a question. I understand  the sin of Adam and Eve better from this interaction between Avram and Gd.  If you don’t have daath, you don’t have doubt.  Once you have daath,  Gd’s word is no longer enough: show me the proof! Belief can never again be pure. Pure faith, for most of us, is a dream.  For Avram doubt arises in a dream state

There is also a practical aspect to the question: בַּמָּ֥ה אֵדַ֖ע כִּ֥י אִֽירָשֶֽׁנָּה׃ how shall I know that I am to possess it?”  Possession implies convincing other people  of the right to that land. I understand the question to include the idea of evidence of possession, the deed. How will Avram convince others that the land belongs to his offspring?

  Gd’s answer is a ritual involving the hemisecction ( cutting in two) of a calf, a goat and ram and dove and pigeon that are left intact. Rituals are symbolic and the meaning is usually mysterious. I will leave interpretations of the ritual for another time or person. 

 Then: 

וְתַרְדֵּמָ֖ה נָפְלָ֣ה עַל־אַבְרָ֑ם וְהִנֵּ֥ה אֵימָ֛ה חֲשֵׁכָ֥ה גְדֹלָ֖ה נֹפֶ֥לֶת עָלָֽיו׃ 

As the sun was about to set, a deep sleep fell upon Abram, and a great dark dread descended upon him.

There is only single other תַרְדֵּמָ֖ה, (tardema) deep sleep, anesthesia experience, in the Torah.  That one involves the emergence of the woman from the side of  the single human. Tardema seems to be an anesthesia experience. 

In this תַרְדֵּמָ֖ה, this time outside reality, Gd tells Avram a prophecy of the future. That future will include 400 years of servitude. Followed by a grand  emergence of Avram’s offspring as a great nation. . 

It is these events that no one could have foreseen that prove Gd’s grant of the land to Avram.  Avram knows the sequence of events that no one else could predict. That knowledge is the deed to the land. That information, sourced through Avram, is carried by the conquering descendants and (vaguely?) remembered by the nations to be vanquished.

After the victory over the four kings, Melchizedek associated Avram  with ל עֶלְיֽוֹן, Melchizedek’s concept  of Gd. Melchizedek  had said that A elyon was קֹנֵ֖ה שָׁמַ֥יִם וָאָֽרֶץ, the owner of heaven and earth.  The prophecy demonstrated that Avram was connected to the creator of history. The transfer of possession was from the true owner  to the descendants of Avram. 

The parsha ends with Abraham’s adoption of the brith milah, circumcision. It introduces the boy into the tribe of Abraham with all of its rewards and obligations ( including honest dealings with others) This is an act of faith that involves pain, mutilation, blood, child abuse. It is an act of faith that rejects science ( as we have it as a consensus of experts). That is what makes it great. It is a bite of the tree of life, the antithesis of the Tree of Knowledge.  In the text Gd seems to like that.

Noach: the new world

Noach is so accessible that it is taught to second graders. It is so deep that it can never  be understood completely.  It is the story that introduces the mystery of gendered  reproduction, the Jewish day school equivalent of "the birds and the bees." It has the great reassurance: that Gd  will never again flood the world;  and it has the rainbow, the resolution of visible light into its component colors, as the  sign of that covenant. (GD did not promise that there would never be a holocaust.) It contains the curse of slavery and the  skyscraper of Babel: the consequences of these stories are still evolving . 

Noah contains stories that relate to survival. Every  story  is told by the survivors. 

Every audience is an audience of survivors, the descendants of survivors.  Noach (and his kin) are the sole survivors of the deluge. They will restart humanity, They will generate some combination of the old tradition and the new order.

My parents were such survivors. Their world was destroyed, all of their kindred were murdered, the culture was killed, the land of Poland evicted them. They were replanted in America and spawned children to synthesize a new way of life. Their old ways were important to them. They are important to me. I hope that my ways are important to my children.

Am I preserving the most precious parts? Are the innovations constructive? The evolution of our culture is ongoing, always confronting a changing set of challenges. The Judaism that I have is an evolved thing. What I leave behind will be a distortion of what I received, what I rejected, what I accepted. 

The  the antediluvian world destroyed itself. The text uses  a passive (Nifal)voice: נִשְׁחָתָה : it had become destroyed. The destruction had happened  because of a lack controlling action.. The absence of divine intervention, the laissez-faire approach, had led to terminal degradation. The  solution was a hard reset, control-alt-delete.

Recent warnings about artificial intelligence generate debate about the need to control this juggernaut. Artificial intelligence has the potential to heal sickness, feed the hungry, enhance justice. As it is currently constituted, AI has cliche values, the edited aggregate what what people have said. The disconnect between what people think, feel and say makes the basis of these values a half truth. Multiply this by the limitations of human knowledge and you have a mess. Add the greed vector and the more powerful AI becomes,  the greater the danger of another נִשְׁחָתָה (nishchatha), a corruption brought on by passivity.  But these words are already cliche.

The people (and animals) rescued in the ark build a new world. 

וּמֵאֵ֖לֶּה נָֽפְצָ֥ה כׇל־הָאָֽרֶץ׃

and from these the whole world branched out. 

The next verse is 

וַיָּ֥חֶל נֹ֖חַ אִ֣ישׁ הָֽאֲדָמָ֑ה וַיִּטַּ֖ע כָּֽרֶם׃ 

Noah, the tiller of the soil,  first 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.

Rashi's interpretation makes the verse read: 

Noah, the man of the earth, profaned himself and planted a vineyard

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 happens if you merely wait. This is the origin of the technology that gives us bread and wine. Another mixed blessing.

Noah and the vineyard is a partial re-enactment of eating from the Tree of Knowledge. The wine distorted Noah's perception, just as the knowledge fruit had done to Adam and Eve. Eating from the tree of knowledge led to an awareness of nakedness and the need to clothe. Noah's wine  led to his nakedness.  When he sobered he was embarrassed. Noah's analysis of the behavior of his sons led to enslaving one to the others, an approval of aristocracy and hierarchy. 

The Tower of Babel is a synthesis of technology and hierarchy. There may have been an element of mistrust in GD's promise not to bring another flood in the motivation for the Tower. Rashi quotes Bereshith Rabba  

וּדְבָרִים אֲחָדִים – אָמְרוּ אַחַת לְאֶלֶף ותרנ"ו שָׁנִים הָרָקִיעַ מִתְמוֹטֵט כְּשֵׁם שֶׁעָשָׂה בִּימֵי הַמַּבּוּל, בֹּאוּ וְנַעֲשֶׂה לוֹ סְמִיכוֹת (ב"ר):

they spoke דברים חדים “sharp” words; they said, “Once in every one thousand six hundred and fifty six years (the period that elapsed from the Creation to the Flood) there is a heaven-shaking, just as there was in the days of the Flood. Come. then, and let us make supports for it” (Genesis Rabbah 38:6).  

This  casts the Tower as the product of "science" overcoming faith. The simplest (agnostic/atheistic) explanation for the flood was as a periodic event over a long interval, like Haley's comet. 

The tower of Babel was  an attempt to guide history. It was built to keep the people together, to discourage the dispersion , to keep the current power structure in place. It was built so that all would continue to speak the same language. I find it tempting to read the theme of domination into this chapter. The tower of Babel could be seen as a watchtower, a way to make sure that no one strays from the official gaze of the government. 

The story of the Tower of Babel begins with the first mention of bricks. Bricks are the first interchangeable part, the first industrial product. In the Mandelkern  concordance, the only other use of the word is connected to the slavery in Egypt.

The production of bricks implies a division of labor. Some people produce bricks, others place them and build, perhaps others assure the proper placement. My sense is that the brick-maker was the least prestigious group. In the society of the times, making bricks might be the work of slaves. Bricks reappear when the Hebrews are enslaved by the Egyptians. There, the production of bricks is clearly the work of the subjugated. It was certainly not the work of winners.

When Gd sees the assembly line, Gd exclaims:

 הֵ֣ן עַ֤ם אֶחָד֙ וְשָׂפָ֤ה אַחַת֙ לְכֻלָּ֔ם וְזֶ֖ה הַחִלָּ֣ם לַעֲשׂ֑וֹת

 If, as one people with one language for all, this is how they have begun to act. 

We have seen this in our time as the internet has deteriorated into a tool of enslavement. The internet started as a universal language without apparent hierarchy. Now, it is an instrument for the subjugation of the people by the powerful few.

It is interesting to note that large language models (a large part of what we call AI) are language agnostic. They break words into tokens, strings of symbols and calculates the next string of symbols. It is a return to "one language"

Are the early errors recursive? Is there a force that makes every generation repeat the hubris of the past? AI does not lead to path path out of the cliche. Think out of the box, but be careful. 

 

 Bereshith: Curiosity

I remember how excited I was, as a second grader at Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin to start learning Chumash ( the five books of Moses). The first letter, ב the Beth , was large. It was clear that one began at this parenthesis shaped thing that blocked off everything before it. [Hebrew is read right to left]. At that time, I just wanted to go forward. Struggling to read the words was enough to keep me from trying to look behind the beth. 

Rabbi Yona said in the name of Rabbi Levi: Why was the world created with the letter beit? It is because just as the beit is closed on all [three of] its sides but open in its front, so, you do not have permission to ask: What is below, what is above, what was before, and what is after, but only from the day when the world created and onward. 

Limits to inquiry is a lesson in the stories in Bereshith. The most prominent of these is the eating from the tree of daath. 

I do not think that calling daath knowledge conveys enough of its meaning. I think about it in terms of the letters.  The name of the first letter, Daleth ד,  means a door. (That immediately invokes the Monte Hall problem,  a modern issue.)  . The second letter, ayin ע, means eye.   Daath is getting to see what is behind the door. It is a revelation, the resolution of a mystery.  It is the satisfaction of curiosity.  

Rashi quotes Bereshith Rabba

וְאַעַ"פִּ שֶׁנִּתְּנָה בוֹ דֵּעָה לִקְרוֹת לוֹ שֵׁמוֹת, לֹא נִתַּן בּוֹ יֵצֶר הָרָע עַד אָכְלוֹ מִן הָעֵץ וְנִכְנַס בּוֹ יֵצֶר הָרָע וְיָדַע מַה בֵּין טוֹב לָרָע (בראשית רבה):

 Although he (Adam) had been endowed with knowledge to give names to all creatures, yet the evil inclination did not become an active principle in him until he had eaten of the tree, when it entered into him and he became aware of the difference between good and evil

The Rabbinic understanding of the downfall that followed the eating of the fruit of daath is that it allowed the entry of the yetzer hara, the evil inclination into human consiousness.  But didn't the act of taking the forbidden fruit, stealing it from Gd, violating the instruction to guard the garden mean that an evil inclination already existed? And what motivated the snake to entice the woman to sin? Perhaps it is a matter of degree. Perhaps it is a matter of detail.

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. In our world, partaking of the forbidden fruit of mind altering potions is familiar. It is hard to know haw this has impacted human history. Did  Freud's use of cocaine influence the development of psychoanalysis? Did Job's use of LSD  help create the iphone?  Certainly many drug influenced behaviors lead to later regrets, and sometimes, like the expulsion from Eden, there is no possibility of return. 

Was Eve curious?There is no word for “curious” in the Torah ( nor in the rest of Tanach). The ancients did not have time for curiosity; they were too busy getting food, building shelter and weaving clothes. They often had to explore new places and try new things, but there was probably a greater appreciation for the dangers involved in the unknown.   

 The value of curiosity has changed over time. In the contemporary world, it is a esteemed quality, encouraged  by pedagogues. The ancients were more ambivalent. The Greek story of Pandora’s box emphasizes the danger. In the Jewish world, a controlled curiosity that does not  wander into dangerous orchards is encouraged.  Rambam writes that Abraham found the unity of Gd through curiosity. (Mishneh Torah (Hilchot Avodat Kochavim 1:3)) [the reasoning does not [yet] conform to the contemporary scientific view]. Moses may have demonstrated his fitness to lead the Israelites out of Egypt by turning to a burning bush. Other episodes of exploration do not turn out well. The mission of the spies sent to the land results in 40 year of exile in the wilderness. The spies gave an accurate report... and added their own dayoth, opinions.  Note that they brought back the fruit of the land, a re-enactment of the exile from Eden. 

Adam also ate from the fruit. Perhaps he was not curious enough.

We live in a  time when a new understanding of the warning  that  Gd gave Adam  emerges. 

The Divine warning: 

וּמֵעֵ֗ץ הַדַּ֙עַת֙ ט֣וֹב וָרָ֔ע לֹ֥א תֹאכַ֖ל מִמֶּ֑נּוּ כִּ֗י בְּי֛וֹם אֲכׇלְךָ֥ מִמֶּ֖נּוּ מ֥וֹת תָּמֽוּת׃ 

but as for the tree of knowledge of good and bad, you must not eat of it; for as soon as you eat of it, you shall die.”

Perhaps, the curse of death is much delayed and applies to all humanity, the descendants of Adam and Eve. The (successful) search for knowledge has led to a world of comforts and possibilities. I can fly, in a jet, anywhere in the world in less than a day. Humans have visited the moon. I wake up in pleasantly warm house year round, buy food and clothing  for a small percentage of my wealth, and play much of the day. I can ( safely) indulge my curiosity. 

Discovery, a product of the mind alteration from the Tree of Daath, has led to the ability to destroy the world, and aspect of "being like Gd." Nuclear (and perhaps biologic) weapons have made total destruction of human life on earth a real possibility. Artificial intelligence, a disembodiment of knowledge (without daath?) may acuate that process. 

Knowledge can kill. Curiosity can lead to sin. Respect the boundaries; identify them well. 

 

Hoshana Raba: Magic Words

 Hoshana Raba: Magic Words

I think that Hoshana Raba is the festival of magic words. Hoshana, Mivasser

 

Hoshana Raba is the last intermediate day of Sukkoth.  Sukkoth (like Passover 6 months earlier /later) is a week long holiday with full holy days ( days that have restrictions on “work”  and have special prayer service that usurps the usual daily service) and "intermediate” days ( days when we eat in the sukkah, make some additions to the usual prayers, but do not significantly limit activities.)  The prayer service for Hoshana Raba incorporates more of the holy day material, but remains everyday in the essentials. The Hoshana Raba service includes the most extensive hoshana service. 

Every day of Sukkoth ( except the Saturday), the men of the Orthodox congregation take up the four species ( lulav, ethrog, hadassim and aravoth) and march around the synagogue  reciting responsively an alphabetical list  of two or three word phrases with the chorus of hoshea na after each phrase. The themes of these marches are appeals to Gd’s mercy.  On Hoshana Raba, we march around seven times, reciting a full alphabetical list for each circuit and add a few more complex (and darker) lists (hosannas). After the march, there are more alphabetical and reverse alphabetical poems with refrains that are related to the word hoshana. Finally there is a plea for salvation with the refrain “mivasser.,” announcement. This refrain is a bit incongruous. 

The day after Hoshana Rabba is Shemini Atzereth, the eighth day of (holy) assembly. It is a holiday that follows Sukkoth.  The highlight of Shemini Atzereth is the announcement of a transition in the daily prayer to now include a recognition of rain.  We are entering the rainy season (in the land of Israel) and prosperity depends on adequate rain.  Drought means disaster. Wasser  (pronounced vasser) is the Yiddish (and German) word for water.  The mem, (מ) in mivasser can mean  “from” (its usage in Hebrew that is sometimes used in Yiddish)  or, its pronunciation as  may  can, by itself mean water (in Hebrew).  The Hoshana Raba service ends  with a call for water, a prayer for rain. 

The word Hoshana, a contraction of hashea na, means “save us, please.” Hoshana was prominent in the Coen Brothers’ movie A Serious Man. A memorable scene describes finding the word  hoshana (הוֹשִׁיעָה־נָּא) (goys teeth)  inscribed  ( in Hebrew) inside a man’s teeth.  The scene is funny because it touches on the remoteness of the ancient beliefs. For me, balancing  between a lost worldview, magic, and meaninglessness is an intense struggle. I think that there are additional axes beyond these three.. 

Hoshana Raba and its marches, poetry and incantations, comes at the end of  the season of Selichoth.  Ashkenazic Orthodox Jews begin waking early  to recite selichoth, prayers of repentance, before the morning service, a week before Rosh Hashana ( the New Year day of judgement).  Most of these  selichoth were written before the 11th Century in a poetical Hebrew dialect  and are  very hard to understand. They are often alphabetical. They have that magical aspect, so understanding the words is not the important part.  Maybe it never is. 

Magic from words is a common experience. Poetry is magical words. The plea of the attorney can free the accused.  The jargon of medicine can give the illusion of understanding and hope.

AI large language models create pseudo-human responses from pieces of words ( tokens).  A few words from the President can destroy the world in a nuclear war. 

Words are magic. Watch a one year old learn to use them and you will see.

 The Succah: Shelter

The Rolling Stones sang: 

Ooh, a storm is threatening

My very life today

If I don't get some shelter

Ooh yeah, I'm gonna fade away

War, children

It's just a shot away 

This song was a mixture of (Vietnam) war protest, free floating anger-energy and eroticism.  The Protest Movement would:

1. Save your life

2. Stop the killing of innocents

3. Help you find love. 

The title of the song evokes the meaning of Succoth. The Succah is the “shelter” this song refers to. It is a shack with a (purposely) almost ineffective roof. It is the best you can do, and it may not be enough. 

On Yom Kippur, the book of Jonah is chanted. Jonah can be seen as a story of seeking shelter. Jonah  is told to go to Nineveh and reveal their impending destruction. Nineveh needs to “get some shelter” from the wrath of Gd.

Jonah tries to run to Tarshish. According to Rashi, Jonah thinks that Tarshish is outside the broadcast zone of prophecy. Jonah feels that he needs protection from Gd’s instructions.  (The apostle Paul’s origin from Tarsus is either ironic or a purposeful echo of Jonah’s story [more likely].)  Gd creates a storm that will sink the Tarsus bound ship. There is no physical protection, only prayer and, ultimately  a human sacrifice (sic!), will calm the sea. Jonah (the Jew who caused the problem) is thrown overboard. 

Jonah is given a miraculous shelter. Gd created a  ‘fish” that surrounded  and protected him. In his solitude, he comes around to the desirability and need to fulfill the Divine will. Jonah goes to Nineveh, predicts  that city’s  destruction and brings the city to sincere repentance. Nineveh is sheltered  by love and it works. 

Jonah makes a succah. He makes a shelter for a brief visit to see what will happen. When chanted, a telisha gadolah, a special chant, announces the making of the Sukkah.

וַיַּ֩עַשׂ֩ ל֨וֹ שָׁ֜ם סֻכָּ֗ה וַיֵּ֤שֶׁב תַּחְתֶּ֙יהָ֙ בַּצֵּ֔ל עַ֚ד אֲשֶׁ֣ר יִרְאֶ֔ה מַה־יִּהְיֶ֖ה בָּעִֽיר׃

He made a booth there and sat under it in the shade, until he should see what happened to the city.

He had told Nineveh that it would be destroyed in 40 days; he knows that their repentance and Gd's mercy will not let that happen. Gd teaches Jonah a lesson in mercy.

 

Gd ( chanted with the flourish of a Telisha kattana) made a “kikayon”, a tree that provided excellent shade; and Jonah enjoyed it very much. The kikayon, the Divine plant of shelter was destroyed overnight by a worm. Then Gd caused a blistering sun, and Jonah was annoyed, The succah that Jonah had made to block out the sun was inadequate to the job.  The kikayon had worked much better, but it was gone. Human produced shelter could not protect against Divine manipulations of nature. The construction provides shelter as long as nature remains within parameters and probable behavior is not guaranteed. 

The Shulchan Aruch, the 16th century codification of law and custom, generally does not present any background or motivational information.  Succkoth is the exception. Section 625 of Orach Chaim begins: 

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.

The Kaf HaChayim, an early 20th Century commentator on the Shulchan Aruch says the commandment of Sukkah explicitly demands cognitive awareness. The verse states: "In order that your generations shall know (lema'an yede'u) that I caused the Children of Israel to dwell in booths when I brought them out of Egypt" (Leviticus 23:43). 

Sitting in the succah raises our awareness of what is means to live in a tent instead of a home. It is usually possible, but uncomfortable. This collective move outside  the house reminds us of how the Israelites moved out of Egypt. We can feel the spirit of mutual aid that comes from  shared hardship; how giving is possible even when there is not really enough to share. Why Jonah should have had more sympathy for the 120,000 people of Nineveh and its beasts. 

Succoth has special meaning for me.  It when Karen ( my spouse) and I fell in love. We  were living in apartments in D.C and would visit public Succoth in the city. She is my kikayon, my divine shelter.  Our  brick or wood or steel homes will only work if nature cooperates, True shelter comes from the clouds of glory, the Divine grace that sends love.