Friday, November 25, 2016

Random Musing Before Shabbat–Ḥayyei Sarah 5777–Contentment

 

וְאֵ֗לֶּה יְמֵ֛י שְׁנֵֽי־חַיֵּ֥י אַבְרָהָ֖ם אֲשֶׁר־חָ֑י מְאַ֥ת שָׁנָ֛ה וְשִׁבְעִ֥ים שָׁנָ֖ה וְחָמֵ֥שׁ שָׁנִֽים: ח וַיִּגְוַ֨ע וַיָּ֧מָת אַבְרָהָ֛ם בְּשֵׂיבָ֥ה טוֹבָ֖ה זָקֵ֣ן וְשָׂבֵ֑עַ וַיֵּאָ֖סֶף אֶל־עַמָּֽיו: ט וַיִּקְבְּר֨וּ אֹת֜וֹ יִצְחָ֤ק וְיִשְׁמָעֵאל֙ בָּנָ֔יו אֶל־מְעָרַ֖ת הַמַּכְפֵּלָ֑ה אֶל־שְׂדֵ֞ה עֶפְרֹ֤ן בֶּן־צֹ֨חַר֙ הַֽחִתִּ֔י אֲשֶׁ֖ר עַל־פְּנֵ֥י מַמְרֵֽא: י הַשָּׂדֶ֛ה אֲשֶׁר־קָנָ֥ה אַבְרָהָ֖ם מֵאֵ֣ת בְּנֵי־חֵ֑ת שָׁ֛מָּה קֻבַּ֥ר אַבְרָהָ֖ם וְשָׂרָ֥ה אִשְׁתּֽוֹ:

This was the total span of Avraham’s life: one hundred and seventy five years. And Avraham breathed his last, dying at a good ripe age, old and contented; and he was gathered to his kin. His sons, Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Maḥpelah, in the field of Ephron the Hittite, facing Mamre. the field that Avraham had bought from the Hittites; there Avraham was buried, and Sarah his wife.

The English translation is smooth and poetic, though not quite literal. There are some interesting things to parse out here. I’ll point out but otherwise gloss over how the biblical text here, and elsewhere, indicates years of life in a more convoluted syntax. (Here, 100 years, and seventy years, and 5 years.) Let the interpreters make of those what they wish (and many have both for Sarah and Avraham and others.)

The next verse is interesting in how it uses two different words to describe Avraham’s death. וַיִּגְוַ֨ע  וַיָּ֧מָת . Vayigva – built upon the root that means to expire, to pass away, or to perish. It’s the idea of expiring that gives the JPS translation committee the leave to say “breathed his last.” The second word, Vayamot, is reasonably translated literally as “died” but it doesn't stand alone, it connects to the following words describing the state in which Avraham died – b’seiva tovah, zakein v’savei-a – literally with good gray-haired-ness, old and contented (or fulfilled.)

All of which was a bit of a round-about way of getting to where I wanted to be.  Contentment.  Being contented is generally defined (according to Merriam-Webster) as showing or feeling satisfaction with possessions, status or situation. This same verb root is used in the verse that became the basis for the grace after meals, though there it is generally translated as satiated or satisfied. Aye, but here’s the rub. One reason, our tradition teaches us, that the commandment to give thanks after a meal, is that when one is hungry, it is easier to think about asking G”d for food, but that when one is sated, it is too easy to forget to offer thanks to G”d for food.

How does this approach fit into death and dying, and being thankful for our lives? What does it mean to live a life for which, at the end, we can feel content, sated? At the end of our lives, is it easier for us to feel contentment, and thus be more willing to offer thanks to G”d for the life we have lived? Is it harder, when we’re actually living our life, to remember to say thanks? Is it the very act of remembering to say thanks on a  regular basis as we lives our lives the secret to being content, both during and at the end of our lives?

We, each of us, experience moments in our lives when we are not content, when we do not feel sated in some or all aspects of life. Life will be a series of ups and downs. This we know. There are those in our tradition (and others) that teach us that it is when our lives are at the very darkest, discontented points that we need faith the most. I know from my own experience that this isn’t always as easy as it sounds. However, even when I can’t find the wherewithal to have faith, perhaps I can find the wherewithal to offer thanks. Contrarian that I often am, I do find myself compelled to ask if it is sometimes okay to be discontented, to feel unfulfilled, even empty? Sometimes I wonder if positivity is all it’s cracked up to be.

I do believe my goal should be to die as Avraham did, old and contented. However, like Avraham, my life is not going to be one long exercise in sheer joy and contentment. What will enable me, at the end of my life, to feel content as Avraham did?

G”d willing, I have time enough left in my life to seek the answers to the question. Even if I never get there, I will have at least tried. My prayer for myself and each of us is that we are able to meet death as did our ancestor Avraham, b’-seivah tovah, zakein v’savei-a.

Shabbat Shalom,

Adrian
©2006 by Adrian A. Durlester

Other Musings on this Parasha:

Chayyei Sarah 5776 - Still Not Warm (Revisited and Revised from 5767's "Never Warm")
Khayyei Sarah 5775 - Revisiting L'kha Dodi Likrat Kala
Hayyei Sarah 5774 - The Books of Hagar and Abishag
Hayyei Sarah 5773 - Still Tilting at Windmills
Hayyei Sarah 5772 - Zikhnah
Hayyei Sarah 5771 - The Book That Isn't - Yet
Hayyei Sarah 5770 - Call Me Ishamel II
Hayyei Sarah 5769 - Looking for Clues
Hayyei Sarah 5768 - A High Price
Hayei Sarah  5767-Never Warm?
Chaye Sarah 5766-Semper Vigilans
Chaye Sarah 5763-Life Goes On
Chaye Sarah 5762-Priorities, Redundancies And Puzzles
Chayeh Sarah 5761-L'cha Dodi Likrat Kala
Hayyei Sarah 5760 - Call Me Ishmael
Chaye Sarah 5757-The Shabbat That Almost Wasn't

Friday, November 18, 2016

Random Musing Before Shabbat–Vayeira 5777–He’s a Family Guy(?) (Redux and Revised 5769)

I promised myself when I resumed writing these musings after a short hiatus, that I would be creating all new content. Here I am, only a few weeks in, and already I’m going back on that promise. First, I’ve been fighting a stomach virus all week. Secondly. I’m still very depressed from the election results. I need something light and funny to help lift me up, and this musing is just the ticket.

He’s a Family Guy (?)

There's a short scene from the TV cartoon comedy "Family Guy" in which Peter Griffin says to his daughter Meg that he was going to stop treating her badly "cause I'm a worse father than Abraham." Then there's a cutaway to a scene of Abraham and Isaac walking down a mountain, after almost sacrificing his son, and Isaac says: "You wanna tell me what the f**k THAT was!? (Season 6: Episode: Peter's Daughter) https://youtu.be/NKurInYnovU

As irreverent as that is, in a way, it almost sums up my current take on the akedah, the story of the binding of Isaac, which we read near the end of this week's parasha, Vayeira. And it is not only Isaac who asks this question. It is all of us, when we encounter this troubling text. We rationalize it in all sorts of ways. "It was a test, just as the Torah says." If G"d was indeed testing Avraham, did Avraham pass or fail? There's no unanimity on that answer.

G"d rewards Avraham for his faithfulness. "Because you have done this and have not withheld your son, Your favored one, I will bestow My blessing upon you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars of heaven and the sands on the seashore." This would seem to indicate that Avraham passed the test, but can we be sure?

Why was Avraham rewarded? Was it for blindly obeying G"ds request? Was it for ignoring his own inner conscience? Was Avraham troubled by what G"d was asking of him? There's no such indication in the text. Was Avraham so sure in his heart and mind that G"d would not require him to go through with this act?

Perhaps G"d's purpose in this test was to see if Avraham would develop a crisis of conscience. Perhaps G"d was seeing if Avraham could put aside selfish and personal feelings.

Perhaps G"d was just being mean, toying with Avraham.

Perhaps G"d was naive.

So imagine another cutaway scene from Family Guy (or the Simpsons, or whatever your favorite irreverent social commentary cartoon is.) (If you're not familiar with the show, you might miss the inside jokes, but what the hey.)

G"d (voice of Seth McFarlane) talking to self: OK. OK. Let's see. I need to test this Avraham to see if he is the right one of My creations to bring knowledge of me to the world. He's already baffled me. When I asked him to just pick up and move, he went. when I revealed my plans to destroy S'dom and Gomorrah for their wickedness, he argued. which is the real Avraham? The blind obedient one, or the one who cares so much for his fellow human beings that he would argue with Me? I need to find out. What could I ask him to do? Kill his wife? After all, she did scoff at my power to make Avraham's seed potent enough to get her pregnant. Wait-that's it! His seed. I'll ask him to kill his son Isaac for me. Will he do it? Will he argue with me, beg, plead? This could be interesting.

G"d: Hey, Avraham.

Avraham (played by Peter Griffin): Yo, present.

G"d: Take your son...

Avraham: I got two. which one You mean? Pick one.

G"d: Your favorite son

Avraham: Hey, I love both my sons. My daughter Meg, on the other hand, not so much.

G"d, to self: Jesus H. Christ! Hey, there's an idea....oh wait, where was I? Oh yes. Explaining the obvious.

G"d (to Avraham:) Yitzchak (under G"ds breath "you twit!")

Avraham: Yeah. Yitz. OK. Gotcha. Now what?

G"d: Go to the land of Moriah...

Avraham: Y'know, I heard they call the wind Moria...

G"d paces, throws arms up in the fair, pounds self on head.

G"d: I'll do the punning around here, buddy. Now, as I said. Go to the land of Moria (pause, waiting to see if Avraham will interrupt again)...and offer Yitzchak as a burnt offering on a high place I'll show up.

Avraham: Oh, are we back to that "I'll tell you when you get there" crap again?

G"d stomps off, frustrated.

Cut to new scene.

Avraham is shown saddling his ass.

Narrator (Quagmire): So Avraham saddled his ass…

Voiceover-Peter Griffin: (laughing.) His ass!

Narrator: Giggity.

Avraham (to Yitzchak): OK, we're going on a little trip

Yitzchak (played by Chris Griffin): Where?

Avraham: Don't you give me that smart-mouth "where?" crap again. Just grab your stuff and let's head out.....for some…fishin'. OK? There, I said it. We're going fishing.

Yitzchak [jumping for joy;] Oh, goodie, goodie [Stops, Looks puzzled] Wait. What? That sounds pretty fishy to me, Dad.

Cutaway to a cartoon fish. Cartoon Fish rolls its eyes and swims away. Cut back to original scene. 

Avraham: Look, just bring me an axe, will you?

[Yitzchak looks puzzled, but goes off and returns with an ax which he gives to Avraham. Avraham splits some wood, and gathers it up into a bundle.]

Avraham [to servant, played by Cleveland Brown, Jr:] You! Boy! You're coming with us.

Cleveland Brown, Jr: Did he just call me boy?
(Voice of Cleveland Brown Sr, his father): Just go with it, son.

Herbert (Dirty Old Man from Family Guy:) [pointing to the other servant lad, played by Jake Tucker, the boy with the upside down face]  And bring your handsome young friend over there, too

Avraham: What? (shrugs) Whatever.

[Avraham makes several attempts to get on his ass. Finally, atop his beast, he says]: Asses ho!

Avraham, Yitzchak and two young male servants head off. Cutaway to scene of Herbert following along behind sneakily.

We see another scene of Avraham, Yitzchak and the two servants traveling, followed by Herbert.

Narrator: On the third day, Avraham looked up and saw the place from afar.

Scene shows a distant mountain with a huge, flashing finger-pointing sign in the heavens pointing down at it reading "This Is It"

Voice of Stewie Griffin: Wait a minute. How did Abraham know this was the place?

Voice of Brian Griffin: Well, obviously G"d must have told him.

Voice of Stewie Griffin: But the Bible doesn't say that.

Voice of Brian Griffin: What do I look like, a rabbi? Just shuddup and watch.

[Avraham dismount from his ass.]

Avraham (to the two servants): You stay here and watch my ass!

(servants giggle)

Avraham: I'm just gonna go up there with my son and we're gonna....uh......worship, yeah, that's it worship. (spoken quickly) And then we'll be back.

Avraham to Yitzchak: Yo, Yitz, follow me.

[Yitzchak dismounts, Avraham walks over to him with the wood and straps it on to Yitzchak's back.]

Yitzchak: Hey! I thought we were going fishing!

Avraham (dissembling): Well, first we ought to say "Thank You" to the Big Kahuna, and pray for a good catch, right?

Yitzchak (hesitantly:) Uh, I dunno Dad.

Avraham: Be a man, my son!

[Avraham tries to give Yitzchak a big swat on the back, but his hand hits the wood, hurting him. Overly prolonged scene of Avraham writhing in pain.]

Then, just as suddenly, Avraham stops, stands up and says to Yitzchak: OK, let's go.

Avraham sees the axe, picks it up and tosses it. We see it fly through the air. It strikes the house of Cleveland Brown and we see the inevitable scene of Cleveland in the bathtub as the house collapses,

Cleveland Brown (Sr.): No, no, no, no, no.

Cut back to scene. Avraham and Yitzchak head out up the mountain. Cut to Herbert viewing from a distance. He moves a little towards the servants, slightly hiding himself behind a tree.

Herbert: Oh boys! Come here. I've got an ass that needs saddling too!

[The two servants exchange glances, shrug, and run towards Herbert.]

Cut to scene of Avraham and Yitzchak walking up the mountain.

Yitzchak: Yo, Dad! I got the wood, and you got the knife and the firestone, but where's the sheep for the offering?

Quick cutaway to scene of sheep that were grazing suddenly looking up, then back to Avraham and Yitzchak scene.

Avraham: Don't you worry 'bout a thing. (clearly thinking fast) Uh...(then an idea strikes him, and he slyly says: G"d will provide for the sheep my son.

Yitzchak: Whatever!

Cut to scene back at Avraham's home. Sarah walks in to an empty room.

Sarah (voice of Lois Griffin): Abie? Yitz? Now where have those two gone off to now? Oh, well. While the hubby's away, the wifey will play.

Cutaway to a scene of Sarah playing the Egyptian game Senet with some of the female servants and a few Egyptian gods.

Cut to scene on top of mountain. Yitzchak is already there. We hear panting in the distance. Slowly, Avraham comes into view, slowly dragging himself up the mountain.

Yitzchak: C'mon Dad. I think I can, I think I can, I think I can

Avraham (under his breath); Oh, you just wait until I get up there....

Yitzchak continues to goad and Tease Avraham. Finally, Avraham arrives and collapses. Fade to black.

Scene from Abraham's perspective lying on the ground - his eyes flicker open to see Yitzchak standing over him with a knife, as if he is about to strike.

Scene shifts to normal perspective. Yitzchak helps Avraham up and says: Here Dad, you're gonna need this more than I.

Avraham (under his breath:) Shows what little you know.

Avraham and Yitzchak gather stones and build a little altar. They put the wood upon it, and lay the firestone and knife nearby.

Yitzchak: Nu? where's the sheep Dad.

Avraham sees a vision of Yitzchak with a sheep’s head.Avraham turns and grins broadly and madly at Yitzchak.

Yitzchak: Dad? (getting nervous) Dad? Dad!

Avraham tackles Yitzchak, gags him, and with (overly-prolonged and) great effort, lifts him onto the altar. He stops, breathes deeply. Lost in thought for a moment, he asks himself "I wonder what Sarah's up to at this moment?"

Cutaway to scene showing Sarah running around an ancient biblical supermarket, buying all sorts of treif products like shrimp, ham, bacon, cheeseburgers, et al, voraciously eating some,  and putting the rest in her cart. She is spied by Mayor Adam West, who tsk-tsks her.

Back to Avraham and Yitzchak scene.

Reporter Trisha Takanawa: Meanwhile, back on Mt. Moriah…

Avraham: I can't believe I have to do this frickin' thing. Somebody, give me a sign to stop me.

Cutaway to Evil Monkey from Family Guy pointing at knife, then back to Avraham.

Avraham: (with nervous giggle, as he picks up the knife) Uh, are there any other signs out there?

Cutaway to scene of sheep again-they were all looking up, and now quickly start grazing again, heads down. Then back to Avraham.

Cutaway to a scene at the Drunken Clam tavern in Quahog, with all the usual characters, each giving a thumbs down

Cutaway to the cast of SouthPark all giving a thumbs down

Cutaway to the cast of The Simpsons all giving a thumbs down

Cutaway to Joe Swansom, Quagmore, Cleveland screaming “Do It!”

Cutaway to Mort Goldman mumbling “Well, I don’t know.”

Avraham: Oh crap! Guess I gotta do this thing.

Avraham raises the knife and prepares to strike Yitzchak. Just then, a voice cries (in a stage whisper)

G”d/Angel: Avraham. (pause, then repeated a little louder) Avraham. (pause, then screaming) Avraham!

Avraham (drops the knife and gets that oops, I almost crapped my pants look:) Oh crap! Yeah, I'm here. Who's that?

Voice: Do not raise a hand against the boy...

Avraham: Can I start the fire now?

Voice (screaming:) Don't do anything to him, you idiot! (regaining his composure) For now I know that your fear the Lord, since you have not withheld your son, your favorite son, from Me.

Angel wheels into scene. Angel is played by Joe Swanson, in his wheelchair.)

Avraham: Hey, didn't I see you back at Lot's place?

Angel (sheepishly): You got me. That was me! (Angel walks over and puts his arm around Avraham.)

Avraham (to Angel): So lemme ask you something? Are an angel, or are you G"d? I'm a little confused about that.

Angel: To tell the truth, I'm as confused as you, brother. But never you mind that. Look up.

Avraham looks up, see nothing unusual.

Avraham: What?

Angel: See that?

Avraham: See what?

Angel (turns to look at where sheep should be caught in thicket, but isn;t there, and says:) Oh crap. Excuse me a minute. (Rolls out of scene)

The two old-timey Gay-90's guys in their barbershop quartet outfits and their piano pass through the scene playing that silly little melody.

The non piano-playing Old Timey Guy says: Just killin' time folks, just killin' time.

Cutaway to scene showing Angel dragging a very reluctant sheep into the thicket.

Cut back to repeat of the old-timey guys.

Cut back to Angel and Avraham:

Angel: OK. Now look up.

Avraham looks up, and applauds and makes silly childish noises.

Angel: Well? (pause )

Avraham: Yes

Angel: Well? (pause)

Avraham: Where? I could sure use a drink.

G"d's voice: I said I'll do the punning

Avraham (nervous chuckle) Sorry.

Angel: (clears throat) (pause) (clears throat louder) (finally, in exasperation) Go get the sheep, stupid!

Avraham: Oh. Oh. Yeah. Right.

Avraham goes to get the sheep. In the background, the Angel unbinds Yitzchak, who runs off. Avraham puts the sheep upon the altar. Cutaway to scene of other sheep putting the hooves over their hearts in salute, then back to Avraham scene.)

Avraham, while the sheep burns, starts to look around.

Avraham: wow. I never realized what a nice view it is from up here. Sheesh! Look at that. Just beautiful. Y'know, I think I'll call this place Adonai-yireh, which, as you know, means "scenic view."

Angel: (off camera) By Myself I swear, the...

Avraham: Whaa? who said that?

Angel's voice (now the voice of Cleveland Brown, Sr.): It's me, Abie baby.

Avraham: Ah, I knew it. You are G"d.

Angel's voice: I is what I is, baby.

Avraham: Cool!

Angel, now in G"d's voice (Seth McFarlane): Because you have done this, and not withheld your son (pause) your favorite son (pause) (releases a breath) I will bestow My blessing upon you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars of heaven and the sands on the seashore."

As G”d continues to speak, the voice keep shifting between different character voices.

Avraham: Cool! (starts walking off)

Angel/G”d: And your descendants shall seize the gates of their foes. All......(notices Avraham is heading away) Hey, wait a minute, there's more.

Avraham: Gotta go.

Angel/G"d: (very fast, in one breath) All the nations of the earth shall bless themselves by your descendants, because you have obeyed My command."

(Underneath G"d's dialogue, Avraham is saying "Yeah, that's nice. Gotta run., Very nice. Thank You. See ya. etc. and edges out of scene.)

G”d continues to ramble on. morphing from character to character.

Narrator (Quagmire:) And so Avraham returned to his servants. Giggity.

Voice of Stewie Griffin: But where's Yitzchak? Didn't he go back with Avraham?

Voice of Brian Griffin: It doesn't say in the bible. Nobody's really sure.

Voice of Stewie Griffin: Hmm. I wonder what happened to him

Cut to a scene in a cave. Yitzchak and Ishmael are sitting around smoking hookahs. They 're obviously high. Very Cheech & Chong-ish in style.

Yitzchak: And then, and then, (laugh) get this, get this...daddy tries to kill me!

Ishmael (voice of Norm Macdonald) : Get outta here! No way man!

Yitzchak: Way, man. Way!

Just then, Hagar walks in.

Hagar (voice of Bonnie Swanson): Boys, I gotta surprise for you! Oh, just look at the two of you. Smoking those hookahs again. Fat chance either of you two fathering a great nation!

Ishmael: Funny, ma! So what's the surprise?

Hagar: Well, you know how Daddy...er, Avraham (under her breath) May he die the death of a thousands plagues...(resuming) he always talked about welcoming the strangers and travelers? Well..

Herbert (peeking through curtain at entrance to cave:) Hello, boys....

Blackout. Roll credits and theme music.

(With apologies to Seth McFarland.) ----------------------------------------

Silly? Yes! Irreverent? Yes! Thought-provoking? You be the judge. For me, I know I needed this little bit of levity. Hope it lightens your Shabbat, too.

Shabbat Shalom,

Adrian

©2016 (portions ©2008) by Adrian A. Durlester

Other Musings on this Parasha:

Vayeira 5766 - The Price of Giving (Redux/Revised 5766)
Vayeira 5775 - He's a Family Guy (Revised Redux 5769)
Vayeira 5774–Plainly Spoken (Redux & Revised from 5762)
Vayera 5773 - Do Your Own Unpacking
Vayera 5772 - Well?
Vayera 5771 - Density
Vayera 5770 - Not Even Ten?
Vayeira 5769 - He's a Family Guy (?)
Vayera 5767-Revised 5759-Whoops! (or Non-Linear Thinking)
Vayera 5766-The Price of Giving
Vayera 5765-From the Journal of Lot Pt. II
Vayera 5762-Plainly Spoken
Vayera 5760/5761-More From the "Journal of Lot"
Vayera 5759-Whoops! (or "Non-Linear Thinking?")
Vayera 5757-Technical Difficulties

Friday, November 11, 2016

Random Musing Before Shabbat–Leḥ Leḥa 5777–Embracing the Spirit of Avram

[Introductory note – my regular readers know that I go through periods of using different ways to spell “G”d, ” and different preferences in transliteration. I’ve decided to forego using “ch” or “kh” for now and go back to the academic practice of using ḥ to represent the sound of the Hebrew letters ח and כ/ ך. I may not stay with it long, as it’s a pain to do, and only certain fonts contain the necessary characters. Oh, and I settled on the G”d spelling a while back because I felt the double-quotation mark was close in feeling to the double ײ we used to abbreviate G”d’s name, so it made it clear that I was not referring to any generic god, but to Ad”nai. Better than a dash or a zero. Philosophically, I’m not all that troubled with writing the Divine name out even when it can be erased or disappear, but call it one of my inconsistent quirks that has personal meaning and value for me.]

Anyone who has ever taught about parashat Leḥ Leḥa to a group of young students (or even adults) has probably asked people to imagine what it would have been like to pick and and move somewhere without having any idea of where you were going and what would happen when you got there. We ask our students how many would be willing to that risk, and hold up Avram/Avraham as an example of a bold and brave person willing to do so. We play role games, imagining the conversation between Avram and his wife Sarai. (In often sadly misogynistic fashion, we imagine Sarai as shrewish wife, sounding like Golde, Yenta the Matchmaker (or even Fruma Sarah,) saying to Avram “You want to do what? Are you out of your mind?” Then Avram reveals that G”d told him to do this. We imagine Sarai saying “What are you, a luftmensch? (airhead.) A lokshen kopf?” (noodle head)  Maybe Avram stomps his foot and Sarai obediently falls in line. Or maybe you see Sarai as simply doing what her husband says to do, because what else is there to do? If your group is creative, you might imagine Sarai as the bored middle-class housewife and spoiled princess thinking “anyplace is better than this dump. Let’s go!” If your group is even more creative, and able to step out of the misogynist paradigm, you might imagine Sarai’s reaction more positively. “Tell me about this G”d,” she might ask. “Did he really promise to make us into a great and wealthy nation?” (If you’re even more progressive, you might have her asking “Did She really promise…”)

The distance from Haran to Sheḥem is about 400 miles, so it obviously took some time. Yet all we read in the text is the end of 12:5 and the beginning of 12:6:

…and they set out for the land of Canaan, When they arrived in the land of Canaan…

Torah is good about leaving out the details when it feels like it (and at other times, is ridiculously detailed.) We’ve toyed with our little biblio-dramas about the discussion that ensued between Avram and Sarai before they set out. Now imagine the conversations that took place during the journey.  Even assuming a theoretically high travel rate of 20 miles per day, it would take 20 days. On foot, with such a large caravan, probably a lot longer.

They arrive at Sheḥem and G”d makes another pronouncement that all this land would be assigned to Avram and his descendants. Then, in just another few brief verses, the caravan makes it way to Bethel, wends it way south into the Negev, and then off into Egypt to escape the famine in Canaan. The text gives us no idea how long Avram and company took to trek the additional 225 miles or so from Bethel and into Egypt (and it never says where in Egypt he went.)

How long they were in Egypt is also unclear. We only know that Avram was sure the Egyptians would take a fancy to Sarai, and pleaded with her to say she was his sister, so they wouldn’t kill him so they could take the beautiful Sarai for themselves. She agrees, and of course see is taken to Pharaoh. There are a lot of unspoken possibilities here. Whatever Sarai was doing it Pharaoh’s house was good enough to make Avram wealthy and prosperous. The cynical among us – oh wait, that’s me – might suggest that Avram prostituted his wife. Kind of hard to conclude otherwise. It says quite clearly in the text that Pharaoh had taken Sarai as a wife (see 12:19.) Then, of course, the inevitable Divine intervention afflicts Pharaoh and his household – so of course, Pharaoh’s first assumption is to blame the Jew (well, in this case, the visitor, since there weren’t really any Jews yet.) Avram admits his deception and is thrown out of Egypt (and for some reason, gets to take his wife and all his wealth with him. Hardly sounds like an angry Pharaoh. As SNL’s church lady used to say “How convenient.”)

You remember this story, right? It’s the one that must have been really popular with the people, but occurred in all sorts of variants, so that the Torah’s creators/redactors wound up using the same tale three times in the text! Who did it really happen to? They couldn’t be sure, so they just threw in all three versions!

As usual, I digress. I want to get back to the leḥ leḥa bit. What really got me thinking about how we play biblio-drama around this story is our assumption that picking up and moving simply because G”d said so must be such a brave thing to do. Is it an accurate assumption?

I look at the path of my own life.

1. Born in the Bronx and lived there for two years.
2. Family moved to the Inwood section of Manhattan (north of “the Heights.”) and stayed there for 16 years.
3. Family moved to the Bronx next to Yankee Stadium for the last 2 years of High School.
4. Moved to Winston-Salem, North Carolina for college.
5. Lived and worked back home in the Bronx the first summer of college.
6. Winston-Salem, NC for the sophomore college year.
7. Charlotte, NC for a summer job.
8. Winston-Salem for the start of the junior college year
9. Back to home in the Bronx during an apprenticeship in NYC
10. Back to Winston-Salem and school after the apprenticeship

11. Henrico County, VA for a summer job
12. Winston-Salem for the senior college year
13. Back home to Brooklyn, NY (my family had moved)
14. Moved to Doswell, Virgina for a few weeks
15. Moved to Mobile, Alabama for a few months
16. Moved to New Orleans, LA for a year
17. Moved to Clearwater Florida
18. Moved to Largo, FL
19. Moved back to Clearwater, FL
20. Moved somewhere else in Clearwater, FL (total 3 years in FL)
21. Moved to Bristol, Indiana
22. Moved somewhere else in Bristol, IN (total 8 years in Indiana.)
23. Moved to Fargo, North Dakota (for ten years)

24. Move to Nashville, Tennessee
25. Moved somewhere else in Nashville, TN (three years in TN)
26. Moved to Alexandria, VA
27. Moved within the same complex in Alexandria, VA (total of 8 years in VA)
28. Moved to Boyds, Maryland (suburb of DC) for a few months
29. Moved to Amherst, MA (for 3 years)
30. Moved back home to Brooklyn, NY (for 1.5 years)
31. Moved to Skokie, IL (not a full household move)
32. Moved to Deerfield, IL (for 2 years)
33. Moved to Southington, CT (been here for 2 years.)

Now, according to Census data, the average US citizen moves 11.7 times in their lives. Obviously, I’m way above average. Even if we take out the summer college moves, and any others where there wasn’t an actual full move of my household goods requiring a professional mover (or me and a rented truck) it’s 22 times. If we only include my moves as an adult, it’s 20. I have had legal addresses in 13 states, some states multiple times. Where’s home? I’ve lived outside of NYC more than I’ve lived in it (but still think of myself as a New Yorker.)

I can tell you, after all those moves, that I am truly tired of moving, and hope to never have to do it again, but the chances of my not moving again are between slim and none. I can also tell you that, while it has been a big drag to move so much, I am grateful to have experienced life in so many different places in the United States. I may still be a die-hard east coast liberal progressive, but you can’t say I haven’t lived in and exposed myself to life in the mid-west and the south, to life in big cities and small communities. I have not lived in a bubble.

Now, I can’t compare my situation to Avram’s. I didn’t have a Divine voice tell me to just pick up and move, and that I’d be told when I’ve gotten where I’m supposed to go. I moved, as a child, because my family moved, and as an adult because my life took me down that path. We could argue about how many of these moves were truly voluntary as opposed to being a result of circumstances, but that’s not really important. (At least one of Avram’s moves was necessitated by famine. How voluntary is such a move?)

Nevertheless, having done it so many times, I can tell you that it often does feel like one is going somewhere that is a place you do not know. Not just feels like it, but actually is like it. Think of this Jewish New York City kid discovering the realities of places on the other side of that famous New Yorker Magazine cover, Saul Steinberg’s “View of the World from 9th Avenue.” More people lived in the city housing project where I spent most of my childhood that lived in some of the places I have lived. (Bristol, IN had 1200 people when I lived there in the 80s, and had just changed over from 5-digit phone numbers. The housing project I grew up in had a population in just its 7 buildings of 2500.)  The greater neighborhood of my youth had an equivalent or higher population than a number of places I have lived.

When you move some place new, it can be disorienting, scary, stressful. It can also be invigorating, refreshing, and positively challenging. It takes a while to get to “know” someplace new. Some of the places I have lived remained a “place I did not know” for quite some time. Others became home and familiar quite quickly.

So I’m thinking to myself that, despite how we lift up Avram’s example, is it really that bold and brave a thing to do? Seems to me a lot of us do it – perhaps not as a result of a clear Divine call (though who I am my to say that some of us might not have moved on an impulse, some unknown force whispering in our ear?)  Some of the times I have moved I didn’t really have much choice. Other times, I have had more options, more freedom to choose where I would go. Something caused me to make the choice I did, and I can’t always say it was simply a matter of cogitation and logic. I think of the choices I didn’t make, and wonder what life might have been like in those other places that I considered moving for whatever reason. 

On the other hand, maybe it is special, and I am lucky to have, perhaps, something of Abram’s spirit in me, giving me the ability to pick up and move to a new place that I do not know so many times. It is a frightening thing and it does take courage.

Of course, here would come the typical joke about being the wandering Jew. Danger, Will Robinson!  Sadly, in our collective Jewish ignorance, few of us know that this is one of the earliest of anti-Semitic tropes. The wandering Jew is a Christian legend of the Jew doomed to wander the earth until the second coming of Jesus for the offense of having taunted and struck Jesus on the road to Calvary. To be a wandering Jew is not a good thing. At least on the basis of that trope.

The story of Avram’s willingness to pick up and go serves as metaphor in so many different ways, for so many people. One can choose to place emphasis on it being a Divine call, or one can choose to place emphasis on Avram’s willingness to try something new.

Every single time I have moved someplace new (at least since I have had a driver’s license) I have made it a point to drive aimlessly around the area of my new home, trying to feel my way around, almost trying to get lost.  (What is most interesting to me is how, even though I do this so purposefully, after years of living someplace I can still take a different turn and discover some area I’d never seen before. I love when that happens.) I’m fairly sure that not everyone has the innate ability (and willingness) to get deliberately lost, so I’m thankful for the gift. (No fair, btw, if you use GPS to find your way at any point.)

Once in a while, I still find myself deciding to just go out for a drive, with no destination in mind, and just see where I wind up. I’ve discovered some very interesting places doing just that.  Try it, it’s fun. Try it close to home. Try it someplace on vacation or a business trip. Sure, it’s fun to look at Atlas Obscura, or turn on Google Field Trip on your phone, and seek out interesting places to go. Imagine how much more interesting it could be to simply just discover someplace interesting randomly. Embrace the spirit of Abraham.

Now, it would be impossible for me to not make some connection between what is happening in this country right now, and this parasha. Many of us are worried and fearful about the future of this country. Many of us are not only scared, but unwilling to go where our newly elected leader may want to take us. Whether we choose to go forth in a spirit of hope, a spirit of concern, a spirit of anger and defiance, a spirit of cooperation, a spirit of love, a spirit of active resistance, a spirit of wait and see, a spirit of give it a chance, a spirit of fear, and so many other options, we must go forth. Some commentators like to raise up the peculiarity of the Hebrew Leḥ Leḥa and its apparent meaning “go forth, for yourself.”  We must each make the choice, for ourselves, how we will go forth from this point. Whatever your choice, may you have the spirit of Avram to go to a place you do not (yet) know. To go boldly where no person has gone before (that’s for you Trekker grammar wonks.) Live long and prosper.

Shabbat Shalom,

Adrian
©2016 by Adrian A. Durlester

Other Musings on this Parasha:

Lekh Lekha 5776 - The Other Siders (Redux 5766)
Lekh Lekha 5775 - More Nodding Heads, Whistlign Airs, and Snickersnees
Lekh L'kha 5774 - Theistic Singularity: Revisiting the Intellectual Ekhad
Lekh Lekha 5773 - The Journey Continues
Lekh Lekha 5772 - Out of Context
Lekh Lekha 5771 (5765, 5760) Things Are Seldom What They Seem An Excerpt from the "Journal of Lot"
Lekh Lkha 5770 - Revisiting the Ten Percent Solution
Lekh L'kha 5769 - Of Nodding Heads, Whistling Airs, and Snickersnees
Lekh Lekha 5768 - The Covenant That (Almost) Wasn't - Excerpts from the Diary of Terakh
Lekh Lekha 5767-Penile Pilpul
Lekh Lekha 5766-The Other Siders
Lekh Lekha 5765 - Redux 5760
Lekh Lekha 5764-Ma'aseir Mikol-The Ten Percent Solution
Lekh Lekha 5763-No Explanations
Lekh Lekha 5761-The Intellectual Echad
Lekh L'kha 5758-Little White Lies

 

Friday, November 4, 2016

Random Musing Before Shabbat–Noaḥ 5777–Tzur Yisrael and Standing Rock

In the haftarah for parashat Noaḥ, from Isaiah chapters 54 and 55, we read these words:

 הַרְחִיבִי ׀ מְקוֹם אָהֳלֵךְ וִֽירִיעוֹת מִשְׁכְּנוֹתַיִךְ יַטּוּ אַל־תַּחְשׂכִי הַֽאֲרִיכִי מֵֽיתָרַיִךְ וִיתֵֽדֹתַיִךְ חַזֵּֽקִי:  כִּי־יָמִין וּשְׂמֹאול תִּפְרֹצִי וְזַרְעֵךְ גּוֹיִם יִירָשׁ וְעָרִים נְשַׁמּוֹת יוֹשִֽׁיבוּ:

Enlarge the size of your tent, extend the size of your dwelling, do not stint! Lengthen the ropes and drive the pegs firm. For you shall spread out to the right and the left; your offspring shall dispossess nations and shall people the desolate towns.

This text from Isaiah parallels many words in the Torah, carrying on a long tradition of the manifest destiny of the descendants of Noah and Abraham. The manifest destiny of the inheritors of the Judeo-Christian-Islamic tradition. The manifest destiny of the monotheists. (Yes, it can be easily and fairly argued that early Judaism was monolatrous, allowing for the existence of multiple gods while favoring One G”d above all others. For academic purposes, a significant distinction. For the purposes of the argument I am about to make, less so.)

Starting next week, and for a few weeks thereafter, we will read in Torah many manifestations of the doctrine of manifest destiny, of G”d’s promise (though as much of an instruction as a promise) to Abraham and his descendants.

Boy, did we ever take that and run with it. For a short while, the Israelites were successful in carrying out this mandate, in insuring this promise was kept.

We fought our way in Canaan and it became ours. After all, G”d said it was ours. It was our destiny to have this land. We even had a contract. The concept of property rights (and, also, apparently, eminent domain and other devices for taking over land that belongs to someone else) are ancient and well recognized (well, in some cultures and traditions they are. In others, property rights and borders are less clear and more ambiguous – even amorphous.)

We should note that in this parasha there is an etiology that exists to primarily justify the future occupation of the land of Canaan by the Israelites. The Torah indirectly implicates Ham’s son Canaan in Ham’s disrespect upon discovering the naked, passed-out-drunk Noaḥ.

וַיֹּאמֶר אָרוּר כְּנָעַן עֶבֶד עֲבָדִים יִהְיֶה לְאֶחָֽיו: כו וַיֹּאמֶר בָּרוּךְ יְהוָֹה אֱלֹהֵי שֵׁם וִיהִי כְנַעַן עֶבֶד לָֽמוֹ:

And he said: “cursed be Canaan; the lowest of slaves shall he be to his brothers. And he said: “Blessed be the L”rd, the G”d of Shem; Let Canaan be a slave to them.

Thus is was fine when, year’s later, we occupied the land bearing Canaan’s name and legacy.

Our belief in our covenant of manifest destiny was so strong, that we invented rationalizations to explain when things didn’t go according to plan, assuming that we had displeased G”d in some fashion and had only reaped what we had sown. (Our belief was rather strongly reinforced by G”d’s own reported words and actions in the Torah and from the prophets and other writings – warning us that we would most definitely fail to live up to our end of the covenant, and would suffer the consequences, including direct impairment, and even outright reversal of our fortunes and our manifest destiny. But no matter, G”d would always take us back. To quote an old comedy routine – apropos to this parasha, though from a now disreputable source – “riiiiiiiiiiiight.”) (Don’t you like how I still managed to work that in there? Winking smile)

When our own foibles caught up with us, and the Israelites were finally reduced to a people in diaspora, successors quickly arose to assume the mandate of this manifest destiny. For almost two thousand years, the inheritors of the original Israelite manifest destiny, the Christians and Muslims have followed the commandment to enlarge their tents by whatever means necessary (and usually that involved conquering and ruling over lands inhabited by others.)

For a while, our two successors fought over land. They each developed rationalizations and justifications for their efforts. Islam expanded rapidly through Arabia, the Levant, northern Africa, and into parts of Europe. Christendom mounted the Crusades. 

Ah, and then enlightenment. (Or more properly, the remembering, rediscovery, and co-opting of ancient ideas as new ones.) We thought we were becoming a superior people, with new ideas, concepts, and ethics that raised us above our primitive ancestors. What did we do with this (besides raising our standards of living while raping our planet?) We took manifest destiny to new heights. We explored and then exploited larges swaths of places we deemed exotic – places that were outside the sphere of influence of the Judeo-Christian-Islamic world. Places where peoples had existed quite happily and successfully without the influences of Judaism, Christianity, or Islam. Africa. The Americas. Australia.

The age of exploration needed some authority. Beginning with Pope Nicholas V in 1452, rulers of Christian lands were given the authority to conquer non-Christian lands and declare their sovereignty over them. These became the foundations of what became known as the “doctrine of discovery.”  This concept is what allowed Columbus and others to “take possession” of “discovered” new lands. It didn’t matter if they were occupied, if the occupants weren’t Christian. The indigenous people (a much politer term we use today to take the place of words like savages, etc. ) would be converted to Christianity, and their lands possessed by the sovereign that the “discoverer” was representing.

This “doctrine of discovery” is still with us today. It is being played out in countless places around the world. Here in the USA, it is now being played out at Standing Rock with the DAPL. This doctrine is, sadly, embedded into our founding documents and our legal system.

The Declaration of Independence includes, among its charges against the King, these words:

He has excited domestic Insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured (sic) to bring on the Inhabitants of our Frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known Rule of Warfare, is an undistinguished Destruction, of all Ages, Sexes and Conditions.

Then there is the Supreme Court decision in Johnson v McIntosh, a foundational case in property law. In it, Justice John Marshall effectively endorses the concept of  the “doctrine of discovery” that a European power gains sovereignty to land it discovers. That power alone has the right to determine the occupancy rights of any indigenous parties. The government of the United States, being the legitimate inheritor of the rights of discovery, is the only entity to which tribal lands can be sold or which can accept transfer of title of land ownership.

Wow. Our religious texts and history lie at the core of the exploitation and treatment of indigenous people around the world, and right here in the USA. Jefferson at least tried to remove slavery as part of our founding documents (he failed, in a compromise as ill-fated as Ben-Gurion’s compromise on the status of religion in the modern state of Israel, but at least he tried.) Nobody tried to protect the inalienable rights of the indigenous Americans.

Native American/American Indian beliefs didn’t fit the mold of Judeo-Christian-Islamic religion. Therefore, it was inferior, and could be ignored. It was fine to impose Christianity on the natives. That attitude hasn’t changed much. Yes, finally in 1978, Congress passed the American Indian Religious Freedom Act. But they gave it no enforcement mechanism. Sadly, too, the courts have interpreted the act in the very narrowest and strictest of terms.

Native American/American Indian beliefs run the full gamut. Monotheistic, polytheistic, animist, henotheistic/monolatrous. Popular belief tends to lump them all together, but they are many and very different from one another. There are movements that have consolidated beliefs, and some that are syncretic, combining Christian belief with native practice and ritual (for example, the Native American Church.) We can’t point to sacred texts, as, for the most part, these religions were transmitted orally. (From a western viewpoint, that made them inferior. We dismissed them as inferior for lack of written language, too, even though some did use glyphs and other symbolic systems to keep records. Perhaps they were technologically inferior, but in terms of thought, ethics, philosophy, etc. there were hardly inferior.)

I’m a rational person. I’m also a gadfly, who likes to insure the people look at all sides of an issue. I lived for a decade in North Dakota. I know people who live on reservations, and I know people who are now dependent on the oil in the Bakken for a living. I’ve read the arguments from ND officials and articles and editorials in the Bismarck Tribune and other ND papers, who sincerely believe that every effort was made to address the concerns of the native tribes vis a vis the route of the DAPL, and they chose to not engage until now. I believe I’ve done my due diligence.

That being said, any person of faith should be troubled by the concept of the doctrine of discovery, of our nation’s horrible history in dealing with Native Americans/American Indians. That, alone, should be a reason to stand with those at Standing Rock. Our Judeo-Christian-Islamic faith has been used to trample on their rights. If, as some in government claim, representatives of the tribes chose to not fully participate in the review process, and didn’t raise some of the current objections earlier, it shouldn’t matter. A little affirmative action type protections aren’t entirely unwarranted here. This was their land. We took it from them.  Their relationship to the land is different from ours, and is even, perhaps, a part and parcel of their religions.

Yes, our tradition says “You shall have no other gods before me.” Yet we often refer to G”d as the plural “Elohim.” As monotheists, we can choose to interpret this to mean that other G”ds or things that are worshipped are simply manifestations of G”d. As monolatrists, we can choose to say “we follow our G”d, but others are free to follow their G”d or gods.”  The commandment that we shall worship no other G”d is a commandment to the Jewish people, and the inheritors and daughter religions of our tradition. We Jews, Christians, Muslims – we are the ones who insisted that this must apply to every human being. The Torah doesn’t insist on that. It told us to spread out. It didn’t say that we must forcefully make others believe as we do. (The injunctions in Torah against the practices of others are meant for the Jews – not for the others. We seemed to have missed that point. Yes, when we occupied Canaan, we were told to tear down altars and eliminate any of the religious trappings of the indigenous Canaanites. That’s troubling, but it doesn’t extrapolate into a command to go conquer other nations and replace their gods with our G”d (even if some chose to see it that way.)

Shall we stand idly by while the rights of Native Americans/American Indians are trampled? Shall we stand idly by while our planet is recklessly raped to provide us with physical comforts, and at the same time line the pockets of the wealthy with even more wealth? Shall we stand idly by when peaceful protestors, many of them engaging in religious ceremonies, are attacked and mistreated by an over-militarized public and private police force?

Do I pray that someday the Torah shall go forth from Zion, the words of Ad”nai from Jerusalem? Yes. Frankly, not all the words, because some of them are troubling. Some of them might be, dare I say, irredeemable. I do not pray for the warrior G”d, the vengeful G”d, the bad-parent G”d, the petulant G”d. I pray for G”d, the maker of peace.

Judaism has been forced to diminish the size of its tent – sometimes by actions of its own choosing, sometimes by the hateful and horrible actions of others. Do I pray that we Jews continue to work to enlarge our tent? Surely. However, when we enlarge our tent at the expense of others, that’s problematic (and yes, that is as much as reference to Israel and the Palestinians as it is to the western world’s outrageous use of manifest destiny.) It’s a big planet, but it does have a finite amount of space, and a finite amount of resources.  We ignore both of those realities at our own peril. When our religious faiths are in conflict with those realities, it’s the religion that has to give, because the realties won’t. There is plenty in the world’s many and varied religious traditions that teaches us how to live, respect each other, and take care of our planet. There is, unfortunately, plenty in the world’s many and varied religious traditions that place us in direct conflict with what we now know. Plenty that has caused us to act in perverse and horrible ways to each other. We must acknowledge that. However, unlike those who hold that religion is, perforce, an overall negative for humanity, I believe it can and should be an overall positive. Yes, I accept that righteous actions can and do happen in the complete absence of religion – but so do horrible and awful actions. It’s not religion that’s the problem. It’s not atheism that’s the problem. It’s humanity that’s the problem, as Elie Wiesel, z”l so often reminded us.

In the DAPL controversy, in the upcoming presidential election, we have the opportunity to demonstrate the best of what our religions (or our humanistic ethics) teach us. I pray that we do. May this be our will.

Shabbat Shalom,

Adrian
©2016 by Adrian A. Durlester

Other Musings on this Parasha:

Noakh 5776 - Two Short Thoughts on Noah
Noakh 5775 - To Make a Name For Ourselves (Revisited)
Noakh 5774 - Let's Rebuild That Tower
Noakh 5773 - Nothing New
Noakh 5772 - The Long Haul
Noakh 5771 - Redux 5765 - A P'shat in the Dark
Noakh 5770 - Don't Ham It Up
Noah 5768 - Redux 5761 - Getting Noticed
Noakh 5766-What A Nimrod! (Revised)
Noakh 5765-A Pshat In The Dark
Noach 5764-Finding My Rainbow
Noach 5763-Striving to be Human
Noach 5762-To Make a Name for Ourselves
Noach 5761-Getting Noticed
Noach 5760-What a Nimrod!