Satan


Verse per verse: The Weekly Storah

By Lauviticus

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It doesn’t get much wilder than this in the Book of Wilderness – a talking donkey, a prophetic drama, and the début appearance of one of Western Mythology’s favorites – Satan himself. But you wouldn’t know if from reading any of the English translations of the Bible, where the Lord of Darkness is consistently referred to as ‘the adversary’. To be fair, and with respect to all English translators – this is a valid literal translation of an obscure Hebrew word, but nevertheless, the concept of obstruction on the way towards fulfilling one’s mission in life pops up in this week’s Torah Episode ‘Balak’ - somehow lost (or covered up) in translation.

The book of Wilderness, chapter 22, tells of Balaam, the Prophet of Midyan, a hired gun in the hands of the King of Maob, eager to curse the People Israel. Balaam refuses to cooperate, but at night, while dreaming, he is ordered by God to accompany the messengers of the King and to await further instructions. Balaam, obedient, sets out and quietly rides his donkey on verse 21, when the following happens in verse 22:

"But YHWH's anger flared up because he was going, so YHWH's messenger stationed himself in the way as an adversary to him." This is the Fox translation, while the Stone Artscroll replaces ‘messenger’ with ‘angel’ and ‘adversary’ with ‘impede’: "G-d's wrath flared because he was going, and an angel of HASHEM stood on the road to impede him.’

The word for ‘messenger’ is ‘Malach’ is often translated as either Angelic being OR human messenger, but the word for ‘adversary’ is unique - ‘Satan’, to be later identified as the being also known as the ‘Angel of Death’.

In Hebrew, Satan is derived from the root meaning "to oppose", "to be an adversary" or "to act as an adversary". The image is paradoxical and startling: A mysterious being is blocking the path of a prophet who is sent on this journey by the very Deity that now summons the obstacle – the Satanic. It seems that Satan, in this early incarnation, is an integral, antagonistic part of God. Perhaps, psychologically, this Satan represents a part of the Whole, of Life itself – an allegorical representation of conflicting ‘obstacles’ in one’s life. This type of obstacle, however, has a message to deliver – it’s a roadblock that may seem like an adversary but is actually an important road sign, possibly a blessing in disguise.

Interestingly, it is the donkey (a female), and not the prophet, who recognizes this obstacle, and stubbornly refuses to move on: Satan is standing in a very narrow path, brandishing a drawn sword. The irony of a seeing donkey and a blind visionary has been interpreted by mystical commentaries to represent the dialectics between body and soul, intuition and intellect, matter and spirit. Balaam and his ass are a metaphor for the human journey - conflicted, challenged, confused, and traveling a narrow path sometimes strewn with unseen obstacles. Later on in history and mythlogy this condition will become known as ‘Satan’, a very complex and dark concept, but for now it is simply an invisible force blocking one’s path. Sound familiar? Remember the last time you met IT on your path?

Balaam didn’t see it at first, but finally, when the ass speaks, he gets it, opens his eyes, hears the message: Go on your path, but obey your conscious, your moral code.

And that’s exactly what he does next, turning curses into blessings.

Confused? Welcome to Jewish mythology and to the Book of Wilderness, where the wild things are, and where secrets and great truths hide, as they always do, inside fables, on the road to prophecy. No wonder most English translations remove Satan from this story, it’s complicated enough.. Stay tuned to next week’s exploration of ‘miracles’, as the wild ride continues.

Bards of Battle


Verse per verse: The Weekly Storah

By Lauviticus

Apologies: this week's Verse per Verse will not feature an audio teaching, as Lauviticus is traveling.

War provides plenty of pain for many and plenty of profit for few. You wouldn't think that poetry is one of those profitable by-products of war, but the Bible seems to think so, or at least so do some of the Biblical translators, who offer an odd spin on an odd word popping up in 'Chukat', this week's installment of the Torah. The context is wartime, as the People Israel get closer to the promised land and the locals are less than thrilled. This weekly tale marks two VIP deaths - Miriam and Aaron - but also informs us of countless deaths of nameless men, women, and children - victims of the war on Canaan. One of those battles is the one with the Emorites, which began as a hostile exchange when Moses requested permission to cross through their land and King Sihon refused and launched an attack. The Emorites lost badly, their cities were taken over by the tribes of Israel, and this is where the poets come in. Or are they journalists? Or official spokesmen? Somehow we get a glimpse into the ancient craft of media in action - translating the horrors of the battlefield into poetry and/or propaganda for the masses. How vast - or not - is the difference between poet and reporter? This bloody text perhaps suggests an answer.

Chapter 21 in the book of Wilderness describes the fall of Heshbon, the Emorite capitol city, and goes on to provides us with a quote from the local poetry of the defeated Emorites themselves - devoting six biblical verses to an obscure epic poem (that sounds like a tourism campaign) praising the city that by then lies in ruins. Verse 27, according to the JPS translation frames it thus:
'Therefore the bard would recite: Come to Heshbon, firmly built and well founded is Sihon's city'.

The word for 'bards' is the Hebrew 'MOSHLIM', translated elsewhere as 'parable makers', 'they that speak in proverbs', 'poets', or 'rhapsodes'. The Hebrew stems from the word 'MASHAL' - that could mean parable, proverb, riddle or allegory. In this case, the poem or parable is nothing more than a taunting rhyme glorifying Emorite victory - quoted later by the Hebrews to showcase their own triumph. Maybe this is the poetic justice - the parable implied - every triumph can result in loss - beware. Reading this in the 21st century - aware of what's going on in Gaza, Baghdad or Darfur - to name just a few war torn regions - the ominous message of the parable is perhaps not lost, but certainly not heeded.

The bards were likely killed though their words survived, and their legacy, amazingly, lingers to tell us something about the role of truth telling in the aftermath of war. The word Moshlim can indeed by translated as 'poets' but it can also be translated, with creative license, as 'rulers' or 'governors'. And since history is always written by the winners, we have here a rare usage of biblical irony - the winners using the triumphant poetry of the former winners to glorify their own story of success. The way you tell the story will determine what really happened - the poet (or media) becomes ruler.

And so, onwards the wild wild east of Sinai travel the weary people Israel, battle will follow battle, as the promised land of milk and honey will beckon closer yet. At rare moments poetry will prosper to give perspective, inspire hope, reflect and guide their journey. The fifth book of Moses, coming soon, is one long litany, and next week, the prophet Balaam will provide some of the most memorable poetic lines in the Bible. So what is it about war, strife and the emergence of poetry? And where, in today's reality, where khaki clad media stars report live from the front line, does the poetry linger? And where, in our personal lives, does suffering inspire rhyme and parables of hope? We would like to believe that precisely from the ruins of demolished cities emerge the type of poetry that ignite a new reality in which we will all march to the beat of a different drum.

Phenomenon


Verse per verse: The Weekly Storah

By Lauviticus

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This week in the West Bank and Gaza a bloody war is waged – Hamas Vs. Fatah, and it is not clear who are the rebels and who is in charge. Bloodshed in Gaza may sadly not seem as a new phenomena but this level of civil war is defiantly making front page news. Somewhere between mythology and politics, this week’s Torah Episode ‘Korach’ is a sad nod to the history of political factions shedding blood, as it introduces the first public assault on the Moasic administration, a (some say) valid democratic motion that was fatally squashed with Divine intervention. If one is to take sides on this ancient battle, then the official party line is NOT pro rebels. But alas, underdog fans that we are, and especially in these heating up political days, we are not quite sure whether the Korachites and co. who will be mysteriously killed again this coming Saturday at every synagogue where the story will be repeated were guilty of heresy or simply of bad PR. The Divine, however, had quite a firm opinion on this matter and provided a unique and singular sensation to deal with this political opposition – a form of execution so bizarre it was simply referred to as ‘phenomenon’. But, of course, translations differ, and once again, more is hidden here that beckons the seeker of secrets.

The context: Moses has been challenged by his cousin Korach, another Levite, to share power with the other tribal leaders. Moses is outraged and in chapter 16 of the book of Wilderness delivers a passionate speech. It concludes with the proclamation/warning that Divine judgment will settle this dispute and deal with the rebels, once and for all:

16:30 But if the LORD make a new thing, and the ground open her mouth, and swallow them up, with all that appertain unto them, and they go down alive into the pit, then ye shall understand that these men have despised the LORD.'

According to this translation – the JPS – a ‘new thing’ is to be made by the Lord, looking like the ground opening ‘her mouth’ to swallow up the bad guys. Is this an odd way to describe a local earthquake?

The Hebrew word used here, and ONLY here throughout the Bible, is BRIAA – literally – ‘creation’, translated elsewhere as ‘Novelty’, ‘New creation’, ‘something unheard of’, or ‘phenomenon’.

The tricky thing is that the word BRIAA stems from the same root that describes the very creation of the world back at the beginning of Genesis. SO – is this earthquake an afterthought? Was it ‘created’ just in time for this political crisis? What is the unique feature of this terrible event?

From a mythic point of view, Jewish scholarship has held that indeed Korach was a unique case, swallowed up whole by the ‘mouth of the earth’ – which opened and then closed again - just this once. The earth’s mouth, according to this Talmudic legend, was created on the first Friday of Creation, just before Sunset, and set aside for this and only this occasion. This way, the Talmudic sages solved the problem – it was a NEW creation – but already planned for at the beginning of time.



The Pseudo Jonathan translation however, goes political, not mythic, when translating this verse to his contemporary audience, who then, like now understood the relevant implications of this story: "But if a death which has not been created since the days of the world be now created for them, and if a mouth for the earth, which has not been made from the beginning of the world, be created now, and the earth open her mouth and swallow them and all they have, and they go down alive into Sheol, you will understand that these men have provoked the Lord to anger."



The implication here is clear – some actions deserve similar repercussions, and a rebellion against God’s Authorized Leadership is punishable in mythic proportions.

In today’s political climate one would hope for a more benign method of dealing with opposition, but, we wonder, what IS the modern equivalent of being swallowed up alive by a new and unimagined form of humiliation and/or extinction? Certainly the news from the Middle East leave one hoping for humanity learning from the past, and finding new ways of dealing with opposition and conflict.

As for Korach’s legacy, it lives on. He may have paid with his life and the lives of his followers for challenging Moses, but some say his sons did not die. If you listen closely, you can hear them sing. Open the psalms for a long list of hymns composed by Korach’s lines of Levites. Some rebellions get swallowed up but the music, apparently, lives on, every time a new creation.

Shabbat shalom

Fallen


Verse per verse: The Weekly Storah

By Lauviticus

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About a month ago, three of the Ten Republican candidates for presidency raised their hand in reply to the oddly phrased question – “Is there anyone on the stage who does not believe in evolution?" Meanwhile, the Democratic candidates confessed their ‘journeys of faith’ - especially at difficult times. Faith, creationism, and biblical defined family values are definitely on stage in the current national political arena, more than ever before with the Bible becoming much more than just a book held by those who are sworn into office. What, one wonders, do either camps do with a puzzling verse from this week’s Torah Episode that flaunts reason and describes mythic creatures that are best described as ‘giants’? Yet again, one word, lost in translation, opens up a portal to a complex narrative that challenges the assumption of what is or isn’t ‘real’.

The context: Ready to explore the Promised Land prior to conquest, the People Israel send over a delegation of spies, who, upon return, share a mixed review. 10 of the 12 give it a ‘thumbs down’: the land is good, but the indigenous people are bad news. There are, in fact, giants, waiting in Canaan. Or so, at least some English translations, while most refrain from translating the Hebrew word and retain the original - Nephilim. A closer look at this unique word unfolds a bizarre and obscure legend, where Sinai becomes the roaming ground of creatures as literally ‘fabled’ as Shrek. Well, maybe we don’t get ogres in the Torah, but an extinct species that has been identified and interpreted as either fallen angels, supermen, or aliens (!) - shows up in what biblical scholar E. Cassuto described as ‘one of the most puzzling passages in the Bible.’

The book of Wilderness, chapter 13, verse 23 describes the report of the returning spies – this is the King James Bible version:
‘And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.’

The Pseudo Jonathan Aramaic translation goes a step further, attributing behavioral ways and racial origins: ‘…and all the people who are in the land are giants, masters of evil ways, of the race of the giants.’

The word ‘Nephhilim’ rarely occurs in the Bible, probably stemming from the primitive Semitic root NFL -‘to fall down’ - in a great variety of applications such as – ‘fallen’, ‘dropped’ or even ‘inferior’, or ‘aborted’.

Where have these giants fallen from? And/or is this a way of saying they are now extinct? Aborted experiments? Genesis 6:2 gives a clue – describing another mythic mystery - the union of the ‘sons of God with the daughters of men’ a union leading to a new race of hybrids – the original Nephillim. The Aramaic translation over there suggests this radical version: ‘the sons of God are the angels known as Shmachzai and Azaael, who have fallen from heaven, and descended in those days upon the earth.’ Fallen angles? They do not show up explicitly in the Torah, but do appear in the Judaic oral tradition, and by the time Christian theology comes around the myth of ‘renegade angels’ that defy God and fall down to earth becomes a very popular story. In fact, it becomes more than just a story – it becomes a way to explain evil on earth – some of us are children of Eve and Adam, but some – according to this narrative – are the children of a different and dark union, the descendents of the Nephillim, who are of the seed of bad angels.

Back to our story: Giants or angels, and according to some conspiracy theorists – aliens who ‘fell’ from the sky – are what the spies see when the view their new reality in Canaan. Either way, they are terrified – and see themselves as insignificant insects in the sight of their potential enemies. Were there real giants there? Sons of evil angels? Giant sculptures that the desert dwellers mistook for people? Or is this an exaggerated report from a group of leaders who are afraid of the future and prefer to cling to the past?
Perhaps this story reflects the way we view ‘other’ and chart our future journeys into unknown territories. When are opponents projected upon to become giant threats when perhaps all they present is simply a new paradigm?

This reminds us of the quote attributed to Bernard of Charters, a 12th century monk - ‘We are like dwarfs standing upon the shoulders of giants, and so able to see more and see farther than the ancients."

As each of us journeys towards our version of a Promised Land – who or what are the giants that await? Or are we sitting on their shoulders??

Shabbat shalom!

Big Mouth

Verse per verse: The Weekly Storah

By Lauviticus

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One of the appealing built-in features of Judaic thought is that the Divine, known colloquially as God, has no corporal form: God is an idea: abstract, meta-physical, impossible for accurate depiction. Funny thing is, if you read the Torah in its original Hebrew, God is very physical: has a hand, a nose, a behind – and very clearly in this week’s Episode ‘B’halot’cha ’ – a mouth, presumably big. But you wouldn’t know this seemingly ‘pagan’ concept from any of the translations into other languages. Consistently, and for thousands of years, translators have worked hard to hide this notion of the literally oral transmission of revelation, opting for abstract terms that mask the original. More is concealed here than just a word.

The Book of ‘In the Wilderness’, chapter nine, verse twenty three, for instance, narrates the procedure by which the people Israel went about the ongoing business of wandering in the desert – this is the King James version: ‘At the commandment of the LORD they rested in the tents, and at the commandment of the LORD they journeyed…’

The word ‘commandment’ translates the original Hebrew word ‘pi’ – ‘mouth’ (pronounced like the letter ‘P’). This translation is too radical for modern translators, as, for instance the Artscroll Torah translates this as ‘According to the word’, or the Fox version is ‘By order’. The classic Aramaic translation Jonathan Ben Uzziel extends the image in a very tantalizing and complex way: ‘By the mouth of the Word of the Lord they encamped’.

How complex the business of transmitting (or translating) the sacred wisdom – so much that such a rich image is concealed to be covered up by veils and metaphors. This is a fascinating example of how evolution is so much part of theology, philosophy – and translations, each influencing the other.

The interesting thing about the word ‘pi’ is that it doesn’t only mean ‘mouth’ but also ‘edge’ as in ‘the edge of a sword’. ‘The mouth of the sword’ is not idiom that exists in English, but it does repeat, dripping with blood, throughout the Torah – and the double edge of this word’s multiple meaning was probably not lost on the original Tellers and listeners of Torah. God’s word = lethal weapon.

Oy. To soften this sharp image, the next passage in the Torah goes musical - linking the divine command not to war – but to the blast of trumpets. Chapter 10 describes how the people Israel knew when to pack and when to park - they heard the blast of two ceremonial sliver trumpets. This ancient and elaborate public-address system was conducted by the Levites who were (supposedly) signaled by Moses – who got the OK from the very mouth of God. And since you gotta use your mouth to blow a trumpet, we like to imagine that good folks of the ancient People Israel, no theolgicans, happily assumed that God sounds like a trumpet, delivering them their marching orders. It’s a stretch – but not really. Surely music, symbolized here by the trumpets, is an element that gets us going on or settling down – markers on our journeys. From shofar to Oboe and all in between - music is one of the more powerful paths we have to savor the sacred, to hear the divine.

‘pi’ as ‘word’, ‘mouth’, or ‘sword’ is merely a portal, yet another opening into a vast wilderness of wandering and wondering, which still goes on, and is to be continued…

Shabbat Shalom

Heal the Zeal

Verse per verse: The Weekly Storah

By Lauviticus

Onwards thru Sinai march the twelve tribes of Israel, to each a flag, an emblem, an appointed leader. This sacred geometry, a conquering army on its way to a promised land, is described in the opening chapters of the fourth book of Torah, made complete by the presence of a unifying center: The Divine, represented by the Ark of the Covenant, the 'black box' of the people. Carrying and maintaining the ark are the hallowed members of the thirteenth tribe – Levi, taking care of business, i.e. the Tabernacle. All seems to be, literally, 'in order' in this new Mosaic theocracy on the move, but as soon as the Book of Wilderness ends its fourth chapter with a detailed description of each Levites' task list, it surprisingly leaves the serene scenes of the sacred center and goes south - right to the frayed fringes of camp, where order limps, and human messiness challenges the conceits of harmony.

Chapter 5, chanted this coming week in synagogues near you as part of the weekly Torah episode 'Naso', reports on four possible social situations that threaten the wellbeing of civilized society. Crudely translated, the four categories include lepers, criminals, monks - and 'wayward' wives. Seemingly random, these four categories reflect different deviations from the 'normal order of things' – through disease, crime, religious zeal, or sexual drive. All four suggest a possible shake-up of the delicate balance between order and chaos, culture and nature- a tension familiar to our modern societies and personal lives as it was to the reality of Moses and his often wayward people.


Our focus this week is, no surprise, the wayward and deviant – that mysterious woman: Did she or did she not have an affair? What's the story? Then there's the husband, suspicious but with no proof, having a 'fit of jealousy'. What to do? Addressing this potential soap opera, Moses, speaking for the Lord, doesn't say 'If this happens' – he says 'when this will happen'. Frank and realistic, he goes on to describe a complex procedure for alleviation of jealousy, addressing the timeless and all too human tensions between the domestic and the erotic. Analyzed through Humanistic and Feminist lenses, this weird text can certainly be seen as an intolerable, archaic relic. But, like many other biblical passages, this text has also been widely read as mythic allegory- the deviant 'feminine' representing the people Israel, the betrayed 'masculine' is Israel's God, and the lover as any of the 'other' idols, identities and foreign cultures favored so by endless generations of assimilating Jews. To read this text as literal legalism upholds a painful patriarchal reality where woman is property and sexuality merely a duty. The allegorical, mythic re-readings, on the other hand, free up some breathing space for a glimpse into deeper-than-surface implied meaning, hinting at our personal and perennial struggles with the boundaries of Eros.

The book says thus:

'Any man whose wife may stray and betray his trust…and it is a secret, and she is defiled, and there are no witnesses, and she is not apprehended - it is then that a spirit of jealousy may come over that man…' (12:14-15)



The English word 'spirit' as in 'spirit of jealousy' is based here on the Hebrew word 'Ruach' – meaning either a physical 'wind' or a metaphysical 'spirit'. Other translators choose 'fit of jealousy', 'a jealous rage', or 'jealous storm' to present this violent picture. Remember Othello? Not unlike an Opera, this imaginary husband's jealousy has larger than life proportions, possibly super human. The word 'Ruach' is loaded - appearing here and previously at the very beginning of Genesis - as the very wind or spirit of God hovering over the nascent planet.



To complicate things further - the Hebrew word used here for 'jealousy', such as that of a jealous lover or husband is 'KINAA ' the very word used in the Torah to describe religious zeal- known today as 'fundamentalism'. Even in English the words 'jealousy' and 'zealotry' come from the same Greek root – meaning 'fermentation', or 'yeast'.



The concept of a 'spirit of jealousy' as a metaphysical, fuming wind is one of the reasons this text is often read as metaphor for divine wrath, or, more significantly, as the type of zealotry assumed and experienced by men on behalf of their God. From the late Jerry Falwell to the new Al Queida forces in Lebanon, and the rising ranks of right wing Zionist rabbis in Israel - zeal as a tool of righteous anger is certainly no obscure phenomena.


So what are we to do, in this age of excessive religious zealotry, with a verse about an allegorical God who is like a jealous husband whose rage festers like rising bread?


Options include: A. avoiding this painful verse and chapter altogether, B. dismissing it as yet another archaic chauvinistic bit of judeo literary history, C. read it as mythic commentary, beckoning a redemptive closer read, or D. Listen closely to the wind as it waves the flags and penetrates the rank and file of the marching tribes; a wild wind of jealousy, zeal, passion and possible, painful, inevitable change, the product of every necessary deviation. Option E. – all of the above. Option F. - anyone??


To be continued.. Shabbat shalom.

The Wild Side

Verse per verse: The Weekly Storah

By Lauviticus

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This week we are crossing over into the fourth book of Moses, leaving Leviticus behind and venturing upon the Wilderness which is Sinai. The fourth book is known in English as 'Numbers' - due to the population census that happens in the first few chapters, but this book is less about bureaucracy and more about existence on the wild side of life.
The book's Hebrew name is Ba'Midbar – literally translated as 'in the wilderness' that geographical AND mythic landscape sometimes translated as 'desert' or 'wasteland'. The Hebrew meaning of the word 'midbar', somewhat lost in translation conceals dunes and expanses of deeper meanings, turning a physical location into a metaphysical truth.

A medieval Jewish collection of legends called Simon's Satchel writes:
'As the wilderness is endless – so are the teachings of Torah endless.' Thus, as many others have suggested, the very notion of engaging with a sacred text and the notion of seeking divine revelation is deeply linked to the very location of this historic revelation – the wilderness of Sinai. Why does one have to venture out to the wild in order to encounter the mystery? Perhaps it is because the emptiness of the expanses opens up a possible portal for higher, or deeper, listening. The Torah was not revealed in the Promised Land, but rather, poignantly, in the middle of nowhere. Where in your life does this principle hold true? (and we don't just mean turning off a highway to walk quietly, or turning off a cellphone to be fully present, but those are good places to start.)

The word MIDBAR originates from DBR, a primitive Semitic root meaning 'to speak;' but also and in a more destructive sense – 'to subdue' or 'disperse'. This is the same root of the word 'Commandment'-as in the 'ten commandments' and also the most popular word in the Torah – 'He spoke' as in 'God spoke to Moses'. In its warfare context the word is used to describe the annihilation of enemies, and in Modern Hebrew it is the word used to describe the fight against disease or the fumigation of bugs. Somehow the power of the word is such that it is the very root of constructing or deconstructing reality, and somehow, as our dictionary suggest, the word midbar is intimately linked with the word dabar---space becomes speech.

The fourth book of Moses describes the bulk of the wandering in Sinai, over thirty years of survival in a great wilderness, many deaths, and many miraculous moments. As we cross the threshold into this reality, on the eve of Shavuot – the holiday commemorating the revelation at Sinai, Lauviticus would like to invite us all to pause and take a deep breath of desert air. What awaits us on the wild side? Where, in our urban modern lives, is the space that beckons for sacred listening and inspirational speech? Let's take a walk on this wild side, if only safely through the weekly telling of the wanderings of our ancestors.
We begin the journey and end with a quote from a contemporary seeker of revelation:

"I am here not only to evade for a while the clamor and filth and confusion of the cultural apparatus but also to confront, immediately and directly if it's possible, the bare bones of existence, the elemental and fundamental, the bedrock which sustains us. " (From 'Desert Solitaire' by Edward Abbey)

Shabbat shalom!

PS - Speaking of crying out in the wilderness - Lauviticus is VERY CURIOUS - are you reading this? listening to the audio? ANYBODY OUT THERE IN THE WILDERNESS? please take a few seconds to let us know.
Your feedback is critical and very much appreciated. Find us at:
lauviticus@storahtelling.org

Have A Blast!


Verse per verse: The Weekly Storah

By Lauviticus

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This coming Sabbath will bid Leviticus farewell, until next year, as smoke trails off the altar into the vast wilderness which is Sinai. The combined Torah portions of ‘B’har-Bechuokotai’ conclude this perplexing book, complete with rules and regulations that defy our modern sensibilities; divine demands that have challenged countless generations to find relevant meaning in a discontinued sacrificial system. Mystics and sages have translated and interpreted Leviticus in ways that attempt to make rhyme or reason, but this week, an important Biblical law becomes the domain of the economists and environmentalists among us - ideologists of sustainable living for planetary survival. The law in question is that of the Jubilee - an often lost- in-translation concept that is one of the most audacious and utopian social reforms to have emerged from the Bible. So audacious in fact that is most likely sci-fi and never really happened. Fact of fiction – it is still a compelling case for healthy living and a great example of biblical translation out on a major limb.

The basics: grounded in the notion that a healthy lifestyle calls for a balance between ‘doing’ and ‘being’ the Bible calls for eternal rhythms revolving in cycles of seven. It starts with the Sabbath - every seventh day is dedicated to rest, expanding to the Sabbatical - every seventh year, in which the earth herself rests, and finally, to the Jubilee – the culmination of seven cycles of seven years– the fiftieth year of complete rest for all. It’s a great concept and is even engraved on the liberty bell in Philadelphia. But where does this word ‘Jubilee’ come from?

Lev. 25:10 ‘And you shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout the land unto all the inhabitants thereof; it shall be a jubilee unto you’. The Hebrew for Jubilee is YOVEL – and it’s no coincidence that they sound the same. While the Fox translation renders ‘yovel’ as ‘Home-bringing’ and the Greek translation of Torah used the term ‘release’, something gets lost in the primal reality of this ritual. The word Yovel may have meant ‘ram’ as in the animal – and by extension, also meant ‘the ram’s horn’ as in – the Shofar. The Fiftieth year was ushered in on the Day of Atonement to the blast of the ram’s horn, thus lending the entire year its name, both practical and symbolic. So while the ultimate derivation of the word jubilee is disputed, it’s interesting that the very notion of liberty and rest stems from an obscure musical moment. The sound of the Shofar, according to Kabalistic views, is the very sound of the Divine – a hollow carving through time and space. Amazing to think that the original Fiftieth year was known for precisely this concept, now lost in translation. Interesting also to note how this verse made it onto a bell – a modern version of a ram’s horn – a musical ritual intended to announce, celebrate and – Jubilate – another derivative of this word, Jubilee.

While we don’t have the Jubilee concept for global rest in practice, we do have the 50th night of the Seven Week count towards Revelation at Sinai. This coming Shavuot, Lauviticus invites you to ring the bells, blast the horns, and contemplate where in your life is the need and ability to carve out space and time for divine rest – a divine blast.

The Day After


Verse per verse: The Weekly Storah

By Lauviticus

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Some biblical words, like, say, 'abomination' carry great emotional baggage and cause social revolutions. But there are some words that are rather technical but have actually caused full-on religious schism. This week's Torah episode, entitled ' Emor', contains one such word, seemingly simple, surprisingly complex. The word is 'Sabbath' but it is NOT just any Sabbath. The historical schism in question, 2,000 years old, stems from two different ways of determining the context for this particular Sabbath, resulting in two different Jewish calendars, and two opposing doctrines dealing with biblical translation/interpretation. Is the Bible literal or not? How open is it to human analysis and adaptation? This IS the stuff religious wars are made of, then and now.

The context for this problematic 'Sabbath' is the instruction to count fifty days from Passover to Shavuot, from the Exodus to the Revelation at Sinai. But when do you start counting exactly? In the late Second Temple era, the Pharisees went against the Sadducees in determining this crucial date. At the time, these two views represented the two main sects of Judaism. Today, the debate is no longer an issue, the Pharisees won – but there is something about this controversy that it both timeless and timely.

Leviticus chapter 23, verse 15 reads:

'And from the day on which you bring the sheaf of elevation offering---the day after the sabbath---you shall count off seven weeks. ( Etz Chayyim)

The 'sheaf of elevation offering' is known as the Omer, and the counting of the seven weeks, leading to the 50th night, usually begins right at Passover. The word 'Sabbath' according to the current understanding refers to the First Day of Passover– not to the Sabbath that falls during the Passover week. In this context the word 'Sabbath' means 'Holy Day' – not necessarily 'Seventh Day'. The countdown to Sinai begins, according to this reading, favored by the Pharisees, on the day following the Seder.

In accordance with this view, the Orthodox Artscroll Torah translates this verse as:

You shall count for yourselves---from the morrow of the rest day when you bring the Omer of the waiving---seven weeks; they shall be complete.

But the Sadducees liked to read the Torah literally, and insisted that the word 'Sabbath' does not mean 'holy day' but rather what it usually means – 'the seventh day'. According to this system, the counting of the Omer begins on the first Sunday during Passover week. This of course results in a different date for the celebration of Shavuot, and in accusations of heresy, on both sides of the debate.

The interpretation of this word became one of the major points of controversy between the two sects. While the Sadducees controlled the High Priesthood, the Pharisees controlled the judicial courts and intellectual leadership. Eventually, the Temple burnt, and the Pharisees, known also as the Rabbis or the Sages, took over the leadership. An interpretive reading of Bible, based on the oral tradition, prevailed, and has been the backbone of Jewish scholarship, and strife, ever since.

We're tempted to endorse the post modern approval of multiplicity and pluralism, imagining a reality where neighbors celebrate the same holiday on two different dates and it's not a big deal. But there are, of course, the down sides to this approach, where diversity becomes anarchy. Modern Jews don't argue about when Shavuot occurs these days, but how are the residues of this ancient debate still shaping and shaking our attempts at being a united people, once again on the road to Sinai? Who are the current day 'literal' readers of Scripture and where are the fighters for an ongoing human understanding of the ancient revelations? The answers to those questions are not so simple – and we'd love your thoughts.

The countdown to Sinai continues.

Taboo or not Taboo?


Verse per verse: The Weekly Storah

By Lauviticus

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Last week’s Torah episode beckoned us to probe the darker side of life, where illness and loneliness demand of us humans to overcome fear and embrace the divine image inside all. This week – this challenging journey continues, as Leviticus continues to outline a collage of laws, including the do’s and don’ts of sexual conduct. Achrei Mot-Kedoshim is another double portion, cramming in not only the list of taboos, but also the rituals of the Day of Atonement, the way to treat a senior citizen, and other useful rules for kosher civic behavior . We were tempted to discuss bestiality, but thanks to Governor Spitzer, who JUST THIS MORNING announced his intention to seriously pursue the legalization of Gay Marriage in the State of New York, we’re going with the next best thing – the taboo oddly known as Sodomy.

OK, NEVERMIND how Sodomy came to describe homosexual relations – this is a curious enough fact that we reserve for another time. What interests us is the key word that is used to describe the problem that the Biblical authors had with these type of relations – a word that got tossed around a lot in the past years and months – especially in Conservative Jewish circles. The word is TOEVA, often translated as ‘abomination’, and though it appears throughout the Bible in multiple contexts, it is this week’s mention that usually draws the biggest crowds:

Leviticus 18:22

‘You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination.’

Most translators use ‘abomination’, while some use ‘abhorrence’, ‘an abhorrent thing’, ‘disgusting’, or ‘un-natural’. The Fox translation adds an exclamation mark – ‘abomination!’ (he does that with all sexual offenses, maybe it heightens the drama.)

Richard Friedman chooses to translate Toeva as ‘an offensive thing’, and in his translators notes adds: “in the present state of knowledge concerning homosexuality, it is difficult to justify its prohibition in the Torah…In my own view… it is not an ‘offensive thing’. “



Friedman is, thankfully, not alone in voicing this opinion, and very recently the Conservative Movement boldly chose to embrace this view as well, allowing the ordination of LGBT rabbis. But anyone reading carefully reading the lengthy legalistic that led to this historical decision cannot avoid the complex tightrope that the rabbis are walking while trying to juggle the ancient concept of ‘Toeva’ with the contemporary sensibility to human dignity. Amazingly, it really comes down to that one word and how it can be translated and understood in modern times.

Elsewhere in the Torah, Toeva appears in the context of behavior that is foreign and therefore suspicious to local customs and tastes. Earlier in Genesis, for instance, Joseph explains to his brothers how their way of making a living as shepards is an Egyptian social taboo . It is a TOEVA, he says to them – a loathsome, or disgusting, or abominable local custom.

Toeva is clearly a relative term, varying according to human perceptions. Challenging though this is to a literal reading of Torah as perennial truth, it is a compelling invitation for us to not only translate, but also to dig deeper in our quest for justice and new meaning. Rabbi Elliot Dorf, one of the active voices behind the Conservative movement’s decision was quotes as saying: ‘We have to interpret God’s will in our time.’

Will Spitzer pass the vote? Perhaps not just yet, but at least for many more around the world and at least in New York state,, what was once an abomination is realized more as simply another sacred way of life.