It is my belief that we are born endowed with much of the learning, sensitivity and proclivitys of those who have gone before, both good and bad. Some are more evolved "old souls",who tend to 'do justly and love mercy". Others, neither at 13 or 70 'get it' early on unless,perhaps when a tragedy occurs, it causes them to reevaluate prioritys or intimations of their own death intercede.
(1) I read the text from Gen 8:21 as saying that we become "bad to the bone" around Bar Mitzvah age--just the opposite of the Midrashic interpretation you shared.
(2) Also, 8:21 would have us believe that humankind is (solely?) responsible for the Flood; a close read of 6:12-13 implies that man is only part of the problem. -----------------------------------------------
(1) 8:21 - "...YHWH said in His heart: I will never curse the soil again on humankind's account, since what the human heart forms is evil from its youth; I will never again strike down all living things as I have done..." [Source: Everett Fox, The Five Books of Moses; p.42]
To me, the text "from its youth" can be read 2 ways: a) from an early age or birth as Rashi notes, or b) from adolescence. Not to be unduly influenced by the behavior of Bar Mitzvah age boys who choose to engage in mischief during their friend's Bar Mitzvah... :) ...but, I am tempted to read this as evil from adolescence.
Of course, if one consults George Thorogood's text, he maintains he was "bad to the bone" from the day he was born. His illustrations of his bad-ness, though, seem to have clear post-puberty properties... :) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7VsoxT_FUY
I'll need a little help this Shabbat with min'urav--whether it relates to adolescent youth or to the verb to shake as used by Rashi. http://www.chabad.org/library/bible_cdo/aid/8172/showrashi/true
Personally, setting the Biblical text aside, like Judy, I believe man is born with an accumulation of genetic factors. I do not believe evil is innate. I think it is sometimes acquired.
(2) Genesis 6:12-13 seems explicit in attributing the ruin of the earth to "all flesh", not just to humankind. Rashi interprets "all flesh" to encompass animals in addition to humans. Somehow by Chapter 8, as we see above in 8:21, humankind takes the fall.
6:12 - "...all flesh had ruined its way upon the earth." 6:13 - "...the earth is filled with wrong doing through them [all flesh]; here I am about to bring-ruin upon them, along with the earth." [Source: Everett Fox, The Five Books of Moses; p.35]
It is my belief that we are born endowed with much of the learning, sensitivity and proclivitys of those who have gone before, both good and bad. Some are more evolved "old souls",who tend to 'do justly and love mercy".
ReplyDeleteOthers, neither at 13 or 70 'get it' early on unless,perhaps when a tragedy occurs, it causes them to reevaluate prioritys or
intimations of their own death intercede.
I have 2 observations:
ReplyDelete(1) I read the text from Gen 8:21 as saying that we become "bad to the bone" around Bar Mitzvah age--just the opposite of the Midrashic interpretation you shared.
(2) Also, 8:21 would have us believe that humankind is (solely?) responsible for the Flood; a close read of 6:12-13 implies that man is only part of the problem.
-----------------------------------------------
(1) 8:21 - "...YHWH said in His heart: I will never curse the soil again on humankind's account, since what the human heart forms is evil from its youth; I will never again strike down all living things as I have done..." [Source: Everett Fox, The Five Books of Moses; p.42]
To me, the text "from its youth" can be read 2 ways: a) from an early age or birth as Rashi notes, or b) from adolescence. Not to be unduly influenced by the behavior of Bar Mitzvah age boys who choose to engage in mischief during their friend's Bar Mitzvah... :) ...but, I am tempted to read this as evil from adolescence.
Of course, if one consults George Thorogood's text, he maintains he was "bad to the bone" from the day he was born. His illustrations of his bad-ness, though, seem to have clear post-puberty properties... :) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7VsoxT_FUY
I'll need a little help this Shabbat with min'urav--whether it relates to adolescent youth or to the verb to shake as used by Rashi. http://www.chabad.org/library/bible_cdo/aid/8172/showrashi/true
Personally, setting the Biblical text aside, like Judy, I believe man is born with an accumulation of genetic factors. I do not believe evil is innate. I think it is sometimes acquired.
(2) Genesis 6:12-13 seems explicit in attributing the ruin of the earth to "all flesh", not just to humankind. Rashi interprets "all flesh" to encompass animals in addition to humans. Somehow by Chapter 8, as we see above in 8:21, humankind takes the fall.
6:12 - "...all flesh had ruined its way upon the earth."
6:13 - "...the earth is filled with wrong doing through them [all flesh]; here I am about to bring-ruin upon them, along with the earth." [Source: Everett Fox, The Five Books of Moses; p.35]