Rabbi Blake,
That you can preface so many words with these, "This Myth, this Master Story, has inspired countless generations," when describing the Exodus out of Egypt, shows a complete disregard of the words of our Leaders, Prophets, Judges, sages of the Mishnah, of the Talmud, Midrash, Books of Codes of Law, and of all those prolific authors who wrote mountains of books regarding The Book - The Torah. At least make the statement with a little bit of restraint, with a little humility - on a day of thanksgiving.-- With respect, (1) no denigration of our sacred Scripture is intended by the use of the word "Myth." As I endeavor to make clear in my sermon, all civilizations have their cherished "Master Stories." Myths are essential tools by which cultures and religions make sense of their origins, explain their place in the world, and give expression to their innermost values. I do fully expect that some readers will view my presentation of Scripture as "literature," let alone as capital-M "Myth" or "Master Story" with ruffled feathers, calling my words audacious. But, again, in academic circles, a historical-critical and literary approach to the Bible is buttressed by two centuries of scholarship. All the more so on Thanksgiving should we be willing to look unflinchingly at the formative stories of our people.
Who would you cite for reference for your wild assertion? I can only guess they are non-Jewish historians or some rather recent rabbis, who never spent a day in yeshiva studying The Torah, and then they too will have used non-Jewish sources for this wild assertion.Far from it! Most of the scholars who have been most formative in my understanding of the Bible are rabbis and Jewish scholars, both living and long dead. Even as early as Abraham Ibn Ezra (12th C. Spain), you can find examples of classical Jewish exegetes attuned to the human authorship of the Torah. Baruch Spinoza was excommunicated, in part, for acknowledging this in 17th Century Holland. A slew of 19th Century scholars, both Jewish and Gentile, have made arguments that in any respectable academic environment are regarded as "airtight" when it comes to the authorship of the Hebrew Bible. Furthermore, I am indebted not only to Rabbi David Wolpe, but to 20th and 21st scholars like Richard Elliott Friedman, Nachum Sarna, Rabbi David H. Aaron, Ph.D., Michael Fishbane, Robert Alter, and James Kugel (the last of whom in this list is a professor at Harvard University and a faithfully practicing Orthodox Jew.) I highly commend to you Kugel's wonderful book, "How To Read the Bible" -- see www.jameskugel.com for details. I have read the great classical Rabbis, as well, from the Mishna and Tosefta to the Talmud and compendia of Midrash; from Maimonides to the Chasidim. I read these texts, too, with a critical eye. You owe it to yourself not only to read the ancient sources but to study some modern scholarship by respected Jewish academicians before you tear apart their arguments. Otherwise you are only arguing from a position of ignorance.
Why wild? Why is it, then, that almost all of Western civilized people (as well as billions in Asia) regard our Bible as the core of their beliefs? How did it, no, how COULD it have come about, that millions and millions of people, Jew and Gentile, have come to believe in what the Torah stands for, so much so that until today it is the most widely distributed book in the entire world? HOW DIS THAT COME ABOUT?
Because it started with a myth?? People buy into myths so readily? Does an entire generation, generation after generation, for centuries and millennia, of Jews and Gentiles, buy into a myth for myth's sake?I am sorry, but the argument you offer here makes absolutely no sense to me. You are basically saying, "Because millions of people believe something to be Divinely authored, there's no way it could possibly have been authored by humans." You reason that widespread acceptance of a premise constitutes proof-positive of that premise's factuality. How absurd! Millions, probably billions, of people believe or have believed plenty of stuff that's factually untrue. Until Copernicus definitively proved them wrong, millions of people persisted in their belief that the sun revolved around the earth and not the other way around. Indeed, even after Copernicus' hypothesis was proved true once and for all, vast numbers of ignorant people insisted on their rightness. Or consider this: surely hundreds of millions of Christians believe that THEIR Scriptural tradition--they call it the "New Testament" is also the product of Divine Revelation. As a Jew, you necessarily reject this premise; you do not believe that the Gospels, Acts, and the Epistles of Paul are "true" in the same way you view the TaNaKH and, especially, the Pentateuch. Therefore, I conjecture, you believe that millions upon millions of the worlds' Christians believe in a falsehood (the divinity of Jesus as the Christ) based on their reading of their own "Master Story." You would surely accept the precept that just because millions of Christians believe something to be true, that doesn't make it true -- would you not?
The real reason that millions of people "buy into a myth" is because the Master Story told in the Hebrew Bible is an inspiring and inspired story, in places a work of literary genius, with timeless lessons and laws that have bettered human civilization, both in the time they were composed and throughout the ages. Again, to call a text a Myth is not to denigrate it; it is to praise it! Furthermore, religious institutions and authority figures throughout history have made it their own vested interest to present their own Holy Writ as the alleged "Word of God." By so doing, authorities and religious institutions have acted to shore up their own influence and power.
I would go into the etiology of this astounding phenomenon, only not now. Now I just want to make the point I started out with - that a more open-minded approach would be appropriate, I believe, if it is coming from the pulpit where your convictions can influence many young and old within your sphere of influence and responsibility. That is to say, being that your assertion flies in the face of so many who accept the tradition for accuracy, surely you could find an angle that leaves this aspect open for at least some discussion, rather than shutting it down outright.The bottom line is this: just because you DON'T WANT TO BELIEVE that something is true doesn't mean that it isn't! Lots of people hate the IDEA that our sacred texts are of human origin, but that doesn't mean that they aren't. You have not given one specific response to the actual evidence demonstrating that the Bible stories are not necessarily historical, certainly not accurate to the exact way the Bible relates its own sense of history. In your view, is archaeological evidence simply irrelevant to our study of Biblical history? Should it be viewed with skepticism or tossed out when it patently conflicts with the Biblical record? The great Maimonides advised that we must accept truth from whatever source it comes. When science or philosophy led Maimonides to a certain conclusion, he believed that our understanding/interpretation of Scripture must necessarily change, conforming to new scientific knowledge.
A final thought: I'm eager to influence young and old within my "sphere of influence and responsibility." One of my heroes, Rabbi Abraham Geiger (1810-1874) wrote passionately on the need to remove the veil of ignorance about the origins of Scripture from adults and children alike. He wrote in a letter to a friend (dated 1836):
“The course to be taken, my dear fellow, is that of critical study; the critical study of individual laws, the critical examination of individual documents--this is what we must strive for. The Talmud, and the Bible, too, that collection of books, most of them so splendid and uplifting, perhaps the most exalting of all literature of human authorship, can no longer be viewed as of Divine origin…. For the love of Heaven, how much longer can we continue this deceit, to expound the stories of the Bible from the pulpits over and over again as actual historical happenings, to accept as supernatural events of world import stories which we ourselves have relegated to the realm of legend, and to derive teachings from them or, at least, to use them as the basis for sermons and texts? How much longer will we continue to pervert the spirit of the child with these tales that distort the natural good sense of tender youth?” (Abraham Geiger & Liberal Judaism: The Challenge of the Nineteenth Century, compiled with a biographical introduction by Max Wiener, translation from the German by Ernst J. Schlochauer. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society of America, 1962, p. 84).
I believe it is my responsibility for us not to stuff fairy tales down our children's throats; too many of them will grow up to be people of intellectual acuity and deep learning, but will reject Judaism on the grounds that the Bible does not resonate for them as a plausible historical actuality. When, like the Bible's Joseph, they are permitted to utilize their own vision, intellectual acumen, and interpretive abilities to understand the deeper, often metaphorical or symbolic Truth contained in our holy writ, their relationship with the Bible is often redeemed for great good and blessing. Helping cultivate in other learners--young and old--that kind of positive relationship with our sacred texts is, I believe, a mission that lies at the very heart of my work as a rabbi.
May every day be for us a day of thanksgiving.- November 25, 2010 11:32 PM
Friday, November 26, 2010
Vayeshev/A Response
Dear Friends,
It's a little before Shabbat here in New York to which I have just returned after a lovely Thanksgiving celebration with my family in New England. I received a response to my ecumenical Thanksgiving sermon to which I would like to respond in some detail by way of a word about Parashat Vayeshev which we will examine tomorrow morning at Torah Study (usual time, usual place!).
Parashat Vayeshev introduces us to the narrative of Joseph, the Bible's great interpreter of dreams. The narrative unfolds in a quasi-chiastic structure of three pairs of dreams in which the second dream of each pair usually functions to confirm the first....
a. Joseph dreams (of domination of his family): first of sheaves of wheat, then of stars and celestial bodies;
b. The Baker's & Butler's dreams: of loaves of bread, then of cups of wine;
c. The Baker's & Butler's dreams (symbolizing their fates of doom or release) are fulfilled;
d. The Pharaoh's dreams: of cows, then of ears corn;
e. The Pharaoh's dreams (symbolizing plenty and then famine) are fulfilled;
f. Joseph's original dreams of rulership are fulfilled.
Thus: a corresponds with f; b corresponds with c; d corresponds with e.
Further: every dream-pair includes one element of GRAIN (wheat, bread, corn), the staff of life, which is the central motif of the Joseph narrative as it represents the agent that differentiates between life and death, national fortune and national catastrophe, and ultimately freedom and national sovereignty vs. slavery/foreign domination....
The character of Joseph is celebrated for two principal qualities: his visionary quality (in that he dreams big dreams and also "sees" how to transform dreams into reality) and in his acuity as a dream-interpreter, understanding that each dream is a symbol. Pharaoh's "cows" or "ears of corn" are really years; Joseph's stars and moon are really family members, and so forth.
This is an elaborate way of teaching that the Biblical mind was acutely attuned to symbolism and metaphor. So much of the Biblical literature--like the dreams in the Joseph story--is meant for the reader/interpreter to understand as symbol or metaphor, NOT LITERALLY. All sophisticated literature demands of its readers a sensitivity to the symbolic. In large measure, it is precisely this quality that elevates a book to the status of celebrated literature.
Knowing this perspective will be helpful as you read the way in which I respond to a person who took the time and thoughtfulness to respond to another recent posting. Here you go:
May the blessings of Thanksgiving continue in our midst! For starters, I give thanks for your open exchange of ideas.
Shabbat Shalom!
Rabbi Jonathan Blake
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
One could say that it is our responsibility to teach our children fairy tales and myths - but also to teach them to think critically about the nature of these things and their function in our lives. Of course lots of people buy into Master Stories so readily: They strengthen our identity, our connectedness to others in community, and our values. But if we fail to think critically about their nature and function, we mistake them for facts. And then, when actual facts contradict our Master Stories, all of that wonderfulness they bring us goes down the drain. There is a tragic poverty in the your critic's view, one that I would suggest threatens his or her Judaism, because the issue has been framed the wrong way. What is particularly tragic about this view from a Jewish perspective is that the tradition of Jewish exegesis, even as it relates to the text with the same reverence your commenter holds, does not hesitate to play and change and update in profoundly creative ways - something that could not be done were it viewed as cold, hard fact the way your commenter does.
ReplyDeleteYour position is not unique. It was the prevalent mindset of most Jews just before the Hasmonean family tolerated it no more and thanks to these Maccabees we will celebrate the Hannukkah festival of lights. With oil, of course.
ReplyDeleteWith due respect to "in the vanguard," the problem that the Hasmonean family had was that idols were being placed in the Temple and naked wrestling was being promoted by the Hellenist Antiochus. NOT whether or not people felt that the Torah was the literal word of God instead of something that was eventually written down after years of oral transmissions.
ReplyDeleteBTW -- the Hasmonean family was a TERRIBLE ruling/priestly family dynasty.
How is it that if the Torah has been around since Moses' time that the oldest existing Torah only dates from around 200BCE? When the Jews were exiled into Babylonia, they maintained everything about their faith, and it became the breeding ground for the Babylonian Talmud. So there's no way that the Torahs, if they existed, wouldn't have been transported with them and old Genizahs located either there or in Israel.
The fact is that it was cobbled together AFTER the Israelites returned from exile, and not as one whole that was always the one word of God.
As I've said in previous postings, what kind of God needs animal sacrifices (a primitive worship form of primitive peoples worldwide), would create gays and lesbians (and yes, it IS innate)yet deny them the ability to enjoy intimate relationships, demand that the Israelites commit genocide, or treat lepers or others with skin ailments that He created as being "ritually unclean"?
Or give a Torah to Moses that includes the complete story of Moses' death?
Etc. Etc.
Some parts may have some basis in truth, but most are our familial myths, complete with exaggeration and fiction, just as are the stories about the time Great Grandpa did so and so ...
Jonathan is right.
How convenient for you to regard much of our history as mythical. The main reason most probably for this startegy is, were you to explore in depth the Torah or Talmudic literature, you'd really be obligating yourself thereby to take on new committments you would never want to take on in the first place, were it to reveal that the facts are in fact true - so how convenient to cast the whole past into a mythology and then settle back and now, at your leisure, without stressing yourself out with impositions, look for "interesting" or "meaningful" metaphors.
ReplyDeleteWhere for you does myth stop and history begin? Is the story of Hannukkah also a myth - or is that part of history already real for you? Perhaps, if it's real to you, we can go further back and ask if the story of Purim is also real to you, or myth.
Deny the Jewish heritage's tie to divinity and regard Torah and the other Holy Books of Tanach, and all of the Oral Tradition as some "good books" written by some "wise" people, implying the whole thing is artifactual, and you remove any burden of self-imposition based on truth. You can claim the prophecies therein were simply "smart" calculations that "some smart Jewish people" made, like the one that we will have a Jewish Holy Land to call our own - and the fact that it happened after millennia of scattered exile, why that's thanks to the U.N., not any divine providence, or some such silly, "ancient" notions. And the fact that the Jewish people outlast every other nation on earth, no matter the rivers of blood, no matter the houndings and exiles, and their small numbers, and persecutions from most countries (until today) - why that's not unnatural! Why invoke G-d for something so unpeculiar?
And - to back yourself up, to support your position, you have tons of facts; Only ALL these facts come from Gentile sources (for to bring sources from Talmud or religious authors would mean you'd have to learn them, and this already triggers in you the fear of commitment I referred to above), or from some Jewish secular sources - who derive THEIR sources from Gentiles too - for the same reason.
Do you, in fact, celebrate Hannukah? Why? Do you not see Hannukah as a war that was waged against the prevalent spirit that tried to diminsh the Jewish SPIRIT. Unlike Purim, wherein they tried to destroy Jews physically, Hannukah is a story of how Jews gained victory against those who wanted to destroy us - not physically - but spiritually, by tearing Jews away from their belief in the Holy Torah. It was a war against both Gentiles and Jewish Hellinists, who instigated and helped the Gentiles to this end - that, thank G-d, failed.
In the Vanguard,
ReplyDeleteDo you have a name? Let's speak using names. What are you afraid of? My name is Michael Kutzin. I have no fear in having a frank discussion. Why do you?
You consistently fail to address all of the problems with the Torah, and instead say that anyone who argues otherwise is relying on non-Jews and/or Jews who in turn rely on non-Jews. You ignore the host of authorities that Jonathan points to, as well as the efforts of Jewish scholars, scientists, historians, archeologists, anthropologists, etc.
And you are both in serious error, and frankly insulting to Jonathan, to argue that he knows nothing of the Talmud and other sources to which you point as your authority.
And reliance on subsequent books and writers doesn't solve your problem (I suppose you believe that God also gave Moses the oral law at Sinai -- not written because God and Moses were too busy to do so writing a scroll that told Moses exactly when and how he would die and what both of them would say during Moses's last moments). If the foundation is not solid, no matter how shiny and brilliant the material laid upon it, the building will collapse.
Relying on Talmud to prove the truth of the Torah makes no sense -- it's relying on the foundation of a Torah, written a couple of thousand years later than when the Torah was purporteldy given to Moses, and resolves issues therefrom.
Let us all agree to be respectful to each other, regardless of opinions. Best wishes, In the Vanguard, for a Happy Chanukah.
Rabbi Blake - First of all, happy Hanukah!
ReplyDeleteThere's a huge difference between the christian or muslim creeds and ours. Theirs derive from the so-called revelations to ONE individual or to a small group of men, whereas our Torah was given to an entire people, wherein the men between the ages of 20 to 60 numbered 600,000.
If Torah is a book of myths, then what purpose does it serve to call your place of gathering a "temple"? If it is merely to enhance a culture of good, call it a discussion lounge.
Do you not have prayer books therein? But then who do you pray to, if G-d is but a myth? What words do you chant before and after your speech? I really would like to know.
And when a festival comes along, such as Hanukah we now celebrate, what else do you add in prayers and thanksgiving? For if you relinquish the sanction of our sages, and do not use the words they codified for us in our prayer books for these holidays, then what is left to do in a temple? I suppose you also do not observe the lighting of Hanukah candles - as we observant Jews do, so what purpose does such a temple serve. I am utterly astonished and can't figure this out.
(Mr. Kutzin; Please don't mistaken any disagreement I have with Rabbi Blake as a lack of respect; Just as your disagreements with me are no sign of disrespect.)
Happy Chanukah to all! I'm enjoying this robust and vigorous debate and I take no umbrage at its tenor. Thank you for the care and concern, though.
ReplyDeleteFor what it's worth, a few clarifying points:
1. For the most part, I am in agreement with "in the vanguard" about the historicity of the Chanukah narrative. Some scholarship does suggest that the war was less a battle waged between the Seleucids and the Maccabees and more a Jewish CIVIL war in which the Seleucid king (unwisely) intervened (in favor of the Hellenists Jews). By the way, an idle conjecture: if the Hasmoneans were around today, I know they would resent and antagonize Reform Jews as has been proposed; they were apparently known for their intolerance not only of Gentile imperial power but also of Jews who did not meet their rigorous standards of belief and observance. However, I wonder aloud here if they might also be intolerant of "Modern Orthodoxy" as well, analogous to those Haredim in Israel who reject even (more liberal) Orthodox standards of Jewish status and so forth.... Just a conjecture.
2. Michael Kutzin is correct to underscore that much academic literature on the historicity (and non-historicity) of Biblical events has been pioneered by Jews, and that Jewish scholarship is the bedrock of my own learning and teaching. Read James Kugel and we'll then have more common ground on which to discuss this point.
3. I do not know why you would conclude that our Reform congregation would "relinquish the sanction of our sages and ... not use the words they codified for us..." unless of course you have not actually spent any or much time in a Reform congregation. The Reform Siddur, "Mishkan Tefillah" includes the full text of "Al Ha-Nisim," the prayer for Chanukah, and we will be offering it dutifully over the days of the Festival. In fact, the most recent (2007) iteration of the Reform Movement's official Siddur might surprise you for its fullness and faithfulness to the classical Siddur text.
4. Final point for today. Reform Jews can and do lead lives that are Jewishly rich and meaningful. Reform Rabbis care deeply about Torah and believe that its wisdom forms the backbone of all the interpretive wisdom of the Rabbis, and, in turn, for the wisdom that teaches us how to live lives of commitment, purpose, and Jewish integrity. None of this requires a Deity to author a Book. I believe in God. I just don't believe that God writes Books. People do.
Happy Chanukah to all,
ReplyDeleteSorry that In the Vanguard still chooses to remain anonymous. I promise -- I argue but don't bite! And I don't make ad hominem attacks (at least when I'm not in Court!).
Re the 600,000 versus one revelation: Have you ever played the game telephone? When stories are told over time, the stories change, often radically and to the point where it is unrecognizeable from the original story.
The fact that the Torah makes a self-proving claim that it was revealed to 600,000 at Sinai is not convincing in the absence of any other proof. Again, the oldest existing Torah is only approx. 2,000 years old. Who really knows when it was first written down? Most likely, based on the book of Ezra, when the Jews returned from Babylon, but even that is speculation.
The stories as passed down, changed, modified, etc. over time, just as in all oral traditions, are meant to teach lessons and social mores. They change over time, get grander, and make bigger claims (good example, Native American stories). That's why Jonathan properly makes reference to myths.
I leave open the possibility that some portions of the Torah could have happened. I challenge you, In the Vanguard, to leave open the possibility that some portions of the Torah were not written by God, but were added, created, edited, etc. by man. You have asked Jonathan to be open minded. Let's ALL be openminded.
Enjoy your evening.