Changing one’s mind is helpful for reconciliation and peacebuilding. So, I wonder whether God does this? The Talmud suggests that “one who is appeased over his wine, has something of his creator's mind” (1). The Talmud proves this with the example of God smelling the pleasant aroma of Noah’s sacrifices after the flood and promising never again to destroy the world with a flood (2).
The idea that God’s
mind can be changed is controversial in Judaism. In fact, the prophet Samuel emphatically rejected that idea in declaring to a
crestfallen and rejected King Saul that “God is not a human to change his mind”
(3). Surely, if God knows everything including the
future, there can never be new information to justify divine regret (4).
To get around this problem, scholars suggest that, although God is inherently unchanging, God’s stance can shift in response to changed circumstances. God is said to be our shadow (5), mirroring our deeds, for better or worse (6). Following this line of argument, the reason the world would never be destroyed again was because the circumstances were different after the flood, either in the maturing of humanity from its youth to adulthood (7) or that the earth itself had changed (8).
Whatever the merits of the arguments against God’s mind changing, I am drawn to the teachings that God did in fact do so (9). This approach is based on the idea that we can learn about God by observing ourselves (10). In God, as in humans, one’s desire influences one’s thoughts. Republicans' desire to have Amy Coney Barrett on the Supreme Court leads them to think that appointment of judges shortly before an election is a good thing for democracy, despite having vehemently opposed a pre-election confirmation by Democrats only a few years ago on the basis that this was undemocratic. It is for this reason that the same observation of evil in human hearts can lead to opposite conclusions by God, first as a reason to destroy humanity (11) and then as a reason for mercy (12).
Remarkably, this dramatic shift in God’s will came about in response to a smell (the aroma of Noah’s offerings). Smell is a very subtle thing that involves only the finest particles that emanate from something (13). It is believed to have the power to stir the soul, as we can see in the historical practice of administering smelling salts to someone who fainted (14).
Fainting is used by a Chasidic master as a metaphor for how God’s energy is withdrawn when confronted by the reality of the corruption of the people prior to the flood (15). In contrast to God’s enthusiastic appraisal of the world as being “very good” (16), we read that God was grieved in His heart (17). This led to a Divine withdrawal from the world.
The mystical idea of God being disheartened and almost depressed by the state of the world was on my mind as I attended a Regional and Rural mental health symposium this week. There I learned that “It is argued by some that adversity impacting the environment, whether natural or man-made, can lead to a disconnection with the land” (18). Reconnection was one of the themes discussed at the Symposium. In the case of God after the flood, Noah’s gratitude (19) or self-sacrifice (20) implicit in the aroma of Noah’s offering (of one of his very limited surviving livestock) reengaged God with the world with new goodwill toward humans (21).
The idea of smell has been linked to intuition (22). The Messiah will be able to judge using his sense of smell (23). Thus in contrast to some pagan idea of a God, who they hoped can be managed through offerings thus reducing uncertainty but could not “smell” (24), the Biblical God can mysteriously shift and be moved to grace (25) as occurs in response to Noah.
Rabbi Shai Held writes: "Judgment gives way to mercy, condemnation to compassion. The crucial lesson is that the same attribute that we see as cause for reproach can often serve as a basis for forgiveness…Imagine someone you know who struggles with impulse control. Some days you are tempted to write her off as totally hopeless, and maybe even to dismiss her as utterly unworthy of your concern or affection. But then there are moments when the very same deep failing elicits something very different in you, and you find yourself viewing her with compassion rather than judgment. ...our evaluations of people depend on more than just the facts about their nature or character; they also depend on what posture we adopt toward those facts. …God's change of heart after the flood reminds us of something crucial: Where there is judgment, there is often also the possibility of compassion... we can be forgiving toward people for the same reasons we are inclined to condemn." (26).
Notes:
1) Talmud
Eruvin 65a
2) Genesis
8:20-22
3) Samuel
I, 15:29
4) Midrash
Rabba 27:7, Abarbanel questions on Genesis 8
5) Psalm
121:5
6) Midrash
cited in Nefesh Hachayim, gate 1, 7 regarding Exodus 3:14
7) Abarbanel,
2nd approach, p. 286, this idea was expanded on by Avi Rabinovich in a comment on
Facebook 25.10.20: that there is a shift in Gen 8:21 from 6:66 in which it
states that the thoughts of man’s heart were רק רע, - only evil all day long, always, to just
bad from youth, possibly implying that God realizes there is hope of change in
the future maturation.
8) Malbim
9) Schneerson,
Rabbi MM, (1968) The Lubavitcher Rebbe in 2.13. Maamar Baasi Lgani 5728,
10) Job 19:26 as interpreted in the Kabalistic writings of the Ari Z”L and
Chabad Chasidism
11) Genesis
6:6
12) Genesis
8:20-22
13) Hirsch,
R. Samson Raphael, commentary to Genesis 8:21
14) The
Rebbe Maharash, Rabbi Shmuel of Lubavitch, in Mayim Rabbim, 5636, p.11.
והנה הסיבה לזה שנעשה שינוי בהרצון, מבאר
בהמאמר, דלאחר שוירח הוי' את ריח הניחוח , דרזא דקורבנא עולה עד רזא דא"ס, אז
נמשך רצון חדש. והענין הוא כמו שמבאר אדמו"ר מהר"ש בהמשך מים רבים) תרל"ו – פ"ו (ע' יא).,דריח מעורר את עצם
הנפש. דזהו שהמתעלף ר"ל, כשנותנים לו להריח ריח חזק הוא מתעורר מהתעלפותו, כי
ענין ההתעלפות הוא העדר התפשטות החיות, וע"י הריח חזק שמעורר את עצם הנפש,
נמשך החיות מחדש. ועד"ז יובן למעלה, דענין ויתעצב אל לבו (היפך וירא אלקים את
כל אשר עשה והנה טוב מאד) היא תנועה דסילוק (דוגמת ענין ההתעלפות), וע"י
שהריח את ריח הניחוח דקרבנות, …
נמשך רצון חדש מהעצמות שלמעלה מבחי' גילוי.
Note also at the end of the Sabbath there is the Jewish ritual of smelling
something pleasant like cloves, to comfort the soul during the transition from
the holiness of the sabbath to the ordinary days in the week ahead and the loss
of “an additional soul”, See Tur and Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 297:1.
15) The
Rebbe Maharash, ibid
16) Genesis
1:31
17) Genesis
6:6
18) Rigby,
C.W.; Rosen, A.; Berry, H.L.; Hart, C.R. And Stain, H.J.; Kelly, B.; Carr,
V.J.; Lewin, T.J.; Fitzgerald, M.; Fragar, L. and O’Connor, M.; Horwitz, P. in
Lawrence-Bourne, J, Hazel Dalton, H, David Perkins, D, Farmer, J, Georgina
Luscombe, G, , Nelly Oelke, N, 4 and Bagheri, N. (2020) What Is Rural
Adversity, How Does It Affect Wellbeing and What Are the Implications for
Action?
19) Chizkuni
20) Midrash
Rabba 34, The Rebbe Rashab, Rabbi Sholom Ber of Lubavitch in Ayin Beis, Parsha
Noach, .
21) The
Rebbe Maharash, ibid
22) Powel,
C. & Koltz, T, 2012, It worked for me, in life and leadership. Harper
Collins.
23) Isaiah
11:3. He shall sense the truth by his reverence for the LORD: He shall not
judge by what his eyes behold, Nor decide by what his ears perceive. he shall
judge the poor with equity. See Talmud, Sanhedrin 93b: rejection of Bar Kochba
because he failed the smell test.
24) Psalms
115:6
25) Mechilta
Drashbi, in Torah Shlaima, 86, p. 451: they have a nose, but they do not smell.
Contrast with our verse. The contrast would appear at first glance to be
ridiculing the worship of inanimate statues who have a nose but cannot smell.
That is a red herring, because as Abarbanel points out the statues were only
symbols of the gods. I think the way I explain it in this post adds a deeper contrast.
26)
Rabbi
Shai Held, The Heart of Torah
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