Strength in the face of the deluge of the deep dark chaos - Noah

It is 4 am and I can't sleep. Thoughts and worries rob me of much needed sleep.

Some of the flood of thoughts are personal and internal, combining with the troubles of others. 

Yesterday I learned about the death of a 60 year old spouse of someone in Western Sydney that I have known through work for many years. He died of COVID.

According to a tweet by BBC reporter (of Afghan heritage) Yalda Hakim, the 5th of October was “Day 17 of Taliban ban on girls returning to secondary school in Afghanistan. Millions of girls across the country continue to be confined to their homes, deprived of an education” . An assistant principal in Kabul told Yalda "Today most of our teachers were crying for their students, when are they going to start studying above grade 6?”

I have been thinking about the idea that there is an alternative reality to the ordered world many of us spend time in. There is something beyond experiences of delicious, sufficient food, prioritised to do lists, walking in nature and spending time with people we love or like.“In the beginning of God’s creation of heaven and earth, [He first created]  chaos and void, and darkness upon the face of the deep (1)”.

This chaos is not an event of the past but of the present. The energies of chaos and void, negation and destruction continue to lurk in the netherworld of reality and in the deep shadows of individual human hearts and subconscious minds (2). These forces pose an ongoing threat to burst out and submerge the world and our minds in a flood of destruction or upheaval (3). One role of the human being is to hold this chaos at bay and to actively work on creating all that is good, beautiful and nourishing (4).

Humans have often failed to contain the destructive forces. Many women continue to suffer sexual harassment. This is an ancient problem: “the sons of the powerful ones saw the daughters of man that they were good, so they took women from all that they chose” (5), including by force (6). The world was corrupted and filled with robbery (7). This ethical collapse was followed by a flood arising from the deep (as well as rain from above) and destroying everything (8).

Yet, as terrifying as the deep chaos is, we must resist the temptation to gather bricks and make towers (9) of false security. Police states preserve “order” with evil and harsh measures. Some of their rulers also create extra “security” for themselves in massive off-shore accumulations of wealth or other kinds of ‘towers’ to feed illusions of greatness and immortality (10).

Punitive self-talk mimics the tactics of the KGB by shaming and berating us every time a chaotic thought of self-doubt surfaces, arising from our dark shadowed subconscious. To overcompensate for the gnawing self-doubt and even loathing, some will display arrogant or narcissistic “bigness”, or hyper busyness.

But the chaos and “the deep” is not a fault but a design feature of creation and what makes us human. When we overcome or redirect misdirected desires or lusts this brings delight to our creator (11).

The floodwaters from the deep that brought destruction in the time Noah, represent the constant worries that threaten to overwhelm us. But as in the story of the flood, for those who responded appropriately with an “ark”, - wise or prayerful words for example- the waters raise the ark to a higher level representing the growth we can ultimately achieve prompted by the worries we might not have otherwise attained (12). Let us accept the chaos and shadows in ourselves and the inherent nature and realities of the world as the arena we are invited to play in and contribute to. Let’s add as much light, love, and learning as we can. 

 

Notes

 

 

1)     Genesis 1:1-2, my translation paraphrases the interpretation of Rashi.

2)     Soloveitchik, J.B. (1983) Halakhic Man, the Jewish Publications Society, p. 102

3)     Talmud Succa 53a-b

4)     Soloveitchik, J.B., p. 105

5)     Genesis 6:2

6)     R. Bachaya

7)     Genesis 6:11

8)     Genesis 7:11

9)     Genesis 11:3-4

10)  Leibowitz, Nehama (undated), New Studies in Bereshit- Genesis, Production Zion Ezra, p. 103

11)  R. Levi Yitchak of Berditchev in the name of his father in Kedushas Levi, Noach, p. 18

12)  The Chabad - Lubavitcher Rebbes, see for example this adaptation by Loshak, A. https://www.chabad.org/parshah/article_cdo/aid/5258597/jewish/When-Times-Are-Tough-Be-Like-Noah.htm

 

COVID Tensions Prejudice and Tisha B'Av

"Where is the Aussie spirit?" Aren't we all Aussies?! the man with the long orange beard asked a group of police officers. I was very moved when I watched this highly charged exchange that began over allegations about masks. It got me thinking about maintaining solidarity in general, and especially during COVID. 

I write from two perspectives: as the National Director of Together For Humanity, my work is focused on fostering interfaith and intercultural understanding. I also write as a Jewish person sharing my experiences with you, dear reader, as another way of fostering understanding.

The bearded man at the beginning of this article is Rami Ykmour, an Australian of Lebanese heritage and co-founder of popular restaurant chain Rashays. On the afternoon of 8 July 2021, police entered his Chester Hill office over allegations that some of his staff were breaching face mask orders.  

After some disagreement about how to proceed, the situation escalated. Rami made his appeal to the police, whose patience with him was quickly wearing thin. In the days since the incident, Rami has expressed regret for how things unfolded and support for the police for doing their jobs. He rightly observed that many people are very stressed and stretched at this time.

The exchange happened at a crucial moment during the intensifying current Sydney lockdown. There have been anguished assertions of unequal and harsh treatment of Western Sydney residents from non-English speaking backgrounds, compared with residents in other parts of Sydney. One Western Sydney man from an Arab background told me he was reluctant to leave his home to go to the shops for food he needed because he just was not up for “dealing with all this.” No doubt there are reasons for specific police decisions relating to facts about the virus – rather than ethnicity – that I do not fully understand, so I don’t feel equipped to comment on the actions of the police.

However, what is happening in Sydney now brings to mind long-standing experiences of prejudice experienced by many people from migrant backgrounds, and this worries me greatly.

Rami’s question about us all being Aussies reminds me of the plea of the Jewish character Shylock in the Merchant of Venice: “Doesn’t a Jew… warm up in summer and cool off in winter just like a Christian? If you prick us, don’t we bleed?”

We discussed this among the Together For Humanity team. One of our teachers, Kate Xavier, herself a South-Western Sydney resident of Croatian Catholic heritage shared the following sentiment: “the danger for us living out West is real. Not only a sense that we don’t belong or are inferior, but a sense of feeling that any minute we fall into that trap of believing the media narrative and forgetting the humanity of our neighbours and ourselves.”

As a Jewish person, I feel called to counter any form of prejudice. It is for this reason that I feel so strongly about everyone feeling that they belong. The most repeated commandment in the Hebrew Bible concerns the treatment of the “stranger”– the minority member – the less powerful, less established “stranger.” Jews are called to remember that the Jewish people were once “strangers” in Egypt.

I write these lines on the saddest day of the Jewish calendar, Tisha B’Av. This year, I joined other members of my community to recite Lamentations in the traditional mournful tune via Zoom under lockdown. On this day we mourn destruction, division and loss of dignity. One legend of this day involves a man, Bar Kamtza, who - like Rami - pleaded for dignity. Solidarity means that every Australian, regardless of background, never needs to question if they are as Aussie as anyone else. 

Cohen's Blessings

Bless you! We say when someone sneezes. My Facebook feed was overflowing the other day with Eid blessings, Eid Mubarak - literally blessed festival - between Muslim and non-Muslim friends. The Torah contains a blessing ritual (1), which would normally have been performed as part of the recent Shavuot festival (at the end of May). With the gradual reopening in Australia, these blessings would have been my community’s first gathering since March. Unfortunately, the opening of Synagogues in Sydney was postponed after a child in the community tested positive to COVID-19. However, the following Saturday our community did indeed hold the blessing ceremony for the first time ever (in our community) on an ordinary Saturday that was not a festival.

Blessings are a curious thing. On one hand, the notion that ‘we tell the universe what it is that we want, and we will get it’, makes little sense to me. Yet, I think there is something mysterious and perhaps event potent about the energy of blessings and curses. The Talmud advises that the blessing of an ordinary person should not be taken lightly as they can be fulfilled (2).

The idea of an “evil eye” is the opposite of a blessing. If someone sees a neighbour’s good fortune and is envious and resentful, there is an implicit desire that the blessing should be reversed, and the object of envy lost or destroyed. In fact, the need to counter the evil eye is one explanation for the introduction of the ritual of blessing in the first place (3). The Torah appears to take other curses seriously too, as we can see from the Jews being reminded that God transformed Balaam’s intended “curses to blessings because he loved you” (4).

For religious people, the idea that humans could wield such power can appear to infringe on the power of an omnipotent God (5). Despite such concerns, such a ritual is not just tolerated but required in certain contexts as an everyday ritual (6). It is suggested that this concern is addressed by the ritual being highly formulaic, rendering the priests as mere functionaries. Those performing the blessings were instructed to do it exactly “like this” (7). The procedure for the blessings is that the cantor (the person leading the prayers) leads the blessing reciting each word, one word at a time, and that word is repeated one word at a time as prompted.  The implication is clear, the priest has no magical powers and is merely a messenger from God to deliver a blessing (8).

If we assume the priest is unimportant in the operation of blessings, it would follow that that the quality of the priest – even if there are rumours circulating about him being a murderer – is irrelevant as it is God who blesses the people rather than the priest (9).

I am drawn to the opposite approach that sees humans engaged in blessings using a power handed over to them by God (10). This would fit with the requirements that the blessings be done with full intention and heart - not quickly or rushed (11). A mystical teaching explains that while the blessings ultimately come from God, these blessings can sometimes be delayed by divine judgement of human failings. The power of the priests was to accelerate the delivery of the blessings to arrive with great speed, like “rushing water too powerful to be slowed by a watermill” (12).   

One beautiful explanation of the blessings is that the intention of blessings is to provide a loving God with the pleasure of acting on His benevolent nature. This approach points to the peculiar way that hands are displayed during the Cohen’s blessing ritual. It is different to the familiar prayer pose which is to have ones’ hands extended out, palms flat and facing heaven symbolising supplication and seeking a handout from God. During the blessings, the hands are held in the opposite position with the back of the hand toward heaven. This suggests that rather than asking for something from God, we are providing an opportunity for Him to enjoy giving (13).

The business of blessings can get quite sensitive. In fact, the translation of the text of the blessings was withheld from the ignorant masses who did not understand Hebrew (14). The controversy relates to an apparent contradiction between the blessing that God “will turn his face to you” signifying forgiveness (15), and the contradictory verse that states that God will not turn his face to show favouritism - and forgive sins - nor accept bribes (16).  There are complex resolutions of this apparent contradiction such as forgiveness being applied when we sin in ritual matters but withheld when harming other people (17). Unfortunately, it was assumed that the common man would find this confusing. I am pleased that modern translations of the Torah do not censor the blessings and appear to trust the masses with, rather than shield the masses from, the complexity.  

This year on Shavuot, a 3000-year-old tradition of the blessing ceremony was interrupted for many Jewish communities. Perhaps there is a dual message to consider. On the one hand, some humans are not feeling very blessed at this difficult time, as they struggle with loss of loved ones or livelihoods, or their sense of security and social connection. On the other hand, for those of us who have our health and our needs met and our loved one around us - in my case all of my six children have been together under the same roof for over two months - let us redouble our awareness of the blessings we have been granted. Perhaps that was the purpose of the blessing ritual in the first place, to assist us in being grateful for the blessings we have been granted (18).  

Notes

1) Numbers 6:23-27

2) Talmud, Megilah 15a

3) Bamidbar Rabba 12:4, p. 99

4) Deuteronomy 23:6

5) Chido, p.25, 34

6) Sefer Hachinuch Mitzva 376

7) Numbers 6:23

8) Samson Raphael Hirsch in his commentary on Numbers 6:23-27

9) Jerusalem Talmud, Gitin, 5:8

10) Midrash Rabba 11:b
11) Rashi on 6:23

12) Derech Mitzvoteacha, Mitzva Birchas Cohanim, p. 112

13) Kedushas Levi, Naso, p.277

14) Talmud, Megila 25a & b

15) Rashi

16) Deuteronomy 10:17

17) Talmud Rosh Hashana 17b

18) Rothstien, G. https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/five-rashis-naso-birchat-kohanim/

Arrogance and the Metzora Leper In Quarantine

This is the essence of my first zoom lesson on the weekly Torah reading which I will deliver on Sunday evening at 7 pm via this link Zoom link: ChabadHouse.org.au/Zoom

A Muslim friend wrote to me in advance of the lesson: “...Please kindly explain the theological reason why Allah SWT did or did not prevent the virus mutating out of a wild animal in Wuhan into a human and able to spread worldwide, affecting already 500,000 and collapsing the world economy? ... The facts in front of us are COVID has affected all levels of Muslim counties, Iran, Indonesia, etc. Christian centres like Spain and Rome, and the superpowers - USA and China”.

It must be said that anyone who thinks they can read the mind of God is both arrogant and mistaken. Jewish scholars have rejected this kind of speculation. (1) Instead of definitive answers I will simply explore some sacred texts and see what light is shed. 

While it is wrong to assume one knows why others suffer, it is appropriate when we suffer to examine our deeds to see if there might be some sin we are being punished for, or perhaps a lesson here for improvement (2). However, an alternative explanation, if we could call it that, is that sometimes God causes us to suffer out of love rather than punishment. (3) 

In this quest for some meaning in the current human tragedy of coronavirus and the hardship challenge of isolation and in light of the Torah reading about the Metzora-Leper it is appropriate to explore this ancient process. The Torah requires a person who shows some symptoms involving his skin being discoloured (among others) to be tested/inspected (4) and quarantined for seven days at home (5). If the symptoms increase in severity a more intensive response was required in which “his clothes shall be torn, his head shall be left bare, and he shall cover over his upper lip; and he shall call out, “Unclean! Unclean!”…Being unclean, he shall dwell apart; his dwelling shall be outside the camp”. (6)

The most common way of explaining this is that the Torah is discussing a miraculous condition rather than a medical one. (7) However, a minority view in our tradition explains this as a contagious disease, in which those doing the inspecting were exposed to real danger. (8) We also know of one sage, Reish Lakish,  who was so insistent on social distancing that he threw stones at a Metzora-Leper who stepped out of his isolation. (9)

There is also a very strong tradition that this condition is a consequence of gossip or slander. (10) The basis of this is the story about Miriam, the sister of Moses, who is struck with this condition immediately after speaking critically about her brother Moses. (11) 

I would like to focus on a second case study about a very proud Aramean general named Naaman. We are told that he “was important to his lord and treated as one highly regarded… a great warrior, who was a leper”.   When he sought treatment from the prophet Elisha he came with his entourage, “his horses and chariots”. He stalked off in a rage when the prophet did not come out and pay homage to him, but instead sent a message to him to bathe in the Jordan river. (12) 

A more subtle and spiritual interpretation is that the condition of becoming a Metzora is the result of a deficiency of the process of wisdom - Chochma, [which in mystical terms means the capacity to receive new ideas in a general undefined and very open way] which fails to balance the faculty of analytical understanding. This imbalance is a subtle form of arrogance. When we intellectually analyse ideas we can be quite egotistical and self-conscious. In contrast to this process is the process of wisdom which is linked to humility. (13) 

The ritual at the end of isolation included a part of a cedar tree and a hyssop and letting a bird free (14). The cedar and hyssop represented the journey from arrogance, symbolised by the tall cedar to humility represented by the hyssop. The releasing of the bird, symbolised the reintegration of the leper into the community and the hope that this condition will not return (15). 

I will reiterate my point that we dare not assume that Covid19 is a punishment but we can use it as a stimulus for reflection. As we are forcibly isolated and disoriented during this time, let those of us who are privileged to have homes and our basic needs met at this time, dedicate some thought to cultivating humility and openness to wisdom and guidance to imagine a better way of being and living - not only when this is over, but also right now. To my Muslim questioner, with whom this post began and for all Muslims Ramadan Mubarak, may this special time assist in your own spiritual growth.  

Notes and Sources

1) Pirkey Avot/Ethics of the Fathers 4:15 Rabbi Yannai said: it is not in our hands [to explain the reason] either of the security of the wicked, or even of the afflictions of the righteous./ talk by the Lubavitcher Rebbe 1991  Sicha, Tenth of Teves 5751

2) Lamentations 3:40

3) Talmud, Brachos 5a, and in the second explanation drawing on Proverbs 3:12  

4) Leviticus 13:2-4

5) Rashi

6) Leviticus 13:45-6

7) Maimonides Yad Hachazakah Laws Tumaat Tzaraat 16:10

8) Bechor Shor on Leviticus 13:46 and Meshech Chochma on Leviticus 13:2

9) Yalkut Shimoni Metzora, 557

10) The Talmud Arachin  16a & b. Midrash Tanchuma Metzora 3

11) Numbers 12:1-10

12) Kings 2 5:1-4, 9-12 Australians would recognise a  self- important man struggling to accept being cut down to size. 

13) Likutei Torah by Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi Beginning of Metzora  

סיבת הנגעים הוא מחמת הסתלקות החכמה …ע"י התבוננות (בינה) נולד האהבה והשמחה ורשפי אש והוא בחינת הרצוא …[אבל ע"י החכמה] נמשך הביטול [למעלה מ] בחינת יש מי שאוהב

14) Leviticus 14:2-7

15) Midrash Tanchuma- Metzora 3

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