2012-03-29

The “Greatest”

(Stein Atle Vere. ©2012. The “Greatest”. brakha.blogspot.com.)



Rabi Shimon Ben Yokhai רַבִי שִׁמְעוֹן בֶּן יוֹחַאי is a sage during the Roman Period, who the Talmud mentions. To him, the Medieval Rabanim (Rabbis) attribute the Zohar, the authoritative book of Kabala קַבָּלָה (Jewish spirituality). He lives about a hundred years after Yhoshua. In the disaster of the Bar Kokhba Rebellion around 135, he witnesses the massacre of Yhudim (Jews). The Roman emperor and his armies murdered hundreds of thousands of the Yhudi aborigines in Yhuda (Judea).



(Stein Atle Vere. ©2012. Image: Caesar Hadrianus Augustus. brakha.blogspot.com.)



In the Book of Talmud Yrushalmi, Ben Yokhai teaches his students:

“The greatest of the Nonjews is a killer.”



Hyperliterally:

A good one that is among the Nonjews is a killer.

טוֹב שֶׁבַּגּוֹיִים הָרוֹג

(Kidushin 66c.)



Note: הָרוֹג , irregular plural הָרוֹגוֹת (Post-Biblical Hebrew) killer, murderer. (Klein. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the Hebrew Language.)



In the days of Ben Yokhai, the “greatest” of the Nonjews was Caesar Hadrianus, indeed a killer.



Even before Ben Yokhai, Yhoshua (Historical Jesus) teaches this same Tora tradition:

And Yhoshua called them unto him.
He said:
You know:

As: The chiefs of the Nonjews oppress among them.
And the great ones dominate among them.

It will not be thus among you ones.
But each someone that will desire
to be great among you ones,
will be a servant that (belongs) to you ones.


וִיהוֹשֻׁעַ קָרָא אֶלָיו אֹתָם
אָמַר
אַתֶּם יֹדְעִים

כִּי שָׂרֵי הַגּוֹיִם רֹדִים בָּהֶם
וְהַגְּדוֹלִים שֹׁלְטִים בָּהֶם

לֹא כֵּן יִהְיֶה בָּכֶם
כִּי אִם כֹּל מִי אֲשֶׁר יִרְצֶה
לִהְיוֹת גָּדוֹל בָּכֶם
יִהְיֶה מְשָׁרֵת אֲשֶׁר לָכֶם

ὁ δὲ Ἰησοῦς προσκαλεσάμενος αὐτοὺς
εἶπεν
οἴδατε

ὅτι οἱ ἄρχοντες τῶν ἐθνῶν κατακυριεύουσιν αὐτῶν
καὶ οἱ μεγάλοι κατεξουσιάζουσιν αὐτῶν

οὐχ οὕτως ἔσται ἐν ὑμῖν
ἀλλ ὃς ἐὰν θέλῃ
ἐν ὑμῖν μέγας γενέσθαι
ἔσται ὑμῶν διάκονος

(Mt 20'25-26.)



It is an uncomfortable fact of history, the “great” empires among Nonjews - especially the Pagan Roman Empire - achieved their “greatness” by becoming brutal killers.

When Yhoshua and Ben Yokhai refer this tradition of Nonjewish oppressors, they seem to refer to four specific Nonjewish governments who oppress the Jewish Land of Yisrael, as the Tanakhi (biblical) Book of Daniel describes them.

Daniel portrays these four governments as parts of an idolatrous statue. (Daniel 2'31-45.)

• The head is gold corresponding to the Kingship of Bavel (Babylonian Empire).
• The chest and arms are silver for the Kingship of Madai and Paras (Mede and Persian Empire).
• The belly and thighs are bronze for the Kingship of Yavan (several Hellenistic governments, namely, Aleksandros the Great, Ptolemaic Egypt, and Selucid Syria).
• The shins and and feet are iron corresponding, as the Rabanim (Rabbis) understand it, to the Kingship of Rome.

The kingship of Rome also encompasses several governments: Roman, Byzantine, and other governments emerging from the Roman legal system, such as Nazi Germany.

This fourth Kingship, Rome, mixes partially with a fifth Nonjewish Kingship, because the iron intermingles with clay to form the feet. But the iron and clay fail to blend or adhere. This fifth kingship comes to correspond with the Arab Empires, and other governments that emerge from its legal system.

The iron and clay alternate their coercive control over the aboriginal Jewish Land of Yisrael.

Ultimately, God will overthrow these historically oppressive Nonjewish governments, and will empower an aboriginal Jewish government over the Land of Yisrael. Daniel visualizes this sacred ancestral government as a holy unhewn stone. The Kingship of the Heavens.

Tora (Judaism) recognizes the authority that comes from violence, but the violence has no authority in itself, and no merit. Only the Tora itself has the authority. Only those who choose to pursue the authority of Tora gain merit.

This authority that comes from love, is “the kingship of the heavens” מַלְכוּת הַשָּׁמַיִם .

2012-03-28

But Chosen for What?

(Stein Atle Vere. ©2012. But Chosen for What? brakha.blogspot.com.)



Jews are “chosen”. But chosen for what?

God chooses Jews to do Tora. Tora. Thats it. Tora. Nothing more, and nothing less.

Most Nonjews dont want to do Tora. So there is no reason to resent this choice by God. Of course, if there are Nonjews who want to do Tora, they can convert to Judaism.

Nonjews dont need to do Tora. But Jews do.

God chooses Jews to do Tora.



Notice Yhoshua (Historical Jesus) also desires Jews to do Tora. Yhoshua commands his own Jewish students: “The Sofrim (scribes) and the Prushim (Pharisees) sit in the [Judgment] Seat of Moshe (Moses). Therefore do whatever they say.” (Matt 23'2-3.)

With regard to the commandments by God that are in the first five books of the Bible - the Tora of Moshe - the Prushim and Sofrim are the ones who inherit the authority (“the judgment seat”) to define how Jews must do these commandments.

The Prushim are the successors of the ancient “seventy elders” who share the spirit that God gave to Moshe. (Numbers 11'16-17,24-25.) Here Yhoshua corroborates the Rabanim (Rabbis) who trace the transmission of this authority from Moshe to Yhoshua Ben Nun to the seventy elders, and so on all the way to Hilel, who is one of the Prushim. (Mishna, Pirke Avot 1'1-.)

Jews must do Tora in whatever way the Prushim and their successors define it.

Moreover Yhoshua instructs his own students, it isnt enough to just do the commandments of the Tora. They must do them with the proper intention: do the commandment with love, compassion, mercy, and forgiveness.

Jewish spirituality considers proper intention to be a vital requirement to fulfill a commandment by God.

Yhoshua wants Jews to do Tora.

Of course, Nonjews dont need to do these commandments in Tora. But Yhoshua believes Jews do them.

Hate the Hate

(Stein Atle Vere. ©2012. Hate the Hate. brakha.blogspot.com.)



The following article with the link is by Giulio Meotti.

The news is disturbing, about a resurgence of hate against Jews among Christian churches today.

Giulio Meotti. 2011. Op-Ed: How Deep is the Christian-Jewish Abyss? Arutz Sheva.
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/11447, 2012.

His article mentions:

• the Vatican seems to indulge a medieval demonization of Jews that persists among Catholics in the Mideast, and similarly among Orthodox Christians in the Mideast
• Mainline Protestant Churches (Methodist, Presbyterian, Lutheran, Episcopalian, and United Church of Christ) initiate radical delegitimization doctrines and boycott campaigns against the Jewish state - especially vicious in their umbrella organization, World Council of Churches.
• even the Evangelical Churches (especially Pentacostal) experience some Antiisrael groups emerging

To combat this dark trend, Meotti lists the following steps that Christians can take,

• dont proselytize the Jews
• dont slander them
• dont preach their conversion
• avoid any theological topic
• fight the apocalyptic cults

• proclaim the uniqueness of the Jewish covenant
• recognize Jews right to Judea and Samaria
• defend a united Jewish Jerusalem
• support Israel’s right to defend itself
• stop spiritualize the Bible, as if the promises to Abraham were not about a specific land for a specific people but about some heavenly domain

This is an excellent list. In sum, help Jews worship God in a Jewish way - according to the Jewish Bible.

Meotti warns, “Unless these steps are taken, any Jewish-Christian reapproachment would be not only futile, but dangerous.” Note, this blog seeks a reapproachment between Jews and Nonjewish Christians. But he is correct. Christians must do everything in their power to prevent the hate against Jews. Pray for God to help Jews be Jews.

Hate the hate.

2012-03-27

The Spirituality of Science

(Vere, Stein Atle. ©2012. “The Spirituality of Science”. brakha.blogspot.com.)



Tora spirituality - Kabala - refers to the four levels of meaning as Pardes “Paradise”. P-r-d-s is the acronym for: Pshat “plain meaning”, Remez “gesture”, Drush “inquired meaning”, and Sod “mystery”. From bottom up, these levels function as a kind of scientific method.

• Pshat: physical activity, the evidence
• Remez: patterns, analysis and feeling, the investigation
• Drush: paradigm, synthesis of conceptual principles and ideals, the laws and theories
• Sod: transcendence, the centrality of the unknown, the decision to trust (confidence) and to doubt (skepticism).

Here Tora spirituality corresponds well with post-modern epistomology and scientific methodology.



The level of Pshat is the “plain meaning”. The raw data, the sensory experience. This is the physical level that we desire to understand and master. Science engages this level via evidence. It observes this evidence and interacts with it to test its responses.



The level of Remez is the “gesture” of meaning. This is the appearing of patterns within physical activity. Thereby the evidence provokes us to intuit explanations, research for consistency, define verifiable hypotheses, experiment, verify (confirm or disconfirm) the hypotheses, publish these findings, and corroborate, integrate, and systematize those insights that prevail by confirmations.

Most of the steps of the scientific method occur within the spiritual level of Remez. Here scientific method prioritizes logical analysis as well as repeatability of experiments. At the same time, this method tentatively values a “scientific hunch” (proto-science) if experiments are currently difficult to do, as long as the speculation coheres with current research and strives toward the formulation of hypotheses that later experiments can test.

Remez is the level of both logical analysis and emotional feeling. Consider the expression, “Cant see the forest because of the trees.” Logic sees the individual trees. Emotion sees the collective forest. Logic tends to analyze phenomena atomistically as “on” or “off”. Emotion tends to feel phenomena holistically as “clear” or “blurry”. Each method of discernment has strengths and weaknesses. While logical detachment enjoys advantages toward maneuverability and innovation, it can get lost in the details of the central “text” thus become “unrealistic”. Meanwhile emotional attachment enjoys advantages toward integration and standardization, while it also maintains some awareness of the peripheral “context”. Altho these methods of discernment are conflictive, we need both. Science prioritizes rational logic, but it is an error to underestimate the role of emotional feeling.



The level of Drush is the “inquired meaning”, or perhaps more literally the “demanded answer”. This is the level of meaning that we experience as concepts.

The Drush is within thought itself. The understanding. The paradigm. It includes both logical constructs and the emotional ideals. Principles and archetypes. It is our worldview. The world as we can understand it. Generally, whatever evidence we dont understand, we also dont experience, because we simply dont “notice” it. We tend to live in our conceptual worldview, moreso than in our sensations of the physical world.

At this level of meaning, we engage the paradigms that give meaning to our world. Often we take these paradigms for granted as “true”. They are unquestioned often unconscious assumptions. It doesnt even occur to us to doubt them. Our sensorial experiences seem to confirm these paradigms seamlessly. The paradigms often cover over contradictions and “fill in blind spots”. Often what we call “common sense” is paradigms we learned since birth.

Science strives to consciously construct more effective paradigms to enlighten the world that experience. By means of carefully examining our physical world, and consciously defining our paradigms, science achieves more powerful ways for us humans to master our physical world.

Note, while science searches for paradigms at the level of Remez, the paradigms themselves exist at the level of Drush. Drush comprises the “laws” of physical sciences and human sciences - or at least the tentative theories that seem to survive ongoing disputes. It needs to be said, but these paradigms also comprise the emotional ideals. The world of Remez is a bridge between the physical world of Pshat and the conceptual world of Drush. Remez is where scientists wrestle for accuracy and precision, to find an agreement between the physical results of experiments and the conceptual explanations for them. And discuss these results.



The level of Sod is the “mystery”. This is the level where we “know” - in the sense we personally experience - the infinite. Infinity is intimate, such as our openess to new possibilities and our capacity to learn new things. The human brain is infinite in the sense it can go beyond its current finite memory. We experience this infinite as an aspect of our consciousness. Beyond being aware of particular finite sensations or concepts, we are aware of being aware. This aspect of consciousness transcends our ability to describe it adequately, since it is no particular thing to describe. But we can use analogies to refer to it, to “point” to it, and trust our fellow humans who likewise experience the infinite to recognize what our analogies refer to. Ultimately, the infinite capacity achieves a sense of freewill. Choice.



Science is “positivist”, preferring to rely on those concepts that we can demonstrate by means of observable evidence. Science loves the known. It firmly establishes itself within the level of Pshat. Nevertheless, science prioritizes the unknown. It makes an effort to discover new phenomena and to clarify perplexing phenomena. What is known extends into the unknown. Science uses what we do understand to try to make sense of what we dont yet understand. This confidence to reach into the unknown, is where the role of choice comes into play. In this way, science engages the infinite, the level of Sod.

So science has the evidence in the form of physical activities. It has the level of discussion of the patterns and the formulation of experiments to test these patterns. And science has the paradigms that successfully explain these patterns.

These paradigms (Drush) are the models that successfully explain ... the patterns (Remez) ... of the physical activity (Pshat). ... But this method also engages the existentialist level (Sod), when choosing to be confident or skeptical, trusting or doubting either the physical evidence or the conceptual paradigms.

This trust and doubt are “more” than just the evidence and concepts alone. They are the infinite part of ourself choosing how to interact with what the infinite presents to us.



Once paradigms “win” over other paradigms, we experience them as “truth”. They organize our thoughts and emotions. They become the worldview that we take for granted. If a paradigm fails, we experience pain. The dissonance between our paradigm and our senses of the physical world, destabilize the paradigm to the point of collapse. Then the world as we know it falls apart. It feels like an apocalypse. But it is during these times of crisis, while our understandings fail, that we become accutely aware of the infinite that transcends all understanding. To be open to new paradigms, new ways of understanding the world, takes courage. Of course, not all paradigms are equal. Some paradigms are more useful and robust than others.

Science strives to avoid taking its paradigms for granted. It makes an effort to remember these are paradigms. Conceptual constructs and visions. The goal is to be able to welcome new paradigms if they cohere better with the physical evidence. (In this way, science opposes “idolatry”. It will not “worship” a finite concept.) For example, a famous paradigm shift is from the Neutonian paradigm that understands the world as resembling the machinery of a clock, to the Einsteinian paradigm that understands the world as partly resembling waves of energy - where even the flow of time becomes relative. Here the paradigm shift was less painful because it moves from one good explanation to another good explanation whose superiority is only for special situations, such as extreme speed. Even so, the worldview changed. Thus the universe as we know it became different. The openess to learning new worldviews is brave. And it requires trust. Science must trust the infinite, to provide good ways of understanding our world. Science continues the quest for new knowledge because science believes the infinite does provide.

In this sense, science makes the unknown the center of the scientific worldview. It employs what scientific discussions can explain adequately, to begin the process of explaining what currently defies explanation - or perhaps defies discovery. Science trusts the unknown to become helpful. In this way, the scientific community maintains a relationship with the infinite.



Notice the difference between theoretical science and applied science. Theoretical science is bottom up, from the physical evidence to discover new conceptual paradigms. Oppositely applied science is top down, employing the conceptual paradigms to invent new physical tools.



Science engages the infinite (Sod), especially as skepticism about the known and confidence to enter the unknown. The scientific worldview with its principles and ideals (Drush) ... strive to discuss and master (Remez) ... the world of physical activity (Pshat).

Moreover science applies its hard-won power over the physical world ... to do compassionate actions for fellow humans ... in ways that are increasingly wiser (more efficient, more effective, more self-sustaining).

Significantly, science requires a community to make this effort.

Science is a spiritual activity.

2012-03-25

Knowledge

Midrash מדרש means “inquiry”. But the Hebrew word is stronger than that. It comes from the verb, Darash דרש meaning “he demanded” - required. In the sense of “he demanded answers”, he “inquired”.

Knowledge necessitates desire and effort.

The Tora is a text of many meanings. Most of them are hidden. The Infinite wants us to “demand answers” from the Tora. To discover its meanings. And put the insights into actions.

The Tora is the “saying” Maamar, it is the “thought” Makhashava. It is the capacity of meaning itself. A place to engage meaning. As we engage the Tora, our efforts to discern its meanings, also bring to light our own meanings. Our values, our language, our assumptions, our worldviews. We do this as a spiritual community. We share understanding, while we transcend together.



The spirituality of Tora seems to cluster into three kinds of Midrash. The areas of inquiry are: Agada, Halakha, and Kabala.

Agada אגדה is the “tale”, the narrative tradition. Our goals, our challenges, where we come from, and where we are going.

Halakha הלכה  is the “going”, the way, the legal tradition. Our human rights, our personal freedoms, our mutual responsibilities, our negotiations.

Kabala קבלה is the “reception”, the spiritual tradition. Our insights, our compassionate actions, our system, our transcendence.

Of course, these three discussions entangle eachother, giving eachother contexts.

By these kinds of Midrash, the infinite imbues our humanity with meaning. It is like learning a language. Meaning takes effort. But it is more than our words, it is our actions - every aspect of our humanity.



There are also four worlds of meaning: Pshat, Remez, Drush, and Sod.

Pshat פשט is the “plain”, the unembellished meaning, the naked truth. The things that appear to be. What you can see, hear, smell, taste, touch. Matter-of-fact. The literal meaning, the obvious point of the analogy. The raw data. The evidence.

Remez רמז is the “gesture”, the indication, the subtle nod, the hint, the clue, the suggestion. These are the patterns that you can detect. When you wonder why, you look for answers. The emotional pull, the logical conclusion. The evaluation, the analysis. But where do the clues lead to?

Drush דרוש is the “demanded answer”. The insight. The knowledge we struggle for. The plot of the story, the principles of the ethical behavior, the laws of nature. The deep meaning. The vision, the integrity, the science. The synthesis. The comprehensive paradigm that imbues all the diversity of experiences with meaning. The thought that can make sense of the world.

Sod סוד is the “mystery”, beyond any understanding, the experience of infinity. There is a transcendent meaning, utterly free, utterly unshakable. We trust the Infinite even while we cannot understand. We know, even while we cannot describe. We know more than we know. It is faith in God. It is confidence in the infinite. We can always go beyond. Even when we know facts, we can doubt. Even when we lack facts, we can trust. We can imagin other ways. We can sympathize with other points of view. We can pursue the best options. Seek out new options. There is more to knowing than any particular thing we happen to know.

Together these four levels of meaning, Pshat-Remez-Drush-Sod, spell P-R-D-S: Pardes פרדס “Paradise”.

By these levels of meaning, we learn love and power. By these levels of meaning, we do love and power.

We see the Pshat - how the things of this world are. But we know the Sod - there is more. We can pursue the Remez of the patterns of things. We can envision the Drush and build a world to come.

Spring

brakha.blogspot.com comes out of hibernation.

Back to our weekly schedule - by the help of God.



Pesakh (Passover) is coming soon!

Khag Sameakh!

Joyous festival!