Where have you been, Moses?
Look, we made you something. With your brother's help.
This year Parshes Ki Siso (Ki Tisa) almost makes me want to cry. The children of Israel made a mistake born of desperation and fear - they didn't know when Moses was coming back down the mountain. (Rashi says it was all because of a scheduling mixup, whether 40 days included the following night.) What were they supposed to do? And the worst of it is, their sin is a real sin, which shouldn't be blamed on the mixed multitude. They did it (we did it), and are to be blamed, but our reasons were understandable. We were scared and hopeless.
It feels like all the stories I'm hearing from my patients, now that I know enough to ask about depression, suicidal thinking, drug and alcohol abuse, but don't yet have enough experience to see my help taking effect -- or the problems are too deep-rooted for me to help at all. It's like screaming at the train that's about to hit a stalled truck.
Showing posts with label Bible. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bible. Show all posts
3/7/07
2/5/07
The teaching of Jethro
We're familiar with the organizational content of the advice given to Moses by Jethro (Jithro, Yithro, Yisro(y), Yitro [is that why the rabbis say he has many names?]) - an management system, with leaders for various strata of the children of Israel. Something I was reminded of this year was the religious-educational content of Jethro's advice. This is Moses's explanation to his father-in-law of his approach:
Jethro's preface to his words of advice bespeaks a different emphasis.
Unfortunately, the translation (JPS 1919) betrays us somewhat here, for in the original, the same word (וְהוֹדַעְתִּי, וְהוֹדַעְתִּי) is used in Moses's explanation ("make them know the statues of God, and His laws") and in Jethro's ("shalt show them the way wherein they must walk"). The root implies knowledge, understanding, and a host of other things. But what 's most important is what M. and J. choose to convey: the laws versus the way wherein they must walk, codification versus (presumably moral) instruction. The dispute is an old one. Jethro's argument for the usefulness of teaching in time management is no weaker for being implicit: if you show the pople where to go, they might be less likely to bother you in the future with picayune concerns about law and custom.
In medical terms: talk with the patient while she's in front of you rather than just telling her what to do. You might help her self-improvement and save yourself time in the long run.
We're familiar with the organizational content of the advice given to Moses by Jethro (Jithro, Yithro, Yisro(y), Yitro [is that why the rabbis say he has many names?]) - an management system, with leaders for various strata of the children of Israel. Something I was reminded of this year was the religious-educational content of Jethro's advice. This is Moses's explanation to his father-in-law of his approach:
14 And when Moses' father-in-law saw all that he did to the people, he said: 'What is this thing that thou doest to the people? why sittest thou thyself alone, and all the people stand about thee from morning unto even?' 15 And Moses said unto his ather-in-law: 'Because the people come unto me to inquire of God; 16 when they have a matter, it cometh unto me; and I judge between a man and his neighbour, and I make them know the statutes of God, and His laws.'
Jethro's preface to his words of advice bespeaks a different emphasis.
20 And thou shalt teach them the statutes and the laws, and shalt show them the way wherein they must walk, and the work that they must do.
Unfortunately, the translation (JPS 1919) betrays us somewhat here, for in the original, the same word (וְהוֹדַעְתִּי, וְהוֹדַעְתִּי) is used in Moses's explanation ("make them know the statues of God, and His laws") and in Jethro's ("shalt show them the way wherein they must walk"). The root implies knowledge, understanding, and a host of other things. But what 's most important is what M. and J. choose to convey: the laws versus the way wherein they must walk, codification versus (presumably moral) instruction. The dispute is an old one. Jethro's argument for the usefulness of teaching in time management is no weaker for being implicit: if you show the pople where to go, they might be less likely to bother you in the future with picayune concerns about law and custom.
In medical terms: talk with the patient while she's in front of you rather than just telling her what to do. You might help her self-improvement and save yourself time in the long run.
11/10/06
"You forbid!"
A few words about חלילה.
Abraham argues with God over the matter of Sodom and Gomorrah, and he says (Genesis 18:25):
That is one understanding. On the other hand, Ibn Ezra writes that חלילה is "something impossible . . . some say that the word can be related to חלול [chalul] -- hollow." It is an impossibility -- not unholy or improper -- for God to kill the just with the unjust.
Slightly different again are the approaches of the vernacular translations. Targum Onkelos renders חלילה לך as קושטא אנון דינך. Literally I think this means "Your judgment is true," but perhaps it is meant in astonishment: "Is Your judgment not true?" That is, can Your judgment be reconciled with such a deed? Finally, the Septuagint renders the phrase with the Greek medamos. All I know about Greek is what I see in the dictionary, and mine says that the word means "not at all."
Thus we can understand indiscriminate slaughter as inappropriate to God's glory or as a basic impossibility of Divine behavior. Unfortunately, the latter understanding (which I find more attractive) makes an understanding of history, and the Bible, rather difficult. As the Torah Temimah says (I'm paraphrasing; the sefer is in my hospital locker): "How is one to understand this, when we know that when the Angel of Death is given permission to slaughter, he does so indiscriminately? But the purpose of this work is not to indulge in long excurses." I wish he had indulged here.
A few words about חלילה.
Abraham argues with God over the matter of Sodom and Gomorrah, and he says (Genesis 18:25):
חָלִלָה לְּךָ מֵעֲשֹׂת כַּדָּבָר הַזֶּה, לְהָמִית צַדִּיק עִם-רָשָׁע, וְהָיָה כַצַּדִּיק, כָּרָשָׁע; חָלִלָה לָּךְ--הֲשֹׁפֵט כָּל-הָאָרֶץ, לֹא יַעֲשֶׂה מִשְׁפָּט.In the JPS 1915 translation:
That be far from Thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked, that so the righteous should be as the wicked; that be far from Thee; shall not the Judge of all the earth do justly?'"That be far from Thee" translates the Hebrew חלילה לך (chalila lecha). How can we understand these words? Rashi quotes one of the Targumim, which glosses the word חלילה as "חולין הוא לך" -- "it is unfitting for you", or, more bluntly, "not holy." It is unholy for God to kill the just with the unjust. (R. David Kimchi euphemizes: "It is to be avoided with regards to Your glory to kill the just with the unjust.")
That is one understanding. On the other hand, Ibn Ezra writes that חלילה is "something impossible . . . some say that the word can be related to חלול [chalul] -- hollow." It is an impossibility -- not unholy or improper -- for God to kill the just with the unjust.
Slightly different again are the approaches of the vernacular translations. Targum Onkelos renders חלילה לך as קושטא אנון דינך. Literally I think this means "Your judgment is true," but perhaps it is meant in astonishment: "Is Your judgment not true?" That is, can Your judgment be reconciled with such a deed? Finally, the Septuagint renders the phrase with the Greek medamos. All I know about Greek is what I see in the dictionary, and mine says that the word means "not at all."
Thus we can understand indiscriminate slaughter as inappropriate to God's glory or as a basic impossibility of Divine behavior. Unfortunately, the latter understanding (which I find more attractive) makes an understanding of history, and the Bible, rather difficult. As the Torah Temimah says (I'm paraphrasing; the sefer is in my hospital locker): "How is one to understand this, when we know that when the Angel of Death is given permission to slaughter, he does so indiscriminately? But the purpose of this work is not to indulge in long excurses." I wish he had indulged here.
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