Two Classes - Rabbi Mordechai Breuer Style

For the two classes I taught today, I utilized the teachings of the innovative Tanakh scholar, Rabbi Mordechai Breuer. In Yeshivat Har Etzion (a.k.a. Gush), Rabbi Breuer taught a weekly class for many years - I attended for part of a year - until he died a couple of years ago.

The Gush students called his approach "Shitat ha'bechinot," the "Aspects approach."

Rabbi Breuer approached all Torah texts from a very critical view (perhaps inspired by Biblical criticism), but maintained his stance that the Torah is from God and Sinai, and that there is depth to the Torah beyond simplified and "write-off" answers that may or may not be on target, at times are just cute, or don't satisfy his questions.

He would often focus on the name of God, in the form of אלקים (Elokim), or in the form of יקוק (Shem havaya, a.k.a. the Tetragrammaton) to explain how some things are written invoking one name of God, and therefore one aspect of God's goodness, versus when the choice is made to use the other name of God.

The classic example cites the two accounts of creation, Genesis 1 (Elokim) and Genesis 2 (Shem havaya).

Noach

A simple glance through chapters 6 and 7 demonstrate a clear separation between Noach being instructed by Elokim and Noach being instructed by Shem Havaya. Many of the descriptions and instructions are repeated. For example: the sin of humanity and their punishment, that Noach was righteous, that all animals and humans not on the ark will die, that the animals on the ark will be saved, that the people and animals entered the ark, that all the people and animals in the world did, in fact, die during the flood, to leave the ark, the promise of the covenant.

The questions and contradictions can be resolved with an open heart, and an open mind to a new idea, that challenges the method of traditional thinking, but remains steadfastly loyal to the traditions, and mesorah.

Ultimately, God judged the world using both of his attributes: mercy/compassion and judgment.

The two interplay in the way the Noach story plays out, through the way the flood happened (rain or flooding of waters of the deep), the animals came to the ark (were they gathered by Noach or did they come 'on their own' at God's direction), and ultimately how God created the covenant he shares with humanity not to destroy the world through rain.

Dispersion

The episode of the dispersion, in light of Rabbi Breuer's teachings and method, is one of the most fascinating in all of the Torah. 9 verses long, it contains immeasurable depth, and a powerful, timeless message of Jewish survival.

He divides the beginning verses of chapter 11 into two depictions of attempts at creating a national unity.
* Natural - people who move together to establish an area they can call their own (like the Mormons did once upon a time, or like Indian tribes did when threatened, or when circumstances dictated the need to move - both my examples)
* Un-natural - people who by dint of living in one land, or under one rulership, and sharing a same language, are defined as being united. (Think of any civilization that tried to colonize the world, only to have the colony become its own country one day)

How he divides the terms in the verses is a subject of a longer study, but essentially he says the former group was determined by their concerns of being spread across the land, while the latter group was concerned with making themselves a name and building a city and tower because they were already one group who needed to assert themselves.

Ultimately, Rabbi Breuer is aware that the two accounts are intermixed and intermingled, which is why he does not say they were two groups. The Torah is giving us two accounts of people trying to achieve something in a manner which is unpleasing to God.

They are both punished measure for measure - the ones who thought they were united based on their common language had their languages changed. The ones who were attempting to affirm their unity lest they be spread across the world were spread across the world.

Rabbi Breuer's conclusion is solid gold.

The natural separation and division into nationalities and languages is the way of the world. You can't put people into a box and expect them to follow it. [This is one of the triumphant nods to liberty versus tyranny in the Bible.]

When you take people and separate them, they lose their original language, they lose their original nationality and they take on the traits of the places to where they move.

Unless there is something greater which binds them, which goes above simple geographical commonality.

In the case of Judaism, which has defied these rules at all odds, we have the Torah which binds us, and a national unity which forever yearns for the rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem, no matter how far away we are and how comfortable we are in the places we live.

The Dispersion crowd wanted to build a tower to reach the heavens for whatever reason. The Jews build a Temple in Jerusalem as a "tower" but not to reach God, but for God to come down to us. It is not to make a name for ourselves, but to make a name for God.

That is the essence of that our experience. That is the essence of the brotherhood of the Jewish people.

p.s. For more on this subject, please see my article in the Jewish Star from last year

A Pluralistic Message - Parshat Noach

While the link is still live, this can be seen on the website of the Greater Miami Jewish Federation.

For all-time, it can be viewed below:

Noach
by Rabbi Avi Billet
Community Fellow of Yeshiva University’s Center for Jewish Future of South Florida

“The Colors of the Rainbow”

Look! Up in the sky! It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s… a rainbow!

Growing up, some of my teachers tried to suggest that a rainbow is a bad omen. Perhaps it can be considered evil. After all, God used it as a symbol to remind Himself that He promised never again to destroy the world with a flood. (Bereshit 9:11-16)

This would mean that when we see a rainbow, God meant to destroy the world in this recent rain, but did not because of His promise.

Not so fast.

The rainbow is not necessarily meant to be a reminder to God to stop Him from unleashing His wrath at this moment. It is a reminder to God of His promise — that no matter how bad things look down here from His perspective, rain cannot be used to wipe out the world.

To be sure, hurricanes, floods, tsunamis can all happen. Many lives can be lost. We’ve seen all of these happen in the last five years alone.

But the rainbow is also a reminder to us that as bad as a storm may be, and as much havoc as waters can cause, storm waters will never destroy virtually all of humanity as it did back then, in the time of Noach. And this has remained true.

There are those who suggest its presence is a sign that the generation of humans who see it may be guilty of the same deeds that caused the floods in the days of Noach (Rabbenu Bachaya). [Open The Miami Herald and you see this is the case every day.]

Others suggest the positioning of the bow is likened to the way archers turn their bows when they are no longer shooting, making it a sign of peace between former foes (Chizkuni).

All things considered, the rainbow is meant to be, in the words of Rabbenu Bachaya, “a gift.” It is a sign of a hope that people will improve and better their ways. Considering its beauty, it is surely appreciated as the gift it is when it appears below the clouds.

Why was the rainbow chosen as the symbol? Why could the symbol not be a “really cool” cloud formation? Why could it not be a single-color band, such as gold perhaps, in the sky? Why all the colors?

According to howstuffworks.com, the scientific explanation for a rainbow begins with “the refraction and reflection of sunlight by drops of water… [or] by light scattered by large numbers of water droplets. Although each droplet separates sunlight into colors, the different colors in a rainbow come to the eye of a viewer from different groups of droplets.”

To take science to a different level, let us suggest the rainbow is a symbolic reflection of humanity. It is a unique and rare fusion of different colors and (curved) stripes living together in harmony, reflecting the warmth and shining light of the Master of the World who is responsible for all of our being on this earth.

One of the beautiful marks of our Jewish experience is that we are not one race, have never been one race, and will never be only one race. Like the rainbow, we come in all different colors and stripes. Not only do we come from all kinds of different backgrounds, but anyone who sincerely wants to join the Jewish family and is committed to living a Jewish lifestyle as defined by Jewish law and tradition is welcome to join our ranks.

When we live in peace and harmony amongst ourselves, we are a sight as beautiful to behold as the serenity of a rainbow.