son-of-god daughters of man by Phillip Ratner
I am writing these comments hoping that you the reader will find them of some interest, and that you might want to also add your comments as well. In our era of “Open Source” and Wiki sensibilities, we are open to the Wet ware of our minds in creating and developing a Cyber Bet Midrash — Study Site — for an on-going set of comments on the perennial Bible.
We all see and read the same text. Note that the term “text” is derived from the Latin “Texare”, meaning “to weave”. So we are dealing with a new weaving. We are not dealing merely with the retelling of the stories of the past, but rather a new telling of the “Future Weavings” for our Era. We are the future weavers of our era.
1. TIME: Many Dimensions —
One of the more interesting investigations of this Re-Genesis Now project relates to time. Hayut-Man writes that The Torah is not written in the past tense but rather in an “Inverted Future Tense” that does not relate to the usual past-present-future “times arrow” view of reality. He suggests that the Bible should be regarded as a prophetic history-forming book with a special message for our times, and not just a book that relates to past history.
Indeed, we are all living in an era of hyper-change on a global scale.
We are all “Time Travelers” on our journey into our personal and collective future. We are not tourists who are accompanied by some guide who can tell us just what lies ahead and will keep us safe and comfortable. Instead, we are more like explorers in an unknown and often dangerous journey that no one has ever been on before. After all, we are all going to live all the rest of our lives only in the FUTURE.
In the “Ethics of the Fathers” (Pirke Avot), of the Talmudic period written about the second century of the Common Era, there is a comment that asks the simple question:
“Who is wise?”
They ask the question so that they can offer an answer —
Who is wise?
The person who can see what will be born (Haroeh et HaNolad). The person who can envision the future. Namely being able to see the consequences of what you do.
In another commentary on this text written by Rabbi Bertinoro
Basically, we are dealing with a vital human trait: Foresight – our ability to think forward, to see the possible-probable-preferable outcomes of our actions and to act with responsibly.
Our current world is being created and emerging through massive global transformation, innovation, creativity, and connectivity.
What the Bible and these comments are about is that we deal with these ideas of foresight with wisdom.
How do we get all of this just from text-words written millennia ago?
Professor Moshe Idel, one of the world’s foremost scholars of the mystical dimensions of Judaism, suggests that a major transformation took place in Judaism. When the Jewish post-Biblical world lost its geographical center with the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 CE, a new center was created – a textual center – the Torah: the Written Torah, the Oral Torah, and the Mystical Torah. Dr. Idel makes the point that this text-oriented religion produced a language and word centered form of mysticism. That is why Yitzhaq Hayut-Man and I are so fascinated with words – they are the basic fabric and loom for our Future Weaving of our civilization.
When we tend to think about the Bible, we generally tend to assume that it is telling a story about history. The very term “history” means just that – a story, derived from the French – histoire. We know of our own stories from our memories and can most often recall the story of what happened in a usual past-present format.
In line with the theme of Yitzhaq Hayut-Man we are not dealing with the same past-present linkage. This is reinforced by the insight of one of the most brilliant and innovative thinkers of the Jewish world of the 20th century — Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveichik. The story of Judaism is not just another set of nice and even significant memories of our past. It is about a covenant that was initiated by Abraham and entered into by the people of Israel at Sinai.
Soloveichik writes:
“Covenantal Jewish history is teleological, not etiological. This means that it is propelled by a purpose. What happens to Jews emanates from a Divine promise foretold about the future, rather than by events impelling from the past. Jewish history is pulled, as by a magnet, towards a glorious destiny; it is not pushed by antecedent causes. This is the meaning of the Patriarchic Covenant; it is a goal projected, a purpose pursued, a destination to be reached.”
(http://www.global-report.com/thehope/a91-joseph-b-soloveichik-destiny-not-causality-governs-jewish-history)
We tend to think of time as a function of causes – what happened in the past causes what is happening now and in the future. Soloveichik suggests that it is Destiny, not causality that constitutes that dynamics of covenantal history.
THE FUTURE IS RESPOSIBLE FOR THE PAST.
Soloveichik continues along these lines and suggests that it is eschatological redemption – the “ketz ha-yamim” not only for the Jews, not only for all humanity, but for the entire universe. As the prophet foretold:
“The Lord will be king over all the earth (“malkhut shamayim” = universal religion); in that day the Lord will be one and His Name One.”
(Zechariah 14:9)
This Patriarchic Covenant created a new concept of historical destiny. This is derived from the Genesis 12:2-3 themes: “And I will make you a great nation, and will bless you and make your name great and you will be a blessing… and all of the families of the earth will bless themselves through you”. This forged a people with a great destination.
It is in this light that Yitzhaq Hayut-Man is developing his futures oriented commentary to the Bible.
