Shemoth
“...and Aaron spoke all the things that G-d had told Moses and he performed the signs before the people, and the people believed...” Shemoth, 4: 30,31
Well the Gemara comments that -from here we lean that the Israelites (or: as they were then also known- the “Hebrews” [Ivrit]) were believers. THAT’s surprising! As least at first blush. For... a belief in G-d that is based on miracles is, at best, conditional and a dependent form of faith. Certainly as we discussed last week, it would not be a complete faith, for it would question all the aspects of the “miracles”.
In the MBA schools we come to understand and know that people hear what they want to hear (e.g. they believe what they want to believe). So how is it that the Gemara came to understand that the Israelites had (a) perfect Emunah? From our knowledge (in the 21st CE) of man we have come to understand that a man sees what is within him. His past experiences in life, his ‘life-style‘ and his upbringing leads him to make selections and to accept or reject concepts based on his subjective basis‘ and not on an intellectual or objective basis.
So: an atheist &/or a hedonist would find that his world around him could and would provide for “answers” to the experience of miracles. Based on his moral choice to begin with and his life experiences to confirm his ‘answers’. Similarly, a ‘religious’ Jew (if we could only determine just what a ‘religious’ Jew is...) would find elements in his life to accept the concept of miracles in general and would have an open mind as to the veracity of a miracle that he might encounter. For this man (using ‘man’ in the sense of “Mankind”) the miracle itself is a ‘proof’ of and for his faith.
To put this into a different way of thinking: a musician must think in terms of tone and meter, sound and silence. An architect must think in terms of volume and man’s relationship to and reaction to the size and shape of a space. A truck driver needs to think in terms of time and space, safety and concern for himself and other drivers. Or, as Marshall McLuhan once said; “We shape our tools, and thereafter they shape us.”
Does this statement from Shemoth then have a truth, or at least, an understanding of the Hebrew mind at the time in question? It has been said that the frivolous man turns his mind to frivolous things - the ephemera of the world and neglects anything more.
Remember our story from last week about Rabbi Akiva? “Everything that G-d does is for the best.” His response to any apparent ill that he encountered! For Akiva, his underlying trust in G-d provided him with his interpretation of the world that he encountered and were proofs of, not only G-d’s bounty, but of the existence of the living G-d!
Every person sees exactly what he wants to see, hears what he wants to hear. Or: the power of the ‘heart’ (the Jewish base of understanding) affects what the eye sees and how the brain understands or interprets it. As in the following midrash (Shemoth Rabbah, 3: 16)-
This is in reference to the Torah’s incident where Moses transforms his staff into a snake and has to flee from what he unwittingly caused to bring into being. Rab Yossi and a Roman princess were discussing this.
She: “My gods are greater than yours. When (your) Moses saw G-d revealed at the burning bush he hid is face but when he encountered the snake - my god - he fled!”
Reb Yossi: “When you see a snake you only have to run a few feet to get away from it but with G-d, the Almighty, He encompasses all space and there is nowhere to hide.”
Each sought to confirm what they each read in Torah. The magnet only attracts those objects which are subject to magnetism; and so the original question is clarified. The Hebrews declared their faith in HaShem by the simple fact of seeing and believing miracles. Their acknowledgment of the miraculous miracles confirmed their faith.
What does this say about the way that we - you and I - see our world... and how we relate the words of Torah our life experiences and our life-styles? Our teaching and our understanding? What does this bring to “your table”? Faith or scoffing? Or the option of many: believe what is convenient to believe and take the rest of Torah as ‘nice’ stories to read and perhaps teach our children?
Well the Gemara comments that -from here we lean that the Israelites (or: as they were then also known- the “Hebrews” [Ivrit]) were believers. THAT’s surprising! As least at first blush. For... a belief in G-d that is based on miracles is, at best, conditional and a dependent form of faith. Certainly as we discussed last week, it would not be a complete faith, for it would question all the aspects of the “miracles”.
In the MBA schools we come to understand and know that people hear what they want to hear (e.g. they believe what they want to believe). So how is it that the Gemara came to understand that the Israelites had (a) perfect Emunah? From our knowledge (in the 21st CE) of man we have come to understand that a man sees what is within him. His past experiences in life, his ‘life-style‘ and his upbringing leads him to make selections and to accept or reject concepts based on his subjective basis‘ and not on an intellectual or objective basis.
So: an atheist &/or a hedonist would find that his world around him could and would provide for “answers” to the experience of miracles. Based on his moral choice to begin with and his life experiences to confirm his ‘answers’. Similarly, a ‘religious’ Jew (if we could only determine just what a ‘religious’ Jew is...) would find elements in his life to accept the concept of miracles in general and would have an open mind as to the veracity of a miracle that he might encounter. For this man (using ‘man’ in the sense of “Mankind”) the miracle itself is a ‘proof’ of and for his faith.
To put this into a different way of thinking: a musician must think in terms of tone and meter, sound and silence. An architect must think in terms of volume and man’s relationship to and reaction to the size and shape of a space. A truck driver needs to think in terms of time and space, safety and concern for himself and other drivers. Or, as Marshall McLuhan once said; “We shape our tools, and thereafter they shape us.”
Does this statement from Shemoth then have a truth, or at least, an understanding of the Hebrew mind at the time in question? It has been said that the frivolous man turns his mind to frivolous things - the ephemera of the world and neglects anything more.
Remember our story from last week about Rabbi Akiva? “Everything that G-d does is for the best.” His response to any apparent ill that he encountered! For Akiva, his underlying trust in G-d provided him with his interpretation of the world that he encountered and were proofs of, not only G-d’s bounty, but of the existence of the living G-d!
Every person sees exactly what he wants to see, hears what he wants to hear. Or: the power of the ‘heart’ (the Jewish base of understanding) affects what the eye sees and how the brain understands or interprets it. As in the following midrash (Shemoth Rabbah, 3: 16)-
This is in reference to the Torah’s incident where Moses transforms his staff into a snake and has to flee from what he unwittingly caused to bring into being. Rab Yossi and a Roman princess were discussing this.
She: “My gods are greater than yours. When (your) Moses saw G-d revealed at the burning bush he hid is face but when he encountered the snake - my god - he fled!”
Reb Yossi: “When you see a snake you only have to run a few feet to get away from it but with G-d, the Almighty, He encompasses all space and there is nowhere to hide.”
Each sought to confirm what they each read in Torah. The magnet only attracts those objects which are subject to magnetism; and so the original question is clarified. The Hebrews declared their faith in HaShem by the simple fact of seeing and believing miracles. Their acknowledgment of the miraculous miracles confirmed their faith.
What does this say about the way that we - you and I - see our world... and how we relate the words of Torah our life experiences and our life-styles? Our teaching and our understanding? What does this bring to “your table”? Faith or scoffing? Or the option of many: believe what is convenient to believe and take the rest of Torah as ‘nice’ stories to read and perhaps teach our children?
Or do we ever question...?
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