Chavarah- Jewish Community Learning

A blog of Jewish study and traditions. Notes from classes: Torah Study with Rabbi Marder, Toledot and Shabbaton as well as other details found of interest.

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Tuesday, August 26, 2008

From Light to Knowledge to Opportunity

Genesis 3:21 – 24

Torah Study 8/23 –Rabbi Janet Marder

Light – clothed in light. The role that light plays in our tradition is significant.



INTIMATIONS OF IMMORTALITY FROM RECOLLECTIONS OF EARLY CHILDHOOD
William Wordsworth:
THERE was a time when meadow, grove, and stream,
The earth, and every common sight,
To me did seem Apparelled in celestial light,
The glory and the freshness of a dream.
It is not now as it hath been of yore;--
Turn wheresoe'er I may,
By night or day,
The things which I have seen I now can see no more.

(...)

Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting:
The Soul that rises with us, our life's Star,
Hath had elsewhere its setting,
And cometh from afar: Not in entire forgetfulness,
And not in utter nakedness,
But trailing clouds of glory do we come
From God, who is our home:
Heaven lies about us in our infancy!

read the whole poem at this link:


We spoke of the tradition to capture light in our fingernails during Havdallah!
We raise our hands and hold our fingernails in the direction of the light -- in our nails, one of the few parts of the human body that continue to grow even into our old age, the light is reflected. This is a remnant of the light that we were clothed in when we were created in Eden.
another link to answers to this question

The purpose of religion: To recapture wonder:
Abraham Joshua Heschel once wrote: “We may doubt anything, except that we are struck with amazement. When in doubt, we raise questions; when in wonder, we do not even know how to ask a question. Doubts may be resolved, radical amazement can never be erased. There is no answer in the world to [our] radical wonder. Under the running sea of our theories and scientific explanations lies the aboriginal abyss of radical amazement.” (Man Is Not Alone, p. 13)

Heschel's essay "Death as Homecoming" excerpts:
As Heschel writes...

"The greatest problem is not how to continue but how to exalt our existence. The cry for a life beyond the grave is presumptuous, if there is no cry for external life prior to our descending to the grave. Eternity is not perpetual future but perpetual presence. He has planted in us the seed of eternal life. The world to come is not only a hereafter but a here now."


We then discussed the “Trees” and the implications of the tree of knowledge and the tree of life.

Two philosophies about this:
Brandeis Professor Marc Brettler
Said that the “to know” was a sexual reference and with the ‘tree’ humans acquired sexuality.
book: Brettler, Marc Zvi. "Introduction." The Jewish Study Bible Edited by Adele Berlin and Marc Zvi Brettler. Jewish Publication Society.

There is the problem with potential overpopulation – thus we are mortal individually but not collectively as a species. “expelled from the garden so the planet can be sustained” We were willing to pay the price of mortality to have knowledge.

This led to a whole tangent discussion on our purpose beyond reproduction and raising our children. R. Marder cited that this is a reason to take note of the 5th commandment!

The other philosophy is from Professor at Hebrew University, Michael Rosenak's book, Tree of Life, Tree of Knowledge opens a lively conversation with the stories and laws of the Torah. "What is worth knowing? “Why is the Tree of Life problematic?”

It seems that God didn’t want them to know about evil but with this act, God learned also of man’s choices.

The Tree of Life and Knowledge become one.

Then we spoke of Eric Fromm's 'You Shall Be As Gods' (Author of Art of Loving also)
A more humanistic approach – distinguishing between good and evil celebrates human autonomy.
It marks our evolution into humanity.

Book mention: Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies by Jared Diamond

Thus Adam & Eve were expelled from the garden into a life as ‘farmers’.

They left the garden into the East – a symbol of rebirth.
To the Rising Sun – a positive image.

The way back is not available – guarded by the Cheribum
Which led to a discussion of exactly what Cheribum are:

Winged creatures who support the Throne of God, or act as guardian spirits.
book of Ezekiel describe the "four living creatures" (Ezekiel 1:5) as the same beings as the cherubim (Ezekiel 10). Each had four faces - that of a man, a lion, an ox, and an eagle (Ezekiel 1:10; also 10:14) - and each had four wings. In their appearance, the cherubim "had the likeness of a man" (Ezekiel 1:5). These cherubim used two of their wings for flying and the other two for covering their bodies (Ezekiel 1:6,11,23). Under their wings the cherubim appeared to have the form, or likeness, of a man's hand (Ezekiel 1:8; 10:7-8,21).
more imagery :

literal illustration

link to astrology

Continuing:
A Rabbinical view:
Estrangement from the garden is temporary – we can return through study of Torah!

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