Friday, January 5, 2007

The mystery of the changing tribe names

I'm introducing some new features on NYAPIKORES. First, each blog entry will contain a brief synopsis of key events that occurred on that day in the life of the Jewish People, with an emphasis on the forgotten past -- essentially pre-World War II. So here we go: on this day in 1895, Captain Alfred Dreyfus, accused of treachery, was publicly degraded in Paris, in the face of his cries of innocence. He was deported to Devils Island soon after. Theodore Herzl would soon be aroused to kick start the Zionist movement.

Apart from 'this day in the Jewish life', I'm introducing a weekly feature to appear on Fridays. This will be a brief comment on the weekly portion in the ancient NYAPIKORES tradition...

This week's parsha (portion) is Vayekhi ('And he lived'), the last section in Breishit (Genesis), the centerpiece of which are Jacob's blessings to his sons on his deathbed. While devout Jews view the blessings as prophecy, they are actually a reflection of many tribal realities as they existed during the Judges and monarchy periods (which began hundreds of years after the purported events reported in this weeks portion were to have occurred). These later events were then projected back into the semi-mythical Israelite past, to be retold and discussed as allegories. Judah and Efraim (one of Joseph's sons -- traditionally Joseph ended up with two tribes named after his two sons: Efraim and Menashe) received the best blessings of all from Jacob, and lo and behold, they were to become the two leading, and eventually rival, tribes.

There are many interesting insights to glean from the blessings, but we'll touch on only a few. For example Yisakhar, comes from two words, Yesh Sakhar, or 'have salary' - seems the Yissakharites were paid laborers of the Canaanites. Benjamin is called a killer wolf, which may be an allusion to the horrible story of Pilegesh BaGiv'a (the concubine of Giv'a), itself a close facsimile of the story of Sodom. I'll discuss that another time.

Anyway, I'd like to dwell (I'm supposed to keep this short, right?) on the list of brothers (tribes) which is the traditional lineup most familiar. Reuven Shimon Levi Yehuda etc. I'll assume that you're familiar with the list, and if not you can look it up in the portion. Now, one would assume that the tribal roster wold remain consistent through the Tanach. But this isn't so. In Dvarim (Deuteronomy) 33, Shimon is absent from Moshe's series of blessings to the tribes. Why?

Meanwhile, Shoftim (Judges) 1, features a very different list, in which Joseph is an independent tribe apart from his sons Efraim and Menashe. Reuven, Gad, Levi and Yisakhar are absent. Odd.

Finally in Shoftim 5, which contains the very ancient Song of Devora, we find yet another roster.
Here, not 12 but 11 tribes are mentioned. Three are not sons of Jacob: Machir, Gil'ad, and Meroz. Five on the traditional list are absent: Shimon, Levi, Yehuda, Menashe and Gad. Hmmm...
Its been observed by many scholars for a variety of reasons that its likely that the traditional list is most recent, while the roster in Devora's Song is most ancient.

Its not surprising that in general yeshiva students aren't urged by their rabbis to study the prophets and writings. Exposure to these neglected parts of the Bible would raise too many questions in their minds, bring attention to inconsistencies and even raise doubts in their innocent minds as to the divine authorship of the Torah. Who needs such trouble?
Shabbat Shalom.

Thursday, January 4, 2007

God on the blog

A perusal of my blogger profile would indicate that I'm interested in all sorts of stuff. If you're too lazy to check, they range from astronomy and history to Biblical criticism, to Israel to energy policy. I'm still grappling with whether I should keep the subject of this blog narrowly focused, which some might find less confusing, or broadbased, which would be a better reflection of me.

In my initial wanderings in this strange landscape I've been drawn instinctively to the fascinating blogs of anonymous (generally nonbelieving) hasidim who cathartically use bloggery to express themselves profoundly and hilariously, providing a window both into their daily lives and turbulent souls and minds. The existence of god is a recurring theme, theological arguments with rabbis are reported, and wonderful discussions carried on through the days and weeks. Many of these great blogs have been posted along the right. There's also a fun argument for and against god's existence between Sam Harris and Dennis Prager on Jewlicious.com.

Today, I managed to shock the guy I drive up with (a Flatbush frummie), when I referred to Tanaim and Amoraim (the rabbis mentioned in the Talmud) as reform rabbis. Let's face it, I told him, the laws they designed have little to nothing in common with the laws of the Torah.

Wednesday, January 3, 2007

Tali-Ban upon you Yids

Rookie bloggers often screw up, and so I somehow erased a monumental, brilliant entry and must begin again. This version will pale in comparison to its predecessor, as bayit sheni was no match for Solomon's. Anyway, I raise two items, related in two ways. The first was published on the summer solstice, the second almost exactly on the shortest day of the year. Well, almost. In any case, they're reflections of the same reality, the process of Haredizing Orthodox and Talibanized Haredi. On the year's longest day it was reported that HaModia, the Gerer Hasidim news organ, had banned the unblurred appearance of the female poonim (face) upon the sacred pages of its book catalog. Then at this time of the year's longest night, we discover that restrictions have been placed upon devout women attaining advanced degrees. I could go on, but I must return home to administer baths and supervise homework. Meanwhile in Qatar, female college college enrollment exceeds that of males. Its true...Ah shandeh, no?

Tuesday, January 2, 2007

Parting the Red Sea Over Kiddush

As a spanking new blogger I understand that with contemporary attention spans being what they are, it's best to keep entries short and succinct, so that you keep visiting.
So here it goes.
Anyway, I can be found most Sabbaths (not shabbes or Shabbat so as not to confuse goyishe visitors) after services sitting in the synagogue with my buddies (even a couple o' classy ladies too, sometimes) in the basement sipping scotch at kiddush (scroll down to my introductory entry to read more about this). This past weekend I found myself sitting next to a modern looking guy, thirty five-ish.
"So tell me," he says leaning back, "If you were able to go back in time, where would you go?"
I guess he wasn't interested in my own time travel preferences since he promptly answered his own question. "If you ask me, I'd go back to the splitting of Yam Soof (the Red Sea). Man, that must have been some sight."
I couldn't resist. "Yeah, some sight. If it really happened."
This stunned him. "What's that supposed to mean?" he shot back with a frown.
"I just don't think it happened."
"How can you say that? Why would you think that?"
I tried to be diplomatic, attempting to mask my (unfortunate) condescension. "I don't believe in miracles."
Modern thirty five-ish guy scanned his memory banks for proof of a miracle, coming back at me with what he was certain was an 'ahah' to end all 'ahahs'. "So you wanna tell me that thirty nine SCUDS landing in Israel and not hurting anyone wasn't a miracle?"
I was unmoved. "God has had plenty of great opportunities for timely miracles," I said as laconically as possible. "The one thousand good Jews massacred by suicide vermin could have used a miracle, don't you think? And six million others also would have found some use for a miracle or two, no?" I lost him right then, as he conveniently turned away to offer a 'good shabbes' to someone else.

Now I'd never want to upset anyone... But why is it that otherwise thinking, people of the modern age (I love retro terminology) accept without question that events described in the Torah happened exactly as reported? In fact, few stop to think about this. And the devout either accept things as written or keep their doubts to themselves.
I hope I haven't lost you yet. Stay tuned.