Shavuot - An Ode to G-d

This article was written by Tal Gilad in Hebrew and translated into English by Bat-Zion Susskind-Sacks.

Disclaimer: the essay below represents the point of view of the writer only. It is not intended to offend anyone or aimed at entering debates over one’s religious beliefs or scientific point of view. He solely expresses his thoughts. Nothing more. Thank you.

Shavuot, the Holy Day on which the Torah was given to Am Yisrael, is here.

True, every religious belief or faith needs to be respected. I trust, however, that over one issue there is no dispute, Judaism is the source for the other widely practiced faiths – Christianity and Islam. At school they taught us that the uniqueness of Judaism is that it is the first monotheistic faith. They also explained to us the difference between the belief in one god and that in many gods. I feel that this is missing the core of the issue.

It was also said about Akhenaten that he was a monotheist since he believed that the sun is the only god. New studies raise the possibility that he was merely “substituting” the previous sun god without rescinding the others, or that he only diminished their significance. It not that crucial. The bottom line is that it is no big deal to believe in one god instead of a few. OK, one works alone, the other delegates, what difference does it make?

The wisdom and distinctiveness of Judaism, especially its earlier debut is that Judaism is a giant leap in the  perception of G-d, not only is He One and Only, He has no shape, He is all-powerful and infinite and the G-d of all of us. I stress, of ALL. He chose Am Yisrael, but He is also the G-d of all nations, including the enemies of Yisrael. Whether they choose to believe in him or nor, is their preference.

This stems from the understanding that one god cannot be restricted. The moment he is your god only, he becomes something terribly forceful. In other words, if you build a tower which reaches the heavens or if you train at the gym long enough or bring in the air force, you will be stronger than him.

If he has a shape, he is limited. If there is something that preceded him, as was the case with the Greek gods, he is limited.

Hence, one cannot utter His name, since the moment you give Him one, you limit Him to words and letters. He must, therefore, be omnipotent, He is everything, omnipresent and invariably everywhere, our G-d in Heaven and Earth.

Incidentally, it does not matter whether the world has been existing for 13 billion years or six thousand years. Both are numbers that enable us to quantify a concept that we cannot grasp since it is perpetual. Just as one says “god” to introduce a word to something self-explanatory, a notion which cannot be articulated, so one names a number in order to clench on to something. Just as the decree that north is up, and south is down. Why? Just because. I have swerved a bit. That is a different subject altogether, but in fact, still related.

With all due respect and sincerely, I am not belittling or lessening the significance and stature of Christianity and Islam.  On the contrary, they spread the belief in one god and thus contributed their share in raising the whole of mankind to a higher spiritual level. But the basic perceptions about the essence of G-d originate in Judaism. The rest are a product of the original and thy do not deny it. It is not a problem to construct a wagon. The problem is to invent the wheel since it forces one to exit the thinking mode to which they were used. The inventor is also the one who understands their invention and knows all the stages that led  them to that understanding, as opposed to someone who received it ready-made and applies to it all that they know and are familiar with in their world. Jesus was a Jew and probably never considered himself a god. His followers, however, conceived the idea of the holy trinity, partly in order to make their faith more accessible and more concrete. Therefore, observant Jews do not enter a church. In their eyes, the holy trinity is a form of idolatry. After all, how can one divide that which is infinite, formless, and baffling into three? Which three?

One can, of course, find numerous hints and aspects of “accessibility” in our writings starting  the creation of the world where G-d, allegedly, says something or rests on the seventh day since he was tired, through “let us create a man in our image” and more, there was a need for visualization. But the <<basic>> notion in Judaism is that “G-d is One,” stressing the principle that there cannot be more than one that is endless and everything. Nothing could be more than endless and all. This is the central principle in Judaism and if one does not accept it, one does not understand its essence. After all, it is inconceivable that Moshe would come down from Mount Sinai and say, “OK, the golden calf is also a god,” merely to keep everyone happy and quiet.

“We shall do, and we shall hear,” which Am Yisrael took upon itself upon receiving the Torah, is also derived from this sentiment. After all, that “all” cannot give anything bad, impossible. He will not negate the universe and everything He created, just like as in the “know it all” question, “can G-d create a stone that He cannot lift?” Funny. Can the heavyweight lifting world champion raise and hold in the air the chair that he is sitting on? No. The contradiction is not in the answer but in the question.

The Ten Commandments are ten basic principles for living in the company of human beings, that which distinguishes between humans and animals. Their essence is Empathy. The wise Hillel summarized it “do not do unto others that which is hateful to you, the rest is commentary, go and learn.” Empathy is civilization, give and take, karma, flow of energy, call it whatever you wish. Has G-d given them directly to Moshe in a wrathful baritone voice? What difference does it make?

The funny thing is that in the desperate efforts to find a meaning to that which has none, researchers raised the hypothesis that there was no need for the world to be created, it has always existed (even Aristo claims that), which means that they believe that there is something primordial which has no creator, is infinite, has no shape and no size, that everything in it is conducted with a fixed and balanced amount of energy which cannot be subtracted by one tiny bit or else all will be chaotic.

In simple words, it is not G-d, but G-d. I reached the conclusion that just as the various religious leaders, astral physicists reach a certain point where they themselves do not understand their theories and move on to esoteric terms. And if one questions them, they define that person as ignorant and mindless.

So, here is another unique aspect of Judaism. We shall do and we shall hear. We accept our inability to understand. It is always great to learn and widen one’s horizons and it is not a shame to accept that there are issues which are beyond our understanding. This, also, has wisdom and spiritual eminence.

Judaism and Compassion

“Christianity is more compassionate and loving than Judaism,” said to me one of my students who was indoctrinated by missionaries to parrot their words. “Judaism is vindictive, harsh and inflexible,” he went on to give me the reasons why he chose to adopt the Christian faith. As an example, he cited the verse from Mathew that states: “You have heard it was said, ‘An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say unto you, ‘Do not resist one who is evil. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.” His example caught me somewhat flabbergasted as all it did was merely mislead him to believe that compassion is synonymous with abuse since, in the views of some, “turning the other cheek” is what it boils down to. I also found his observation and conclusion about Judaism not only unfounded but also surprising since that student came from a non-practicing home and had very minimal, if any, knowledge about Judaism and our Tanach in order to be able to form an objective view and disprove or refute such allegations.

So lest other innocent souls fall prey to such disinformation and deceitful messages, I have decided to take the opportunity and educate some of our fellow Jews about our own beautiful culture and hopefully rectify the damage that has been inflicted upon us through similar antics by those who will do all they can to “steal our souls.”

Firstly, not only is Judaism not vindictive or encourages to carry grudges, it teaches compassion and sympathy to the suffering of others. What then is a better way to arm the uneducated among us with knowledge than through revisiting our Tanach and other sources for pointing out the truth?

Towards that end, I decided to focus this article on this week’s Parasha, Ki Tetse.

Ki Tetse addresses several issues. They all share a common denominator, Compassion. According to the Cambridge Dictionary Compassion is: ”A strong feeling of sympathy and sadness for the suffering or bad luck of others and a wish to help them.” And these are the sentiments that are echoed in many of the commandments that are discussed in this Parasha. Let us look at a few.

The first issue in this Parasha discusses the treatment of non-Jewish women who are captured in war. The text stresses that the captive women need to be treated well. According to it, they have rights and privileges. And that, dear readers, was decreed thousands of years before the Geneva Convention was initiated.

Another important issue that is mentioned in this Parasha refers to the kind treatment of lost or hurt animals. “Thou shalt not see thy brother’s ox or his sheep driven away and hide thyself from them; thou shalt surely bring them back unto thy brother.” The text further expands to say:” Thou shalt not see thy brother’s ass or his ox fallen down by the way and hide thyself from them; thou shalt surely help him to lift them up again. ” Neither should one tie a donkey and an ox to the same plough when cultivating a field as they are not equal in capabilities and the weaker one might suffer as a result.

I can almost hear those who are familiar with the Parasha calling me out and claiming that some of the commandments that are listed here display women as disadvantaged to men. That, unfortunately, is correct. Though I do not condone such attitudes of inequality, I would ask the readers to look at this part of the Parasha from the perspective of the ancient world, mainly Mesopotamia, in which the Hebrew culture of the Tanach was reared. There, women were not regarded as autonomous individuals and did not practice much personal sovereignty.  

However, as I pointed out above, overall, these commandments do present a compassionate society. Honest compassion encompasses empathy and is perceptive to the needs of others. Compassion, therefore, can, eventually, inspire and encourage greater equality for everyone. All one needs to do, nowadays, is look at the modern-day Jewish society and see how our compassionate essence has produced a better and happier Jewish world.

Shabbat Shalom

Beware of Translations Bearing Wrong Meanings

Those who know me, have by now come to realize that for me, translations, or rather mis-translations, of the Tanach from Hebrew to Greek first and then to other languages, are one of the greatest injustices committed against the Jewish people. Translations, more than often fail to reflect one very important underlying factor in its equation, the culture that is endemic to the language which is translated.

That is especially the pattern with the endeavours to translate the Tanach.

Make no mistake, I am all for educating and enriching as many as possible about different cultures, including our own. Not, however, when there seems to be primary agendas and biases woven into it.

I have written, and more than once, about the breaches and their ensuing perversion, unintentional or otherwise, that resulted from such practices. Any translation, by default, is bound to include any underlying personal and cultural fabrics of the translator, two elements that could affect the world views and understanding of a foreign concept.

Last week, I saw yet another example of it which triggered the rebellion of my Jewish pride and sense of justice. It violated a very sacred and entrenched notion in our Hebrew – Jewish culture.

It happened when I saw the translation of רוח הקודש (Ruach Hakodesh) as “The Holy Spirit.”

A brief visit to the Concordance (a publication which cites all words that appear in the Tanach) reveals that the term Ruach Hakodesh, which in Hebrew means “The Spirit of Holiness” never appears in the Hebrew Tanach. What does appear, and more than once, is “Ruach Elohim,” the “Spirit of G-d.”

First, we see it in Genesis 1:2 “וְרוּחַ אֱלֹהִים, מְרַחֶפֶת עַל-פְּנֵי הַמָּיִם” (and the Spirit of G-d hovers above the water).

Later, we see it in Bresheet 14:38 when Pharaoh seeks a person who has the “Spirit of G-d” in them to help solve his dreams. “הֲנִמְצָא כָזֶה--אִישׁ, אֲשֶׁר רוּחַ אֱלֹהִים בּוֹ (Bresheet 41:38).

Another instance where we come across the use of the term is in Exodus, וָאֲמַלֵּא אֹתוֹ, רוּחַ אֱלֹהִים, בְּחָכְמָה וּבִתְבוּנָה וּבְדַעַת, וּבְכָל-מְלָאכָה (Shemot 31:3) where G-d is looking for an architect for the Mishkan (dwelling). This person will be filled with the Spirit of G-d, wisdom, understanding and knowledge, wisdom of the heart.

Next we see the notion in the Book of Numbers “ וַתְּהִי עָלָיו, רוּחַ אֱלֹהִים. (Bamidbar 24:2). Here it is mentioned in connection with Bilaam who was sent to curse Am Yisrael and ended up blessing them once the Spirit of G-d is upon him.

There are many other citations on the concept throughout the Tanach but I trust the reader has gotten the essence of it. In all mentions of the concept, its underlying attribute is the inspiring means of communication between G-d and mankind just as its literal translation connotes, “The Spirit of Holiness” which G-d has kindly bestowed on some human.

In the literature of Chaza”l, our Jewish sages, the term “Ruach Hakodesh” refers only to the gift of prophecy. Moreover, it is considered the lowest level in the hierarchy of prophecy. What follows from their writings is that “Ruach Hakodesh” (The Spirit of Holiness) is inside each one of us.The Talmud goes further to say that  “משמתו נביאים האחרונים חגי זכריה ומלאכי נסתלקה רוח הקדש מישראל” (with the passing away of the last prophets, Hagai, Zechariah and Malachi, so has Ruach Hakodesh, Yoma 9:2).

Unlike the Jewish “Spirit of Holiness,” Christianity mistranslated Ruach Hakoesh as “The Holy Spirit,” one of the components of its trinitarian belief system. It is a concept that is utterly foreign to Judaism and has no relations to it whatsoever.

As I showed above, any interpretation that the “Holy Spirit” equals the “Father and the Son” is based on interpretation of verses in the New Testament and any attempt to argue their case or support them by passages from the Tanach are futile.

Wish to understand the Tanach and what it stands for? Learn Hebrew and avoid falling prey to erroneous mis-translations, innocuous or dis-translations cushioned with some underlying theological agendas.