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May 25, 2012
Mark Clayton: Is Hillary's State Dept. hacking Al Qaeda? Not quite
Erika Bolstad: Temple cancels Wasserman Schultz speech
The Kosher Gourmet by Ethel G. Hofman: The former president of the International Association of Culinary Professionals, whose members included the likes of Julia Child, is back with contemporary Shavous cuisine: Ruby Fruit Soup, Sweet Noodle Kugel with Cheese, Key Lime Curd, Calsone Casserole Frittata with Wild Mushrooms, Sun-dried tomatoes and Olives, Baked Tilapia with Pepper Cheese Cream and Brown Sugar Shortbread
May 24, 2012
Jeff Jacoby: The peace process battered Israel's reputation
Michael Muskal: 'Pro-choice' position hits record low, according to poll
Chris Farrell: Are We in a Tech Bubble?
The Kosher Gourmet by Penelope Wall: PHILLY CHEESE STEAKS --- hold the steak!
May 23, 2012
Tony Pugh: More private colleges offering tuition discounts
Mary Beth Franklin: How to Choose the Right Annuity for You
Tina Susman: The wig wasn't enough: Man gets 13 years for posing as his dead mom
The Kosher Gourmet by Emma Christensen:A simple way to do fish right
May 22, 2012
Warren Richey: Can US group challenge overseas surveillance act? Supreme Court to decide
Thomas M. Anderson: Walking Away From a Mortgage
The Kosher Gourmet by Megan Gordon: Enjoy a celebration of the most rich and layered flavors: Black bean, sweet potato and quinoa chili
May 21, 2012
Mark Clayton: Cybersecurity: How US utilities passed up chance to protect their networks
Howard LaFranchi: NATO summit: Who will foot the bill for long-term Afghanistan security?
Chris Farrell : Earn Dividends in Emerging Markets with This WisdomTree ETF
Stephen Whiteside, Ph.D. : Mayo Clinic Medical Edge: Social anxiety disorder --- or just shy?
Guy Jackson : Victim's father regrets death of Lockerbie bomber
The Kosher Gourmet by Mario Batali: Famed chef's veal shoulder farsumagru: A festive meat course for late spring
May 18, 2012
Rabbi Berel Wein: Striving: The People of the Book's Book for (All of) the People
Steven Goldberg: 5 Great Stock Picks and the Exchange-Traded Fund that Owns Them
Mary Pickett, M.D.: Ask the Harvard Experts: Don't be forced into gluten-free lifestyle based merely on a doctor's false-positive test
The Kosher Gourmet by Carolyn Malcoun: DIY healthy lunchbox treats: HOMEMADE FRUIT BARS for kids and brown-bagging adults alike
May 17, 2012
Warren Richey: Teacher fired for being unwed and pregnant can sue religious school, court rules
Josh Mitnick: Netanyahu's 'centrist' coalition is already proving it's anything but
Steven Goldberg: Earn Dividends in Emerging Markets with This WisdomTree ETF
Amina Khan: Research links coffee to lower death rates
The Kosher Gourmet by Faith Duran : Cheesy Potato Breakfast Casserole with Cheddar and Sun-Dried Tomatoes
May 16, 2012
Carmen Terzic, M.D., Ph.D. : Mayo Clinic Medical Edge: A variety of exercises can help improve balance
Melissa Healy: National strategy on Alzheimer's disease aims to halt it by 2025
The Kosher Gourmet by Joyce White : GOODNESS GRACIOUS: GREENS! 4 winning recipes that are no longer just for down-home folks (Includes expert tips & techniques)
May 15, 2012
Kristen Chick: Obama administration resumes arms sales to Bahrain despite serious unresolved human rights issues. Activists feel abandoned
Pat Mertz Esswein: Homes are now affordable again and mortgage rates are low. What you need to know before you buy
Kathy Kristof: Our Practical Investor Fights Inflation with These 6 Investments
Sue Hubbard, M.D.: The Kid's Doctor: Lactose intolerant young child? Check again
The Kosher Gourmet by Kathy Hunt: Spread a Little Excitement with EXOTIC CONDIMENTS (4 RECIPES)
May 14, 2012
Lisa Gerstner: How to Protect Your Identity, Finances If You Lose Your Phone
Harvard Health Letters: Heart disease and dementia
The Kosher Gourmet by Megan Gordon: MANGO COCONUT OAT MORNING MUFFINS are a bright but hearty delight
May 11, 2012
Jessica L. Anderson: Get the Best Deal on a Used Car
Jett Stone: Forget face-lifts and fake knees. Scientists have seen the fountain of youth --- and it's broccoli
The Kosher Gourmet by Chef Mario Batali: The famed chef's vegetable dish that tastes true to the season: FAVAS AND SUGAR SNAP PEAS WITH POTATOES AND TARRAGON
May 10, 2012
Sergei L. Loiko: Putin sends warning to U.S., NATO in Victory Day speech at Red Square
Mary Rourke: How being a 'mentch' got Vidal Sasoon his start and fighting in Israel's War of Independence provided him with confidence and a strong sense of his own identity
Jeff Bertolucci: Get Home Phone Service for Less Than $10 a Month
The Kosher Gourmet by Betty Rosbottom: Gleaming with its golden, crimson, and snowy white hues, this silken smooth and creamy STRAWBERRY ORANGE TRIFLE looks impressive, but is easy to prepare
May 9, 2012
Sharon Palmer, R.D. How you can reduce your risk -- or delay -- chronic diseases associated with aging
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Jewish World Review
Can the Bible be a secular language?
By Rabbi Hillel Goldberg
Used as replacements for common expressions, biblical verses attest to the human capacity to sanctify even the mundane
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
Thirty years ago, I taught at the Jerusalem College for Women ("Michlala"). This was only my second teaching job. I was
young. I loved it. I still remember some of my students, daughters of eminent people, young women destined to eminence in
their own right. I was barely a few years older than they. As a beginning teacher, I made mistakes.
Once, apparently, I assigned too much work in too short a time. My supervisor, a master pedagogue, Rabbi Yehuda
Coperman, simply and gently cited half a verse from this week's Torah (Bible) portion in the context of Jacob's preparation for his
meeting with his brother Esau.
It is 22 years after Esau threatened to kill Jacob and now the two are about to meet. Jacob is afraid. Among his preparations
is a tribute to Esau in the currency of the day. He sends droves of animals.
"He put in his servants' charge each drove separately and said to his servants, 'Pass on ahead of me and leave a space
between drove and drove'" (Gen. 32:17).
Jacob's plan is this:
First I give part of the tribute, then Esau notices another drove coming, and then still another. I pace the droves. I really
impress Esau.
That's exactly what Rabbi Coperman said to me. Steeped as he was in the words and phrases of the Torah, he naturally
summoned one of them as a parable that speaks for itself. He simply said: "Leave a space between drove and drove."
This phrase became one of my old friends in this week's Torah portion.
This week's Torah portion is full of old friends — phrases that stick; ideas, allusions and verbal associations that I greet anew
each year. There is a prejudice for newness in readers of the Torah portion. Let's discover a point no one has ever made
before. This is a legitimate approach. But there is much to savor in the old and the familiar. Indeed, the goal of Torah study is
that its words become familiar and comfortable. To reread the Torah each year is to greet old friends: expressions and events
that have left a permanent mark on the mind.
As I reread this week's Torah portion, I encounter Jacob's fear as he sets out on his journey back to Canaan and his inevitable
encounter with his brother — his enemy. He expresses his feelings before G-d in a single word, so rich, so multi-layered:
"Katonti," translated I am small, I have been diminished or I am unworthy. Once I wrote an article praising Kalman
Samuels, the founder of Shalva, a 365-day-a-year program for special needs children in Jerusalem. He sent a thank you note;
it contained a single word: "Katonti." Ever since, the word stuck.
On his way to meet Esau, Jacob sends his tribute, family and possessions across the ford of the Jabbok. Then, the Torah
records, "And Jacob was left alone," whereupon a mysterious man or angel wrestled with him until dawn (32:25).
A mysterious man who appeared early in my adult life was Rabbi Jacob M. Lesin. His holiness was so pure that he seemed to
be an apparition, akin to the being who wrestled with Jacob only to disappear, never to be seen or heard from again.
Rabbi Jacob Lesin had four wives: His first died suddenly a year or so after they married, around 1922; his second (who bore
his children) died after some 17 years of marriage; his third, whom he married just before WW II, perished in the Holocaust;
his fourth he married after the Holocaust. Surely, here was a life steeped in tragedy. Yet, writ on Rabbi Lesin's countenance
was a faith so natural, so elevated, so consistent that he seemed akin to a celestial being. His many volumes of writings,
masterpieces of ethical insight and literary style, give voice to that faith.
When he died in his late eighties in 1978, he was eulogized by a slightly younger colleague, a scholar of renown, Rabbi Jacob
Kaminetsky. Standing near his deceased friend of many decades, saying that he had anticipated that Rabbi Jacob Lesin would
become the High Priest in the rebuilt Holy Temple in Jerusalem, Rabbi Jacob Kaminetsky mourned for his colleague and for
himself. He said, "And Jacob was left alone."
Piercing. I never forgot it.
Can the Torah be a secular language? Of course it can. When Rabbi Coperman told me to take it easy on the students
("Leave a space between drove and drove"), he was using a biblical verse in a secular way. Still, we must be careful in defining
"secular."
It is clearly secular to yank a biblical verse out of context to express a personal point. Not a single one of the four levels of
biblical exegesis (plain meaning, allegory, homiletics, mysticism) was served by Rabbi Coperman. At the same time, there is a
very different tone in a biblical verse than in a prosaic message ("Let up on the students!"). To be so comfortable with the
biblical text, to be so natural in summoning its phrases to express oneself, is a beautiful example of imbuing the secular with the
holy.
Likewise, when the head of the program for special needs children wrote me, "Katonti, I am unworthy," he imbued a simple
thank you with an elegant biblical twist. When a rabbi mourned a colleague's death and his resultant loneliness by saying, "And
Jacob was left alone," he infused a difficult moment with an elevating association. In Israel, even taxi drivers, fruit merchants
and carpenters are full of expressive phrases taken straight from the Bible to make their point.
Used as replacements for common expressions, biblical verses attest to the human capacity to sanctify even the mundane, the
secular.
However, the Torah, used as a secular language, can also be dangerous. If the learned individual comes to identify his every
desire and decision with that of the Torah, by virtue of his ability to locate an apt biblical phrase to express himself, he
becomes an authoritarian personality. He exploits the Torah to advance his own agenda. He confuses his will with the Divine
will. He masks personal preferences with a biblical patina.
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JWR contributor Rabbi Hillel Goldberg is executive editor of the Intermountain Jewish News. To comment, please click here.
© 2008, Rabbi Hillel Goldberg
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