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Va-Yetze 5762, Genesis 28:10-32:3
Shabbat Shalom-
This week’s portion holds many secrets. Many people don’t know this,
but the historical roots of the male ritual head covering, the kippah, are
here. As it says “Then Jacob went out from Beer Sheva”
(28:10). And could Jacob go out without a head covering? Of course
not! He must have been wearing a kippah!
Another memorable morsel: Jacob vows that YHWH (the Lord) will be his
god if He provides him food and clothing as well as protection on his journey
and a safe return home (28:20-21). Imagine what the world would be like if
we actually demanded of God these things. There wouldn’t be a man of faith among
us! Or perhaps we are only obligated to believe in a god in good times but
not in bad.
On a more serious but related theme, I think we’ll discuss what God might
be. In the Hebrew Bible the two most common names of God are Elohim and
YHWH. The former, besides being a generic term for a god or gods, means
“mighty or powerful” (Gen 1:2, 30:8, 31:29, Psalm 36:7). The
latter’s meaning is most likely something like “he who causes everything to
be” or more generally “the sustainer” (I Samuel 1:11, Ex
3:14 &c.). The ancient rabbis (2nd-6th century CE) saw in these two
names a distinction between the two ways in which God relates to the world (cf.
Gen 1, Gen 2). Elohim is the distant and abstract God of natural laws (Gen
14:18-20) whereas YHWH is the more personal, imminent God that attends to our
daily affairs (Gen 3:8, 11:5, Ex 15:3). Biblical scholars of course
attribute these differing ideas to different traditions, though all will agree
that they were eventually merged together as is seen in the Bible.
This difference is born out in how Rachel, Jacob’s second wife, understood
the birth of her first son, Joseph.
She conceived and bore a son, and said, “God [Elohim] has taken away
[Heb. asaf] my disgrace.” So she named him Joseph [Yosef], which is to
say, “May the Lord [YHWH] add [yosef] another son for me.” (Genesis
30:23-24, NJPS)
If we understand that the Bible uses the names of God with a particular
purpose in mind, we may understand this exchange to be saying something very
fundamental about how we see the world. Giving birth was an act of nature
which we can recognize, but when we really need something, we pray to a
personality, to people. Hence, Rachel saw at once the natural result of
her childbirth in lessening her disgrace in the eyes of others, but at the same
time she requested the help of the personal deity to bring her more
children. This is the way a religious person sees the world. While
the world is run by natural law, we must seek the help of our friends to cope
with life’s difficulties.
As Jeremiah can only lament against a personal
deity “You will win, O Lord, if I make claim against You, yet I shall present
charges against you: Why does the
way of the wicked prosper?” (Jeremiah 12:1, NJPS). It is this imminent
god that Abraham accuses of injustice at Sedom and Ammorah (Genesis
18:25). It is no wonder that this brilliant insight into the human psyche
has YHWH as the most personal name of God. Though we may recognize nature
to be cruel and heartless, we seek out love, mercy, and friendship in our daily
lives. Nature acts according to rules, while humans act with their hearts
and minds. This is how we are created in the divine image (Genesis 1:27).
Thus,
though we know the world can be cruel, we must relate to people with warmth and
care.
Have a caring week!
Benjamin Fleischer
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