How do you like me now lilly?

How do you like me now lilly?

fuk with the bull; expect to be gored!

What about these facts lilly? Do you comprehend any of this? I've asked you before.



Tzelem Elokim=Humankind as Image of Yah/God

1: Has Intelligence

2: Has Freewill

3: Has component of Spiritual Being-A Soul

4: HaShem/YHWH Rules the Universe and Spirit World, Humans have dominion over the Lower World.

5: Has the faculty of Judgement

6: Has an inherent Holiness and Dignity



As created in the image of God, humans are endowed with "three intrinsic dignities": infinite value, equality, and uniqueness.

The first means that human life cannot be weighed, measured, or compared in terms of, that is, subordinated to, any other value. In the Kantian Parlance humans are always a goal or end in themselves and never a means to something else.

The second term implies that no person or group is privileged over another. In fact, Idolatry results when a person or group absolutizes itself or its message.

The third idea reinforces the dignity of every human by insisting that each person is irreplaceable and has a special role to play in the redemption of the world.

The Jewish religion is founded on the divine assurance and human belief that the world will be perfected." Judaism engages with and seeks to overcome these realities of history through its notion of covenant. The covenant is that dynamic which God inaugurated in history, that partnership between God and the jewish people, to achieve the dignities for which all humans were created. Jews are those teachers, models, and co-workers-having both a divine and human partners - whom God designated to help all persons and even nature achieve redemption. For Greenberg, the messianic dream of perfection will not be realized by divine fiat, but by "improving this world, one step at a time."

These understandings of God, humans, and the world are expressed through the Torah and lived-out by the Jewish people through the Holy days and the Halakhah. In this view, Torah is that divine teaching which stands as "the constitution of the ongoing relationship of God and the Jewish people." Rabbi Greenberg

This expanded view/articulation of higher values help us to search for Yahwehs presence in the secular Realms of Life, some peeps call this: 'Holy Secularism'.

The Covenant is essentially a Divine, Loving, Pedagogic process. As Humans become more competent, Yahweh invites them to take up a more active role in the Task of Tikun Olam/World to Come, as Co-Creators.

The lay people of Yahweh play a more influential role in discerning Yahwehs purpose and in carrying out His Divine Mandates.

Later, ensuing Historical events reshape understandings of earlier Teachings.



Summarized

We=ALL Living things-creatures-sustained and Nurtured by Yahweh-will fill the World with Life.

* We will reshape the Historical Reality, the Flesh & Blood world we inhabit, to sustain that Life at the highest possible level.

* Life will multiply and triumph Quantitatively over all its enemies; including Entropy, Death, and Disorder.

* Life will equally triumph Qualitatively.

* All of Lifes’ capacities/potentials will be developed fully and realized.

* When Life blossoms to its fullest capacity that treats all Life, especially Human Life-the most developed form-and sustains it with the highest and fullest respect that it deserves, then Life will be in harmony with existence and deeply related to Yahweh, its Source and Sustainer(Natural Laws)

* This is the Jews Story, and by default; the Christians/Xns.

* Telling the Story of Creation is the Jews 'Witness'. The present evidentiary Facts contradict the Narrative fairly substantialy.

* Yet, This Story of Creation is shared by Jews and Xns.

* This Story leads Humans to see existence as best they can, from a Cosmic Perspective-Sub Specie Aeternitatis.

* From that Vantage Point there are Three Grand Movements in the unfolding Pattern of the Cosmos

1: The World is moving from Chaos to Order. From the Big Bang, with no Laws of Nature to the regularity of the Life sustaining Laws of Nature.

2: The World is moving from Non-Life to Life. From a State in which no life existed to the emergence of Life. From one cell, untold replications, life has grown Quantitatively, and developed Qualitatively. It has luxuriated and spread into a vast range of forms over and through a variety of sustaining conditions/environments.

* The declaration that Life is growing, moving from non-life to life is counter-intuitive.
Death & Entropy refute that contention.

The 'Key' is Yahweh-The Hidden, Infinite Source of Life with limitless Goodness, Love and Power that sustains Life and Nurtures every possible Form of Life into Being.

* Yahweh, the Divine Source evokes the Third Grand Movement of the Cosmos

3: Life is growing ever more to resemble its Ground: Yahweh.

Life moves from being less to becoming more and more like Yahweh. The highest form of Life, the Human Being, represents the High Point reached thus far.

In Human Form, life so resembles its Maker that it is called; Biblically; 'The Image of Yah'

* This emergence of "The Image of Yah" is the Turning Point in Cosmic History according to Jews & Xns.

Up to that point Life has been sworn to 'Be Fruitful & Multiply' (maximizing reproductive success) through a built-in control Programme-A 'Selfish Gene'- that drives the process.

* The 'Image of God' Consciousness is so much like Yahwehs that Humans are able to 'grasp' this overall pattern of which we, ourselves are part, and to join voluntarily in its realization.

* Similarly, the Human 'Image of Yah' has a capacity to Love ALL their fellow creatures and every aspect of the Universe, as well as the Maker of it all and the Beauty of the Plan.

* Once Humans understand and embrace this understanding, they will lovingly identify with and willingly participate in the process of Perfection.

* Yahweh has invited us, as Humans, The 'Image of Yah', to enter into a Covenantal Partnership, committed to Love, to join fully in perfecting the Universe.

Tikkun Olam

* The People of Israel joyfully acknowledge that Yahwehs first Covenant, the Noahide Covenant, never superseded, is made with ALL Humanity, not exclusively with Jews and/or Xns alone.

* It is made with ALL Sentient Beings.

* ALL Beings are called to recognize and participate in Natures Patterns.

* To accept Limits.

* To Direct their choices and actions in favour of Life.

* To join in working for Order against Chaos.

* We are ALL CHOSEN to become part of the movement from Non-Life to Life.

* We are commanded to increase Life and make it grow ever more like its Maker.


* The purpose of the Religious way of life is to create the nurturing ambience of memory and experience, of relationships and actions that sustain Human growth and turns it towards Yahweh.

* Being in the 'Image of Yahweh' brings with it more Yahweh like capacities. It bestows intrinsic Dignity, a climatic extension of that respect to which all of life is entitled.

* The People of Israel hold these Truths to be self-evident: That ALL Humans are created in 'The Image of Yahweh'; and endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rightts, among which are:

* Infinite Value

* Equality

* Uniqueness.

These are Birthrights of every Son & Daughter of Yahweh

The Sinai Event was the ultimate Social Engineering event.

The Torah is the first, and oldest Religious Book written in an Alphabet/Alephbet ........this alters the hegemony of the Brain to being left hemisphereical centric=Abstract, linear and sequential. the ground for Theoretical Science....

THE UNIVERSAL DESIRE FOR CLOSENESS TO G-D...AND THE SECRET OF THE SABBATH by Rabbi Chaim Richman

The following teaching from the riches of the Oral Tradition is about a level of understanding the Sabbath which is relevant to Jews and non-Jews alike. It is based on a teaching by Rabbi Chaim ben Atar (1746-1793), known as "the holy Light of Life," based on the title of his most famous work.

I. The World Intuitively Pines for G-d
Man - The Centerpiece of Creation
The created world can be divided into four basic categories: the inanimate, plant, animal, and 'speaking' life - man. Man, the highest level of creation, is the only creature endowed with the capability of speech, and this is what singles him out as a completely separate category - he has the greatest potential to develop a relationship with his Creator. He is the center of creation and its purpose and crowning achievement. For this reason, he was created last, and introduced into the Garden... to enable him to enter into a complete world, ready for him, furnished and equipped in advance to house its illustrious occupant.

Every Level of Creation Possesses a Soul
Man is followed by the members of the animal kingdom. Next in line comes the plant kingdom, and finally, inanimate creation - the lowest level of creation, as exemplified by stone. Even stone, the Torah teaches, possesses some degree of life-force, however weak. For it is impossible for something which the Holy One has created to be incapable of recognizing Him. Therefore, commensurate to that degree of life-force, awareness of the Divine could be said to exist within it...

Desire for Closeness to G-d... The Prime Mover
And so the soul, the essence, of every creature, each according to its level of understanding, has some inkling of the greatness of the Creator, and actually carries on a relationship with Him. This soul is constantly driven with endless passion to come closer to the source of all life, the Great and Perfect Light of the L-rd... how much more so should this be true among the higher, more spiritual elements of creation who understand to some extent what it means to 'cling' to the light of the living G-d.

All of Creation is United in the Desire for Closeness to G-d
Herein lies one of the greatest secrets of creation...

All life on earth... and even the actual physical elements that comprise the planet itself - the entire world as one, including every level of creation, from the lowest level of the inanimate - stones and earth, to the highest and most intelligent life-form, man himself; an endless pageant which spans every creature, plant and animal - all are constantly and inexorably united by an all-consuming, burning desire for G-d. This is the vital force which drives the world; this desire is the power which fuels the universe... it reverberates within the entire life-force, and the whole globe, like a man beating with one heart, knows on the deepest level with absolute clarity that there is nothing as sweet, desirable, and sustaining as 'Dveykut' - the ability to 'cling' close to the light of the Creator. This is the purpose of life itself, and on the deepest collective intuitive level, all are aware that nothing else is worth living for. This longing is itself the vital life-force of everything, and the entire world draws from it at once. In other words, this longing for G-d is what fuels the world to go on.

Because G-d is the Creator of all existence, He maintains an intimate link with each and every creature, regardless of its spiritual capacity. Obviously not all of creation is equal in spiritual sensitivity. Regardless of this, that link of intimate knowledge still exists, according to its degree of conciousness and development.

Three Revolutionary Innovations in Human History took place.

1: Monotheism

2: Universal Codified Law

3: An Alephbet 1,800 BCE

Monotheism rather than Polytheism, Rule of Law for All rather than the Divine Rights of Kings or Queens and an Aleph/Bet, less than thirty characters that replaced Iconographs/Ideograms and Hieroglyphs, enhancing Literacy amongst the masses.

The abstraction of all these innovations were mutually reinforcing.

Yahweh proclaimed that there exists a Codex of morality that stands above Human intercourse.

The 10 Commandments applied universally to everyone. no King, Pharoah, or Potentate was above the Law.

Refutes the rubric that 'Might makes Right'.

Yahweh expected all His Chosen People TO READ what He inspired to be written.

The Pentateuch is the oldest Book written in an Alephbet-Alphabet. Prior books were written in Cuneiform, Hieroglyphs etc......

Yahweh forbade anyone from visualizing Him. No Images. No Idolatry.

He sanctioned only the written word.

This promulgates equality and openness.

An overarching Theme of the Pentateuch, and ensuing Books of the Bible is: Justice for all.

A distinguishing feature of the Pentateuch from other belief systems of the Time is its dominating Theme of: Righteousness,

Living a pious life and obeying written law was/is more important than winning Battles, honouring the King, or sacrificing to a local god.

Justice for all was a unique community standard in an era when the dominant principle was a raised and clenched fist.

Unlike other ANE Sagas, the Exodus begins with the people shackled slaves.

Unlike other ANE Sagas, Yahweh 'Chose' the people rather than the people choosing their god.
This rediscovery allows each to uncover and affirm each others role in the Divine Plan. The Kingdom of Yahweh is advanced and comes closer.

'You are my witnesses says Yahweh' Isaiah 43:10
The People of Israel are Yahwehs Servants, 'Chosen' to witness to the loving Creator and the Divine Plan for Humanity and the Cosmos.

The People of Israel = not just the Israelis, or Jews, but to all who affirm that Yahweh has made a valid Covenant with Abraham and his descendants and all who take up the task of World Redemption so that the covenant can be fulfilled.
For that is the purpose of making the covenant.

Xns and Muslims are recognized as Abrahams children when they purge themselves of Supersessionist claims and hatred of Jews.
To be True to its Witness, the People of Israel tell 3 Stories to the World, the rest of Humanity, in the presence of Yahweh and in the presence of their fellow Humans.

1: They tell the Story of Creation, the Divine Vision of an intended perfect World. Jew & Xn stake their existence that this World will come to be.

2: The Story of the Covenant, the process operating between a Divine-Human partnership whereby our imperfect World will be brought back to that state of Perfection.

3: The Story of Redemption-sometimes called: 'The End of Days'-'The Messiah Story'-which is the culmination and realization of the process.

At the end, Holistic perfection will be achieved.
Peace between Humans.

Between Humans and all the rest of Life, between all Life and Nature itself, and between all of the above and Yahweh.

Three Stories add up to one comprehensive Story: The Triumph of Life

Before Monotheism there had never been Religious Warfare.

The Polytheistic Cultures were live and let live about other culture Deities and often borrowed and share aspects.

The Polytheistic Deities were usually Local Deities, not Universe/Worldwide.

Polytheist had National gods, Local gods, family gods and personal gods, even their pet animals had gods.

Monotheism was a Major Advance along the road to Enlightenment, but came at a high cost.

Monotheism encouraged people to think in new ways. A Monotheistic Creator Being not tied to a concrete Image/Picture is a very Abstract Concept..

Abstraction is a crucial component of Logical Reasoning and its use can liberate people from superstition.

Devotion to an Abstract Deity has a Heavy price.

If everyone agrees there is only one, true, Living Creator Being, and different groups conceive of it in different ways, then whose perception of that Deity is the correct one?

Examine each groups values and praxis.

Different perceptions have inspired some groups to wage war and engage in forced conversions.

This never occurred in Polytheistic Cultures.

They had many wars but for the usual mundane reasons, Land, Treasure, Women, Power over others for the sake of Power alone, but they never waged Religious War.

One effect of an Alphabetic based Monotheism is the brain is using a new abstract, linear, sequential, and reductionist means of communication which moves people who learn it and use it into a Left Brain, Masculine Mode, rather then the usual Pictographic, Feminine Right Brain Mode.

The Aleph/Alphabet subliminally coaxes users to be intolerent of other Iconic Systems of Beliefs.

This is illuminated in the Ten Commandments.

As stated before, Judaism is the first religion to be based upon universal literacy, the written word.

When Moses came down from his meet and greet with YHWH on the mountain, the multitude had fashioned an Idol/Golden Calf, this dicombobulated Moses so much he dropped the two stone Tablets Yahweh had written the ten commandments.


Allegorically: In the first confrontation between Image and Written Word, both were destroyed.

As the story goes, Moses returned to the Mountain Top and Yahweh provided him with another set. Yahweh also taught Moses the Alephbet.

The 10 Commandments; The first four Commandments are for the Recognition and service/Worship of Yahweh, the remaining six focus on our fellow humans, loving and serving them.

The Commandment to Honour Both Father and Mother elevates and recognizes the importance and status of Women in the Family Group.

Loving your neighbour is not one of the Ten but appears in the Torah/Instruction, Leviticus 19:18.

The last six commandments are not unusual, and found in other Codexes of Laws, The First four Commandments are Unique.
Each one of the four encourages Alphabetic Literacy by rejecting the Right Brains way of 'knowing'.

One effect of a new, abstract, linear, sequential and reductionist means of communication moves people who learn it into a Left Brain, Masculine Mode.

Social Engineering.

The 10 Commandments: The First four concern Recognition/Respect and Service/Worship of Yahweh.

The remaining six are love and respect of fellow humans.

The Ethics they embody are more sophisticated then other contemporary ANE Cultures.

The commandment to honour BOTH Father and Mother signifies the womens important role and in the Family Unit.

Loving Neighbours is in the General Torah/Instruction: Leviticus 19:18

The last six commandments are not unusual, the first four commandments are unique. Each of the first four encourage Alphabetic literacy by rejecting the right brains way of knowing.

The First Commandment:

20:2 I am Yahweh thy Elohim, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

20:3 Thou shalt have no other elohim before me.

In one fell swoop subserviates all other elohim/gods & goddesses.

Nothing personal, it was business.

The Meta-Message of the First Commandment is that Yahweh is the Master of the Universe, He is self-existant, and all other elohim/gods & goddesses are created beings, subserviant to Him. Psalm 82

Psalm 82

82:1 Yahweh stands in the congregation of El; he judges among the elohim.

82:2 How long will you judge unjustly, and accept the persons of the wicked? Selah.

82:3 Defend the poor and fatherless: do justice to the afflicted and needy.

82:4 Deliver the poor and needy: rid them out of the hand of the wicked.

82:5 They know not, neither will they understand; they walk on in darkness: all the foundations of the earth are out of course.

82:6 I have said, You are elohim; and all of you are children of the most High.

82:7 But ye shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes.

82:8 Arise, O Yahweh, judge the earth: for thou shall inherit all nations.

All of Yahwehs Titles are masculine.

The First Commandment is a radical break with the Hebrews past environment. Moses and the Hebrews had left Egypt which was Polytheistic, alot of gods and goddesses worship.

Yahweh declares there is no worship of other gods or goddesses. Full Stop.

Perhaps the most radical sentence ever written.

The Second Commandment:

20:4 Thou shall not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:

20:5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I; Yahweh thy Elohim am a jealous Elohim, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;

20:6 And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.

No Graven Images, Icons or Idols, Statues.

Learning to think without Images is indispensable to Alphabetic Literacy. The Power formerly rendered to Images/Pictures is now transferred to the written word.

Make no Graven Images is a ban/restraint on Right Brain Pattern Recognition.

The Third Commandment:

20:7 Thou shalt not take the name of Yahweh thy Elohim in vain; for Yahweh will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.

Do not use Yahwehs Name vainly, with Malintent. Again; Left Brain.

Yahwehs first instruction to adam isto Name all the critters. Through Naming, Adam attains dominion over all the Earth. Naming confers meaning and order, moving Life from Chaos to Order.

To Name is to know, to know is to control. Order out of Chaos.

The Fourth Commandment:

20:8 Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.

20:9 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:

20:10 But the seventh day is the Sabbath of thy Elohim: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:

20:11 For in six days made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.

Seven Days are not a Natural Break Point in any of Earths Major Natural Rhythmic Cycles-Lunar-Solar, except the Quarter Moon.

This facilitates the learning of Aritmatic.

Leviticus 25:3-10 is about the Jubilee Years, the 50th,

No other ANE culture at that time had instructed the general population to compute complex time periods, this had formerly been the domain of the Priestly Castes.

The Time Commandment lays the foundation for the concept of Justice, a well developed sense of Linear Time is necessary to conceive of Punishment delayed and Rewards postponed.

Non-Literate Cultures are not as pre-occupied with the notion/concept of Justice as the Literate, because they do not conceive of time only as linear.

Non-Literated peeps tend to think of death as a passage to another World, not as a Day in Court.

Alphabets stretch out the sense of Time and make possible the awareness of the possibility of a retribution Time in the distant future.

A Judgements day only occurs in Literate Cultures.

Alphabet Literate Cultures became aware of writing History in a Linear, Chronological sequencing of Events.

The fourth Commandments Mechanical/Sociological ramifications is instructing people to be aware of Passing Time.

This was the advent of the seven day week, and a day off every week.

A day off for ALL Humans, Free and Bond, and ALL Beasts of Burden and the Farmland every seven years isto lay fallow to rejuvinate the enzymes in the ground.

This led to Sundials, waterclocks, Pendulums, Escape Mechanisms, Cogs, Gears, Calenders.

Time is a key function of the Left Brain.

Each of the First Four Commandments trains people in the ability to: Think Abstractly, linearly and sequentially.

Collectively, they produce a Mindset that enhances the use and facility of Alphabetic Literacy.

This Technology welded the small group into a cohesive and coherent Nation/Culture.

What occurred at/in Sinai was unique, the Authority of the Written Word superseded the authority of the Image.

Reiterating the Revolutionary Innovations that occurred at Sinai:

1: Monotheism emerged,

2:Universal Codified Laws establishing Moral Ethics

3: The Alephbet-Proto Alphabet emerged. The Hebrews reduced thosands of Images/Hieroglyphs/Petroglyphs/Ideograms/Pictograms into two dozen Characters, enabling Universal Literacy

For the first time ever, Religion demanded the follower be Literate. It is Commanded the Fathers obtain Scrolls of the Torah and teach them to their children.

Moses Commanded; Thou shall read the Law before all Israel Deut-31:10,11

The Reading of the Torah remains the most sacred obligation of every Jew.

Yahweh was concerned, unlike other gods, about the actions of everyone of His people.

Yahweh actually cares.

If someone was cheating/exploiting widows and orphans, mistreating strangers and slaves.etc.......YHWH knew and became wrathful.

The polytheistic gods did not.

Yahweh in His written Laws provided preventive Medicine, unknown to Egypt and Mesopotamis.

He explicitly spelled out in excruciating detail and minutia exactly what He expected from each and every Israelite.

Each Israelite established a personal relationship with Yahweh.

All of Yahwehs Laws were written down and everybody knew them.

It was an absolute Judaic condition that every male was literate.

Ignorance of the Law was no defence.

The Hebrews were the first to embrace Alphabetic writing, the Torah is the first Book written in an Alphbet.

The 10 Commandments were transmitted in a written Alphabetic form; Paleo-Hebrew.

Abstract letters/grammatical sequence/uniconsonantal phenomes.

The Alephbet/Alphabet introduced the possibility of Universal Literacy, so we may honestly thank and praise Yahweh that we are Literate!

All together now: Hallelu Yahweh!!!


Woot!!!! Wooot!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So once upon a time way out in the Sinai Desert a radical new communication technology emerged that would forever change cultural perceptions and that the first people to utilize it would introduce fundamental principles and features underpinning Western Civilisation.

Historical Data: Proto-Sinatic Alphabet

Discovered by Sir William Flinders Petrie, very early 20th century. Dated to: 1,800 BCE

Egyptian Coptic 2,000 years later/after

Tell el Armana Cache Phoenician 1,450 BCE letters from Canaanite Leaders to Akhenaton were scribed in Cuneiform

Akkadian Cuneiform after Sumerian Conquest.

An amazing vortex of Science and History occurred in the Sinai that the worlds oldest alphabet was found where the Hebrew Nation had their seminal experience.

Yet another Unique Concept brought forth at Sinai is the Concept of Free Will.

Throughout the ANE, Babylon, Egypt.etc......humans 'believed their fate, destiny was in the hands of the gods.

The Sinaitic Covenant convinced the Israelites that every decision was theirs to make: Choose Life or Choose Death.

The choice between Right and Wrong was upon the individual. This beget the concept of Guilt, 'Guilty Conscious'; an internal Quality Control.

Moral Realtivist may consider this an ambiguous area, but is it really?


Bottom Line of what occurred at Sinai, lo those many years ago, the Power that once had been given to pictures was transferred to written words.

The Power of the Right Brain was Transferred to the Left Brain.

The Alephbet/Alphabet is the Book of Yahwehs/Bibles Eminence Grise-The unsuspected power.



Superorganisms/memes compete, as one Entelechy rises, others fall.

Of all the ANE Superorganisms/Memes, only the Jews have survivied.

Alphabetic Literacy profoundly reconfigured the relationship between the Hebrews and their Deity and between the Hebrews and their neighbours. The other ANE cultures.

The Jews have an unshakable faith.

The Religious beliefs of the Sumerians, Babylonians, Hittites, Hyskos, Hurrians, Cretans, Mittani, Assyrians, Persians, Canaanites, Ugarites, Akkadians, Egyptians, Greeks, Phoenicians, Philistines, and Roman Belief Systems have diminished greatly and most have disappeared.
The Hebrew Faith has withstood the Viscitudes of times, surviving catastrophes that should have extinguished them.

From the Alphabet Effect and the Oxford Companion to the Brain/Mind

East/Right...............................West/Left

Ideograms........................................Alphabet

Right brain oriented.............................Left Brain Oriented

Non-Linear........................................Linear

Acoustical.........................................Visual

Analogical.........................................Logical

Inductive..........................................Deductive

Concrete...........................................Abstract

Mystical............................................Causal

Intuitive...........................................Rational

Generalist.........................................Specialist

Decentralized......................................Centralized

Local................................................Universal

Integrative.........................................Fragmented

Space Oriented....................................Time Oriented

Traditional.........................................Progressive

Cyclic Time........................................Continuous Time

Algebraic...........................................Geometric

Concrete Science..................................Abstract Science

Order & Pattern....................................Natural Law

Craft.................................................Technology

Invention............................................Exploitation

Technique...........................................System

Customs-Mores (confucious)......................Codified Law

Harmony of Nature (Tao)..........................Monotheism

Relativity............................................Absolutism

The Human Brain has three evolutionary layers.

1: The Reptilian Brain=Instinctual

2: The Paleo-Mammalian= generates Emotions

3: The Cerebral NeoCortex=Imagination, Intelligence-Right and Left Hemispheres, Corpus Callosum-capable of Art & Physics

The three brains in one operate like three interconnected biological computers, each with its own subjectivity, its own special intelligence, and its own sense of Time & Space.

The Atavistic Human Reptilian Brain-The R-Complex, contains Programmes that are rigid, compulsive, ritualistic and paranoid.

The Paleo-Mammalian Brain-The Limbic System is the seat of archaic emotions that drive feeding, fleeing, fighting, and sex-they ensure survival.
All emotions are either pleasant or unpleasant-Pleasure & Pain are the two criteria of Judgement of the Limbic System, judges all experience.

Of the two cortical Hemispheres the Right Brain is in more direct communication with the archaic reptilian instincts and primative mammalian emotions.

An instinct permits no variation in an organisms response to a specific stimulus-Instincts are 'Hard Wired' forcing the organism to respond reflexively & repititously to any particular stimulus.

In mammals emotions may be considered the truncated remnants of reptilian instincts.

A specific stimulus detected by mammalian sensory apparatus always activates the same release of complex chains of neuro-transmitters and hormones.

Emotions impels mammals and hyper-conscious primates to commit repetitive instinctual behavioural patterns.

Fear impels flight or fight responses, hate, anger, jealousy impels them to kill, envy and greed impel them to steal, lust will impel them to cast aside caution and behave in a manner that could compromise their safety and/or survival.

Be that as it may-mammals have more complex brains then reptiles and can make decisions, and are therefore capable of making choosing between different responses.

Humans, due to the development/gift of the Cerebral Cortex; have Freewill, which enables us to override our emotions and modulate our response to environmental provocations.

* Humans have many choices

* Mammals have few

* Reptiles have none at all


Characteristics of the Right Brain

BEING-IMAGES-METAPHORS-MUSIC

"All At Once" 'Holistic' 'Gestalt'

Characteristics of the Left Brain

DOING-WORDS-ABSTRACT THINKING-NUMBER SENSE

"One at a time" Abstract, Linear, Sequential


RIGHT BRAIN

1: 'BEING': appreciates 'Feeling State'--complex expressions of emotions-Laughter-Faith-Patriotism-Ectasy-Grief-Love--Etc..Aesthetic Appreciation and Harmony.

There is no precise nomenclature for 'Feeling State', they are subjective, they cannot be precisely enumerated in scientific language, they remain ambiguous. They are: NONDISCURSIVE.

'Feeling States' are Non-Logical; they confute the rules of conventional reasoning.

As Blaise Pascal so succinctly put it: "Le Couer a ses raisons que la raison ne connait pas" The heart has reasons that reason will never know...........

'Feeling States' are authentic, the experience of Love, Hate, Joy, Grief, are known with an internal authority that is beyond the Realm of Debate.

The essence of a 'Joke', Faith in a God, Patriotism, Love are non-discursive, non-logical and authentic.

Intuition/Hunches, or why an object/subject is beautiful to one person but not to another.

Each 'Feeling state' lies beyond the tight circle of logic. When compelled to explain affective States, people usually rely upon that old tautological response: 'It is because it is'.

'Feeling States' do not progress in a linear process, Getting a Joke, Intuitive Insights come out of nowhere, Love at first sight, religious conversions ala Damascus Road are -"All at Once".

2: Images-Comprehension of Images--The Right Hemisphere takes in the 'Big Picture' in a holistic manner, it appreciates the relationship of the parts to the whole. The Right Brain assimilates Images as Gestalts-seeing 'All at Once'.

3: Metaphor: A mental innovation arising out of a unique combination of 'Feeling States' and Images.

Greek Root-Meta=Over and Above-Meta-normal

Phor-Pherein=to bear across

A Metaphor allows/causes the 'Leap' across the chas of one thought to another thought. Metaphors have several different levels of meaning simutaneously (All at Once) perceived and supplies plasticity to otherwise rigid language.

Communicating any affective, emotional 'Feeling State' requires the usage of Metaphor because the so called objective world can be described, measured and catalogued with scientific precision, the internal, subjective world of emotions eludes precise Scientific Analysis.

The verbal art of metaphor is poetry.

Metaphors linguistic cousins are: Similies, analogies, allegories, proverbs and parables. Each allow simultaneous levels of interpreting one single set of words.

Dream Interpretation, Myths, Religions, Dreaming is Right Brain-it is said Dreams are to the individual; what myths and myths are to the society.

The most potent combination of Metaphor & Image is Art.

Visual Art is non-discursive, non-logical and authentic.

the Artistes device is to use visual metaphor to transport a viewer from a neutral affective state to complex 'Feeling States'.

Awe, Shock, Pleasure, ............

When the Artiste is successful the viewer is Transported Metaphorically 'Bearing' us 'across and above'. There is no Transitory State, it is an 'All at Once', Quantuum Leap. That is Great Art, it is Successful.



4: Music-Ability to appreciate and create music is Right Brain. The appreciation of music is an emotion we share with more primative animals.

I lived with two Shar Peis, and everytime I would play Jean Pierre Rampal and Aleander Lagoya the dogs would come into the room and sit and stare at the speakers, I think the Flute charmed them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwwNn2egm1E

Music demonstrates the Right Brains ability to process information as an 'All at Once' holistic gestalt by utilising multiple; incoming; converging determinants and integrating them synthetically.

Simultaneity is th eopposite of linear, sequential time, is unique to the Right Brain whose home ground is the realm of visio-spatial context, correlating parts to a whole whilst intuiting diverse relationships amongst them.

Multiple determinants, multiple emotions, multiple meanings, multiple images and multiple sounds converging into one State can be expressed through the metaphor of Space. The Right Brain excels at the appreciation of spatial dimensions and judging distances.

Driving, Skiing, and Dancing are in the dominion of the Right Brain.

The Right Brains principal attributes: BEING-IMAGES-METAPHORS & MUSIC echoe evolutionary techniques used by mammals tp comprehend Reality, All at Once, and are perceived holistically.

left brain

The Left Brains modus operendi is: 'DOING' rather then 'BEING'

An accepted rubric of Brain Laterization is the Respective Hemispheres control the opposite side muscular appendages--Left Brain=Right Hand--Right Brain=Left Hand.

The Act of 'willing' is Left Brain, the Right Hand Throws, Gathers, Fabricates.etc......

Rather then Simutaneity/All at once; what makes us 'Homo Faber' the Toolmaker is our sense of an Abstractm, Linear, Sequential series of 'Steps', 'Moves', 'Processes' that exist in Linear sequential Time which is necessary for Craftwork, Hunting etc.



Words-Vocalisations are Left Brain-Language is action Oriented, we abstract, discriminate, analyze and dissect the World into pieces-objects-catagories-that we can then grasp metaphorically and literally. A vocabulary is a Too set by which we act upon the environment.

From the Left Brain issues the generationa nd comprehension of speech with its intricacies of grammar, syntax and semantics.

Speech enables us to not only communicate with others but allows us to talk within ourselves and to ourselves.

Lower Creatures can SIGNAL
Advanced animals can INFORM
Only humans can Question, Dispute and Reason.

Abstract Thinking: This is the ability to process information/Data without the use of Images/Pictures and is the opposite of Metaphorical Thinking.

Words are Image substitutes the mind uses in building Concepts and to solve problems. When Humans evolved beyond thinking in Pictures they made a transformative evolutionary leap.

Previously meaningless phonemes/vocalisations became the words of speech and the tools of abstract thought.

Later when they combined the meaningless letters of an arbitrary alphabet to form visual words to represent the World, they created the Worlds very first Abstract art Form-The Alephbet.

Written Alphabetic Language. The Human Race had combined meaningless sounds with meaningless symbols and and created Civilization!

Abstract Thinking is usually performed within the Context of Causality which evolved from earlier Hominids perceiving, catagorizing the World into Spatial Events occuring in Time. Sunrise/Sunset--High Tide/Low Tide--Spring-Summer-Autumn-Winter.

The Human ability to recognize the intersection of Space & Time may be the precurser condition to recognise Causality and thus Formulate Logic.

The primary benefit of our Species derived from the use of Abstract Thinking was the strengthening of Foresight.

Logic is dependent on the proposition of: If-Then

A hypothetical 'IF' Scenario or idea is formulated in the mind and the placed left of 'NOW' (the past), next a hypothetical 'Then' scenario or idea is placed to the Right of 'NOW' (the future)

One may now apply Forced Logic, and Inductive and DEductive Reasoning to mentally deduce the probability of the 'IF' proposition leading to the 'THEN' proposition and initiate, modify or withold ACTION.

Logic is NOT Holistic, nor is it conceived of as a GESTALT, it depends upon an Abstract Linear Sequence.

IF-THEN Syllogisms are a reliable method of Foretelling/Predicting the Future Events thus replacing Omens, Portents; Oracles, Tarot, Astrology etc....

The Rules of Logic form the foundation of Science, Business and militatary Strategy.

Logical Thinking stands apart from other mental activities like: imagining, intuiting, reflecting, reminiscing, ruminating and daydreaming in that Logical Thinking relies upon a belief in a rigid coordinate system of Absolute Space and Invariant Time-

Number Sense: Ability to count originates in the Visio-Spatial Right Brain, and all higher animals can perceive and separate the concept of 'Oneness'; 'Twoness' and 'Manyness'. The Human ability to manipulate larger numbers is Suis Generis/Unique.

Calculation requires a level of Abstraction beyond the Realm of the Right Brain.

The Left Brain Rules Language and Numbers, the Language of Numbers is Mathematics, which arranges meaningless symbols which represent numbers into simple arithmetic, or into intricate, infinitesimal calculus.

When small children learn the alphabet they also learn mathematics.

The Left Brains innovative features: Doing, Words, Abstract Thinking and Number sense are processed in Abstract Linear Sequential Time.

To develop Craftwork Strategy, Language Logic and Mathematics the mind must range back and forth along the line of: Past-Present-Future.
The ability to fashion a Tool arises out of the Left Brain and relies upon the ability to memorize a series of steps in linear sequence.

The dominant hand is a specialized limb that is an extension of sequential Left Hemisphere.

Logic, Algebra, Physics equations all proceed in Time-Line by Line Proofs are the essence of higher math.

A series of numbers is a sequence.

Right Brain: Phylogenetic Learning, vision based and dependent on Space.

Left Brain: Learns Data/Information by rote in sequence-Time.

Right Brain: Holistic, Synthetic integration of Being, Images, Metaphors, Music-Functions: 'ALL AT ONCE'-All can be mapped using the vectors of Space.
Left Brain: Doing, Words, Abstract Thinking, and Number sense. Functions: 'ONE AT A TIME' All can be mapped by linear sequential Time.

Being, Metaphor, Image and Music are the Essence of Art.
Doing, reason, Abstract Thinking and Number sense are the essence of Physics


"From the point of view of evolutionary epistemology, the principle lesson of both special and general relativity theories is this: Human /beings are organisms capable of manipulating internal representations of the World by means of concrete operations and can transcend the bounds of their biologically given perceptione. They can liberate themselves and construct a view of reality that conflicts with intuition, yet gives a truer, more encompassing view."

Max Delbruck

"Time & Space are real Beings, a Male & a Female, Time is a Man, Space is a Woman"

William Blake





https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYlDltwm-JY







git yer groove on!




.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tw7guzT6ANI&feature=fvst

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FBKa-bCasY








https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sp3af4ZJS4w






https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMniyUyqN_E







https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COiIC3A0ROM

Fuk with me. I dare you, I double dare you.

Lilly, Queen of Bullshit of the Runt Continent of Australia!!!! Ahoy!!!!

Which Continent is the smallest of the 7 Continents?

The continents are the great land masses of the earth. There are seven continent on Earth now: Africa, Antarctica, Asia, Australia, Europe, North America, and South America.

Continent Area in Square Miles
(Square Km) Percent of Total Land Area on Earth
The World 57,308,738 Sq. Miles (148,429,000 Sq. Km) 100%
Asia (plus the Middle East) 17,212,000 Sq. Miles (44,579,000 Sq. Km) 30.0%
Africa 11,608,000 Sq. Miles (30,065,000 Sq. Km) 20.3%
North America 9,365,000 Sq. Miles (24,256,000 Sq. Km) 16.3%
South America 6,880,000 Sq. Miles (17,819,000 Sq. Km) 12.0%
Antarctica 5,100,000 Sq. Miles (13,209,000 Sq. Km) 8.9%
Europe 3,837,000 Sq. Miles (9,938,000 Sq. Km) 6.7%
Australia (plus Oceania) 2,968,000 Sq. Miles (7,687,000 Sq. Km) 5.2%

Be that as it may, the fact remains that lillys head is permanantly embedded so far up her own ass that she sees nothing but poo.

X-Ray of Lillys, Queen of Bullshits Skull



http://www.vbm-torah.org/jewphi.htm

53b: A Covenant of Fate, Part 2
Anti-Semitism and Its Causes: The Psychological Background

Anti-semitism is a multi-faceted phenomenon, which lends itself to various analyses. I would like to demonstrate that the various dimensions of analysis do not contradict one another. In fact, their juxtaposition creates a complete picture. Here we will discuss the first level, the psychological dimension. To explain it, I will use a simple allegory. Psychologists often employ the Rorschach Test in their analysis of patients. The test uses a well-known technique known as the projective technique. The patient is asked to look at a series of pictures and explain what he sees. These pictures have no intrinsic meaning. In fact, they are simply ink blots on paper that created symmetrical designs when the paper was folded in two. As previously mentioned, the pictures do not represent anything, yet people look at them and explain them. The explanations do not exist in the pictures; they exist in the person's mind. This is an opening, through which the psychologists try to enter the inner world of the person, who "projects" what is inside himself onto the pictures.

This mechanism, according to many psychologists, can shed light on the phenomenon of anti-Semitism. The anti- Semite sees in the Jews negative qualities that threaten and endanger him. These characteristics don't exist in the "picture"; they only exist in the mind of the beholder. They are the projections of the anti-Semite, who uses the Jew as a blot of his own making, and upon which he projects the black sides of his inner world. This, in very general terms of course, refers to the psychological background of anti-Semitism. The fact that the Jew is a minority, a foreigner who is relatively easily identified, was a psychological cause that contributed to the choice of the Jew as the screen upon which the anti-Semites threw their fears and hatred. This is actually the explanation for a number of noticeable characteristics of anti-Semitism. We find many types and forms of attacks on Jews. In one place the Jew is described as having one trait, and in another place he is accused of the opposite characteristic. This is true regarding both his personal traits and his social and political traits. Thus, for example, the Jew is portrayed as the capitalist trying to take over the world, and on the other hand as the revolutionary, who is attempting to weaken the power of wealth and utterly abolish personal ownership. The fact that we are faced with a psychological phenomenon means that we must not search for logic here. All anti-Semites project their various and contradictory fears upon the Jew.

Anti-Semitism and Its Causes: The Social Basis

Whoever thinks that this analysis has exhausted the topic of anti-Semitism is fooling himself. Anti-Semitism is a social, not an individual, phenomenon. In addition to its psychological aspects, we must study anti-Semitism from its social and general perspectives as well. A view of history and philosophy in recent generations will be of help in our attempt. Let us therefore move on to the second level of our analysis, the collective, political and social level. Until now we have examined a phenomenon that has already been expressed by the earliest thinkers of the last century. They viewed anti-Semitism as part of Xenophobia, and indeed, the phenomena we have expressed until now are merely details within a much larger context, that of the strains that exist between various groups, between the majority and the minority, and even between various races who live together within one society. From this perspective, there is no essential difference between the hatred of Jews and the hostility that exists towards other races, such as blacks. However, this is but one level of the explanation. Until now we have identified the roots of the problem, and its individual expressions.

If anti-Semitism were only an individual psychological phenomenon, it would be similar to other forms of discrimination and hostility; however, in the modern world anti-Semitism takes on a different hue. Various groups have used it for political purposes. We can trace clear attempts to use psychological hostility – which, it seems, has deep religious roots – to forward political aims. Thus, modern anti-Semitism was born, and acquired a more and more tragic and satanic form. The widespread use of this technique began in Czarist Russia, in the struggle to smother those revolutionary attempts that finally toppled the Czarist rule. Through the Czarist secret police, the rulers attempted to identify revolutionary action with the activities of the Jews. The rulers of Czarist Russia fought against certain phenomena, and in this fight they created a kind of equation, which was supposed to prove their claims. The Czarist secret police created one of the documents that became an anti-Semitic classic, "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion." This book reveals the so-called secret plan weaved by the leaders of the Jews, to take over the entire world. "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion" became a holy book among the anti-Semites.

"The Protocols of the Elders of Zion" was simply a rewriting of a French book that attributed ambitions to take over the world to Napoleon. This booklet is called "a dialogue in hell between Machiavelli and Montasque," or "Politics of the Nineteenth Century." These accusations were not at all directed towards the Jews and Judaism. However, the dialogue was adopted and transformed into the protocols of an imaginary group whose members were the world leaders of Judaism, attempting to take over the politics of various European countries.

Even the Czar himself, Nikolai the Second, although far from bearing the Jews any fond feelings, saw that the book was a fake and opposed its publication. Despite this, the first Russian edition appeared in 1905. A number of years later, other editions began to appear. Some of the editions were altered and corrected in order to make it possible to accuse the Jews of various catastrophes that took place between one edition and another. At various opportunities, it became the topic of public court cases, in which the book was proved to be a forgery. However, this of course did not check the book's growing popularity, particularly in the wake of the Nazi influence. The book influenced various writers, who were mistakenly taken in and convinced of its authenticity. Thus, for example, Henry Ford was inspired by "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion" to write "The International Jew," in which he continues these accusations. Various other books were written in its wake until recent years.

This is an example of a lie and forgery that the power of truth could not effectually surmount. This abominable book became a justification of Nazism and the genocide that followed in its wake. This is an example of the phenomena that we must deal with. Forgeries spread throughout the world, and people are convinced.

49c: Cinderella, part 3:


The book of Job represents the conflict between Judaism and the other central religions. Both Islam and Christianity, throughout the generations, have continually employed a claim in the anti-Jewish argument that can be termed "the exile proof." The success of these religions is seemingly a proof that God is on their side. I propose to prove the opposite theory, that it is the anti-hero who is God's ally.

Our forefathers knew that the exile was a trial to be overcome. The Jew refuses to accept the claims of his friends; he insists upon the justice of his path. This insistence has a sublimity to it, which is expressed in the Jewish existence in exile. The members of the Great Assembly recognized this when they coined the phrase we use in our prayers, "the great mighty and awesome God." When the prophets saw the destruction, they omitted parts of the formula one by one, and questioned His might and greatness. These omissions are built upon the approach that says that truth is revealed on the battlefield, or through political or financial success. The members of the Great Assembly re-instituted the authentic phrase "the great, mighty and awesome God" and claimed that paradoxically, through Jewish existence in exile, God's greatness and might are expressed. On the one hand, the irrational existence of the Jews in exile is the miraculous existence of one lamb among seventy wolves. Yet on the other hand, the exile expresses the fact that the Jewish people accepted the yoke of Heaven, not from a state where God made sure they lacked for nothing, not from a state of military success or financial abundance, but from poverty and suffering, without even the hope of change in the foreseeable future.

Cinderella's sisters found proof of their preferred status in their success. However, their success was, of course, helped by the sword. Christianity and Islam used the sword, and their covenant with the sword, to take over the world. Job, who worships God within his suffering, reaches the highest level of divine worship. Whenever Jews chose to suffer rather than utter the one traitorous word that could have altered their fate, it was a constant sanctification of God's name. Putting the Jewish people (and Job) through suffering was God's great gamble against Satan, and cosmically, their continued acceptance of God was a greater proof of the truth of Judaism than a triumph on the battlefield. This perhaps sounds surprising. However, if we would possess a consciousness of the truth, we would be able to understand the profound value of our exile and our suffering. It is for the lack of this consciousness of the truth that the king is justified in his criticism of the Jewish people; as the Chaver says, "You have found the place of my shame, King of Khazar" (1:115).

We are sometimes missing an awareness of the significance of the life that we live. We sometimes live with no awareness of our position and no understanding of what is really taking place in our lives. The Jew always knew that he could escape his fate by uttering one word, yet he refused to do it. We must be aware of this heroism, that we accepted our suffering out of love and longing for God. The Jew knows this, yet sometimes he does not know that he knows it.

Rihal teaches us that the suffering of the Jews in exile was a sacrifice for the sake of the Torah. It was a life of martyrdom, the highest level exalted by the Christians and Moslems. Rihal reiterated the principle (2:34, 4:22) that many of the values extolled in Christian and Moslem theology are Jewish values that were fulfilled by the Jewish people. The most obvious example is the section in Yishayahu (52:13-53-12) that speaks of the suffering servant of God. God's suffering servant is actually the Jewish people. The Christians applied this section to their Messiah. Rihal restores the section to its authentic meaning.

Rihal fought against a phenomenon that can be termed stolen identity. The phenomenon has many levels. Christianity claimed to be the true Israel. Islam claimed that the Koran is the authentic holy writ. Our return to the land of Israel was accompanied by a similar process. The Palestinian charter is a reworking of the principles of Zionism.

Despite this re-evaluation of suffering, there is no doubt that it is impossible to discuss history without also speaking from the perspective of chapter 42 of Job. Judaism believes that redemption is assured. It is not possible that God will suffer evil forever. However, we are discussing reality from the perspective of an earlier chapter. We don't have the perspective of the ending. Our generation must view itself as fortunate because we can read the first few verses of the final chapter, the first glimmerings of redemption. We see the course of history changing. Rihal, in contrast, lived at a low point of Jewish history, when the Christians and the Moslems were at the height of their power. Each ruled over half the world and claimed that their success was an expression of divine blessing. Judaism is Job's great gamble against his friends. It is the gamble of the sufferer when redemption is beyond the scope of his horizon. The response of Job/the Jewish people is "Even if He kills me, I still hope to Him" (13:15), and at the same time, "I will wait for [Messiah's] arrival every day."


49d: Cinderella, part 4:

Exile and Redemption

The faith in redemption is paramount in our theology. The Torah, stamped with divine truth, prophesies the redemption of the Jewish people. God has foreknowledge of world history. Therefore, we pray to Him to involve Him in our redemption.

Rihal teaches us that the process of world redemption continues to take place, even while the Jewish people are in exile. Divine providence functions in ways that are mysterious to us, and seem to bring about the complete opposite of redemption. Rihal and the Rambam after him (Rambam, laws of kings, chapter 11), teach us that the mysterious workings of divine providence stand behind the success of Christianity and Islam as well. The message of Judaism was spread to the ends of the earth through these messengers. Thus Rabbi Abraham, son of the Rambam writes in his father's name:

"By keeping my Torah, you will be world leaders, your relation to them as that of a priest to his flock, the world will follow in your footsteps and imitate your actions and follow your paths. This is the explanation I received from my father of blessed memory." (Rabbi Abraham son of the Rambam, commentary on Bereshit and Shemot)

This idea is repeated in Rabbi Bachya ben Asher's "Kad Kemach:"

"And the reason for the dispersion in my opinion...is that the Jews be spread among the nations...and they will teach them the belief in the existence of God and of the divine providence that hovers over every detail of human existence." (Kad Kemach, Redemption)

Later this idea was expressed by Rabbi Chayim ben Betzalel, brother of the Maharal. In his interpretation of the prophecy of Isaiah the servant of God he writes,

"And we may also explain: God wished to oppress the Jews and disperse them among the nations for the sake of the goodness of the other nations who are also the work of His hands; through the Jews who are dispersed throughout the world the true faith will also be spread throughout the world...for God desired the nations also to hold the true faith...for this reason they [the Jews] are called children of Yizrael, [literally, God will plant], for they are the seed that God planted throughout the world, like the person who plants his wheat and does not throw it down in one place but spreads it to all the edges of the fields, so the Jews were dispersed to the four corners of the earth, so that through them the true faith would spread throughout the world. (The Book of Life, Book of Redemption and Salvation, chapter 7)

Exile is a trial, a trial that is part of a divine plan of history. However, the proof of the truth lies also in the ending of the book of Job, which closes, despite everything, with redemption. The key to understanding this ending lies in the verse that tells us that God "returned the exiles of Job" (Job 42:10). This verse loses its meaning if it does not create an association with other similar verses: "when God shall return the exiles of Zion...Return, O God, our exiles." The return of the sons and daughters of Job represents the return of the nation after the exile. The end of the book prophesies the redemption, and bears witness that despite everything, history owes a debt to the Jewish people. Ultimately, history will be altered, and the world will witness the redemption and the return.

We cannot think about the history of our ancestors in exile without an awareness of their greatness. However here too, thank God, our situation has changed. We, the modern successors of the Kuzari, must emphasize different things today. These are the ideas Rihal will teach us in the end of the fifth section of the Kuzari. We must understand that in our day the exile is a trap, and our attitude towards it must be one of repudiation and aliya (literally, going up) to Israel. The status of exile today can be summed up in one sentence: exile today is not a punishment, it is a sin.

The Dry Bones

Rihal discusses the question of the fate of the Jewish people in his discussion of the suffering of the individual (3:11). He teaches us that the meaning of suffering for the individual must reflect the meaning of the suffering of the group as well.

"For when the confusions of logic arouse in his heart the length of the exile and the dispersion of the people and the dwindling of their numbers - he must first comfort himself with accepting divinely proscribed fate as I have said, and then with the attempt to punish sins, and then with the reward and punishment which await in the World to Come and cleaving to the Divine Presence in this world."

A third stage is added to the first two responses to suffering. To the philosophical stage in which we accept the meaning of evil, we add the understanding of reward and punishment, and to these we add a third stage, the persuasion that the sufferings of the past build us up towards the future. This is true both with regard to the individual and the nation. To this Rihal adds:

"And if Satan brings him to despair by saying, "shall these bones live?" for our imprint among the nations has been greatly reduced and our memory is forgotten, as it is said, "our bones have dried up we have lost hope, we are doomed," he must think of the miracle of the exodus from Egypt...and then it will not seem impossible to him that we will return to our former state even when there will be only one person left of us, as it is written, "fear not, worm of Ya'akov." for what is left of man after he becomes a worm in his grave?"

Here we meet once again with Rihal the daring commentator. There are many ways that the term "worm of Ya'akov" is commonly explained. Particularly well known is the explanation of the Sages that, like the worm, our power is in our mouths. However, Rihal takes an amazing leap of interpretation here. He takes "worm of Ya'akov" to mean a worm on a dead body, the final sign of life. Despite it all, we will rise again.

Here we see, regarding both the individual and the nation, that suffering is first and foremost a trial. This is in essence Job's question. Job asks the question of suffering, and refuses to accept the standard philosophical answers. Yet, he believes. In next week's lecture, we will analyze the meaning and essence of this faith.....................49e: Cinderella, part 5:

Exile and Redemption


I would like to explain the meaning of Job's faith by means of a contrast between two situations in modern literature. I will bring the first example from a short story by a well-known author, who inherited the Jewish tradition from his parents' home. This tradition has not disappeared despite the power of the evil inclination. He himself is very aware of this struggle, and does not want to lose his Jewish roots. I am speaking of Isaac Bashevis Singer. I will refer to one of his stories, entitled "Zeidlus the First." Zeidlus is of course a Latin play on the Yiddish name Zeidel. Singer tells us of a man named Zeidel, a learned Jew whom Satan attempts to lead astray. All of his initial efforts fail. The regular temptations do not work on Zeidel. However, the temptation of pride is too strong for Zeidel to resist. How does one tempt a Jew with pride? If you convert, says Satan, you will go far; you will become Pope Zeidlus the First. Zeidel falls into the trap. However, his life does not turn out exactly the way Satan promised him.

Rabbi Nachman of Breslov teaches that Satan is like the person who shows a child his closed hand and promises, "if you do such and such I will give you what is in my hand." The child does what he is asked, and afterwards, when the hand opens, the child sees that it is empty.

We will not go into all of Zeidel's adventures. We will only say that he failed at everything, and when Satan appears at the moment of death to take his soul, and Zeidel sees him, he exclaims,

"Is it you Satan, angel of death?"
"Yes Zeidel," replies the Tempter, "I have come for you. And it won't help you to repent or confess, so don't try."
"Where are you taking me?" he asked.
"Straight to Gehenna."
"If there is a Gehenna, there is also a God," Zeidel said, his lips trembling.
"This proves nothing," I retorted.
"Yes it does," he said. "If Hell exists, everything exists. If you are real, He is real. Now take me to where I belong. I am ready."

This idea, of the discovery of God beyond evil, is completely opposed to a message that appears in one of Ingmar Bergman's "philosophical" films, "The Seventh Seal." In the film – which has a Christian background - a knight appears who asks the final questions, and in one of the dialogues of the film someone who has seen the angel of death claims that he looked into his eyes, but beyond them one could see nothing. In contrast to this, the meaning of the story of "Zeidlus the First" is that beyond evil one can see good. This is the great leap that we must take: the leap from the absurd into a meaningful existence.

The Torah concludes with a commandment to study a song and remember it from generation to generation, so that it will exist forever. This is the song of "Hearken" ("Ha'azinu"). The Torah explains that days will come when

"I will hide My face from them and they will be prey, and will be beset by many evils and troubles and they will say on that day, 'it is because my God is not with me that we have been beset by these evils'... And now, write this song for yourselves and teach it to the children of Israel, place it in their mouths, so that this song will be a witness for the Children of Israel." (Devarim 31:17-19)

A time of great suffering will come, and the nation will ask the question, is God indeed among us? Or in a more modern version, "Can one believe in God after Auschwitz?" The Torah commanded us to study this song, so that we will know that despite the pain and evil, God is with us. This is the song that comes to teach us that even in the midst of evil, God is with us.

"How can one [man] chase a thousand and two [men] pursue ten thousand, if their Rock had not sold them, and God had not trapped them." (Devarim 32:30)

Despite everything, the world is not left to its own devices. This is a prophetic promise given to us so that we will not give up hope.

And here I will dare to make the terrible leap, towards the eyes of the Angel of Death. In our generation we have learned something beyond what Rihal has taught us. We can learn about the truth, as Rihal said, from the fact that God revealed himself at Mount Sinai and chose the nation that He loves, the Chosen People, and gave them the Torah. However, to our sorrow, in history there is another way as well. If Satan appeared, and I was indeed certain that he was Satan, I could learn, paradoxically, from him, that the Chosen People are the nation that Satan recognizes and announces to be his enemy. History has shown us many anti-Semites, great and small. However, Satan himself was none other than Nazism. Nazism appeared and, pointing at the Jewish people, announced, "This is my enemy." We have learned that the Jewish people are the Chosen People - from the evidence given by Satan. Satan did not hate the Jews because we were opposed to his political ideas or because we disturbed his plans. The child and the old man, who were powerless to harm anyone, were also Satan's enemies. To some extent, the Holocaust was an Encounter at Auschwitz, parallel to the Encounter at Mount Sinai, in which Satan appeared and showed us the way to the great leap, the need to see beyond the empty eyes of the Angel of Death. Beyond them there is something else. It is not emptiness. Zeidlus the First was right: "If you are real, He is real."

The world understands this logic, even if only subconsciously. We can understand this if we analyze different reactions to the Holocaust. The anti-Semite complains that the Nazis did not finish the job. We are also familiar with the attempts of Nazi sympathizers who want to deny the Holocaust, and sometimes we hear both claims at once. This is one side of the range of responses. However, on the other side we hear more sophisticated denials. For many years we have been witnesses to an attempt, by the Poles for example, to deny the fact that the Jews were the victims of the Holocaust. However, the most evident attempt in this area is without a doubt the establishment of the Carmelite monastery at Auschwitz. Here we are faced with an attempt to rewrite history: Christianity was one of the victims of Auschwitz. The Church did this, for example, by making a Jewish convert to Christianity into a Christian saint. This is because, consciously or subconsciously, everyone whose conscience was not destroyed by Nazism understands that every honest person should have been at Auschwitz. There Satan made the selection. And whoever was not chosen by him to be wiped out, cannot possibly be the chosen one of God.

Cinderella and her sisters

Today we can understand this because of the perspective that we have on the first verses of the last chapter of the book of Job. From this perspective, which stems from a sense that we are at the beginning of the Redemption, we ought to reread the end of the story of Cinderella. How did Cinderella treat her sisters after her rise to greatness? I leave the reader to do his own homework, but I promise him that a look at the various versions will be very interesting. What God expects from Job is clear. God expects Job to pray for his friends who have constantly directed their arrows at him. This is a very difficult moral paradox. However, it helps us to understand the secret of the ending of the book. The redemption of Job represents the return of the Jewish people to their land. The verse actually uses the phrase "returned his exiles" (42:10), which is essentially a national term. Now we also understand another difficulty. His first children are lost to him, yet Job's comfort - a comfort that does not erase the pain - is in his second children. The Holocaust was an event that can never be forgotten, and we are left with problems that cannot be rationally explained away. However, now we see the return of Job's exiles, and the prayer that he wishes for the whole world: may sins, not sinners, be obliterated.

Job's friends, Cinderella's sisters, are the other religions that point an accusing finger at Job: Job, you are suffering, this is proof that you have sinned, this means that God has rejected you. The book ends with the meeting with the prince: "and God returned the exiles of Job" - this is the Redemption.