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Morality as the solution provided by the
perfect creative intellect and the balance between the supernal dimension and the other two
existential dimensions
;
Between
the individual's survival and his humanity; Between 'Woe is to me from my Creator' and
'Woe is to me from my creatureliness [evil inclination or urge]'.
"And the Lord
regretted [that he had made man on the earth], and His heart was
saddened"(Genesis 6:6) "And the Lord said to himself"(Genesis 8:21)
Nahmanidies comments:
In Bereshith Rabbah there is a significant matter concerning this, expressed by a
parable which the Rabbis bring of an agent and an architect. This constitutes a
great secret which is not permitted to be written down. The one who knows it will
understand why here the Tetragrammaton is written while in the whole of the rest
of the chapter and the account of the flood, the name Elokim is used.(Chavel,
1971, 104)
Noah was a passive righteous man. In contrast, Enoch was a one-dimensional righteous
man. In Noah's period the human entity and the entity composed of the rest of creation
were differentiated; they no longer formed one organically integrated unit, as in the days
of Adam in the Garden of Eden. As the gap between them widened and the compact
parcel of creation came undone man became differentiated from creation; he became an
independent entity and the Creator granted him the means to enable his independent
existence.
A new fundamental axiom appears in Parshat Noah: Covenant. Covenant endows Noah
with the right to influence creation in ways undreamt of by Adam; granting him the merit
of joining physical reality to supernal reality in broad circles of influence encompassing
all of creation. Even those elements in creation not directly devolving from or involved
with man's status would now be open to his influence and even subservient to his
initiatives, the initiatives of hesed (kindness).
"For the inclinations of a man's heart are evil from his very beginnings"(Genesis
8:21). Seforno explains:
Since from this time on the temperaments will be less than they were before the
flood, the light of the intellect will not shine forth from them [human beings] in
their youth as it had originally, in a manner enabling a human being overthrown
by his desires to overcome them in his youth.
In
Seforno's opinion, the process of man's differentiation into an
independent entity (from this point onwards) increasingly dims his
openness and sensitivity to the rule of the intellect. From
Seforno's perspective, the intellect's role is to guide and direct
man's behavior and rule over his other powers. With the intellect's
weakening, the inclinations free themselves from its dictates and
function independently. From this point on the state of creation and
its destiny are no longer to be understood as dependent upon man's
condition and his freedom to choose
.
Man and creation must be divorced from one another; creating a stable world, with its
own independent existence -- where seasons arrive in their appointed times -- to replace
the world of unity dependent upon mankind. A new world blessed with regularity and
fixedness, contrasting with the influence granted to man through his covenant with the
Creator. A covenant enabling man to make decisive contributions to the new unity,
resulting from the creative choices he makes concerning himself and the world, himself
and the living creatures of the earth, himself and his Creator and, especially, himself and
his fellow man, and himself and the world. Thus, the permission for mankind to consume
the flesh of animals is given, and the threat of retribution overtaking the ground and the
living creatures if they kill the crowning act of creation (nezer ha-beriyah), man, appears.
Thus, homicide becomes the archetypal crime, one whose penalty can not be erased
without the shedding of more blood:
So taught our Sages: Adam was given six (of the seven Noahide) commandments,
and [the transgressor of] any one of them can be forgiven, except for the shedding
of blood. As it is written: 'He who sheds the blood of a man … his blood will be
shed'(Deuteronomy Rabbah 2)
A Rupture in Creation
The period after the flood is characterized by the rupture between man and creation.
From this point and onwards man feels slightly out of place within creation. A sense of
alienation and even hostility separates man from Nature and even from his own nature. A
weakening of his instinct and intuitive powers, a disruption of the circuit of the flow, the
current of life, blockages in the energy flow, causing physical and mental health
problems. The sadness of the Creator descended into the world. "And the Lord regretted
[that he had made man on the earth], and His heart was saddened"(Genesis 6:6).
Noah's purpose was to initiate the project of restoring Creation. "This one will
provide us comfort from our work and from the toil of our hands" (Genesis 5:29). Noah
initiates a reconciliation between mankind and the earth, and even between mankind and
the Creator! "And Noah built an altar for G-d … and G-d smelled the pleasing odor, and
G-d said to himself: 'I will never doom the earth again because of man, for the inclination
of man's heart are evil from his very beginnings"(Genesis 8:20-21). G-d changes his
attitude towards man and the earth, recognizing the difference between man and the
world; adopting an approach that grants regularity and stability to an independent system
of Nature, one, which as in the past before the flood, is not predicated absolutely upon
man.
G-d's attitude towards man also takes on new dimensions. Man's responsibility for
the world is increased. This is expressed in Noah's building of the ark, and in the
concomitant privileges resulting from this new responsibility, such as the permission to
eat meat, with its adjoining prohibition against eating a limb from a live animal; a
respectful attitude towards G-d's creatures, and the privilege to dominate them and utilize
them, while at the same time respecting the laws of Nature and exercising extreme care to
uphold them. See the comments of the Keli Yakar on the responsibility of man to uphold
the goal of creation.
From this point on, every created being was enlisted to serve man. Man was appointed to
oversee the goal of creation, ensuring that creation reached its potential. Man, receives
the appellation servant of G-d, for an ordinary man is forbidden to eat flesh. In contrast,
the servant of G-d who sacrifices an animal to G-d, or, even, one who eats it for the sake
of heaven, enables the animal to fulfill its divine purpose. Man does not depend upon the
animal world, nor does the animal world depend upon man; however, the two acting in
concert fulfill a joint purpose, dependent upon man's instigation. Herein lies mankind's
new relationship with creation. While man and creation are not one organic whole, man
creates a union with creation by giving himself a spiritual goal, and sweeping creation
after him in pursuit of it.
The new approach introduces an educational component in the form of divine
intervention taking shape, at first, as explicit instructions – the Seven Noahide Laws. This
legislation was designed to enable man to take charge of his behavior as he is now
trapped in a maze of conflicting tendencies and urges, as a result of the rupture between
man and creation, on the one hand, and man and his Creator, on the other. The weakening
of the intellect's ability to control man's material wants and his urges leaves a vacuum
that divine intervention fills in the form of the instructions which prevent man's exposure
to a seemingly incomprehensible and confusing situation. From this insight stems the
educational axiom: Outside intervention that prevents man exercising his free will can
only be justified in cases where man's ability to control the situation is delimited either
by his own inability to grasp it completely or by the conciseness, and, hence, inherent
difficulty of comprehending the concept itself. In all other cases, the educator must not
intervene, for it is better that the student learn to cope with the situation on his own.
Herein lies the import of the covenant. The link joining two differing conditions; two
separate entities joined by the covenant: the covenant between the Creator and creation.
For some reason the Torah expansively details the covenant from the Creator's
perspective, while the part played by man goes totally unmentioned. But this is the heart
of the matter, man's role is not pre-prescribed; man must create it from whole clothe.
Man is given space to grow in; the work is in progress, re-created and modified to fit in
with the covenantal reality; to the conditions of existence, on the one hand, and to the
spiritual condition of man in relating to his Creator, on the other. The perceptive phrase,
"Woe is to me from my Creator (Yotsri); Woe is to me from my creatureliness (evil
inclination or urge)," fully expresses man's covenantal role.
G-d's presence within the world is not a given. When the Creator decided "My breath [or,
spirit] shall not abide in man forever"(Genesis 6:3), he removed his presence from
mankind, and took his Shekhinah to the highest heavens. From this point on, one of
man's covenantal duties is enticing the Shekinah to descend back into the world. So too,
as mentioned above, man must adopt a responsible, respectful, though masterful, attitude
toward creation. Without man's bridging capabilities, the world will descend into a
chaotic intermingling of domains -- a confusion threatening to give birth to the tragedy of
idol worship – where who is in charge is unclear and the image [of G-d in man] and of
the goal of creation are blurred. Out of this chaos came the flood and the Generation of
the Dispersion. Nahmanides hinted at this when he cited the wondrous midrash
concerning the agent and the architect. The parable implies that there were, as it were,
two domains.
The special name, that of mercy, is utilized precisely when G-d decides to separate
himself from mankind -- "My breath [or, spirit] shall not abide in man forever;" "and
Hashem's heart was saddened" -- when it would have been appropriate to utilize the
name signifying judgment - E-lokhim. Seemingly the Torah by utilizing the appellation
signifying mercy at the time of the separation, as it were, intends to hint at the new
method for linking the two realms which HaKadosh Baruch Hu had already established.
G-d, as is His way, had already prepared the healing draught before landing the blow.
The rupture between the supernal realms and the lower ones can be healed by man taking
upon himself the burden, the responsibility for creation and its creatures as an
independent responsible entity who has become an equal partner, with equal rights and
obligations, in a covenantal relationship with the Creator.
The Kabbalistic Approach
Man attempted to heal the rupture between the heavenly and earthly kingdoms by
establishing his own credentials as belonging unmediatedly to the supernal realm.
Attempting to become acquainted with the supernal entity, man tried to investigate the
rules and laws of the heavenly kingdom. This attempt, of course, did not succeed. Man's
attempt to create a one-way, vertical path ignoring the reality both of his own limited
capabilities and of the fact that the tools employed by his creative talents were designed
to grapple with the existential reality alone. The spiritual and intellectual tools given to
man as the crowning act of creation, created in an image and form derived from the
supernal world, can also relate to the material reality and uplift it, while endowing it
with meaning and spiritual -- quality
-- values. At one and the same time, opening the
gateway to allow material reality to reach supernal qualities and opening the material
reality to accepting the yoke of the kingdom of Heaven, enabling it to become a vessel
capable of holding the blessing of Hashem. Thus, man can create a new, three-
dimensional entity containing his relationship with himself, the world and the Heavens.
This three-dimensional unification can not exist if man ignores either himself or the
world. The study of kabbalah (the mystical Torah) is only fruitful and constructive, when
it is studied through the prism of the revealed Torah. Man, for the sake of heaven,
immerses himself in studying the circle closest to himself and his existence. In so far as
this immersion in study is a pure and direct expression of his adherence (deveikut) to
Hashem, and in so far as his relationship expresses a direct identification [with Hashem],
as its sole purpose, so does his influence blessed by G-d overflow the boundaries, above
and beyond the circle of his narrow existence, and influence, influence and repair cuts in
the broader circle which incorporates broader realities distant in time and space.
Operating with the credo that the righteous man is the foundation of the world, and that
which a righteous man decrees, HaKadosh Baruch Hu brings to fruition. A righteous man
like Enoch could not achieve a wider influence. Therefore, Noah, who was admittedly an
unblemished righteous man (tzadik tamim) was introduced even though his capabilities
were also limited because of his limited aspirations. He was a passive righteous man, one
willing to reconcile himself to living with little.
"And Noah did exactly what Hashem commanded him to do"(Genesis 6:22) Without
initiative. Obedience without a spark of novelty. Without caring. Without a feeling of
personal responsibility for the world. Noah did not toil to warn his generation. His
righteousness expressed itself in his taking on the most minimal role. When the time
came for disembarking from the ark, he searched for a way to finally rest. He looked for a
method of forgetting the arduous toil and stress. A holocaust survivor trying to forget.
Nothing succeeds like wine in aiding forgetfulness, in aiding the escape from reality.
"And Noah became a man of the soil"(Genesis 9:22) Rashi comments: "He profaned
himself." Noah retreated from the heavens to the earth. Noah accepts the rupture
separating heaven and earth and does not strive to repair it. He has already done his bit,
fulfilled his obligation. And this is enough for him. The consequence of his inactivity is
not long in coming. The future which he has neglected revenges itself upon him. Ham,
his son, his progeny meant to take him into the future, castrates him.
He neglected his role of joining and enabling a
reconciliation between his inclinations and his Creator. It was
forbidden for Noah to make peace with the rupture between the
supernal dimension and the other two existential dimensions, those
of himself and of the other. Noah does not trouble himself to
continue perfecting the attribute of hesed which he began to develop
in the ark. Noah does not toil to create the ethical path, the way
derived from knowledge, or the head
, and the heart; the path which creates a new reality
out of the meeting between the supernal dimension and human reality.
The human reality suffused by desires and aspirations, subservient
to selfishness, controlled by the mechanistic system of survival
, stifled by the weight of the existential battle, desirous of raising its
head and breathing the mountain air of values and spirituality.
Morality creates
the point
of intersection, for it is the furnace that smelts the antithetical tendencies. It creates a
new reality, a reality that casts a meaningful union joining its components, form and content
and rules of conduct; grappling constantly with the principles from above and the needs
from down below. This morality does not possess a static form or structure; it does not
provide a formula whose worth stems from its being a fixed, mathematical artifact
profitably applied to every and any individual, appropriate for every existential situation.
Man can not take cover under the wings of morality when he sleeps the sleep of the
drunkard. Man is not relieved of his responsibility. Man is liable for the damages he
inflicts whether he is awake or asleep. For every changing, existential situation it is
necessary to take the measurements for and sew an ethical suit of varying sizes. The
author of Emuna u-Bitahon (Faith and Reliance), the Hazon Ish, warns that the ethical
maladies of one generation are not similar to those of another, and the ethical code of one
individual can not be borrowed by another. The soul doctors of each generation must
write their own ethical works, in which these wise men create a new ethics composed of
the needs, qualities and tools available in the reality facing the human beings of each
generation. The ethical is subject to change at a dynamic, never-ending pace, and its
contents must be re-created and modified to suit every man and every situation. One
individual may profitably immerse himself all the days of his life in studying the "Gate of
Caution" for he acts without thinking and is easily led astray. Another, with a tendency to
obsession, must not spend too much studying this chapter, lest he be unable to detach
himself from it. Instead he must immerse himself in studying the "Gate of Haste". And
no man may study the "Gate of Holiness" until he has studied and absorbed the other
gates which precede and build up to it.
One may ask, who is the one, and which one is he who dares find his way to the heavenly
heights of holiness. We live in a generation lacking a reality suffused with the routine.
Instead our reality is suffused with crises that preclude a normal existence. Our age, as
described in the tokhehah [see Moses' rebuke found in Deuteronomy 32], is a perverse
one, where crisis follows crisis and miracle follows miracle in a whirlwind preventing
any form of normalcy from establishing itself. The seductive way out may be found in
mankind's attempt to climb up, up and away, to immerse itself in the mystical aspects of
creation. Attempting to determine when the end of days is to come, and creating a flesh
and blood messiah who is tasked with dealing with the future, a time when there is
neither present nor past.
Noah tries to profit from the past without taking responsibility for the
future. He does not attempt to grapple with the value of morality, or search for a
way of living under the aegis of mutual responsibility, of creating a bond of love with the
other, of creating a bridge between the private and public domains.
Morality founded upon hesed, upon kindness. Hesed, the keyword suffused with
mystery, promising the inauguration of a new path, one that passes via the other on its
way to the heavens.
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