Shabbat Shalom, toata lumea!

La inceputul acestei saptamani trecute, lumea a stat nemiscata o perioada scurta de timp. Milioane de oameni din intreaga lume au fost in acord cu transmisiile in direct si fluxurile de social media, s-au legat de cuvintele crainicilor: „Si Oscar merge la…” Covoare rosii, rochii de lux, aparitii surprize si, bineinteles, remarcile, multumescInsusi beneficiarii premiilor – toate fac parte dintr-o traditie care se intoarce de zeci de ani. Primele premii Oscar, mai cunoscute sub numele de „The Oscars” se intorc in anul 1929, unde primele nominalizari si premii au fost acordate in timpul unui eveniment privat la Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel din Los Angeles, cu doar 270 de persoane prezenti. Astazi, acelasi eveniment atrage atentia a mii de oameni din publicul live si a mai multor milioane de oameni care toneaza din fiecare colt al lumii.

In 1957, un film creat cu doar un an inainte a fost nominalizat la Oscaruri in sapte categorii si a ajuns sa castige premiul pentru cele mai bune efecte si efecte speciale. Este acest film care leaga Oscarurile saptamana aceasta – credeti sau nu – pasa noastra de saptamana noastra. Intr-adevar, conexiunea nu este deloc greu de remarcat, deoarece numele filmului este… da, ati ghicit: „Cele zece porunci”, in regia Cecil B. DeMille. Efectele speciale, pentru care filmul a castigat de fapt Oscarul de atunci, au fost revolutionare pentru timpul sau: despartirea Marii Reeds, Apocalipsa la Sinai, stalpul focului, ingerul scenelor mortii si compozitele Exodului – toate au fost create folosind tehnici care ar fi folosite in filmografie pentru anii urmatori.

Cu toate acestea, o minuscula bucata de trivia asociata filmului este cea pe care as vrea sa ma concentrez astazi. Printre efectele speciale care l-au castigat Oscarul, vocea lui Gd a fost puternic modificata si amestecata cu alte efecte sonore, facand astfel identificarea sa extraordinar de dificila. In diferite interviuri acordate dupa difuzarea filmului, mai multi actori si membri ai echipajului au sustinut ca sunt vocea originala a lui Gd din film, dar niciuna dintre aceste afirmatii nu a fost confirmata de fapt. Si pentru a mentine suspansul, creditele de la sfarsitul filmului nu mentioneaza pe nimeni in combinatie cu vocea lui Gd.

Array

Ceea ce ne aduce, ciudat, la pasa din aceasta saptamana …

Tocmai am citit impreuna Aseretul Hadibrot , cele Zece Declaratii sau Zece Zicale sau, mult mai bine cunoscute lumii, cele Zece Porunci. Acordat, numele folosit in mod obisnuit este oarecum inselator, deoarece nu tot ce este in Aseret Hadibrot este o porunca. Astfel, destul de adecvat, un alt nume vernacular asociat cu acest set de enunturi ia premiul pentru cel mai exact: Decalogul, care este un cuvant derivat din greaca, care inseamna literalmente: deca logos – „zece cuvinte” .

Dar, indiferent de numele pe care il folosim pentru ei, ceea ce este mai important este cine a rostit Aseret Hadibrot si cui li s-a rostit exact?

O traditie de lunga durata sustine ca primele doua porunci au fost rostite direct de catre poporul evreu, in timp ce celelalte opt au fost transmise poporului evreu prin Moise. Traditia nu este lipsita de baza, unele indicii de sustinere fiind prezente, de fapt, chiar in text.

Primul indiciu este ca primele doua porunci sunt formulate la prima persoana, in timp ce celelalte opt sunt la a treia persoana: „Eu sunt L-rd-ul vostru, care v-a scos din Egipt”, „Eu sunt L-rd , un Zeu zel, care pedepseste idolatria ” vs. „ Nu luati numele L-rd-ului, Dumnezeului vostru, in zadar ”,„ Amintiti-va de Sabbat pentru ca D-zeul s-a sprijinit pe el ” etc. Se pare intr-adevar ca in primele doua poruncile vorbeste Gd, in timp ce restul este discursul indirect al altcuiva.

Iar cel de-al doilea indiciu este versetul 20:16 al Paharului nostru , in care poporul, socat de puterea Apocalipsei, se intoarce catre Moise si ii spune: „Voi ne vorbiti si vom auzi; dar sa nu ne vorbeasca Domnului ca nu cumva sa murim. ”

Mekhilta d’Rabbi Yishmael, o colectie de midrashim halakhic din Cartea Exodului, pare sa confirme aceasta idee:

Cand Moise vorbea si proclama poruncile lui Israel – pentru ca au auzit din gura Atotputernicului numai Poruncile אנכי si לא יהיה לך, in timp ce celelalte au fost promulgate de Moise – atunci Sfantul, binecuvantat sa fie El, l-a ajutat dandu-i putere pentru ca vocea sa sa fie puternica si sa devina audibila.

– Mekhilta de Rabin Yishmael 19: 19: 2

Maharalul de la Praga, rabinul Yehuda Loew ben Betzalel, are o abordare diferita, sustinuta si de traditie: evreii au auzit din gura Domnului intreaga Zece Porunci, dar nu au putut intelege nimic. Conform acestei interpretari, toate cele Zece Porunci au fost rostite intr-un singur cuvant, o lucrare care ar fi imposibila pentru nimeni in afara de D-zeu. Acest cuvant, oricare ar fi fost, era atat de puternic, incat continea intr-un fel toate informatiile din Tora, era cam ca un fascicul audio comprimat, iar oamenii, in timp ce il auzeau, nu puteau sa-si dea seama. Acesta este motivul pentru care au apelat la Moise pentru explicatii suplimentare, iar Tora a fost repetat in forma umana de catre Moise. Aceasta idee, desi contrazice Mekhilta, este rasuna de multi alti comentatori, precum Chizkuni, Rambam, Ramban si altii.

Acum, desi pare un pic ciudat, intrebarile despre cine a vorbit si cine a auzit sunt de fapt foarte importante! Si nu doar ca un fapt banal legat de un film, ci si pentru intelegerea miezului credintei noastre si modul in care vedem lumea din jurul nostru ca membri ai credintei evreiesti.

O caracteristica comuna a religiilor monoteiste este ca toate au inceput cu un moment de revelatie. Pentru crestini, a fost invierea pretinsa a lui Isus, la trei zile de la moartea sa. Pentru musulmani, a fost pretentia ca Gd l-a invatat Coranul, cartea sfanta a islamului, printr-un inger. Pentru sikhi, au fost viziunile revendicate de Guru Granth Sahib.

What sets the Jewish Revelation apart from all those claims is that the revelations of the other faiths are portrayed to having been made to a single individual or a very restricted group of individuals. In Christianity, there were 12 apostles who later became the fathers of the Church. In Islam there was the prophet Mohammed, who became a central figure in Islam. And for the Sikhs it was the first guru, a role model and an inspiration for all subsequent gurus and leaders of the faith.

Jewish tradition takes a radically different route to discovering G-d. Judaism is not based on the teachings of one person, or on a revelation made to an elite group. Judaism states that we ALL had the Revelation, and thus we are all part of that “elite”. We were all there at Sinai, hearing G-d, almost literally seeing the words come down from the mountain and take shape before our very eyes. The Talmud explains that 600.000 men left Egypt, for a total of approximately 3 million souls, women, children and elderly included. And they all made it to Mount Sinai, where G-d revealed Himself to all of us.

Now, for a social contract to be valid, for a revelation to be binding and worth of becoming the base of a new faith, everyone must be present. Everyone must have direct knowledge of the terms agreed upon, and of the words being spoken. So, who exactly was there at Sinai?

The Jewish mystical tradition holds that all our souls, the souls of everyone ever created, were present at Sinai, although not all of our bodies were there. The Gemarah, in  Mesechet Shevuot 39a, talks about the moment at the end of the Book of Deuteronomy 29:13-14 when Moses recalls the Revelation and reseals the covenant with the Jews: “Not with you alone do I seal this covenant and this imprecation, but with whoever is here, standing with us today before Hashem, our G-d, and with whoever is not here with us today.” Did you catch that? “And with whoever is not here with us today”. Explains the Midrash Tanchuma:

That alludes to those who were to be born in the future. Hence, they are not with us “today”, and about them it cannot be said that they are “standing here today”. But they are included in the general statement [about the Revelation]. — Tanchuma Yitro 11

Our forefathers were there at Sinai, but we were there too. So, it seems that the famous dating and matchmaking Jewish website SawYouAtSinai.com does have a tradition to stand on, after all. ???? It is the tradition that we all stood there together, listening closely and hearing G-d as He revealed Himself to the world.

And that is why it’s so important to clarify who spoke during that moment. Because questions might arise based on the conclusion we reach… Do we have a covenant with G-d or with Moses? Did Moses get everything right when he repeated the last of the Ten Commandments to us? Or maybe there were glitches, things that got “lost in translation”? Are we a religion that is monoteistic because we believe in what one individual (Moses) told us to be true, or were we there ourselves, hearing and seeing, part and parcel of the Revelation of Revelations?

Among all the monoteistic religions, Judaism is the only one who possesses this concept of “spiritual democracy”. The Revelation does not belong to one man or to one group. We all heard it, we all got it. Granted, Moses might have been the only one to fully grasp it right away, as he was spiritually closest to G-d. The rest of us needed a review, a “decoding” of G-d’s message, before we understood it. And after all, this “decoding” is what we’ve been doing ever since, when we read from our holy books, when we study the writings of our prophets, when we learn our Talmud and halakha.

But at its core, the conclusion is this: we don’t only believe G-d’s message to be true, we KNOW it is after all. Because what Moses translated for us at Sinai was not something new. It was rather something simply restated, something we had all heard just moments before, directly from G-d Himself.

There is a Midrashic tradition that when a child is still in their mother’s womb, an angel teaches him or her the entire Torah. Then, just as the baby is about to be born, the angel strikes the baby’s upper lip and they forget everything. But beyond being a rather cute explanation of oddly-shaped anatomical feature, this tradition speaks volumes about how we understand and engage with our own religion.

When we learn our Torah or our Talmud, we don’t just learn. We relearn. When we listen to the Ten Commandments, we don’t just listen. We relisten and we remember. When we celebrate our holidays, we don’t just perform rituals. We reenact something that we’ve lived already, long ago.

בכל דור ודור חייב אדם לראות את עצמו כאילו… “In every generation, one is obligated to see oneself as if…” is often a statement we associate with Pesach. But in reality, it is the basic tenet of our faith, and it applies to everything we hold dear in our religion. We were there, we heard it once, directly from the Source. Now we just have to remember it, and to see ourselves again at the foot of the mountain, gazing upon its fiery top, ready to hear Him again: אנכי ה אלקיך… “I am the L-rd your G-d”.

* * *

The voice of G-d was never credited in the 1956 “Ten Commandments” movie. But it has been credited, time and again, by the people who heard it directly from G-d’s mouth, by us the Jews, who stood as testimony, through our faith and destiny, that it all happened for real.

Shabbat Shalom!

Delivered at Beth Zion Congregation

Shabbat, February 15, 2020

ARTICOLE SIMILAREDE LA ACELAȘI AUTOR