PARSHAT NOACH
(5768)
TECHNOLOGY AND HUBRIS
“And they said, Come let us build us a city and a tower with its top in the sky, to make a name for ourselves; else we shall be scattered all over the world.”
(Genesis 11:4)
The underlying theme of the beginning of the book of Genesis is - what does it mean to be a human being? Part of humanity is the ability to create tools and use those tools to transform nature. This technological prowess is a gift from God. But this technology prowess can also be a source of hubris and a danger to the earth. How far should we humans go in transforming God’s creation?
Let us explore a couple of stories about using technology to transform nature. When I was young I grew up listening to heroic tales of the founding of the state of Israel. Pioneers came into the land “to build it and be rebuilt by it.” One of the great stories of my youth was the draining of the Hula Valley, north of the Sea of Galilee, turning a swamp into farmland. Jewish pioneers used the best technology of the day to drain the mosquito-infested lake and recover land for settlements. It was one of the most publicized early projects of the Jewish National Fund in reclaiming the land of Israel.
Today Israeli environmentalists are questioning the wisdom of this entire enterprise. The swampland turned out to be far less fertile than originally imagined. Chemicals are draining into the Sea of Galilee and affecting Israel’s drinking water. Wetlands that attracted migrating birds are gone. Today there are efforts to recreate the lake in the Hula Valley and return nature to its original state. History will decide whether the draining of the Hula Valley was a wise use of human technology or an environmental disaster. But the lesson is that with technology must come great care and wisdom not to wantonly destroy God’s creation.
Closer to home, on the public radio show Speaking of Faith I heard an interview with Dr. Mehmet Oz, a cardiovascular surgeon and the inventor of new technology to save damaged hearts. He tells the story of an active young man who suffered a massive heart attack and was wheeled into the operating room unconscious. Dr. Oz used the best of his technology to save the man’s life. He admits that he was feeling quite proud of himself when he visited the man in recovery. And he discovered to his dismay that the man was furious with him. The patient saw himself as active, he knew he had heart troubles, and he did not want to live his life as a cripple. It took a great deal of counseling for the man’s anger to subside and for him to find a sense of purpose in life once again.
Dr. Oz recalls this as one the moments when he realized that healing is not just about the newest technology, the best surgery, or the fanciest equipment. Humans are not simply physical machines that can be repaired as a mechanic might repair a broken automobile. Humans are spiritual beings and doctors must recognize the spiritual side of healing. Technology to transform God’s creation must be combined with a cognition of the spiritual side of that creation.
There are numerous similar stories. They do not say that technology is bad. I have heard of people today who reject all technology, trying to live only on what they grow from the ground or what they can forage from nature. They live without an automobile or electricity. As someone who needs my cell phone and computer, enjoys my ipod, and loves my car, I cannot imagine such a life. Technology is a wonderful gift. But technology must be combined with ethical and spiritual insights and a sense of limitation.
The Tower of Babel story is a story of technological hubris. It shows what can happen when technology is out of control, when humans use their technological prowess to play God. God pays us back by confusing our languages, removing our ability to speak with one another. The lesson of the Tower of Babel is not to stop building skyscrapers. Rather, it is a lesson in approaching all technological quests with humility, ethical insight, and recognition of the spiritual dimension of God’s.
PARSHAT NOACH
(5766)
AFTER THE FLOOD
“And the dove came in to him in the evening; and, lo, in her mouth was an olive leaf plucked off; so Noah knew that the waters were abated from off the earth.”
(Bereishit 8:11)
There is a beautiful scene in this week’s portion. The great flood had stopped and the water was beginning to subside. Noah opened the window of the ark and sent forth a raven, which flew to and fro. He then sent forth a dove, which could find nowhere to rest and so flew back. He waited a week and then sent forth a dove once again, who returned with an olive branch in her mouth. He waited another week, sent out a dove once again, who did not return. Noah knew the waters were subsiding and life was beginning to flourish on the earth once again.
The olive branch in the mouth of the dove has come symbolize peace on earth. But in truth, its symbolic value could be much broader. It could symbolize life sprouting forth once again following a disaster. It could symbolize hope and new beginnings. It is a message we need to hear this week.
Hurricane Wilma passed over us more than a week ago. In our synagogue the lights are finally coming back on, allowing us to fully assess the damage. We are working on becoming fully operational once again. Street lights are still out and schools are still closed in our community. Although nobody’s home was destroyed from our congregation, many of our neighbors, particularly in older, poorer neighborhoods, are now homeless. There is much work to be done.
As I drove around after the hurricane, a memory came back to me. I grew up in Los Angeles. We certainly had devastating earthquakes. However, my childhood memories are of terrible fires in the mountains and hills of our community. Thousands of acres were destroyed, often taking buildings and homes, and occasionally human lives. Afterwards, with no vegetation to hold the earth in place, rains would cause terrible mudslides. I grew up with disasters, although not of the hurricane variety.
When I looked at the devastation following such fires, the sadness was overwhelming. Beautiful hillsides lay in ruins. But a few weeks later there were bits of green sprouting on the same hillsides. Soon there was vegetation, then eventually trees. A few years later, you would never know that a fire had destroyed the hillside. Like the olive branch in our portion, life springs forth once again. And as so many of us have heard from our parents and others, “Where there’s life, there’s hope.”
There is a force at work in the universe known as life. Biologists are surprised how quickly life seems to have sprung forth after space dust formed the earth. Evolutionists are trying to understand such phenomena as the Cambrian Explosion of life forms on the earth over a very short period of time. There is a reason why in Judaism we identify God with life in our liturgy. We humans see God manifested as the life force of the universe.
If life emerges after a natural disaster, then in a parallel manner, life emerges after a human disaster. Our local newspaper has been running a series about Jewish communities around the world. This week they wrote and showed pictures of Judaism alive and growing in Berlin, Germany. It is amazing that our faith could once again flourish in what was the heart of Nazi Germany sixty years after the holocaust. The message seems to be that, in the long run, the forces of life always overcome the forces of death. When all seems hopeless and forlorn, life seems always to flourish in the end.
In my years in the rabbinate, I have watched people struggling to rebuild their lives after being knocked down by both natural and human forces. I have seen it after hurricanes and earthquakes, illness and tragedy. I have seen it among holocaust survivors and people who lost loved ones to terrorism. Those who are most successful are those who can attach themselves to that life force at work in the universe. The Torah teaches, “Therefore choose life.” We all sometimes look out at a world devastated by flood waters. Suddenly a dove appears with an olive branch. There is a moment of rebuilding, when we can say with confidence, the force of life is at work in the universe. And we are part of it.
PARSHAT NOACH
(5764)
THE RAINBOW
"I have set by bow in the clouds, and it shall serve as a sign of the covenant between me and the earth." (Genesis 9:13)
God promised there would never be another flood like the terrible flood in the time of Noah. And as a symbol of that promise, God placed a rainbow in the sky. The rainbow is the symbol of the covenant God made with all humanity. God would never bring total destruction to the earth again. According to Rabbinic tradition, humanity in return would follow fundamental ethical laws.
Upon seeing a rainbow in the sky, it is traditional to say the blessing, "Praised are You Lord our God King of the Universe, Who remembers His covenant and is faithful to His covenant, keeping His promise." Few natural events are as beautiful, nor as powerfully symbolic as the rainbow. After a bad rainstorm, people will often stop their cars and get out to look at a beautiful rainbow.
Today the rainbow continues to carry on symbolic meaning. Some see it as a sign of interracial unity. (Think Jesse Jackson's Rainbow Coalition.) Some see it as a sign of peace between nations. I have see ecology activists using the rainbow as a sign of peace between humanity and the earth. Why a rainbow? What is the power of this obviously natural phenomenon?
What is a rainbow? Light shines through water droplets in the sky, which act as a prism, bending various frequencies of light at various angles. The light is separated accorded to colors. We see the various colors and think of them as separate and distinct. But behind them, hidden from view, is the original light, unified and one.
To those who study kabbala, this image is a powerful metaphor for how the world really works. We look at a world that is filled with separation and distinction. We are separate from the material objects of the world. And we are certainly separated from one another. We each have our own personhood, separate from every other person. We are male, female, Jew, Christian, Muslim, black, white, Hispanic, old, young; there are thousands of traits which make us distinct. Yet, underneath it all, there is a unity. This unity may be hidden from our view. But if we can only reach beyond ourselves, we can touch that fundamental unity.
Kabbala is built on the notion that there is a reality beyond this world. The separations we see are an illusion, like a rainbow. Look beyond the rainbow and we can see the fundamental unity of humans one with another, and the fundamental unity of humans with the universe. (That is why a song about Somewhere Over the Rainbow has such power on our emotions. The beautiful song from The Wizard of Oz points to a fundamental truth about our universe. If we could only reach beyond our separateness, we can find that "land that we heard of once in a lullaby.")
There was a time when most rational people felt that kabbala and other mystical teachings were nonsense, the stuff of over active imaginations. Today, science is finding there is a fundamental truth to the notion that there is a unity underlying the diversity of our universe. Scientists speak of symmetry, aspects of the universe that remain unchanged through transformations. They are searching for a super symmetry, a fundamental unity in the universe between various particles and forces when the universe began.
Scientists also speak of symmetry breaking, how the unity was broken up just as light is broken up by a rainbow. A mathematician named Emmy Noether who lived at the beginning of the twentieth century (when there were few women mathematicians) proved a remarkable theorem. Whenever symmetry is broken, a conservation law in nature is established. To put it in more poetic terms, for every division in nature, a conservation or unity persists.
The rainbow symbolizes the universe, seemingly divided but at its core united. Noah was told by God to build an ark, save his family and one of each species of animals, before God destroyed the world. Noah did what God told him. But perhaps Noah should have argued back with God. Perhaps he should have cried out, "God, if you destroy the world you are destroying part of me. For underneath it all, we are united." That is the symbol of the rainbow.
PARSHAT NOACH
(5763)
MORAL RELATIVISM
"Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed."
(Genesis 9:6)
I shared a question with the high school students in my synagogue. Suppose there was an island where human sacrifice was the norm. It was the accepted practice by everybody, even the victims. Suppose you were to take over that island, and you had the ability to put a stop to such sacrifices. Should you do so?
The young people were unanimous in their response. "If that is the way they practice their religion, I would have no right to stop them. I may not like it, but who I am to judge. I would not want them to judge my religion." All agreed that we have no right to stop people from killing innocent people if that is their religion, whether we agree or not.
All my arguments could not shake these young people from their position. They have learned moral relativism from the youngest age. "I have no right to say that anything is right or wrong. It may be wrong for me in my particular culture. But in another culture it may be right. Who am I to judge?" Our young people have grown up with the notion that the only absolute value is to be non-judgmental. Someday they will go to the university. There they will listen to professors tell them that all values are relative to particular cultures and our simply social constructs. There are no absolutes.
Moral relativism is popular among our young people. But it is also a dangerous idea. I have heard people say, "From our point of view Bin Laden was wrong. But in his society and culture he was right." "From our point of view Hitler was wrong. But in his culture he was right." "I may think murder is wrong, stealing is wrong, adultery is wrong. But others may think it is right. Who am I to judge."
This week's Torah portion teaches that the deliberate murder of innocents is wrong in every culture, wherever human beings dwell. Noah is considered the father of all humanity. In Jewish tradition, the terms ben Noach son of Noah or bat Noach daughter of Noah is used to refer to a generic human being. The laws that Noah must keep are laws for all humanity, regardless of culture or ethnicity.
When Noah stepped out of the ark, God made a covenant with him. This is a covenant with all humanity. The symbol of the covenant is the rainbow, a natural phenomenon where many colors join together as one. This shows that the covenant joins people of all races. God gave Noah a series of laws, the most basic being the prohibition of bloodshed. Whoever deliberate kills their fellow human deserves to be put to death. For every human, of every race, ethnicity, and culture, has been created in the image of God.
Murder of innocents is wrong. It does not matter if that murder is being carried out by people in our Western culture, Arab terrorists, Muslim fundamentalists, or people on an island carrying out human sacrifice. The deliberate taking of a human life is immoral, and those who have the power to stop it must do so. If a nation conquers a nation where the practice of human sacrifice is the norm (such as when the Spanish conquered the ancient Aztecs), they have a responsibility to stop it. If a nation conquers a nation where a widow was expected to throw herself on her husband's funeral pyre (as when the British conquered India), they have a responsibility to stop it. And if we have the ability to put an end to the taking of innocent life, that is our obligation.
Moral relativism can bring us into dangerous waters where nothing is right and nothing is wrong, all depends on culture. In this violent age in which we live, it is appropriate to stand up and say, "Murder is wrong whatever the culture." It is a message all humanity needs to hear.
PARSHAT NOACH
(5762)
TERRORISTS AND THE IMAGE OF GOD
"Never again will I doom the earth because of man, since the devisings of man's mind are evil from his youth." (Genesis 8:21)
Last week I ended my spiritual message with a question: Are terrorists created in the image of God? I received a number of thoughtful responses. Some said that in our minds the terrorists were doing evil, but in their minds they were simply doing God's will as they understand it. This is similar to the answer I often receive from teenagers, "We think Hitler was wrong, but he thought he was right." It is called moral relativism, and it is an absolutely immoral point of view. Either an action is good or it is evil, we cannot say that to one person it is good but to another it is evil.
Most people replied that the terrorists were created in the image of God, but have misused the very gifts that God gave them for evil purposes. I believe that this is the correct response. In our Torah reading God regretted the creation of humanity because of their evil behavior. God brought a great flood to destroy the humans He had made, allowing only Noah and his family to survive. It is like the parent who is so distraught by the behavior of a child that he or she regrets ever having that child, and wishes the child was no longer there.
After the flood, God realized that destroying humanity was not the answer. Humans were created in God's image, with the ability to make moral choices. Now God must live with the result of His creation. When God's children are evil, God sheds tears of sadness and disappointment. But ultimately, what parent can control the behavior of his or her own child? Even when a human is evil, he or she is still a child of God, created in the image of God.
There is a key word at the end of last week's portion when the Torah introduces the corruption of humanity - mahsavot. It is best translated as thoughts or calculations. (The modern Hebrew word for computer comes from the same root.) "All the devisings of the thoughts of his heart were wicked all the day." (Genesis 6:5) We humans have the ability to think through our decisions and then make choices. We can choose good or we can choose evil.
Jewish tradition recognizes two kinds of evil. There is evil beteiavon, evil where somebody cannot help themselves because they have lost control of their appetite. We can picture the person who abuses their spouse because they cannot control their temper, or the person who misuses drugs and cannot become clean. Certainly there is no excuse for such behavior, and people need to learn to control their appetites. As I have often written, the evil inclination is our appetites out of control. One can feel a certain sympathy for people who lack self control.
Then there is a second kind of evil known as evil lehachees - deliberate well thought out evil. This evil is far more sinister and far more dangerous. The terrorists who struck on September 11 were not simply following their animal appetites. They were using every part of their human ingenuity to plan, coordinate, communicate with one another, and think out their evil plot. They are the direct descendants of the Nazis who used not only human ingenuity but technological acumen to carry out the holocaust. They are all humans who used their God given gifts to choose evil.
The terrorists who attacked on September 11 were created in the image of God . God must have been weeping on that day.
PARSHAT NOACH
(5761)
NOAH'S MISTAKE
"Noah was righteous and whole-hearted in his generation."
(Genesis 6:9)
I will confess that I have never really liked Noah. I realize that he was a righteous man in his generation. But even Rashi in his Torah commentary admits that, had Noah lived in the time of Abraham he would have been a nobody.
What bothers me about Noah? It is not simply that when God said, "Build an ark, I will destroy the world," Noah passively complied. Perhaps Noah should have argued with God? "If I find fifty righteous people in the whole world, will you save humanity for their sake?" It took an Abraham to argue back with God.
What bothers me about Noah? It is not simply that his first act after leaving the ark was to plant a vineyard, make wine, get drunk, and fall asleep in a drunken stupor in his tent with his privates uncovered. This was followed by some kind of homosexual-incestuous encounter with his son. Like so many of us, Noah had an alcohol problem.
What truly bothers me about Noah is more subtle. It has to do with his relationship with his wife and how he viewed family. When Noah went into the ark, the Torah teaches that "On that day Noah and Shem and Ham and Japhet Noah's sons, and Noah's wife and the three wives of is sons entered the ark." (Genesis 7:13) Notice that the men and the women entered separately. Men and women lived separately in the ark while the flood waters raged. Somehow it seemed inappropriate to enjoy marital bliss while the world is being destroyed.
However, when the flood ended, God said to Noah, "Go forth from the ark, you and your wife, your sons and their wives." (Genesis 8:16) God continued with the command to be fruitful and multiply on the earth. The first obligation after the flood was to rebuild family life, marriage and children. The family was to be the fundamental building block of society.
How did Noah leave the ark? "Noah went forth from the ark and his sons, and Noah's wife and his sons' wives." (Genesis 8:18) The men left the women behind, and they had to leave separately.
This complaint about Noah may seem trivial. But somehow I sense it touches the essence of where society goes wrong. The Torah teaches that a man should leave his mother and father and cleave to his wife. Of course, this implies that a woman should leave her mother and father and cleave unto her husband. Society is built when men and women direct their energy and attention towards one another. A new generation goes on the right path when they share in imparting their values and their guidance. In fact, I came across a beautiful definition of love from an unknown author. "Love is when someone else's needs become more important to you than your own."
I suppose what bothers me about Noah is that his energy was not directed towards his wife and family. He went out of the ark with his sons, went on his own to plant a vineyard, and never had more children. The generations that followed Noah continued on a path of moral decline leading to the Tower of Babel.
There is a hidden lesson in the Noah story. Men, direct your energy towards meeting the needs of your wife. Women, direct your energy towards meeting the needs of your husband. After the flood hit the world, our first job is to rebuild healthy families.
PARSHAT NOACH
(5760)
THE EVIL INCLINATION
"All the inclinations of man's heart are evil from his youth."
(Genesis 8:21)
The Talmud speaks of a great argument between the school of Shammai and the school of Hillel that continued for two and a half years. Is it a good thing that humanity was created or would it be better if humanity was never created? By a majority vote, the rabbis decided it would have been better if humans had not been created. However, since we humans are here, we ought to carefully scrutinize our future actions.
In this portion God regretted having created humanity. He brought a great flood to destroy humankind and decided to start all over. God then realized that the humans he created have an inclination for evil. God made His peace with the reality of what humans are really like.
Fortunately, mankind is not only evil. According to a brilliant rabbinic insight, we humans have two yetzers, two inner drives or inclinations, that struggle with one another. These two inner drives define our behavior throughout our lives. The rabbis called these the yetzer hara, the evil inclination, and the yetzer hatov, the good inclination.
The yetzer hara consists of those primitive drives within us which seek immediate gratification. They are what Freud defined as the id. The yetzer hara is the sexual drive, the drive for violence, the drive for acquisition, the emotion of anger, all out of control. The evil inclination is that part of each one of us which says, "I want what I want and I want it now!" They are our primitive appetites, necessary for survival but in desperate need of control.
The yetzer hatov or good inclination is the drive to be altruistic. It is the part of us willing to delay gratification, practice self-control, share with others, sacrifice for a greater good, and do the right thing. Some would identify it with Freud's superego. For humans, life is a constant struggle between these two inclinations, between "I want what I want and I want it now" and "do the right thing."
Like God in our story, there are parents who regret ever having children. They have created a being over which they have no control, a being whose inclination often goes towards evil. Opinions polls have shown that many parents regret ever having children. As parents we finally understand what God went through creating humanity.
Like God, we parents are to be teachers for our children. Parents must teach children to control the evil inclination and develop the good inclination. Children need to be carefully nurtured in the art of self-control. They must learn that they cannot have what they want immediately when they want it. They must manage their appetite for food, for money, for things, and once they become teens, they must manage their appetite for sexual satisfaction. Not material goods but values are the greatest gift parents give their children.