#A year of daily midrash | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

hyperpotamianarch · 18 days ago

Text

'Tis time for part 2! I think making it a reblog is a good idea, though it might end up being really long so... We'll see, I suppose.

Firstly, I'd like to make a few corrections: @imitorar poited out to me that Midrash Rabbah is called that not after an Amora but because it is the Great Midrash. It was also not all written at the same era - I don't really remember the order, but the different volumes on different books from the Torah were written decades, if not centuries, apart. My confusion stemmed from the fact that there is an Amora called Rabbah. It wasn't his actual name, but he's always called that because his name - Abba - was such a common Aramaic name that I can point out four different Amoras sharing it with him, with only one of them actually being called by it: Rabbah, Rava, Rav and Rabbi Abba all shared this name, but the former two got called by a portmanteau of their names and the title Rav, which literally means something like "a great man". Rav simply had this title replace his name, though you might occasionally see someone call him Abba Arica, Abba the Long. But, yeah, I'm digressing.

A couple more additions and corrections: there were 60 tractates in the Mishnah, with the easy mnemonic of "Sixty are the queens", from the Song of Songs, Ch. 6 V. 8. However, two of them were deemed too long and covering too many topics, so one - Nezikin - was divided into three gates, three Bavas: the First Gate (Bava Kama), the Middle Gate (Bava Metzi'a) and the Last Gate (Bava Batra). The next Tractate, Sanhedrin, was divided to Sanhedrin - which is a Greek name used for the elders' council of 71 that was the Jewish high court - and Makkot, which is about flogging and crimes punishable by it. So now there are 63 tractates.

Since out of those, the Babylonian Talmud only covers 37, here's a list of the ones it doesn't cover: Pe'ah, Dəma'i, Kil'ayim, Shəvi'it, Tərumot, Ma'asərot, Ma'aser Sheni, Hallah, 'Orlah, Bikkurim, Shəkalim, 'Eduyot, Avot, Middot, Kinnim, Keilim, Oholot, Nega'im, Parah, Tohorot, Mikva'ot, Makhshirin, Zavim, Təvul Yom, Yadayim, Uktzim. If anyone talks to you about the Talmud on one of those tractates, they either talk about the Mishnah or the Jerusalem Talmud (at least for the first 11, from then on it's all just Mishnah). So, for example, if someone mentions the Talmud in Avot, they actually mean the Mishnah. People tend to confuse those things sometimes.

Well, in hindsight this is more additions and corrections to the previous post, so let's just leave it at that. I'll just write a separate post for the Jewish literature from the time of the Ge'onim onward. As a treat at the end, though, I'll give you a list of all the tractates of the Mishnah, what is their topic and whether they have Talmud on them! Below the cut:

Order of Zera'im (focuses mostly on agriculture):

Berachot - about prayers, blessings and liturgy. Starts with the rules of reading Shema, follows with the rules of the daily prayer, than goes into blessings on food and finally - blessings said upon seeing natural wonders and such things. Has both Babylonian and Jerusalem Talmuds on it. The Babylonian Talmud tractate segues regularly into Aggadah, which is the more story-based side of the Talmud.

Pe'ah - about the rules of not reaping the end of your field, leaving it for the poor and miserable to take. Doesn't have a Babylonian Talmud tractate but has a Jerusalem one.

Dəma'i - about the rules for what to do with fruits you're not sure had the proper portions given to Priests and Levites taken from them. Doesn't have a Babylonian Talmud tractate but has a Jerusalem one.

Kil'ayim - about hybridizing plants (and animals. And sewing wool with linen). Doesn't have BT but has JT.

Shevi'it - about the 7th year, in which field work is forbidden. Doesn't have BT but has JT.

Tərumot - about the portion of fruits and grains given to the Kohanim, Priests. Doesn't have BT but has JT.

Ma'asərot - about the one tenth of the grains and fruits given to the Levites. Doesn't have BT but has JT.

Ma'aser Sheni - about the one tenth of grains and fruit that needs to be eaten in Jerusalem. Doesn't have BT but has JT.

Hallah - about the portion taken from bread dough that is given to the Kohanim. Doesn't have BT but has JT.

'Orlah - about fruit trees in the first three years of planting them, during which their product is forbidden from eating. Doesn't have BT but has JT.

Bikkurim - about the first fruits of a season to grow on one's tree, which are brought to Jerusalem and given to the Kohanim. Doesn't have BT but has JT.

Order of Mo'ed (about holidays) :

Shabbat - about the 7th day of the week, Shabbat. Has both BT and JT.

Eiruvin - about the laws of how far one can go from a city during Shabbat and where one is allowed to carry things. Has both BT and JT.

Pəsachim - about the holiday of Pesach, AKA Passover, including its special sacrifice. Has both BT and JT.

Shəkalim - about the obligatory half-a-Shekel yearly tax for the Temple. Doesn't have BT but has JT, though its JT tractate is present in most every publication of the BT.

Yoma - about Yom Kippur, includingthe work of the Kohen Gadol (great priest) during it. Has both BT and JT.

Sukkah - about the holiday of Sukkot. Has both BT and JT.

Beitzah - about the rules of eggs. Specifically in Yom Tov, the more holy part of holidays. Actually, about all the rules of Yom Tov. Has both BT and JT.

Rosh HaShana - about the Jewish new year's day, including rules of the calendar in general. Has both BT and JT.

Ta'anit - about fast days and reasons to declare them, also touches liturgy. Note, fast days in Judaism mean no eating at all, not just "no eating meat". Has both BT and JT.

Megilah - about the holiday of Purim, also includes laws relating to reading from the Torah and the Tanakh in general. Has both BT and JT.

Mo'ed Katan - about the laws of the more mundane parts of holidays. Also, has a chapter on mourning laws. Has both BT and JT.

Hagigah - about the different personal sacrifices of holidays and holidays at the Temple (more or less). Has both BT and JT.

Order of Nashim (mostly about laws relating to marriage):

Yevamot - about women who were widowed without children, who are required to resolve their connections to their late husband's family before marrying again. Has both BT and JT.

Ketubot - about the legal document listing the obligations of a husband towards his wife. Has both BT and JT.

Nedarim - about oaths and vows. Appears here because a husband can nullify his wife's oaths (though it's not related to oaths in court - more on that later). Has both BT and JT.

Nazir - about a particular type of oath of abstaining from wine, not cutting one's hair and not going into cemeteries (more complicated than that but I don't want to elaborate). Has both BT and JT.

Sotah - about a women whose husband has a basis to suspect she's cheating on him. Has both BT and JT.

Gittin - about the laws of divorce. Has both BT and JT.

Kiddushin - about the laws of marriage. Has both BT and JT.

[any complaints about misogyny will have to be redirected. I'm sorry, if you think you have a better description of the above tractates that doesn't sound too misogynistic - be my guest. Also, yes, it's pretty much heteronormative. Personally I consider the slight misogyny and heteronormativity to the values of the time. I do not want to get into debates on those matters.]

Order of Nezikin (mostly has to do with legal procedures and court matters):

Bava Kama - about damages done to one's property by the hand or property of someone else, including theft. Has both BT and JT.

Bava Metzi'a - about lost items and cheating in monetary bargains. Has both BT and JT.

Bava Batra - about various legal matters on property of the unmovable type - IE, land, in addition to inheritance laws and official court documents. Has both BT and JT.

Sanhedrin - about Jewish religious court proceedings, especially regarding death sentences. Includes a chapter about the Jewish afterlife and who gets there, for some reason. Has both BT and JT.

Makkot - about crimes punishable by whipping. Has both BT and JT.

Shevu'ot - about oathes made in court. Required by defendants in very specific cases, sometimes required by the plaintiff but usually not. Has both BT and JT.

'Eduyot - collects various testimonies of rabbis from around the time of the Temple on miscellaneous topics. Doesn't have a BT tractate nor a JT one.

'Avodah Zarah - about prohibitions related to foreign worship and relations with those who worship foreign gods. Has both BT and JT.

Avot - an overview on the transferrance of the Oral Torah from generation to generation, plus a collection of sayings of various Tana'im - mostly focusing on morality and thought, and not the legal parts of Judaism. Has neither BT not JT.

Horayot - about the course of action when the high court has made a wrong decree (one that goes against the Torah) in a religious matter (there are different laws for mistakes regarding monetary matters). Has both BT and JT.

Order of Kodashim (about things related to the Temple and sacrifices):

Zevachim - about sacrifices of cattle (includes bulls and cows, sheep and goats) and their different types. Has BT but not JT.

Menachot - about sacrifices of grains and their rules and different types. Has BT but not JT.

Ḥulin - about slaughter of animals for regular consumption outside the Temple, including various miscellaneous commandments relating to eating meat. Has BT but not JT.

Bechorot - about the firstborns. Be it of cattle - which are sacrificed and given to the Kohanim, of donkeys - which are either exchanged for sheep who are likewise given to the Kohanim or just slaughtered and buried, or of humans - which no, we do not kill, merely give to the Kohen a specific amount of money listed in the Torah as sort of redemption money. Has BT but not JT.

Arakhin - about donations to the Temple based on a preset "worth" value for a person. Has BT but not JT.

Temurah - about exchanging the animal one has chosen for sacrifice for another one (hint: it's complicated). Has BT but not JT.

Keritot - about crimes punishable by Karet, which is a heavenly punishment of premature, childless death. Has BT but not JT.

Me'ilah - about misappropriation or use for personal purposes of Temple property. Has BT but not JT.

Tamid - about the daily routine at the Temple. Has BT (though a very short one) but not JT.

Midot - about the dimensions of the Temple and details on the structure. Doesn't have a Talmud tractate, though it's usually printed with Me'ielah in most publications of the Talmud.

Kinnim - about sacrifices of pidgeons and turtledoves. In a similar situation to Midot regarding the Talmud tractates.

Order of Taharot (about the laws of ritual cleanliness):

Keilim - basics of Tum'ah and Taharah, mostly a list of what type of tools and items can become ritually unclean, which can't and in what manners. Does not have a BT nor JT tractate.

Oholot - about the laws of ritual uncleanliness coming from dead human bodies. Focuses on the unique system of getting Tamé - ritually unclean - through being under the same roof as a corpse. similarly to Keilim, doesn't have a Talmud tractate.

Nega'im - about the miraculous skin sickness Tzara'at, sometimes translated as leper (though it's a different sickness). Includes the laws of odd stains on clothes and walls of houses, which are also considered a type of Tzara'at. Likewise regarding the Talmud.

Parah - about the ceremony of the red heifer and getting Tahor from the Tum'ah of human corpses. Likewise regarding the Talmud.

Tohorot/Taharot - about Tum'ah and Taharah laws relating to food. Likewise regarding the Talmud.

Mikva'ot - about Mikveh, a ritual bath one is required to fully dip themselves in to become Tahor (ritually clean). Likewise regarding the Talmud.

Nidah - about the various laws of menstruation and the Tum'ah resulting from it. Has both BT and JT.

Makhshirin - about how various foods become receptive to Tum'ah after having touched specific liquids. Does not have a Talmud tractate.

Zavim - about types of Tum'ah coming from abnormal genital discharges. Does not have a Talmud tractate.

Təvul Yom - about the laws of one who had dipped in a Mikveh but the sun hasn't set yet on the day he did, who is somewhat still considered Tamé for the time being. Doesn't have a Talmud tractate.

Yadayim - about Tum'ah in the hands and Netilat Yadayim - ritual washing of hands, usually done before eating. Doesn't have a Talmud Tractate.

Uktzim - about things attached to fruits (and possibly food in general) that aren't necessarily eaten, and the degree to which they're considered to be a part of said food for the sake of Tum'ah and Taharah. Doesn't have a Talmud Tractate.

To summarize - the first order, which is about agricultural religious laws, doesn't have much in the Babylonian Talmud, but does in the Jerusalem one. That's because agricultural laws are only practiced in Eretz Yisra'el, the Land of Israel. Don't ask why Berachot is in that order.

The Babylonian Talmud covers most of the second order, which is about holidays. Shekalim is related to the Temple, but it's not really that much of a sufficient answer as to why it doesn't exist in the Babylonian Talmud. the Jerusalem Talmud covers the entirety of that order. Holidays are celebrated everywhere.

The third order gets full coverage from both Talmudim - marriage exists everywhere. The fourth skips on two which are too much of miscellaneous collections of sayings to study deeply. They get quoted in the Talmud sometimes, but don't get dedicated discussion. Besides that - well, courts will be courts, wherever they are.

The fourth order is only covered in the Babylonian Talmud, which covers most of it outside of the shorter tractates. It makes sense with Ḥulin, which is still relevant today, but most of the rest is directly related to the Temple so it's confusing. There may have been Jerusalem Talmud on this order, but it was lost and every time somone claimed to have found it - it was proven to be a fake. So if someone tells you something comes from the Yerushalmi in Kodshim you should immediately be suspicious.

The sixth order only gets one tractate from both Talmudim. That is because Nidah is still relevant today, unlike the rest of that order. Outside, maybe, of Mikva'ot, which is important for Nidah as well.

Thank you for reading! have a good day!

Next, I'm going to try and pour out information about Jewish religious literature. To be fair, there are probably way more extensive posts, websites and YouTube videos on this topic, but I chose to talk about it because I've seen some slight misinformation going around. Hope I won't come off as patronizing. Note, I'm writing it to be comprehensible for none-Jews as well as Jews, so I might say a lot of things you already know if you're Jewish.

So, Jewish religious literature can be divided to three main branches: Mikra, Mishnah and Talmud. This is not a completely precise division, nor can it be applied to every Jewish religious book, but it's helpful for the basic books, those considered obligating by Rabbinic Judaism.

Mikra (which, roughly translated from Hebrew, means "something that is read") is the one of those three that is pretty much closed: you can't really write a new Jewish book that'll be considered a part of it. It's also called the Written Torah, and includes the entirety of the Hebrew Bible, AKA Tanakh. In case you're wondering, that includes all books in what Christians call "the Old Testament", only sorted differently and into three categories: Torah - the Pentateuch, Nevi'im (Prophets) - which includes every book named after a person outside of Job, Esther, Daniel, Ezra and Neḥemiah, and in addition to those books includes the books of Judges and Kings, and the Ketuvim (Written texts) - which includes all the rest of the books. The order of the books in the Tanakh is as follows (using their English names for convenience, I don't necessarily stand behind those translations): Torah: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. Nevi'im: Joshua, Judges, Samuel (1&2), Kings (1&2), Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Twelve Prophets (Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Naḥum, Ḥabakuk, Zephaniah, Ḥaggai, Zechariah, Malachi). Ketuvim: Psalms, Proverbs, Job (transliteration did a number on this one), the Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther, Daniel, Ezra&Neḥemiah, Chronicles (1&2). Overall, there are 24 books in the Hebrew Bible. It is only later divisions, some of which are outright nonsensical, that made the number into 39.

Those books are ones that are considered to be written using some degree of Divine Inspiration or outright prophecy (which doesn't have to do with knowing the future). Common tradition considers the division of the Tanakh to be between three levels of prophecy, of which the Ketuvim were written in the lowest. As the Written Torah, the entirety of these scriptures is meant to be read (and not repeated by heart). There are occasions where there's a difference between the reading tradition and the writing one - but that's another story. The last books in the Tanakh were written around the 5th Century BCE according to tradition, and it was closed to new additions a couple of decades, perhaps a century or two, later.

The other two branches are both considered parts of the Oral Torah, to varying degrees. You see, according to Jewish tradition, Moshe (Moses) got the Torah in Mt. Sinai in two parts: the Written one (which at the time only included the Pentateuch) and the Oral one, which included explanations on how to actually act upon the commandments in the Written Torah, in addition to deduction laws to be used on the Written Torah (at least according to Rambam, AKA Maimonides). Both the Mishnah and the Talmud, at their core, are based on that. But much of the things said there are things clearly said by Sages and Rabbis from the 1st Century CE onward. How does that work, then?

The answer kind of depends who you ask. But the Orthodox way to look at that is usually that people either have old traditions that were passed down to them, or are using the deduction laws given to Moshe at Mt. Sinai. But I guess all that was a digression, so let's get back on topic.

The Mishnah is called that way after the Hebrew word for repetition. It's supposed to be sturdied this way to be memorized, though it mostly exists as written text nowadays. Back in the time it was codified - the Tana'ic era (10-220 CE, approx.), called that way after the Aramaic word for people who memorize through repetition - there were many versions of traditional laws memorized this way. This stemmed from many different people teaching the same laws, and it ended up being a game of Telephone. Also, it probably needs to be said that while I call those "laws" they weren't usually the bottomline Halachic rules, since it included disagreements and multiple opinions.

The end of the Tana'ic era came when one person, Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi, composed an authoritative collection of those after studying all the different traditions he knew of. This is what we nowadays call the Mishnah. It's made of 60 tractates- (whisper, whisper Wait, really? Whisper, whisper Huh. All right, then.) I have been informed that the number is actually 63. Who knew? Anyway, those 63 tractates are sorted by topic into 6 orders. Those orders are: Zera'im (seeds, concerns itself with matters related to plants with the odd tractate about liturgy at the start), Mo'ed (occeasion/time, concerns itself with Jewish holidays), Nashim (women, concerns itself with marriage laws in addition to two tractates about oaths and vows), Nezikin (damages, concerns itself with court procedures. Has two miscellaneous tractates that don't make sense there but belong nowhere else), Kodashim (holy things, concerns itself with matters relating to the Temple procedures as well as one tractate about Kashrut and one about heavenly punishments), and Taharot (ritually clean things, I guess? Though this translation is less than accurate. Has to do with - you guessed it - ritual cleanliness). The tractates aren't divided evenly between the orders, and inside of them are sorted by length. The longest tractate is 30 chapters, the shortest is 3. And yes, all of that was supposed to be remembered by heart - possibly only by a number of specific people.

Now, I didn't mention it previously, but there were certain books written that didn't get into the Tanakh - Apocryphal books. Those are not only considered outside the religious canon, but are not to be studied as well - though this might be a little flexible, the bottom line is they can't really be used for anything religious. I'm saying this right now because the same isn't true for Oral traditions that weren't codified in the Mishnah. Some of those were codified in other ways, and can be used to help understand the Mishnah better - which leads us to the Talmud.

Talmud, translated literally from Hebrew, means "study", as in the study of the traditions from the Mishnah. It is a separate book from the Mishanh, but is structured around it. Due to that, there are occasions people will tell you a given quote is from the Talmud when it's actually from the Mishanh - since the Talmud quotes the Mishnah when talking about it. The Talmud usually tries to reason the origin of the opinions in the Mishnah and to delve into the intricacies of those laws: what happens in fringe cases? What about other situations that the Mishnah didn't mention? How does what this specific Tana (rabbi from the Mishnah) says here fits with what he himself said in another place? And such things. The Talmud is, in essence, a recording of centuries of debates and discussions about the Mishnah. Oh, and there are two Talmudim (the plural form of Talmud).

One could say that the Jerusalem Talmud (Yerushalmi) is the equivalent of the oral traditions that didn't get into the Mishnah: it's less studied and considered less obligating than the Babilonian Talmud (Gemara, or Bavli). It still is occasionally quoted and used to study things the Gemara doesn't talk about or doesn't elaborate on. The main difference between the two is where thy were codified - the Yerushalmi is a codification of the study as it was conducted in the land of Israel (mostly in the galillee; the name Yerushalmi is a little misleading), while the Bavli codifies and records the study of Babylon. There's also a different in the language - both are written in Aramaic interladed with Hebrew, but in different dialects. The Yerushalmi was also codified a couple of centuries earlier than the Bavli - the Yerushalmi was codified around 350CE, due to persecutions under the Bizantine empire, while the Bavli was compiled by the 5th century CE.

While those two Talmudim are separate from each other, there is some intersection. Travel between the land of Israel and Babylon wasn't too rare at the time (called Tekufat Ha'Amora'im in Hebrew, the era of the Amora'im. Amora means interpretor or translator in Aramaic), and so you can see rabbis from Babylon mentioned in the Yerushalmi and Rabbis from the land of Israel mentioned in the Bavli. The easiest way to tell the difference is by their title - in Babylon, a rabbi is called "Rav [name]", while in the land of Israel they are called Rabbi. There is a reason to that, but I'm not getting into it yet. In addition, the Bavli regularly talks about how things are done "in the west" - which is the land of Israel, since it's to Babylon's west. As mentioned, the Bavli is the more authoritative of the two, and is the one usually referred to when people say "the Talmud". The Bavli directly discusses 37 of the Mishnah tractates - it nearly doesn't talk at all about the first and last orders of Mishnah. The Yerushalmi, meanwhile, talks extensively about the first one - but has nothing about the next to last one. There are also other tractates missing in the middle for both.

Now, technically the Babylonian Talmud was codified at the end of the Amora'ic era. However, somewhat unlike the Mishnah (well, I'm not being accurate, the Mishnah also has a thing or two that was shoved later), there were still later additions from a time known as the Savora'ic era. Savora is a word that means "a reasoner" in Aramaic, and I probably could've explained how appropriate this name is for them if I'd have studied enough. From what I know, the characteristics of a Talmudic piece from the Savora'ic era is having no names mentioned/having names of known Savora'im mentioned (the latter is a little rare, to my understanding), and reasoning about the language and meaning of words from the Mishnah. the Savora'ic era probably ended at around the 6th-7th century CE.

From that point on, we'll need to more or less abandon the comfortable division I offered earlier, because it's kind of hard to say which book belongs where, besides many books that might technically fall under the same category but be different enough to require their own categories. In addition, from here on out, no book is considered as all-obligating: you can't go against the Talmud in a halachic ruling, but you can go against anything later.

But, since this thing is long enough as it is right now, I think I'll just write a couple of additions about important books I chose not to mention, and then finish it here for now - with the next couple of periods of history of Jewish religious literature left for a future date.

So, the most significant genre of books I've been ignoring are the Midrashim. I mean, sure, I could talk about Apocrypha, or about the Tosefta/Baraitot (oral traditions that didn't get into the Mishnah), but I mentioned those already. The Midrashim, however, are a genre of writing I completely ignored so far.

I think the best way to explain Midrash is that it's a loose interpretation of the Mikra, based on traditions. There are generally two sub-genres for Midrash - Midrash Halachah and Midrash Agadah. The former concerns itself with the law, the latter with the stories and ideas. The books of Midrashei Halachah we have that I can remember are Mechilta (lit. "Including", more or less. On Exodus), Sifra (lit. "Book", from Aramaic. On Leviticus) and Sifrei (lit. "Books", from Aramaic. On Numbers and Deuteronomy). Those are mostly from the Tana'ic era, I think. There are two major books of Midrashei Agadah, both encompassing all of the pentateuch, named Midrash Rabbah and Midrash Tanḥuma. Those are named after specific people, likely the ones who compiled them, and those names indicate they are from the Amora'ic era.

So, to sum it up: 24 books written during the vague time of the Biblical era, codified into the Tanakh at around 300 BCE, with lots of disagreement on the exact date. Oral traditions passed down between generations, including ones clashing with each other and rulings added through the generations, passed around throughout the Tana'ic era (10-220 CE), and codified into 60 tractates of Mishnah by the end of it. In addition, at the same time, some loose interpretations of the Tanakh that have led to the rulings of those oral traditions are written down in the Midrashim. Discussions and elaborations on those oral traditions of the Mishnah as recorded from places of learning in Babylon and the Land of Israel through the Amora'ic era - around 220-500 CE - are recorded in the Talmud, with some additions from around the 6th century CE.

Any inconsistency in spelling and terminology is to be blamed on my unwillingness to go back and edit this. Sorry.

Thank you for reading, have a good day, and I hope to see you for part 2! Once I get an idea about what I'm going to say in it...

#judaism #jumblr #jewblr #jewish history #religion #oral torah #mishnah #torah #jewish religious literature #talmud #gemara #bavli #yerushalmi #amora'im #midrash #oh dear #i'm actually doing this #hope it's helpful

29 notes · View notes

neil-gaiman · 3 years ago

Note

How Did you come up with the first eve in the story about adams wives? I haven’t been able to find anything about her after I read it and I want to know if she’s an actual biblical character or just someone you made

She's from the Midrash. I learned about her as a 12 year old, from my barmitzvah teacher. There was a point in there, long after I'd put her into Sandman, where I was starting to think I'd imagined her, when I ran across her in Robert Graves's Hebrew Myths....

Excerpt from: The Hebrew Myths by Robert Graves and Raphael Patai (New York: Doubleday, 1964), pp 65-69

Chapter 10: Adam's Helpmeets

(a) Having decided to give Adam a helpmeet lest he should be alone of his kind, God put him into a deep sleep, removed one of his ribs, formed it into a woman, and closed up the wound, Adam awoke and said: 'This being shall be named "Woman", because she has been taken out of man. A man and a woman shall be one flesh.' The title he gave her was Eve, 'the Mother of All Living''. [1]

(b) Some say that God created man and woman in His own image on the Sixth Day, giving them charge over the world; [2] but that Eve did not yet exist. Now, God had set Adam to name every beast, bird and other living thing. When they passed before him in pairs, male and female, Adam-being already like a twenty-year-old man-felt jealous of their loves, and though he tried coupling with each female in turn, found no satisfaction in the act. He therefore cried: 'Every creature but I has a proper mate', and prayed God would remedy this injustice. [3]

(c) God then formed Lilith, the first woman, just as He had formed Adam, except that He used filth and sediment instead of pure dust. From Adam's union with this demoness, and with another like her named Naamah, Tubal Cain's sister, sprang Asmodeus and innumerable demons that still plague mankind. Many generations later, Lilith and Naamah came to Solomon's judgement seat, disguised as harlots of Jerusalem'. [4]

(d) Adam and Lilith never found peace together; for when he wished to lie with her, she took offence at the recumbent posture he demanded. 'Why must I lie beneath you?' she asked. 'I also was made from dust, and am therefore your equal.' Because Adam tried to compel her obedience by force, Lilith, in a rage, uttered the magic name of God, rose into the air and left him.

Adam complained to God: 'I have been deserted by my helpmeet' God at once sent the angels Senoy, Sansenoy and Semangelof to fetch Lilith back. They found her beside the Red Sea, a region abounding in lascivious demons, to whom she bore lilim at the rate of more than one hundred a day. 'Return to Adam without delay,' the angels said, `or we will drown you!' Lilith asked: `How can I return to Adam and live like an honest housewife, after my stay beside the Red Sea?? 'It will be death to refuse!' they answered. `How can I die,' Lilith asked again, `when God has ordered me to take charge of all newborn children: boys up to the eighth day of life, that of circumcision; girls up to the twentieth day. None the less, if ever I see your three names or likenesses displayed in an amulet above a newborn child, I promise to spare it.' To this they agreed; but God punished Lilith by making one hundred of her demon children perish daily; [5] and if she could not destroy a human infant, because of the angelic amulet, she would spitefully turn against her own. [6]

(e) Some say that Lilith ruled as queen in Zmargad, and again in Sheba; and was the demoness who destroyed job's sons. [7] Yet she escaped the curse of death which overtook Adam, since they had parted long before the Fall. Lilith and Naamah not only strangle infants but also seduce dreaming men, any one of whom, sleeping alone, may become their victim. [8]

(f) Undismayed by His failure to give Adam a suitable helpmeet, God tried again, and let him watch while he built up a woman's anatomy: using bones, tissues, muscles, blood and glandular secretions, then covering the whole with skin and adding tufts of hair in places. The sight caused Adam such disgust that even when this woman, the First Eve, stood there in her full beauty, he felt an invincible repugnance. God knew that He had failed once more, and took the First Eve away. Where she went, nobody knows for certain. [9]

(g) God tried a third time, and acted more circumspectly. Having taken a rib from Adam's side in his sleep, He formed it into a woman; then plaited her hair and adorned her, like a bride, with twenty-four pieces of jewellery, before waking him. Adam was entranced. [10]

(h) Some say that God created Eve not from Adam's rib, but from a tail ending in a sting which had been part of his body. God cut this off, and the stump-now a useless coccyx-is still carried by Adam's descendants. [11]

(i) Others say that God's original thought had been to create two human beings, male and female; but instead He designed a single one with a male face looking forward, and a female face looking back. Again He changed His mind, removed Adam's backward-looking face, and built a woman's body for it. [12]

(j) Still others hold that Adam was originally created as an androgyne of male and female bodies joined back to back. Since this posture made locomotion difficult, and conversation awkward, God divided the androgyne and gave each half a new rear. These separate beings He placed in Eden, forbidding them to couple. [13]

Notes on sources:

1. Genesis II. 18-25; III. 20.

2. Genesis I. 26-28.

3. Gen. Rab. 17.4; B. Yebamot 632.

4. Yalqut Reubeni ad. Gen. II. 21; IV. 8.

5. Alpha Beta diBen Sira, 47; Gaster, MGWJ, 29 (1880), 553 ff.

6. Num. Rab. 16.25.

7. Targum ad job 1. 15.

8. B. Shabbat 151b; Ginzberg, LJ, V. 147-48.

9. Gen. Rab. 158, 163-64; Mid. Abkir 133, 135; Abot diR. Nathan 24; B. Sanhedrin 39a.

10. Gen. II. 21-22; Gen. Rab. 161.

11. Gen. Rab. 134; B. Erubin 18a.

12. B. Erubin 18a.

13. Gen. Rab. 55; Lev. Rab. 14.1: Abot diR. Nathan 1.8; B. Berakhot 61a; B. Erubin 18a; Tanhuma Tazri'a 1; Yalchut Gen. 20; Tanh. Buber iii.33; Mid. Tehillim 139, 529.

Authors’ Comments on the Myth:

1. The tradition that man's first sexual intercourse was with animals, not women, may be due to the widely spread practice of bestiality among herdsmen of the Middle East, which is still condoned by custom, although figuring three times in the Pentateuch as a capital crime. In the Akkadian Gilgamesh Epic, Enkidu is said to have lived with gazelles and jostled other wild beasts at the watering place, until civilized by Aruru's priestess. Having enjoyed her embraces for six days and seven nights, he wished to rejoin the wild beasts but, to his surprise, they fled from him. Enkidu then knew that he had gained understanding, and the priestess said: 'Thou art wise, Enkidu, like unto a godl'

2. Primeval man was held by the Babylonians to have been androgynous. Thus the Gilgamesh Epic gives Enkidu androgynous features: `the hair of his head like a woman's, with locks that sprout like those of Nisaba, the Grain-goddess.' The Hebrew tradition evidently derives from Greek sources, because both terms used in a Tannaitic midrash to describe the bisexual Adam are Greek: androgynos, 'man-woman', and diprosopon, 'twofaced'. Philo of Alexandria, the Hellenistic philosopher and commentator on the Bible, contemporary with Jesus, held that man was at first bisexual; so did the Gnostics. This belief is clearly borrowed from Plato. Yet the myth of two bodies placed back to back may well have been founded on observation of Siamese twins, which are sometimes joined in this awkward manner. The two-faced Adam appears to be a fancy derived from coins or statues of Janus, the Roman New Year god.

3. Divergences between the Creation myths of Genesis r and n, which allow Lilith to be presumed as Adam's first mate, result from a careless weaving together of an early Judaean and a late priestly tradition. The older version contains the rib incident. Lilith typifies the Anath-worshipping Canaanite women, who were permitted pre-nuptial promiscuity. Time after time the prophets denounced Israelite women for following Canaanite practices; at first, apparently, with the priests' approval-since their habit of dedicating to God the fees thus earned is expressly forbidden in Deuteronomy xxIII. I8. Lilith's flight to the Red Sea recalls the ancient Hebrew view that water attracts demons. 'Tortured and rebellious demons' also found safe harbourage in Egypt. Thus Asmodeus, who had strangled Sarah's first six husbands, fled 'to the uttermost parts of Egypt' (Tobit viii. 3), when Tobias burned the heart and liver of a fish on their wedding night.

4. Lilith's bargain with the angels has its ritual counterpart in an apotropaic rite once performed in many Jewish communities. To protect the newborn child against Lilith-and especially a male, until he could be permanently safeguarded by circumcision-a ring was drawn with natron, or charcoal, on the wall of the birthroom, and inside it were written the words: 'Adam and Eve. Out, Lilith!' Also the names Senoy, Sansenoy and Semangelof (meanings uncertain) were inscribed on the door. If Lilith nevertheless succeeded in approaching the child and fondling him, he would laugh in his sleep. To avert danger, it was held wise to strike the sleeping child's lips with one finger-whereupon Lilith would vanish.

5. 'Lilith' is usually derived from the Babylonian-Assyrian word lilitu, ,a female demon, or wind-spirit'-one of a triad mentioned in Babylonian spells. But she appears earlier as 'Lillake' on a 2000 B.G. Sumerian tablet from Ur containing the tale of Gilgamesh and the Willow Tree. There she is a demoness dwelling in the trunk of a willow-tree tended by the Goddess Inanna (Anath) on the banks of the Euphrates. Popular Hebrew etymology seems to have derived 'Lilith' from layil, 'night'; and she therefore often appears as a hairy night-monster, as she also does in Arabian folklore. Solomon suspected the Queen of Sheba of being Lilith, because she had hairy legs. His judgement on the two harlots is recorded in I Kings III. 16 ff. According to Isaiah xxxiv. I4-I5, Lilith dwells among the desolate ruins in the Edomite Desert where satyrs (se'ir), reems, pelicans, owls, jackals, ostriches, arrow-snakes and kites keep her company.

6. Lilith's children are called lilim. In the Targum Yerushalmi, the priestly blessing of Numbers vi. 26 becomes: 'The Lord bless thee in all thy doings, and preserve thee from the Lilim!' The fourth-century A.D. commentator Hieronymus identified Lilith with the Greek Lamia, a Libyan queen deserted by Zeus, whom his wife Hera robbed of her children. She took revenge by robbing other women of theirs.

7. The Lamiae, who seduced sleeping men, sucked their blood and ate their flesh, as Lilith and her fellow-demonesses did, were also known as Empusae, 'forcers-in'; or Mormolyceia, 'frightening wolves'; and described as 'Children of Hecate'. A Hellenistic relief shows a naked Lamia straddling a traveller asleep on his back. It is characteristic of civilizations where women are treated as chattels that they must adopt the recumbent posture during intercourse, which Lilith refused. That Greek witches who worshipped Hecate favoured the superior posture, we know from Apuleius; and it occurs in early Sumerian representations of the sexual act, though not in the Hittite. Malinowski writes that Melanesian girls ridicule what they call `the missionary position', which demands that they should lie passive and recumbent.

8. Naamah, 'pleasant', is explained as meaning that 'the demoness sang pleasant songs to idols'. Zmargad suggest smaragdos, the semi-precious aquamarine; and may therefore be her submarine dwelling. A demon named Smaragos occurs in the Homeric Epigrams.

9. Eve's creation by God from Adam's rib-a myth establishing male supremacy and disguising Eve's divinity-lacks parallels in Mediterranean or early Middle-Eastern myth. The story perhaps derives iconotropically from an ancient relief, or painting, which showed the naked Goddess Anath poised in the air, watching her lover Mot murder his twin Aliyan; Mot (mistaken by the mythographer for Yahweh) was driving a curved dagger under Aliyan's fifth rib, not removing a sixth one. The familiar story is helped by a hidden pun on tsela, the Hebrew for 'rib': Eve, though designed to be Adam's helpmeet, proved to be a tsela, a 'stumbling', or 'misfortune'. Eve's formation from Adam's tail is an even more damaging myth; perhaps suggested by the birth of a child with a vestigial tail instead of a coccyx-a not infrequent occurrence.

10. The story of Lilith's escape to the East and of Adam's subsequent marriage to Eve may, however, record an early historical incident: nomad herdsmen, admitted into Lilith's Canaanite queendom as guests (see 16. 1), suddenly seize power and, when the royal household thereupon flees, occupy a second queendom which owes allegiance to the Hittite Goddess Heba.

The meaning of 'Eve' is disputed. Hawwah is explained in Genesis III. 20 as 'mother of all living'; but this may well be a Hebraicized form of the divine name Heba, Hebat, Khebat or Khiba. This goddess, wife of the Hittite Storm-god, is shown riding a lion in a rock-sculpture at Hattusaswhich equates her with Anath-and appears as a form of Ishtar in Hurrian texts. She was worshipped at Jerusalem (see 27. 6). Her Greek name was Hebe, Heracles's goddess-wife.

2K notes · View notes

revmeg · 2 years ago

Quote

for if the stars were arbitrary, if it meant nothing, what is there to believe? i want to believe it all. i want to imagine that everything on earth knows more than i do, turns and turns and carries the timing of life. instead of a doctrine of subtraction give me a doctrine of everything knows. give me the stars and the heavens, looking down on me with love and the fullness of time.

from “horoscope” in There Is a Future: A Year of Daily Midrash by Amy Bornman, p. 87

#There Is a Future #poetry #lit #Amy Bornman #belief #astrology

40 notes · View notes

earnestly-endlessly · 4 years ago

Note

Hey! I hope I'm not bothering you, I just found your blog and I love it sm, and I saw you sometimes do cherik fic recs. Do you have any Canon divergence aus/fix it, preferably after Cuba, that are 30k or longer and have a happy ending? If not thats okay! You don't have to answer this. Have a wonderful day!

Hi anon, thank you so much. I’m happy you both like my blog and my recs. You are certainly not bothering me, and feel free to send me an ask any time. I have plenty of recommendations for you. Some of them diverge a bit from your request because I couldn’t help but recommend them as well. I will put a note on those who diverge from your request. As always, I only recommend fics I have personally read and enjoyed and I sincerely you love them too.

-Canon divergence aus/fix it, post Cuba, 30k or longer, with a happy ending cherik fic recs-

Not Half As Blinding- keire_ke

Summary: Cuban beach AU. Charles discovers that death does, in fact, solve everything.

Lay down beside me (so still and so soft) – C-Gracewood

Summary: A different take on the events of the film.

Rumor Has It – blueink3

Summary: "Did I hear the doorbell earlier?"

"Yeah, but I'd steer clear if I were you. It seemed a little tense. I don't know what's going on, but there's a kid out there who looks freakily like the prof."

Nearly six months after Cuba, Charles' life is turned upside down for the second time. Though he's slowly learning to adapt to the first, he's not sure he can handle the second. Luckily for him, there are a few people out there more than willing to help.

Forward Momentum – AsYouWish

Summary: Six months after Cuba, Charles and Erik find themselves thrown fifty years into the future, where they meet their older selves, the Avengers, and a world that's very different from their own. Faced with the pieces of their broken relationship, an unparalleled adversary, and dealing with Tony Stark on a daily basis, Charles and Erik do their best to adapt while trying to find a way back home -- and to each other.

When an Unstoppable Force Meets an Immovable Optimist – ToriTC198

Summary: "You are always trying to save me, Charles." Erik mused aloud. "Ever since you dove into the ocean and dragged me out. Did it ever occur to you that I might not be worth saving?"

A genuine smile broke out on Charles' face as he brightly answered, "No, my friend, not once. I have every confidence you are well worth saving. But, I never truly believed I could save you. You are not the sort of man who someone saves. The choice to be a better man has always been yours to make and I hold no illusions that I can make that decision for you. I simply have faith that one day you will save yourself. I only hope I am still at your side to witness it."

What if Erik and Charles had been able to find a middle ground in the end?

Take the First Option – ShowMeAHero

Summary: When Erik becomes unbalanced, Emma presents him with three options: go back to Charles for three months and learn to deal with whatever he has going have going on, lose his Brotherhood, or let Emma control his mind.

He really only has one choice.

Virtue to Which We Aspire – varlovian

Summary: Nine months after Cuba, Charles is found by Erik's Brotherhood in the smoldering ruins of an abandoned CIA base, exhausted but alive. As the only known survivor of the CIA's vendetta against mutants, recovering Charles' memory of the incident—which he admits to having forgotten—just became paramount.

But the harder they push, the closer Charles gets to breaking point. When he finally cracks, the X-Men and the Brotherhood will learn the truth, but it comes with a price...

Some doors, once opened, cannot be closed.

Some minds, once broken, will never be the same again.

The Waking of the Red King – rustingroses

Summary: When Charles' heavy injuries on the Cuban beach conspire to leave him in a coma and living in fantasy of his own making, Erik, the man who once threatened to divide the mutant cause, finds himself desperately trying to hold everything together. First of the Red King trilogy.

Wake Up and Smell the Pancakes – Ayra Sei Ethari

Summary: In one universe, Erik left Charles. In another, he stayed. So what happens when the two Eriks get switched? "At first, Erik thinks he's dreaming. Then he realizes that this is Charles. Who is not paralyzed. And kissing him.

Rage and Serenity – MagickMaker, TheFangedGoblin

Summary: After Charles is shot on the beach, he is rushed to the hospital and paralysis is prevented. Ridden with guilt, Erik finds that he cannot leave him. He helps him heal, and eventually, Charles learns to trust him again. But when they set out to rescue Emma from the CIA and accept her onto their team, tensions rise. Will love keep Erik and Charles together despite their differences?

No Yesterdays on the Road – pocky_slash

Summary: It's been two months since Cuba and things are settling down for Charles, Erik, and the beginnings of their mutant school. Right up until Charles disappears, that is. Faced with the possibility that a bitter Emma Frost has kidnapped Charles, Erik is forced to team up with Moira to hunt down the remainder of the Hellfire Club. From there, they hope to locate Frost and retrieve Charles, without killing each other along the way.

(Or: Erik and Moira Drive Across the Country and Talk About Their Feelings.)

What Can We Do Without You? – SwoopSwoop

Summary: Charles and the boys were holding onto a secret more dear to them than their own lives when Charles disappears into the night; Erik is betrayed and finds himself returning to Westchester in the hopes that the government was just trying to trick him. All the while the boys are stuck in the middle, left guarding the secret from the man they are most afraid of finding out who is weaselling his way back into their lives alarmingly easily.

Note: Includes Mpreg, but don’t let that discourage you from reading it because it’s a really great fix-it.

Survival Instinct – Lindstorm

Summary: It’s been months since Charles pulled Erik out of the ocean, and Erik is beginning to wonder how many more times he can choose Charles, and still keep his vow to kill Shaw. Cooperating with the CIA is straining Erik’s patience. When a fact-gathering mission goes wrong and Charles is kidnapped, Erik is left trying to hold their mutant band together while Raven and the rest of them fall apart. No one can foresee how the mutant Charles meets in captivity will challenge all his assumptions about his own power, and twist Charles’ telepathy out of his control. In the race to stop Shaw's nuclear ambitions from coming to fruition, Charles makes a crucial misstep. Erik’s decision between Shaw and Charles takes on unexpected ramifications when [spoiler deleted].

Needles (Series) – Skull_Bearer

Summary: AU where everyone's born Dominant or Submissive

Once a Dominant and Submissive pair is born, they are linked to each other, no matter how far apart they are. This link doesn't actually tell the Dom or the Sub each other's thoughts, but it does allow them to know how the other's doing and serves as a reassurance that there's someone meant for them out there.

Another one of the reasons that Erik hates Shaw so badly is because Shaw managed to break Erik's link to his Sub. Now Erik doesn't even know if his Sub's alive because breaking a link like that can kill a Submissive.

Meanwhile, Charles hates himself for not yet having telepathy strong enough to contact and help his Dom, especially after feeling the pain his Dom was forced to go through. He truly believes that his Dominant is dead. Hopes it, some nights when he remembers how his Dom was forced to suffer. It's better than to think of his Dom still being forced to bear that pain.

And then Charles pulls Erik from the water

Time to Grow – zarah5

Summary: In which you'll find chess dates which aren't dates (or maybe Charles is wrong about that). -- Based on First Class, this turns (slightly) AU during the beach scene.

Note: This fic is less than 30k words but it’s such a fandom classic and just a great read if you love your fix-its.

Faults for Fixing – beren

Summary: Charles sees the events of the missile crisis and subsequent weeks when he uses Cerebro to touch the mind of a mutant with the power to see the near future. When he wakes up he is determined that he will not allow them to happen and he will not lose the people he loves.

Note: A bit less than 30k words long but another great read.

It’s like one of us woke up – kaydeefalls

Summary: "You came here for me," Charles said, meeting Shaw's gaze levelly. "So let's not waste any more time."

Canon!AU in which Charles and Erik do find Shaw in Russia.

Note: XMFC fix it, but the events in Cuba don’t happen.

Afterlife – Anna (arctic_grey)

Summary: A year after Washington, Erik wakes up in excruciating pain as sudden awareness washes over him: Charles is dead. Erik has to adjust to yet another future: no extinction, just a world without Charles. But the death of his former friend leaves Erik weak and his powers drained. His quest for answers leads him back to Westchester, where Erik has to face his past with Charles and put together the puzzle pieces of what happened to the man he once cared for.

The Burdens We Long to Carry – arcapelago (arcanewinter)

Summary: When mutant-supporter and ally President Kennedy is assassinated and all pro-mutant progress is dismantled, Charles is no longer so confident that he's on the right side, and extends his hand to Erik after a year of animosity. They settle tentatively into their old partnership, but not everything is the same as it was--and not everything can be. When Hank develops a metal frame to move the lower half of Charles' body for him if he wants it, Erik offers the use of his mind and his ability in order to make it work. Both find out what they're willing to do for each other, and neither knows if it'll be enough to keep them together.

Other Futures Than These – midrashic

Summary: In which Cuba doesn't break them apart, but that doesn't mean that their futures are tied together. (Except that it does.)

A Days of Future Past AU where only one person can defeat the Sentinels and save the future: the man whose imprisonment and torture created them, and Charles Xavier's ex.

The Winter of Banked Fires – Yahtzee

Summary: Charles Xavier has returned from the dead -- but is lost within his own mind. Rogue has cast aside her own power and doesn't know where she fits in the world any longer. The production of synthetic Cure means mutantkind itself is newly at risk. And Magneto, turned human against his will, is in despair until the day he feels a familiar consciousness tugging at his own --

Set after X-3 (with much desperate fix-it applied), during XMFC, and every time in between.

#cherik #cherik fic recs #asks #earnestly answers #for some reason Tumblr refuses to post my entire answer #feel free to ask me whenever you want anon #I really love making these lists

175 notes · View notes

insertmeaningfulusername · 3 years ago

Text

2021 Fic Year in Review

Tagged by @hellfre - thank u fren 💙

Total Number Of Completed Works:

A little less than eighty this year?

Total Word Count:

Around 200k or something.

Fandoms I’ve Written In:

Atonement (the movie, not the book), Captain Marvel (2019), X-Men Comicverse & Movieverse, Shame (2011), Filth (2013), Captain America (Movies), Alien (Prequels), Wanted (2008), The Gifted (TV 2017), It (again the Muschietti Movies, not the book).

Looking Back, Did You Write More Fic Than You Thought You Would This Year, Less, Or About What You’d Expected?

I don't remember having any expectations at the start of this year, but I was certainly surprised that I powered through Flufftober like I did (I didn't even intend to participate and then suddenly I was writing fics daily). Otherwise, I'm a bit sad that multi-chapter fics appear to be just too difficult for me. Maintaining motivation for one story over a longer time span isn't easy.

What’s Your Own Favorite Story Of The Year?

No idea. I really liked writing for some X-Men rare pairs though - especially the sapphic ones.

Did You Take Any Writing Risks This Year?

For the X-Men Rare Pair Fest, I wrote a trans!woman x enby pairing, and it made me sweat so hard skdfjkaljdkh because I was so scared of doing something wrong.

Do You Have Any Fanfic Or Profic Goals For The New Year?

Attempt to write a multi-chapter fic? Also give less of a shit about comments or writing and posting regularly or reading other people's works when I'm just not interested in it. None of the mentioned things helped my mental health this year.

Most Popular Story Of The Year?

For that I'd have to consult my statistics and I'm too lazy to do that.

Story Of Mine Most Under-Appreciated By The Universe, In My Opinion:

All rare pairs!! Seriously, especially in the X-Men fandom, if you read a rare pair fic and like it, comment. Do something to keep the authors motivated, or else you'll soon have no content anymore (of which there is already precious little).

Most Fun Story To Write:

Anything I didn't have to grind out for a deadline (: And I really liked that Witcher Joseph x Erik AU from Flufftober!!

Most Unintentionally Telling Story:

No. Do Not Perceive Me.

Biggest Disappointment:

Oh there were some but they're more linked to people's general I-don't-see-how-I-need-to-comment-even-though-I-consume attitude than to any specific fic.

Biggest Surprise:

My sudden energy surge for Flufftober - and my slowly drifting away from reading Cherik works that don't tick all my boxes.

My Favorite Part Of Fandom This Year:

Dragneto. Any post with them is a blessing, and I thank every artist who puts their talents to drawing them in all their glory.

Tagging: @midrashic @slashergirl @lindstrom2020 @nextraordinaire @camillechaoswritter

#tag game

7 notes · View notes

dreaminginthedeepsouth · 1 year ago

Text

Pass-a-Grille aerial view photocard mailed in 1962 from Pass-a-Grille.

* * * *

"for if the stars were arbitrary, if it meant nothing, what is there to believe? i want to believe it all. i want to imagine that everything on earth knows more than i do, turns and turns and carries the timing of life. instead of a doctrine of subtraction give me a doctrine of everything knows. give me the stars and the heavens, looking down on me with love and the fullness of time."

from “horoscope” in There Is a Future: A Year of Daily Midrash by Amy Bornman, p. 87 [revmeg]

#Pass-a-Grille #photocard #postcard #1960s #St.Petersburg #beach #memories #revmeg #horoscope #There Is A Fututre: A Year of Daily Midrash #Amy Bornman

18 notes · View notes

docholligay · 4 years ago

Text

And I think that’s so much of the difference between Torah Study as I have known it for all the years I’ve done it, and Bible Study, the Christian version of it. My rabbis have always been happy to lend context, or direct Hebrew translation, and we always had some interesting midrash to chew on, and Talmud, but at the end of the day it was never an ‘X means Y” sort of situation, it was a “here’s the parsha, here’s what’s been said about it, what do we think, how does this apply, why is God telling us this?” and we didn’t HAVE to agree, and often didn’t, and sometimes it was borderline, :let’s throw hands” but the Sages were that way as well! It’s not a bug, but a feature of Judaism, not to agree on interpretation.

And then you have Bible Study, where The Authority tells you, “This verse means Y. How can we apply that in our daily lives?” seems so limiting to me. It seems to utterly take out your participation with the work, your part in it.

On the other hand, it makes it really easy to see how cultural Christianity really affects fandom and politics! Where there are two spaces: Right and Heretic/Problematic/Whatever.

#my rabbi and I were just discussing cultural Christainity and how it's fucked leftisit politics in particular #(because we're both leftists so we'd notice)#there's such a rejection of teshuva on the left #like if you weren't on the right side in 1973 you're foreer suspect #I have way more thoughts on that but this isnt the place admittedly

28 notes · View notes

anzu2snow · 4 years ago

Text

Found a few Jewish apps a couple of days ago. I felt like I needed something more, so why not look for them? 2 apps are on daily mitzvot. There are 613 mitzvot or ‘commandments’. One of the apps called Mitzvot is very simple, and only has one a day. There’s no discussion or commentary on it. You can fave ones you like. Not sure if I’ll keep this one.

The other one is called DailyMitzvah and is put out by Chabad. There might be multiple ones a day (there has been so far), there’s a video discussing it, and extra commentary is written out. Much more in depth and interesting.

The last app I found is called Daily Aliyah. It breaks down the weekly parsha or Torah portion into daily bits. It does this with the haftarah and mishlei or proverbs, as well. Very handy. I can look at snippets each day of the parsha instead of try reading the whole thing in one day.

I also still have Sefaria which has daf yomi (lit. Page of the Day) or a daily reading of the Talmud. I might try to get back into that. It takes roughly 7.5 years to read all of the Talmud this way. I tried to do it when this ‘cycle’ started, but it seemed a little ‘dry’ at some point and I had a hard time focusing on it. Maybe it’ll be better now. Sefaria’s an amazing app itself. It also has pretty much all the Jewish religious texts you can think of. (I think it even has some regular stories.) The Tanach, Mishnah, Talmud, Midrash, Halachah, Kabbalah, siddurs, haggadot, etc. It also has the weekly parsha, Haftarah, Proverbs, daily Mishnah, daily Rambam, and daily Halachah. I tend to forget that. It also has study sheets for many things. So many things it can be overwhelming. I find it’s pretty cool how much is packed into it.

I’ve also gotten back into Shabbat . com’s (didn’t want the site popping up on here) app. It’s basically a Jewish social media platform. You can ask to be invited to someone’s place for Shabbat, or say you’re willing to host anyone in the area. There’s a dating side to it, they have profiles and posts like here, there’s a jobs’ section, and more. I’ve been posting my daily things I’m grateful for on there, too. They seem to really like it and look forward to it. The only problem is the app can be a bit glitchy, and after a certain amount of posts some of them disappear. I did read recently that they’re going to have a huge overhaul soon. Good. It needs it. I’ve noticed that the majority of people on there are some type of orthodox. As a Reform Jew, it makes me feel a little out of place. Even though I have been thinking about becoming a little more observant, it’s still a bit odd to me. Anyways, it’s nice to have a few seemingly good Jewish apps.

#judaism #apps #iphone apps #mitzvot #tanach #sefaria #jewish texts

12 notes · View notes

dk-thrive · 2 years ago

Text

give me a doctrine of everything

— Amy Bornman, from “horoscope” in There Is a Future: A Year of Daily Midrash (Paraclete Press, December 15, 2020) (via Alive on All Channels)

#Amy Bornman #stars #life #gratitude #existentialism #heaven #earth

5 notes · View notes

mysticmachmir · 4 years ago

Text

Judaism: Solstices and Equinoxes

Photo Source

Overview

Judaism runs on a lunar calendar, for example, all our holidays start at sundown. So, this means that the changes of the seasons which are based on a solar calendar do not have as much prominence as the phases of the moon. However, in the Jewish Pre-Talmudic text the Book of Jubilees, we see an alternate Jewish solar calendar. In the end, it was not chosen for what our system is based on - but the Rabbis do talk about the solstices and equinoxes within the Talmud (Berakhot 59b, Shabbat 53a, Eruvin 56a). The word for these four seasons marked by these events is "Tekufot" (tekufah in the singular) which literally means "turn" or "cycle" in Hebrew. According to the sages, each tekufah marks the beginning of a period of 91 days 7½ hours. Tekufot are not necessarily positive events, associated with some negative superstitions. However, there are some different recorded Midrashim that have positive or neutral associations, along with a blessing that can be used to acknowledge them (though this is a minority opinion in the Babylonian Talmud, majority rules this was not necessary). While there is no exact answer, there is some speculation that the four new years within Judaism may be marking the four solar transitions within the year, but some of them are at half-points and not accurately aligned.

Superstitions

An ancient superstition connected with the tekufot is surrounding water. All water that may be in the house or stored away in vessels in the first hour of the tekufah is thrown away in the belief that the water is then poisoned, and if drunk would cause swelling of the body, sickness, and sometimes death. One of the reasons it is said is because the angels who guard and are the protectors of the year "change shifts" at every solar transition, so water is left unguarded. Another is that Cancer fights with Libra and drops blood into the water. Another reason is that at every tekufah, blood has been shed in our spiritual history. At Tekufat Nissan, the waters in Egypt turned to blood. At Tekufat Tammuz, Moshe smote the rock and caused drops of blood to flow from it. At Tekufat Tishrei the knife which Avraham held to slay Yitzchak dropped blood. Finally, at Tekufat Tevet, Yiftach sacrificed his daughter. It is not only against kashrut laws to ingest blood, but there is a lot of superstition around keeping life and death separated in many of our rituals. To avoid this issue with unused water, one must put a piece of iron within it or put it in an iron vessel. If you are making matzot on Tekufat Nisan, you must use a new iron nail and lower it by a string into the water first.

There is no traceable origin of this superstition, but in the 10th-century Rabbis asked about these questions and discussed it, meaning it was widespread even then.

Blessing

In Berakhot 59b, the sages say: "One who sees the sun in her tekufah, or the moon in her power, or the stars in their orbits, recites: Blessed is the one who makes Creation' (baruch oseh vereshit)." Abaye argues this should only be done every 29 years when the spring equinox falls so that the sun is in the same place it was on the day of Creation. However, the minority opinion was still written, so you could make the choice to recite it in the astrological events mentioned.

Havdalah ha-Tekufah

This blessing may be recited over a cup of wine or grape juice on the day of the equinox or solstice. This prayer also may be recited along with a blessing over a scent related to the season, for example, flowers for spring, fruit for summer, leaves for fall, and pine boughs for winter. It is based on the following texts:

The Havdalah ceremony dividing Shabbat from the weekday.

The blessing over equinoxes and solstices found in the Babylonian Talmud (Berakhot 59b).

The traditional evening prayer marking the transition between day and night.

The Torah text in which the Holy One promises Noach that the seasons will continue as long as the earth endures (Bereishit 8:22).

The blessings over the abundance of years found in the daily Amidah prayer (recited in the feminine to honor the Skehinah, the immanent Divine Presence).

Baruch atah Hashem Elokeinu melekh ha'olam borei peri ha'gafen.

Blessed are You, Hashem, Ruler of the Universe, creator of the fruit of the vine.

Bercuchah at Shekhinah Elokeinu ruach ha'olam, borei isvei (atzei) vesamim.

Blessed are You, Shekhinah, the Presence who embodies the world, who creates fragrant plants and grasses (or: fragrant trees).

Baruch atah Hashem Elokeinu melekh ha'olam, oseh vereishit, asher bit'vunah meshaneh itim umachalif et hazemanim. Od kol yemei ha'aretz zera vekatzir vekor vechom vekayitz vechoref veyom velailah lo yishbotu. Bercuhah at Shekhinah, mevarechet hashanim.

Blessed are you, Hashem, Ruler of the Universe, who makes Creation, whose wisdom changes the times and turns the seasons. As long as the days of the earth endure, planting and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night shall not cease. Blessed are You, Divine Presence, who blesses the years.

Midrashim and Teachings

Pirkei de-Rabbi Eliezer, a Rabbinic work, tells of the teaching of tekufot to Adam and Chava as part of divine wisdom. Pirkei de-Rabbi Eliezer (7) also notes the combination of lunar and solar elements in the Jewish calendar. The passage explains that Rabbinic authorities inserted leap months in the calendar "for the sake of the trees, for the sake of the grasses, and for the sake of the tekufot," meaning that the lunar calendar had to be balanced with the cycles of planting and harvest and with the cycles of the solar year.

Medieval traditions about the tekufot emphasized the eerie qualities of the solstices and equinoxes. The Machzor Vitry indicates the frightening biblical events such as the plague of blood that happened at the four seasonal transitions.

The Otzar Midrashim (Hashem Behomah, Yasad Aretz 6) mentions a more positive midrash in which giant mythical beings and animals roar on each of the four seasonal dates. These roars compel the demons and wild creatures of the world to restrain themselves so that order prevails and life continues. Thus they encourage all beings to praise the compassion of the Divine. This midrash suggests that the solstices and equinoxes have both frightening and life-preserving qualities.

Midrash Tanhuma (Korach 10) tells us that the chieftains of Moshe were selected partly because they knew how to calculate and observe the tekufot.

Tekufat Nisan

Tekufat Nisan is the vernal equinox when the Sun enters Aries; this is the beginning of spring, or "eit hazera" (seed-time) when day and night are equal. It is also known as the season of "the triumph of life".

Jubilees (6:25) records the 1st of Nisan as the day the Divine commanded Noach to build an ark and the day Noach opened the ark and saw dry land.

Seder Olam (11:1), a work from Talmudic times, relates that the new moon of Nissan, the day the Holy Ones gives the calendar to Moshe in preparation for the first celebration of Pesach, is also the spring equinox.

The ancient midrashic collection Peskita Rabbati (15:17), on the other hand, suggests the day of the Exodus was the spring equinox.

In the Machzor Vitry, the spring equinox is the day the first plague, the plague of blood, falls upon Mitzrayim.

In Otzar Midrashim (Hashem Behomah, Yasad Aretz 6), the spring equinox is the day when humans receive protection from demons and evil spirits. On that day, the seraphim "lift up their heads to the heaven, and the fear of them falls upon demons and spirits, and the seraphim shelter humans beneath their wings to hide them from the demons."

The Purim holiday falls near the spring equinox. Its heroine, Esther, reveals herself as a Jew to save her people.

These tales associate the spring equinox with freedom, with divine protection from oppressor or danger, and with life. in spring, the young plants bursting forth from the ground need protection and room to grow, and we ask this blessing for ourselves as well.

Kavanot la-Tekufot: "Arise, my beloved, my fair one, come away, for now the winter is past, the rains are over and gone, the blossoms appear in the land, the time of singing has come, and the song of the dove is in heard in our land." -- Shir haShirim 2:10-12

Tekufat Tammuz

Tekufat Tammuz is the summer solstice when the Sun enters Cancer; this is the summer season, or "et ha-katsir" (harvest-time) when the day is the longest in the year. It is also known as the season of "loss and abundance".

In Jubilees (6:26), the story of Noach's flood, the summer solstice is the day the mouths of the great abyss are closed so that the water ceases pouring onto the earth.

Jubilees (3:32) also names the summer solstice as the day the Divine exiles Adam and Chava from Gan Eden. This is the day the animals lose their power of speech.

In Seder Olam (11;1), we learn that the day the sun stood still so that Yehoshuah's warriors could win the battle of Gibeon was the summer solstice.

In Genesis Rabbah (6:6), we learn that "on the summer solstice no creation has a shadow."

In the Machzor Vitry, the summer solstice is the day Moshe strikes a rock in anger while seeking water for the people. The Eternal tells Moshe he will never enter Eretz Yisrael as a result of his actions.

In Otzar Midrashim (Hashem Behohmah, Yasad Aretz 6), the summer solstice is the day animals receive protection from their predators. On that day, "the Holy One puts strength in the Behemoth and it becomes strong and raises its head and cries out, and its voice extends through all the settled land, and the wild animals hear and are afraid."

In Jewish tradition, the summer solstice carries with it themes of closure, exile, and loss, yet also the benevolence of nature and the divine. We meditate on grief, yet also on the world's abundance. The summer solstice is a day of paradox: maximum light but also a turn toward darkness.

Kavanot la-Tekufot: "A day is coming that burns like a furnace … I will shine upon you who revere the name of the Infinite a sun of righteousness, with healing in Her wings." -- Malachi 3:19-20

Summer Solstice Rituals: http://telshemesh.org/tammuz/a_jewish_summer_solstice_ritual.html https://www.ritualwell.org/ritual/meditation-tekufat-tammuz https://www.ritualwell.org/ritual/earth-prays

Tekufat Tishrei

Tekufat Tishrei, the autumnal equinox, when the sun enters Libra, and autumn, or "et ha-batsir" (vintage-time), begins, and when the day again equals the night. It is also known as the season of "the link between earth and heaven".

Jubilees (6:26), in its story of the Flood, records the autumn equinox as the day the floodwaters begin to descend back into the depths so that the earth can be fruitful once again.

On the autumn equinox, Avraham sits up all night to observe the stars, to forecast the rains of the coming season (Jubilees 12:16).

In the Machzor Vitry, the autumn equinox is the day Avraham nearly sacrifices Yitzchak on Mount Moriah, before the Divine stays his hand. Because of his act, Avraham is blessed that his seed will be as the stars in the sky.

According to the Babylonian Talmud (Rosh Hashanah 10b), Sarah, Rakhel, and Channah all conceived on the 1st of Tishrei, a date close to the autumn equinox.

In Otzar Midrashim (Hashem Behohmah, Yasad Aretz 6), the autumn equinox is the season of the ziz, when birds receive protection from their predators. "On the autumn equinox, the Holy One gives strength to the ziz and it becomes strong, and it lifts is head and flaps its winds and sends forth its voice, so that fear of it falls on the culture and the osprey from one year to the next."

The autumn equinox seems related to the skies, the stars, and the rains. Yet it is also related to fertility and to the renewal of life. In many climates, autumn is a season of harvest and of rain. Perhaps the autumn equinox is the time of reforging the lin between earth and heaven- a link necessary for life to continue.

Kavanot la-Tekufot: "May it be Your will that it be a year of rain and dew, a year of favor, a year of blessing, and a year of abundance … and please do not listen to the prayers of those who pray that there be no rain!" -- Leviticus Rabbah 20:44

Tekufat Tevet

Tekufat Tevet is the winter solstice when the sun enters Capricorn; this is the beginning of winter, or "et ha-ḥoref" (winter-time), when the night is the longest during the year. It is also known as the season for "the search for light".

In Jubilees (7), in the days of Noach, the winter solstice is the day the peaks of the mountains became visible after the floodwaters recede.

In the Babylonian Talmud (Avodah Zarah 8a), Adam and Chava become frightened as the winter solstice approaches, thinking the shortening of the days is a punishment. They fast for eight days. On the winter solstice, when the light grows, they celebrate for eight days.

In the Machzor Vitry, the winter solstice is the day Yiftach, a chieftain of Yisrael, sacrifices his daughter in fulfillment of a foolish battle vow. She has been bewailing her fate on the hills for two months.

Otzah Midrashim (Hashem Behohmah, Yasad Aretz 6), tells that on the winter solstice, Leviathan protects the creatures of the sea from their predators: "On every winter solstice he lifts his head and makes himself great, and blows in the water, and roils the sea, and makes all the fish in the ocean afraid." Leviathan is a creature known for being G!d's playmate (Babylonian Talmud, Avodah Zarah 3b) and a wise teacher of human beings (Otzar Midrashim Alphabet of Ben Sira 17). His eyes, according to the Talmud, flash in the deep (Bava Batra 74b).

The winter solstice seems to have to do with sight or the lack thereof. Mountains become visible to Noach, and the patterns of nature become visible to Adam and Chava. Leviathan is associated with inner sight. Yiftach, on the other hand, is blind to his own wrongdoings. On the winter solstice, the sun's light begins to become stronger, and we too consider how to strengthen our vision.

Kavanot la-Tekufot: "We are grateful before You, Eternal One, for You have brought us from darkness to light." -- Midrash Bereshit 68:11

Winter Solstice Rituals: http://telshemesh.org/tevet/winter_solstice_take_2.html http://telshemesh.org/tevet/chanukahsolstice_thoughts_for_2008.html http://telshemesh.org/tevet/chanukat_hatekufahritual_for_chanukah_and_the_winter_solstice_jill_hammer.html https://www.ritualwell.org/blog/burning-away-darkness-winter-solstice-ritual

If you like my writing, feel free to leave me a tip here: https://ko-fi.com/ezrasaville

Sources: The Jewish Book of Days by Rabbi Jill Hammer Jewish Encyclopedia, 1906. http://www.peelapom.com/ http://www.devotaj.com/ http://telshemesh.org/

128 notes · View notes

spiritualdirections · 4 years ago

Link

The doctrine that Mary was assumed into heaven and spared the corruption into dust is of apostolic origin, even though it’s not described in the New Testament. However, there are non-canonical writings that speak of this, like the one linked to here. I like to think of apocrypha as fan fiction, which, like contemporary fan fiction, takes the basic vibe and details of the underlying material and adds imaginary detail on top. (Rabbinical midrash is similarly apocryphal and theological.) For the historian, this sort of thing is useful, because it tells us something about the vibe how the ancient Church regarded Mary, even if the details are not to be considered as either inspired or as necessarily historically accurate. The vibe here is that Mary was not subject to death, because she was not subject to the consequence of Original Sin.

2. In the second year, therefore, after Christ had vanquished death, and ascended up into heaven, on a certain day, Mary, burning with a longing for Christ, began to weep alone, within the shelter of her abode. And, behold, an angel, shining in a dress of great light, stood before her and gave utterance to the words of salutation saying: Hail! You blessed by the Lord, receive the salutation of Him who commanded safety to Jacob by His prophets. Behold, said He, a palm branch — I have brought it to you from the paradise of the Lord — which you will cause to be carried before your bier, when on the third day you shall be taken up from the body. For, lo, your Son awaits you with thrones and angels, and all the powers of heaven. Then Mary said to the angel: I beg that all the apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ be assembled to me. To whom the angel said: Behold, today, by the power of my Lord Jesus Christ, all the apostles will come to you. And Mary says to him: I ask that you send upon me your blessing, that no power of the lower world may withstand me in that hour in which my soul shall go out of my body, and that I may not see the prince of darkness. And the angel said: No power indeed of the lower world will hurt you; and your Lord God, whose servant and messenger I am, has given you eternal blessing; but do not think that the privilege of not seeing the prince of darkness is to be given you by me, but by Him whom you have carried in your womb; for to Him belongs power over all for ever and ever. Thus saying, the angel departed with great splendour. And that palm shone with exceeding great light. Then Mary, undressing herself, put on better garments. And, taking the palm which she had received from the hands of the angel, she went out to the mount of Olivet, and began to pray, and say: I had not been worthy, O Lord, to bear You, unless You had had compassion on me; but nevertheless I have kept the treasure which You entrusted to me. Therefore I ask of You, O King of glory, that the power of Gehenna hurt me not. For if the heavens and the angels daily tremble before You, how much more man who is made from the ground, who possesses no good thing, except as much as he has received from Your benignant bounty! You are, O Lord, God always blessed forever. And thus saying, she went back to her dwelling.

3. And, behold, suddenly, while St. John was preaching in Ephesus, on the Lord's day, at the third hour of the day, there was a great earthquake, and a cloud raised him and took him up from the eyes of all, and brought him before the door of the house where Mary was. And knocking at the door, he immediately went in. And when Mary saw him, she exulted in joy, and said: I beg of you, my son John, be mindful of the words of my Lord Jesus Christ, in which He entrusted me to you. For, behold, on the third day, when I am to depart from the body, I have heard the plans of the Jews, saying, Let us wait for the day when she who bore that seducer shall die, and let us burn her body with fire. She therefore called St. John, and led him into the secret chamber of the house, and showed him the robe of her burial, and that palm of light which she had received from the angel, instructing him that he should cause it to be carried before her couch when she was going to her tomb.

4. And St. John said to her: How shall I alone perform your funeral rites, unless my brethren and fellow apostles of my Lord Jesus Christ come to pay honour to your body? And, behold, on a sudden, by the command of God, all the apostles were snatched up, raised on a cloud, from the places in which they were preaching the word of God, and set down before the door of the house in which Mary dwelt. And, saluting each other, they wondered, saying: What is the cause for which the Lord has assembled us here?

5. Then all the apostles, rejoicing with one mind, finished their prayer. And when they had said the Amen, behold, on a sudden, there came the blessed John, and told them all these things. The apostles then, having entered the house, found Mary, and saluted her, saying: Blessed are you by the Lord, who has made heaven and earth. And she said to them: Peace be with you, most beloved brethren! How have you come hither? And they recounted to her how they had come, each one raised on a cloud by the Spirit of God, and set down in the same place. And she said to them: God has not deprived me of the sight of you. Behold, I shall go the way of all the earth, and I doubt not that the Lord has now conducted you hither to bring me consolation for the anguish which is just coming upon me. Now therefore I implore you, that without intermission you all with one mind watch, even till that hour in which the Lord will come, and I shall depart from the body.

6. And when they had sat down in a circle consoling her, when they had spent three days in the praises of God, behold, on the third day, about the third hour of the day, a deep sleep seized upon all who were in that house, and no one was at all able to keep awake but the apostles alone, and only the three virgins who were there. And, behold, suddenly the Lord Jesus Christ came with a great multitude of angels; and a great brightness came down upon that place, and the angels were singing a hymn, and praising God together. Then the Saviour spoke, saying: Come, most precious pearl, within the receptacle of life eternal.

7. Then Mary prostrated herself on the pavement, adoring God, and said: Blessed be the name of Your glory, O Lord my God, who hast deigned to choose me Your handmaid, and to entrust to me Your hidden mystery. Be mindful of me, therefore, O King of glory, for You know that I have loved You with all my heart, and kept the treasure committed to me. Therefore receive me, Your servant, and free me from the power of darkness, that no onset of Satan may oppose me, and that I may not see filthy spirits standing in my way. And the Saviour answered her: When I, sent by my Father for the salvation of the world, was hanging on the cross, the prince of darkness came to me; but when he was able to find in me no trace of his work, John 14:30 he went off vanquished and trodden under foot. But when you shall see him, you shall see him indeed by the law of the human race, in accordance with which you have come to the end of your life; but he cannot hurt you, because I am with you to help you. Go in security, because the heavenly host is waiting for you to lead you in to the joys of paradise. And when the Lord had thus spoken, Mary, rising from the pavement, reclined upon her couch, and giving thanks to God, gave up the ghost. And the apostles saw that her soul was of such whiteness, that no tongue of mortals can worthily utter it; for it surpassed all the whiteness of snow, and of every metal, and of gleaming silver, by the great brightness of its light.

#Mariology #mary #Assumption of Mary #apocrypha #dormition

7 notes · View notes