resist the literal
resist the interpretations!
despite the Gra, the Gaon
despite Rabbeinu, Reb Nachman
after all they were plugged into another dimension of
reality.
Do not fall into the trap of interpretation
our civilization's thirst from Hellenic times until now,
or else you will not escape the trivialization of our sacred
trust our heritage, our Torah.
Those tall tales of Rabbi Abba bar bar Channa
read in Bava Basra plainly
mine the images of snakes and giant fish and ocean
fantasms,
let them percolate up from within,
what comes up for you?
a nightmare?
a dream perhaps?
so stay with it!
better than the Artscroll!
"Once, while on a ship, we came to a gigantic fish at rest,
which we supposed to be an island, since there was sand
on its back, in which grass was growing. We therefore
landed, made a fire, and cooked our meal. But when the
fish felt the heat he rolled over, and we would have
drowned had not the ship been near". (Bava Basra 73b)
What can you do with that?
Let the books like "Juggler and the King" remain on the
shelf!
they allegorize to death!
they interpret what cannot be deciphered,
Does he think understands the Gaon?
And what of Rabbeinu?
After all it is part of Likutei Mehoran...
however as is characteristic the secret remains safe,
even after his eloquent exposition.
Resist the nimshal, the exposition, the unfolding of the
riddle and the exempla
for they too are derivative
and lose the mighty punch
the mashal delivers
below the belt,
unnerving our attitudes as it does
toward the Divine!
Stay with the inner workings of the fictional narrative
the mashal, the story
for in there lies the secret
of your narrative
your desire
your unfolding!
We are struck blind by this illness
we call interpretation
as if we could really decipher this world
make sense of the irrational,
understand these texts of terror.
In truth we must take courage to inhabit our
dark narratives;
and these sacred texts allow us this entrance
if only we might open ourselves to them
their mythic darkness.
Reb Zadok makes this outrageous claim (in Machshavot
Charutz):
Quoting his master the Holy Izhbitser Rebbe he states,
"And so have I received, that the world in its entirety is a
book that God, blessed be He, made and the Torah is a
commentary on that book" (44a)
For Reb Zadok the world is a cosmic text, which means
you and I and every human being is also a text, discreet
and unique.
The Torah, then becomes a commentary on the world
(reminding us of the midrash that the Torah was a
blueprint for the creation of the world)
meaning the world is inaccessible and does not make
sense unless it is deciphered by the Torah.
You and I remain a closed text a hieroglyph that needs a
commentary to decipher.
The Torah, he claims, is that very commentary.
In reading the Rebbe
do you think for a minute that the complexity of the human
soul can be interpreted away logically?
like the fantastic voyages in Bava Basra?
or the mashal of the king with rage attacks under the
chupah? (Midrash Eicha Rabba)
Can logic really do justice to these narratives
if the Torah is a "mashal Hakadmoni"
a primordial parable, a mythic telling of the structure of our
souls the hierarchical architecture of what makes us tick?
So please resist the easy narratives
the rational explanations of mythic tales and fantastic
creatures, rather stay with the images
and let them do their work for you.
Let the terror reveal to you what it is like
to be nailed to your reality
without escape from your personality
your character defects
time and again.
Let the text be a commentary on the world and on you- the
book-God created along with the world.
Let the logos, the memra, instruct you only so far as the
entrance to the cellar the darkness, for you must go there
alone and experience the dark side of the divine to
emerge whole.
