Rereading Torah Towards Liberation

Between the final windings of Devarim (Deuteronomy) and the first stumbling words of Breishit (Genesis), “in the beginning,” is Kohelet. The Book of Kohelet, or Ecclesiastes, is read during the festival of Sukkot, as one Torah cycle is ending and another ready to begin. This year, as we re-launched the Torah cycle, the Kohelet verses that caught my attention were 8:1-3:

מִי כְּהֶחָכָם וּמִי יוֹדֵעַ פֵּשֶׁר דָּבָר חׇכְמַת אָדָם תָּאִיר פָּנָיו וְעֹז פָּנָיו יְשֻׁנֶּא׃

8:1) Who is like the wise person and who knows how to interpret things? A man’s wisdom [chochmat adam] lights up his face [ta’ir panav], and the boldness of his face is changed [v’oz panav y’shuneh.]

אֲנִי פִּי־מֶלֶךְ שְׁמֹר וְעַל דִּבְרַת שְׁבוּעַת אֱלֹהִים׃

2) My [advice to you is]: keep the King’s command, and do so because of the oath to God.

אַל־תִּבָּהֵל מִפָּנָיו תֵּלֵךְ אַל־תַּעֲמֹד בְּדָבָר רָע כִּי כׇּל־אֲשֶׁר יַחְפֹּץ יַעֲשֶׂה׃

3) Do not hasten to leave His Presence do not persist in doing evil; for whatever pleases Him, He does

— bracketed italics added to Metsudah Five Megillot translation via Sefaria

Chochmat Adam — Whose Wisdom?

What is “chochmat adam” — wisdom of an Earthling, a human’s wisdom? What kind of wisdom changes and lights up a person’s face? What kind of change happens for the individual experiencing that wisdom and others who encounter the en-light-ened individual?

Ancient tales speak of Adam Rishon, who originally reached from earth to heaven. The image of Adam Rishon, enormous and then diminished, prompts us to consider how humans, and their perspectives, fill and share space.

We can keep these questions in mind as the new Torah cycle begins, aiming for a new path through the text that starts with wisdom of “the human” or “the earthling,” rather than gendered or otherwise particularistic paths.

We could, on the other hand, deliberately pursue a more specifically gender-sensitive path, examining gender as one aspect of power — clearly an important theme for both Kohelet and the Book of Breishit and beyond in the Torah. We might start by noting that Kohelet only sees non-slave males as fully human and specifically disparages and objectifies women. We can go on from there to examine ways in which gender is present in Breishit, as it’s come down to us, and has influenced Jewish teachings over the centuries. This path leads through many aspects of power and privilege, in the “original” text, so to speak, and in the thousands of years of discussion and application of the text.

And, of course, the two paths intersect all the time.

Still, my hope for my studies this year — on the eve of whatever it is that is coming down the pike for the US, Gaza and the West Bank, Israel, Lebanon, and the rest of the world — is the possibility of exploring something new. Maybe learning together, we can find wisdom of earthlings, collectively and confusedly reaching together for power that builds without immediately corrupting…

Change of Intention

Rashi links Kohelet 8:1 with Exodus 34:29-30, in which Moses’ face radiates light after coming down from Mount Sinai. Kohelet Rabbah 8:1 includes several stories illustrating how learning a new bit of Torah can light up a person’s face.

Another story relates that it was obvious Adam had eaten from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil when his face lit up…. so light, knowledge, and sin are linked. (In most classical commentary, Eve never seems to end up with any light or knowledge, just sin.)

Maimonides’ Guide for the Perplexed explores the idea that Adam “received a new faculty whereby he found things wrong which previously he had not regarded as wrong” (Friedlander translation, p.23; read Part 1, Chapter 2 at Sefaria). The Earthling originally possessed perfect intellect: Adam could recognize “necessary truths,” such as the distinction between “the heavens are spherical” (true) and “the earth is flat” (false). But “good [tov]” and “evil [ra’]” or “morally right” and “morally wrong” don’t arise until later.

To explain the change, Maimonides cites Job 14:20 —

׃…מְשַׁנֶּה פָנָיו וַתְּשַׁלְּחֵהוּ׃

…You alter his face [panav] and send him forth.

— arguing that this verse describes a change in Adam’s intention.

On account of the change of his original aim he was sent away. For panim, the Hebrew equivalent of face, is derived from the verb panah, “he turned,” and signifies also “aim,” because man generally turns his face toward the thing he desires….he altered his intention and directed his thoughts to the acquisition of what he was forbidden.

— Guide for the Perplexed, Part 1, Chapter 2

The chapter declares understanding of “necessary truths” as the highest form of intellect. This was sullied by moral considerations, linked as they are to human desire. Earthlings started to focus on “imagination and gratification of bodily desires,” in essence, turning their face away from pure intellect. And that’s how Earthlings ended up outside Eden, struggling for food and shelter.

Guide for the Perplexed regularly notes that “ideas founded on mere imagination” lead to trouble. But a careful look at his examples of “mere imagination” suggest an aim toward bigger thinking.

Truly Impossible?

When Guide for the Perplexed rails against “ideas founded on mere imagination,” the examples often reference wild speculation which Maimonides believes lead in unhelpful directions. (See, e.g., p.80; Part 1, Chapter 32:3. ) Far from insisting on literal or narrow thinking, though, he seems to be hinting at the importance of expansive ideas. It is problematic, he says, “to reject things as impossible which have never been proved to be impossible.” Trying to prove or disprove things beyond our ken, and submitting to fears about things we cannot grasp, is where we can easily go wrong.

On the other hand, as humans with this “new faculty” of finding things wrong which had not previously been regarded as wrong, we can use our imaginations in more helpful directions. Maybe we can read Maimonides as warning us away from terror-spirals and nudging us toward considering what might truly be possible, if we together turn our faces toward better intentions.

NOTES:

For more on where our imaginations should and should not be encouraged to go, see Torah Directions.

In years past, this exploration also looked at Kohelet and what it might suggest about Torah story and language: “What God Has Twisted” — “Every Purpose, Everywhere…” — “Purposes and Purpose“

See also Mechon-Mamre and Bible Hub