I have a new essay, “Passover and the Festival of Matzot: Synthesizing Two Holidays,” over at thetorah.com. Check it out here!
Judaism
The Self and Science
Several years ago I wrote an article, “‘And on the Earth You Shall Sleep’”: Talmud Torah and Rabbinic Asceticism” (Journal of Religion 83 [2003]: 204-225). In that article, I compared rabbinic “asceticism” (which I broadly define as a set of self-disciplinary practices and training of the self) to similar techniques employed by contemporary Greco-Roman philosophers (as well as early Christians). For both rabbis and philosophers, he entire point of these “ascetic” practices was to train or discipline the self. My own essay builds upon the studies of Pierre Hadot, who argued that the function of the Stoic exercises performed by Marcus Aurelius and others was precisely to cultivate the virtue of self-discipline, which in turn is a prerequisite for knowledge. The application of this insight to the rabbis was further extended by both Jonathan Schofer and Eliezer Diamond. Self-discipline, for these ancients, was not a single act but a state of being.
Earlier this week I was pleasantly surprised to hear a story on the radio about the latest scientific research on willpower. We have, it turns out, a single source of willpower. Every time we resist a temptation – that is, exercise our willpower – we deplete our store. And yet, like exercising a muscle, as we fatigue it we also strengthen it. By engaging in acts of self-discipline we strengthen our willpower. The piece went on to note that the practice of religion helps to “build up that self-control.”
Marcus Aurelius and the early rabbis may not have had access to controlled studies, but they were clearly onto something!
Between Us and Them
Praised be You, YHVH, our god, king of the universe, who has not made me a gentile;
Praised be You, YHVH, our god, king of the universe, who has not made me a slave;
Praised be You, YHVH, our god, king of the universe, who has not made me a woman
These three lines are recited daily as part of the series of blessings found at the beginning of the traditional Jewish morning liturgy. They have also been extensively discussed. Scholars have long noted the similarity of this triad to a similar daily thanksgiving attributed to the Greek philosopher Thales. Over the past century liberal Jews have wrestled with, and in most cases abandoned, these three blessings; they are too at odds with modern sensibilities.
These three blessings are but a single, relatively insignificant reflection of the binary thinking of ancient rabbis, which in turn reflect much much wider cultural assumptions. You are a “this” or a “that.” A man or a woman. One of us or one of them. For the sectarians who wrote the Dead Sea scrolls, you (if a man) were a “son of light” or a “son of darkness.” No “sons of beige” lived at Qumran.
In a funny way, we have not progressed all that far from this way of binary thinking. In most of our thinking and our forms, people are male or female; white or “ethnic”; Democrat or Republican. Sometimes we allow for other boxes as well, but these are often found on the spectrum defined by two poles that we define as opposites.
There is an article in a recent New Yorker describing a thought experiment offered by the philosopher Derek Parfit. Parfit asks us to imagine if we were replaced, cell by cell, with those of Greta Garbo. At the beginning of the process, we are clearly us, and at the end we are clearly Greta Garbo. But what about the middle? Who are we?
Parfit’s thought experiment is itself based on a spectrum anchored by a binary pair. But it reopens an old philosophical problem of the “self,” creating an opportunity for imagining selves – us and others – much more fluidly.
Here is another thought experiment: what if we refused to classify others or even ourselves in terms of checkable identities? How would our self-understanding change? On the one hand, it is easy to subscribe to the idea that we should recognize people in all of their unique, idiosyncratic glory. On the other, go ahead and try it. It is not at all easy to conceive of ourselves, to articulate our identities, without using blunt, pre-supplied categories.
Language thus becomes an agent of constraint, creating and limiting the very terms of our self, and different languages offer different limitations and opportunities for self-understanding. Am I the same in all languages? If not, who am I?
From Israelite to Jew: 9: Hellenism Arrives
A discussion of Alexander’s conquest of west Asia and its aftermath (323 – 200 BCE). What is “Hellenism,” and how did the Jews react to it? Particular attention is paid to the Septuagint, Ecclesiastes, and Ecclesiasticus.
The podcast can be heard here; more downloading options are here. You can also use the player below:
The podcast is also accessible on iTunes.
From Israelite to Jew: 6: The Torah
In this episode I discuss the historical formation of the Torah, or Pentateuch, and provide an introduction to the documentary hypothesis. I am now receiving technical support from Brown University, and the quality of the audio is improved.
The episode can be heard here. More download options can be found here.
The podcast can also be heard on iTunes.