Rabbi Mishael Zion | Text and the City | Bronfman
Fellowships | Mattot 2016
They once asked Hillel where he was going. He answered: "I
am going to do a mitsva."
"Which mitsva?" "I am going to the bathroom"
"That is a mitsva??" "Yes, so the body won't disfunction"
"Where are you going Hillel?" "I am going to do a
mitsva"
"Which mitsva Hillel?" "I am going to the bath
house". "That is a mitsva??"
"Yes! If those who are in charge of the images [statues] of Caesar in
theaters and circuses, scour them and wash them and are rewarded and honored
for it -- how much more should we take care of our bodies, for we have been
created in the image of God, as it is written, 'in the image of God was
human created" (Genesis 1).
Shammai would not say thus, but rather would say: "Let us do what must be
done with this body".
Avot deRabbi
Nathan b 38a,
Commentary
on “Let all your deeds be for the sake of heaven”, Pirke Avot Chapter 2:19
The human body has become the site of this year’s most
intense debates and dramas. It seems like one perspective asks of us to look
beyond the human body, as a way of recognizing the inherent equality of all
human beings, regardless of gender, ethnicity, color, nationality and creed.
The growing recognition of the right to self-definition of human beings over
their body (including where Hillel will go to perform the mitzvah of going to
the bathroom) also seems to want to transcend the human body as a means to freedom
– even as it brings the physical body back to the center of attention. And then
on the darker side of things, the resurgence of public violence aimed
specifically against the human body, in far off lands and close to home, brings
our very bodies – not just our beliefs and opinions – back into clear relief.
These killings claim symbolic meaning in the public desecration of the human
body, renouncing the sanctity of human life not only of those being killed, but
by proxy of all humans watching. Some might frame this as a battle between a
religious and a secular world view, yet in the Jewish House of Study, the
conversation about human life is a conversation about God, for human beings –
so we teach our children – were created in the image of God. As I try to
navigate my own position in these debates, I find myself returning again and again
to this idea of Tzelem Elohim. In it I find that the call to human
freedom, equality and uniqueness is found not in overcoming the human body, but
in placing the human body as the very site of infinite value and deep equality.
Yet, if we’re going to tout that old adage of “Tzelem Elohim”
- being created in the image of God - around, I felt I owe myself to dig deeper
into what that idea means: how it was understood, constructed, reinterpreted
and used by Jews over the centuries.
Ironically, the place where a culture’s true values
regarding the sanctity of human life play out is in the way they choose to end
such lives through judicial means, i.e. execution (see Foucault’s “Discipline
and Punish” for a great exploration of these themes as the essence of modernity).
Thus this summer I’ve been studying with the 2016 Bronfmanim the Sixth Chapter
of Tractate Sanhedrin, which discusses how a society that believes that humans
are created in the image of God would go about the problematic act of execution.
The texts are gruesome and dark at times (and feel oddly like binge viewing “Game
of Thrones”), but the Talmudic discussions of execution reveal how the Rabbis
reshaped the Biblical execution rituals to reflect the two organizing principles
that they set for the Torah: “Love your neighbor as yourself” (which
they interpreted to mean: therefor even choose for them a good death”) and “In
the image of God they were created”. (Want to study this with us? Take a
look at these debates in this chapter of Mishna,
in Beth
Berkowitz’s fantastic book about execution in Jewish, Christian and Roman
texts; or email me to get the source packet from my shiur this summer, which I’d
be delighted to share).
But of all the fascinating details of execution – stoning,
burning, hanging, oh my - there is one Rabbinic text that stands out as the
(bleeding) heart of the idea of the image of God. It unfolds in a speech which
is given to witnesses who seek to give incriminating testimony in a capital
case. If we are to end a human life because of the words you are about to say,
says the Mishna, we want to make sure you understand the gravity of human life.
If there is one Rabbinic text which is most important to study, memorize and
recite in our times, I believe it is this one:
How
do we press the witnesses in a capital case? We bring them in [to the court's
chambers] and press them: "Perhaps what you say [isn't eyewitness
testimony] but your own assessment, or from rumors […] But take heed, for capital
cases are not like monetary ones. In monetary cases, [a false witness] can
return the money and be forgiven. But in capital cases, the blood of the victim
[a wrongfully executed person] and all their future offspring hang upon you
until the end of time.
For
thus we find in regard to Cain, who killed his brother, the verse says: "The
bloods of your brother scream out!" (Genesis 4:10) – the verse does
not say blood of your brother, but bloods of your brother,
because it was his blood and also the blood of his future offspring [screaming
out]!
It
was for this reason that human was first created as one person, to teach
you that anyone who destroys a life is considered by Scripture to have
destroyed an entire world; and anyone who saves a life is as if he saved
an entire world."
And
also, to promote peace among the creations, that no person can say to
their friend, "My ancestors are greater than yours." And also, so
that heretics will not say, "there are many rulers up in Heaven."
And
also, to express the grandeur of The Holy Blessed One : For a human strikes
many coins from the same die, and all the coins are alike. But the King, the King of Kings, The Holy
Blessed One strikes every human from the die of the First Human, and yet no human
is quite like the other.
Therefore,
every person must say, “For my sake the world was created.”
(Mishna
Sanhedrin Chapter 5:4, see Hebrew text below)
Here, in the middle of a procedure to kill a person, is
where Jews have a conversation about the value of human life. The Mishna uses
the story of the creation of Humanity to draw moral conclusions: narrative turns
into nomos; myth becomes practice. Three basic teachings are expounded from the
fact that in the Jewish creation story, God creates just one human being: that human
life is of infinite value (every person is worth an entire world); that all
lives are equal (one can’t say “my ancestor is greater than yours”); and that
each human life is unique (no coin of god=human being is quite like the other).
This could easily become a teaching of radical individualism – “for me the
world was created!” – but instead becomes a call of infinite responsibility to
human life wherever it is to be found. Ethics, existentialism and mysticism are
tied together here. Witnessing human diversity and individual uniqueness
becomes a testament to God’s amazing creation – and it all emanates from a
great respect for the human body itself, which is infinitely unique, valuable
AND equal, because it is an icon of God. Thus encountering human matchlessness
becomes a spiritual experience. Building a society that truly believes that
human beings are created in the image of God means creating societies where
every person is recognized for their own (divine!) uniqueness, where all human
beings are equal, and where every human life is of infinite value. The conversation
of criminal justice must begin from this point, as must the conversation of why
and how Jewish communities so often fail to reflect these values.
The ramifications of this approach lie from the dark hart of
capital punishment to the Rabbinic approach to toilets, as in the opening quote
from Hillel above: Just as the Romans believed that the icons of their Gods,
Kings and emperors were imbued with an element of the sovereign itself, so our
very bodies are imbued with an element of Divinity herself, and must be treated
with the proper respect.
Shammai, mind you, is having none of this anthropomorphic
nonsense. The above Mishna might be the most important text to some Jews, but
to others is nothing of the sort. Yet perhaps this too explains why we value
debate and dispute, machloket, in Judaism: the diversity of opinions in itself
reflects the divine uniqueness of human existence… If only God created more
people that agree with me, and not so much uniqueness, the world would be a
simpler place…
מסכת אבות דרבי נתן נוסחא ב פרק ל
וכל מעשיך יהיו לשם שמים כהלל. כשהיה הלל יוצא למקום היו אומרים
לו להיכן אתה הולך. לעשות מצוה אני הולך. מה מצוה הלל. לבית הכסא אני הולך. וכי מצוה
היא זו. אמר להן הן. בשביל שלא יתקלקל הגוף. איכן אתה הולך הלל. לעשות מצוה אני הולך
מה מצוה הלל. לבית המרחץ אני הולך. וכי מצוה היא זו. אמר להן הן. בשביל לנקות את הגוף.
תדע לך שהוא כן מה אם אוקיינות העומדות בפלטיות של מלכים הממונה עליהם להיות שפן וממרקן
המלכות מעלה לו סלירא בכל שנה ושנה ולא עוד אלא שהוא מתגדל עם גדולי המלכות. אנו שנבראנו
בצלם ודמות שנאמר כי בצלם אלהים עשה את האדם (בראשית ט' ו') על אחת כמה וכמה. שמאי
לא היה אומר כך אלא יעשה חובותינו עם הגוף הזה:
משנה מסכת סנהדרין פרק ד
כֵּיצַד
מְאַיְּמִין (אֶת הָעֵדִים) עַל עֵדֵי נְפָשׁוֹת?
הָיוּ
מַכְנִיסִין אוֹתָן וּמְאַיְּמִין עֲלֵיהֶן.
שֶׁמָּא
תֹאמְרוּ מֵאֹמֶד, וּמִשְּׁמוּעָה,
עֵד
מִפִּי עֵד וּמִפִּי אָדָם נֶאֱמָן שָׁמַעְנוּ,
אוֹ
שֶׁמָּא אִי אַתֶּם יוֹדְעִין שֶׁסּוֹפֵנוּ לִבְדּוֹק אֶתְכֶם בִּדְרִישָׁה וּבַחֲקִירָה.
הֶווּ
יוֹדְעִין שֶׁלֹּא כְדִינֵי מָמוֹנוֹת דִּינֵי נְפָשׁוֹת. דִּינֵי מָמוֹנוֹת, אָדָם
נוֹתֵן מָמוֹן וּמִתְכַּפֵּר לוֹ.
דִּינֵי
נְפָשׁוֹת, דָּמוֹ וְדַם זַרְעִיּוֹתָיו תְּלוּיִין בּוֹ עַד סוֹף הָעוֹלָם, שֶׁכֵּן
מָצִינוּ בְקַיִן שֶׁהָרַג אֶת אָחִיו, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (בראשית ד) דְּמֵי אָחִיךָ צֹעֲקִים,
אֵינוֹ אוֹמֵר דַּם אָחִיךָ אֶלָּא דְּמֵי אָחִיךָ, דָּמוֹ וְדַם זַרְעִיּוֹתָיו.
דָּבָר
אַחֵר, דְּמֵי אָחִיךָ, שֶׁהָיָה דָמוֹ מֻשְׁלָךְ עַל הָעֵצִים וְעַל הָאֲבָנִים.
לְפִיכָךְ
נִבְרָא אָדָם יְחִידִי,
לְלַמֶּדְךָ,
שֶׁכָּל הַמְאַבֵּד נֶפֶשׁ אַחַת [מִיִּשְׂרָאֵל],
מַעֲלֶה
עָלָיו הַכָּתוּב כְּאִלּוּ אִבֵּד עוֹלָם מָלֵא.
וְכָל
הַמְקַיֵּם נֶפֶשׁ אַחַת מִיִּשְׂרָאֵל,
מַעֲלֶה
עָלָיו הַכָּתוּב כְּאִלּוּ קִיֵּם עוֹלָם מָלֵא.
וּמִפְּנֵי
שְׁלוֹם הַבְּרִיּוֹת,
שֶׁלֹּא
יֹאמַר אָדָם לַחֲבֵרוֹ אַבָּא גָדוֹל מֵאָבִיךָ.
וְשֶׁלֹּא
יְהוּ מִינִין אוֹמְרִים, הַרְבֵּה רְשׁוּיוֹת בַּשָּׁמָיִם.
וּלְהַגִּיד
גְּדֻלָּתוֹ שֶׁל הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא,
שֶׁאָדָם
טוֹבֵעַ כַּמָּה מַטְבְּעוֹת בְּחוֹתָם אֶחָד
וְכֻלָּן
דּוֹמִין זֶה לָזֶה,
וּמֶלֶךְ
מַלְכֵי הַמְּלָכִים הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא
טָבַע
כָּל אָדָם בְּחוֹתָמוֹ שֶׁל אָדָם הָרִאשׁוֹן
וְאֵין
אֶחָד מֵהֶן דּוֹמֶה לַחֲבֵרוֹ.
לְפִיכָךְ
כָּל אֶחָד וְאֶחָד חַיָּב לוֹמַר,
בִּשְׁבִילִי
נִבְרָא הָעוֹלָם.
וְשֶׁמָּא
תֹאמְרוּ מַה לָּנוּ וְלַצָּרָה הַזֹּאת,
וַהֲלֹא
כְבָר נֶאֱמַר (ויקרא ה) וְהוּא עֵד אוֹ רָאָה אוֹ יָדָע אִם לוֹא יַגִּיד וְגוֹמֵר.
וְשֶׁמָּא
תֹאמְרוּ מַה לָּנוּ לָחוּב בְּדָמוֹ שֶׁל זֶה,
וַהֲלֹא
כְבָר נֶאֱמַר (משלי יא) וּבַאֲבֹד רְשָׁעִים רִנָּה:
