Cultural Mathematics and the Truth of Humanity
Earlier in the week, the day before in fact,
in France, a tragedy was unfolding. In Toulouse, a place that I visited once or
twice, a Muslim on a motor-scooter opened fire on a Jewish school, killing
Rabbi Jonathan Sandler, his three year old and six year old sons Gabriel and
Arieh, and eight year old Miriam Monsonego, the daughter of the school
headmaster Rabbi Yaacov Monsonego. As shocking as that act of pure evil was, later,
when the EU's foreign policy chief attempted to condemn the massacre, Catherine
Ashton took the opportunity to make note of children dying in Gaza at the hands
of Israelis. What is the connection, you ask? I guess Israelis = Jews, meaning
that as tragic as the 'incident' was, Jonathan, Gabriel, Arieh, and Miriam had
it coming for the absolute gall of being Jewish. As one quote I read said,
"Such disgraceful equation reflects an incredibly twisted value system,
coupled with total blindness in the face of global reality." It seems that
the EU's foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, is championing a kind of
culture too, but one of hate and ignorance, maybe not in that 'exact' order,
but definitely ignorant and… yeah, you get it…
Here in Israel, right before the betrothal
under the Chupa (wedding canopy), a ceremony took place called a Bedekken or
Veiling, in which the Chatan (Groom) lowers a veil over the face of the Kallah
(Bride). This is a cultural custom that is attributed to the Biblical account of
Rebecca and Isaac's first meeting, when Rebecca, in an innocent gesture of
modesty, concealed her face under a veil. The Bedekken is also a cultural
incarnation of the story of Rachel and Jacob, when Rachel's father Laban (Mr.
White) sneakily substituted his eldest daughter Leah for Rachel at the Chuppa. So
today, the Chatan lowers the veil over the Kallah to be absolutely sure that
the woman he is marrying is who he 'thinks' she is. At the Bedekken, the entire
place was full to the brim with the vastness of hope and of innocence. The
Chatan came in and there wasn't any doubt, only purity and strength of vision.
The Challah's prayers were so deep and full of intensity — she carried her
grace down to the root of the world. They were happy. They were glowing. They were royalty.
Meanwhile, the European Union’s embarrassing,
so-called, clarification of Catherine Ashton's hateful and ignorant remarks
didn't even try to deny their cultural and political agenda. The EU claimed
that Ashton’s remarks did not 'mean' to compare the massacre in Toulouse to
Gaza. Ultimately their 'clarification' only served to clarify the validity of
the remark… It made no difference in what was originally said, whatsoever. In
my mind, the state of cultural affairs in Europe is pretty well summed up in
this quote: "it further demonstrated Europe’s spinelessness and the
tendency to shift positions and appease different groups, without adhering to a
credible, enduring moral compass.” Modern Europe appears to have become kind of
a multi-flavored fancy-shmancy popsicle that has unknowingly melted onto the
crumbling sidewalk, waiting patiently for innocence (as opposed to ignorance)
to wander by, slip, fall, and become the scapegoat of ego and non-reason in the
world. What am I talking about? Anti-Semitism, plain and simple…
You know… the word 'Semitism' is derived from
the Semitic tribes that were historically from the Middle East in the cradle of
civilization, where (you guessed it), culture was born. Everything we know
today, as far as national identities, social pastimes, language, and cultural
mannerisms come from this very same cradle and it (as in the world that we
know) all began about the same time that the words of God were written down in
the Bible. Yeah, that was a segue… In this week's parsha, Vayikra (Leviticus 1-5)
meaning, "And He Called," it begins with a small letter Aleph (א). We don't really understand from the text who
is calling to Moses, but because the Aleph is small, it is clearly singled out
as something special and deliberate. This is what I learned about it: Aleph is
equal to 1, just like the letter Bet (ב)
is equal to 2. The first letter of the Torah
is a Bet ('B'ereshit), signifying 'choice' between 1 or 2 and specifically
signifying the nature of Man as we relate to God and our world. The first
letter in the Aleph-Bet, the Aleph, signifies the Creator or something beyond
Man, something that enlightens Mankind and can burn us as well, like Aish (איש) Fire. The word 'Aleph' is spelled the same
way as Aluf, which means 'Chief.' The letter Aleph (א) is comprised of one long line and two short lines, just
like a Vav (ו)
and two Yuds (י), one above the other and on either side. If
you add Vav (6) + Yud (10) + Yud (10) together, you get 26.God's four letter
personal name (that we forgot how to pronounce, so we don't try), the
Tetragrammaton, is equal to 26. The numeric equivalent of the word for 'Love'
(Ahava) is 13. So, what do we get? We get the marriage between Mankind and his
bride, the Torah, which equals 1 'Love'. When Mankind loves his bride, the Torah,
God loves Mankind, which equals 1 more 'Love'. The numerical equivalent of the
word for 1 (Achad) is also equal to 13. So, no matter how you look at it, Love
+ One = 26 (The One), Love + Love = 26 (The One), One Love is One, Loved Ones
is The One and ultimately, that is how we know that we are 'all' One… oy.
So, how does this work in 'real' life? Well,
it goes kind of like this: Driving onto the grounds at the wedding hall,
everything was brilliantly lit to define and emphasize the entrance. The under
belly of the trees were illuminated as they shot straight up from the ground
and into the twinkling darkness above, drawing energy from the constant flow of
guests coalescing in the opening of the hallowed grotto. The entrance glowed in
the dark, beckoning to us, calling people from all over the world into its
bosom. There were white people from the Americas and Europe, black people from
Africa and Arabia, brown people from Persia (Iran), Babylon (Iraq), and
Jerusalem (Israel), North Africans, Irish, French, Spanish, Latin American,
Russian, Canadian, and more. It was cacophonous and full, but we could breathe
in deeply of the world under the surface of what we see, day-to-day. We were
all together at this amazing joining of two very special souls, two Jews under
the canopy of Heaven, joined with the Clouds of Glory fomenting above, in their
love and in the love of God. We were 'all' sharing the miracle of our strange
and beautiful world, a world that tries to share itself with us at every
opportunity, a world that is not necessarily understood. We spoke languages
from around the globe, danced with each other and marveled at our individual
natures, our uniqueness. We shared each other's company and in that moment,
under the canopy of love that was revealed to us as it unfurled overhead, we
knew we were Israel… We knew that we were 'all' One.
To the families that have been traumatized in
Toulouse:May Hashem, Who is everywhere, comfort you amongst the other mourners of Zion and Jerusalem…
And to the Klempners in their wonderful time of simcha:
Mazaltov!!!
Shabbat Shalom le Kulam!
