Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Sage Final Notes


Sage final

Essay question:
There are 2 worlds- original creation and recreation after the flood.  What evidence is there that the world after the flood was a recreation?  If it was a recreation after the flood, was the new world the same as the original world or different?  In what ways were they the same, and in what ways did they differ?  Describe man's relationship to the animal kingdom and nature in your answer. 

Intertextuality:
   Consequences of eating from tree
          Exile
          Difficulty farming
          Hiding from G-d
          Where are you? (G-d asks adam)
   Consequences of kayin killing havel
          Exile (he will be a wanderer)
          Difficulty farming
          Hiding from G-d
          Where are you (to kayin)
All 4 consequences are the same for both sins. Why?
All stories in the Torah are really short. The Torah is like a tall building.  It uses a minimal amount of words and is very compact, so it builds up and uses layers to give meaning.  Intertextuality is a method of layering.  To understand story A, you need to understand story B.  Merging the two stories allows us to understand both better. 
The 4 consequences are the same for both stories (eating from the tree and kayin killing hevel).  The consequence of exile for both are slightly different. Adam is exiled from Eden but can settle elsewhere, however Kayin's exile is that he cannot settle down anywhere.  With farming, Adam had to work the land to produce as opposed to being handed food.  But for Kayin, even if he worked the land, he wouldn't produce food.  Adam hides momentarily, but Kayin spends the rest of his life hiding.  Adam is only temporarily missing, but Havel is gone for good.  The 4 consequences differ in intensity- the intensity increases in story B. The sin of murder is related to the sin of eating from the tree because they have similar consequences, but murder is worse because the intensity of the consequences is worse. 

We think that the world was created from nothing and that it was nothing beforehand.  But the text seems to say that there were things in the world before it was created.  It seems that there was water in the world, because the pasuk says that Hashem was hovering above the water and it was deep.  We also know from the pasuk that this world was dark.  It was also chaotic (unformed and void).
If you add the three together (water, darkness, chaotic), it would look like big stormy waters… A FLOOD!  The world was covered in water splashing all over, just like the world of the flood.  The chaotic water covered pre-creation world sounds like the world of the flood that occurs a few chapters later. 
But is the idea legit or just a coincidence?
As we continue reading and comparing, there is another similarity.  A “wind of G-d” blew over the chaotic waters to start creating the world in perek 1, and after the flood of Noah in perek 8 the world began to recover from the flood and a “wind of G-d” again passed over the earth. 
On day two of creation G-d created the sky to separate upper and lower waters.
Day three- division of land and water and creation of vegetation
Day four- stars
Day five- birds, insects and fish
Day six- animal life and man
Now compared to Noah…
On day two of creation the upper and lower waters were separated by sky.  After the flood, G-d stopped the well water from under the ground to stop coming up and the rain from the clouds to stop coming down.  So basically G-d was putting the upper water (vapor) into clouds and the lower water into the ground, and sky in between, similar to day 2 of creation.
On day three of creation the waters receded and dry land was formed.  After the flood, the waters receded and dry land appeared upon which that ark rested.
Then Noah sends out a dove that comes back with an olive branch, meaning there is tree life, which happened when the world was created that trees were growing.  Then the Dove didn’t come back, meaning that there were now birds in the world, like day 5.  Then Noah was commanded to open the ark and let himself and the animals out, like day six when man and animals were created.
The only day of creation that is not mirrored in the flood story is day 4- stars.

Creation Story
Post-Flood
Dark chaotic water
Flood waters rage
“Wind of G-d”
“Wind of G-d” blows over the waters
Sky divides upper and lower waters
Sky divides between clouds (water vapor) and lower water (inundated world)
Water gathered and dry land appears
Water gathered into one place, dry land appears
Trees and Vegetation appear on earth
Dove brings olive branch
Lights (stars) placed in heaven
??? No connection
Bird life
Dove enters the world and stays there
Animal and human life
Animals and humans leave ark and inhabit the land

What does it mean/ teach us that these two stories are parallel?
The post-flood is a recreation.  It is a new creation story, as if the world was being created for a second time.  People think we had a flood as a punishment for mankind’s evil.  But if mankind was the only thing being punished and destroyed, then the world would have to only be repopulated, not recreated entirely.  Instead, the target of the flood was the Earth itself, which was completely eradicated and recreated after the flood.  It wasn’t really people who were the target of the flood- it was the environment itself.  In the text giving the reason for the flood, the word “Earth” is repeated 5 times in just 3 psukim.  The Earth is primary, and the people are secondary.  The people ruined the Earth, and so the whole Earth had to be rebuilt.  So really the people weren’t punished by the flood, G-d was just renovating the world, so the people had to be gotten rid of during the renovation.  So why was Noah saved?  The pasuk says that he found “grace in G-d’s eyes,” and was therefore able to be saved, or just not gotten rid of during the “renovation”.

If the world is being recreated, is it the same world or a different world?
On the 6th day of creation, man and animals were created, similar to when Noah and the animals came out of the ark.  Something else happened on the 6th day of creation though- G-d made a speech to mankind and animals, where he blesses man and animals to be fruitful and multiply, with mankind master over the fish, birds, land animals, and vegetation for food.  This implication is that animals are not for food, but the plants are food for both animals and man.
In the Noah story, there is also a speech after Noah leaves the ark.  In this speech, G-d says, “be fruitful and multiply,” in the exact same language that He did when He blessed Adam and Eve.  He also says that every animal will have the fear of mankind, similar to what Hashem said to Adam and Eve.  But the blessing for Noah is different, because it has animals “fearing” mankind, not just mankind having dominion over animals.  Next, G-d tells Noah that he can eat any living thing- this is different because Adam wasn’t allowed to eat animals, only plants.  Noah was now allowed to eat animals just like vegetation.  Finally, Noah is restricted from eating a limb from a living animal.  Everything between the two stories is related- they are not exactly the same, but they are similar. 

Blessing to Adam and Eve
Blessing to Noah
Be fruitful and multiply
Be fruitful and multiply
Have dominion over animals
Animals will fear you
You will eat vegetation
You will eat the animals, like vegetation
Animals will eat vegetation too
…but not exactly like vegetation.  You need to kill an animal before eating it


Adam’s World
Noah’s World
Man and animals live among each other and both eat vegetation
Animals fear man because man can now kill animals- man has more power!

Why are the two worlds different?
After the flood G-d promises that He will never destroy the world ever again, but how does G-d know that we will never be that bad again and deserve the world being destroyed?  If you look closer, G-d is really saying that no matter how bad we become, G-d will never destroy the world.  G-d’s reason for destroying the world (man was sinning) is the same as His reason for never destroying it again (man will always sin)- how could this be?
After the destruction, the worlds have changed.

Creation
Recreation
Mankind has dominion over animal world, but cannot eat them
Mankind can eat animals
World is susceptible to destruction because of mankind’s sins
World is not susceptible to destruction because of mankind’s sins
G-d is the landlord and man, animals, and vegetation are the tenants
More endurance to the effects of mankind because it is now mankind’s world, so man can corrupt it

Dates: A Progression
1.    Noah was 600 years old at the beginning of the flood.  The focus is on Noah
2.    On the 600th year of Noah’s life the flood happen.  This pasuk moves away from Noah and focuses on the flood
3.    In the 601st year the waters dried up.  Noah isn’t even mentioned here- he has become the standard for time itself.  In the time of creation, time was measured based on creation, and after the flood time was counted based on Noah
G-d was the one who closed the door on the ark, and Noah was the one who opened the ark after the flood.  Why?  G-d was closing the door on HIS world, and Noah was opening the door to his own world.  The new world is Noah’s, which is why time begins with Noah and is the standard because Noah is the center of a new world that revolves around man.  After creation, Man’s role was to work the Earth and guard it, and then it became corrupt and was destroyed.  This was all G-d’s world, that he destroyed and made MAN’s world, which cannot be destroyed because it’s man’s world and therefore he could corrupt it.

Questions

Part 1- methodology

The lullaby effect best describes:
The tendency of ppl who know a biblical text well but fail to think critically or question it like being lulled by a lullaby but not listening to the words

Which of the following best describes an "external question"
A question that comes from a readers own assumptions and not from the text itself.

In what way is Thomas Kuhn's theory...
Answer: A

Intertextuality describes...
A phenomenon in which the Bible…

Which tool can best help...
Chiasmus

If you had to envision intertextuality and chiasmus in terms of shapes...
Intertextual as parallel lines and chiasmus as an x

Part 2- content

What did moral choices look like pre tree...
True and false

In what way do trees of knowledge and life contradict...
D

What other creature does snake resemble?
Human

What word do we put emphasis on when snake tempted eve
The word "said"

Evil inclination is identified with
Unchanneled desire

Eating after tree humans....
All of above

Hebrew commonality between...
The snake’s cunning and devious ways and the idea of nakedness
The idea of “sin” and “missing the mark”

An important dividing line between humans and animals is..
The way G-d speaks to each- animals through instincts and man through mind

What are some of the ways Eve’s recapitulation to the serpent of the command not to eat of the Tree of Knowledge differs from the way G-d originally articulated that command?
G-d names the forbidden tree; Eve just refers to it as the tree that G-d placed off limits.
G-d says the forbidden tree must not be eaten; Eve adds that it must not even be touched.
Eve speaks about the “fruit” of the forbidden tree; G-d doesn’t mention the fruit explicitly.

Which of phrases seem to express the same basic idea in different words?
Human desire is not something to be suppressed, but it is something that needs to be directed.
The Torah is like spice for the evil inclination.

The Torah’s very first description of the world at the beginning of Genesis seems similar to what other biblical event?
The great flood.

Which of the following events in the story of creation doesn’t seem to have an intertextual parallel in “Noah’s World”?
The creation of sun, moon, and stars.

Following the evidence suggested by inter-textual parallels, which event in Recreation does G-d’s Sabbath seem to correspond with?
The Rainbow Covenant

What piece or pieces of inter-textual evidence contributes to the impression that the emergence of man and animals from the ark corresponds to the 6th day of creation?
The fact that man and animals emerge from the ark just before the Rainbow covenants.
The fact that G-d’s speech to man on the 6th day of creation so closely mirrors G-d’s speech to Noah and the inhabitants of the ark after they emerge into the new world.

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