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R. David (he/him): Shabbat Shalom, everybody! It is October 25! It is the beginning of the sacred month of Hashron, which means that there are no holidays, which means the sacred days are Shabbat, and we are having one of them. It's great to be with you.

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R. David (he/him): Let's open up our hearts for learning. Let's open up our hearts for the light.

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R. David (he/him): That never goes out.

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R. David (he/him): The light that shines through.

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R. David (he/him): Baruch Atta Adonai, Alohinum malacha Alam.

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R. David (he/him): Blessed are you, Adonai, our God, sovereign of the world, who makes us holy in Connecting commands.

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R. David (he/him): and commanded us to immerse in words of Torah.

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R. David (he/him): I'm sorry I missed you guys, yes, last week. Yesterday, it was yesterday. What is time?

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R. David (he/him): And so this is my first time appearing for Soul Spot Year 3. Thank you, Rabbi Rachel, for…

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R. David (he/him): For bringing us in through the door of Genesis, and now we are going into the door of Noach.

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R. David (he/him): The story of Noah and the Ark.

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R. David (he/him): And the two of every animal, no matter how small, or at least a portion of it.

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R. David (he/him): We're gonna pick up at the very beginning of the Parsha. We have chunked into four mini paragraphs. It is just four, yup. If you're following along in a Tanakh…

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R. David (he/him): We are in Genesis 6, starting at verse 9. Can we have 4 people kindly unmute?

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R. David (he/him): And we'll do what we do!

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R. David (he/him): Thank all the volunteers.

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Brett Chinn: These are the generations of Noah.

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Brett Chinn: Noach was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God. Noach begot three sons, Shem, Ham, and Yepheth. The earth was corrupt before God, and was filled with violence. God saw that the earth was corrupted, for all flesh corrupted its way on the earth.

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R. David (he/him): We also have an excellent report Someone else.

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R. David (he/him): Our Trust and Estates Law section has recommendations for legislative proposals to address the matter of… Hello, Linda Shabbat Shalom. Could I have two… three people unmute, please?

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R. David (he/him): Corinne, go for it.

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Corinne: No.

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Corinne: God said to Noah, The end of all flesh came before me, for the earth is filled with violence because of them.

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Corinne: I am about to destroy them with the earth.

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Corinne: Make yourself an arc of… Oops, of…

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Corinne: Gopher would make the auk with compartments and cover it inside out with peach.

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Corinne: This is how you will make it. The length of the arc shall be 300 cubits, it's with 50 cubits, and its height 30 cubits.

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R. David (he/him): Two others, please.

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R. David (he/him): So really, the influence… Cheryl and Lilith, thank you.

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Sherrill Cropper: Make a window in the arc, and finish it a cubit from the top.

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Sherrill Cropper: At the opening to the ark on its side, make it with bottom, second, and third depths. Behold, I am bringing the flood.

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R. David (he/him): Waters on the earth.

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Sherrill Cropper: To destroy all flesh in which there is breath of life.

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Sherrill Cropper: from under the heavens. Everything on earth shall perish.

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Sherrill Cropper: I will establish my covenant with you, and you will come into the ark, you, your sons, your wife, and your sons' wives with you.

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Lilith Blackmoon: And all that lives…

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Lilith Blackmoon: Of all flesh, take two of each into the ark to keep alive with you. Male and female, they will be of birds of every kind.

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Lilith Blackmoon: Cattle of every kind, every kind of creeping thing on Earth.

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Lilith Blackmoon: Two of each will come to you to stay alive. You will take all that is eaten and store it as food for you and for them. Noah did so as God commanded him, so he did.

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R. David (he/him): Thank you.

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R. David (he/him): If you've studied with me before in the Midrash year we did last year, you know the functions of Midrash, to connect text to text, to fill in gaps, to uplift moral themes, to give voice to the voiceless. These are things that Rabbi Rachel began

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R. David (he/him): Working through last week.

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R. David (he/him): So let's take them out for a spin. Midrash calls at you and says, explain me, explain me what grabs at you and says, explain me. We're a small enough group, everybody can just unmute here.

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R. David (he/him): Just jump right in.

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R. David (he/him): We are most connected when we interact Brett.

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Brett Chinn: to me that… In the first, section.

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Brett Chinn: that God saw the earth was corrupted, for all flesh corrupted its way on the earth.

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Brett Chinn: So is it really that the people are corrupted, or is it the Earth itself is corrupted.

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R. David (he/him): Beautiful question.

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Brett Chinn: Anything that touches it… becomes corrupted.

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R. David (he/him): Beautiful. So, the one teaching around this is what we do affects the Earth.

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R. David (he/him): And so when we act wrongly, we are giving the Earth spiritual cooties. And that's without the environmental piece, which is just so obvious, the public health piece, which is so obvious. So yeah, what we do matters. What we do affects the Earth, and for those of you who have

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R. David (he/him): sort of a Kabbalistic bent. The earth, the ground, that's Shekhina, that's the indwelling presence. So what we do affects the sacred, which is really chutzpadik.

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R. David (he/him): Right? What we do affects the sacred, not just the other way around. Beautiful comment, yeah. Keep it coming. What grabs you?

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R. David (he/him): Rachel, you want to moderate, and I'll type?

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R. Rachel: Sure.

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R. Rachel: Nope. What else here?

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R. David (he/him): Lawrence O'Donnell.

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R. Rachel: Opens a question.

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R. Rachel: Linda, do I see your hand?

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R. David (he/him): Nope.

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R. Rachel: Nevermind.

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R. David (he/him): Challenges are many.

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R. David (he/him): Take a minute, let the text read you.

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R. David (he/him): We're all.

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James Nerlinger (Cincinnati, Ohio USA): Well, I guess I can ask the question that everybody asks whenever this passage is ever read or studied.

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James Nerlinger (Cincinnati, Ohio USA): What's the whole thing… the whole thing with Noah being a righteous man, blameless in his generation?

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R. Rachel: Right.

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James Nerlinger (Cincinnati, Ohio USA): blameless in his generation. They were all so bad that he was, like, the least of the worst.

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R. Rachel: That is one way it's often understood. But yeah, what does it mean, blameless, in his generation? Why is that clause there? What is it…

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R. Rachel: Coming to teach us.

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R. Rachel: Right, and one of the reasons he's often regarded as the best we could do in an imperfect situation is that he doesn't reach out and warn everybody else about what's going on. Corinne, I see your hand.

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Corinne: Yeah, what surprised me, actually, is that it's a god of wrath, of revenge, of resentment, of…

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Corinne: Yeah, I mean, God is a bit…

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Corinne: Guts need therapy, maybe, I don't know.

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R. Rachel: I love it. God needs therapy.

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Corinne: Bye.

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R. Rachel: Yeah, beautiful.

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Corinne: And, all really old fish was that bad.

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Corinne: What do the poor animals and the poor plants and the poor living… other living creatures do?

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R. Rachel: Right.

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R. Rachel: Right, what, what.

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Corinne: May God…

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R. Rachel: What did they do that was so bad?

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Corinne: such… Yeah, to put God in such a… Temper, I mean,

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Corinne: I mean, if we can control God, that's a problem.

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R. Rachel: And here, I think this is another place where how we live now informs how we imagine what happened then. That, of course, human beings have a different kind of impact.

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R. Rachel: on the Earth than… Than any of the other creatures.

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R. Rachel: So, is it really that we… is it that we screwed up, not the rest of them?

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James Nerlinger (Cincinnati, Ohio USA): One of the things that's come up repeatedly with this is that at the time.

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James Nerlinger (Cincinnati, Ohio USA): There was quite a lot of bestiality going on.

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lindabkramer: That man had forgotten.

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James Nerlinger (Cincinnati, Ohio USA): That he was above the animals, and

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James Nerlinger (Cincinnati, Ohio USA): We'll say had some pairings going on on their third thing.

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James Nerlinger (Cincinnati, Ohio USA): That combined with the general

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James Nerlinger (Cincinnati, Ohio USA): lack of moral fiber, the lawlessness, etc, etc, etc. All those things came together.

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James Nerlinger (Cincinnati, Ohio USA): And that was the corruption that God saw and decided, okay, this just cannot be allowed to continue. This is just too much.

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R. Rachel: Cheryl.

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Sherrill Cropper: I'm asking this question because we are only on this section, and you are asking about this section.

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Sherrill Cropper: So, two of them. In 1618,

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Sherrill Cropper: God says, I will establish my covenant with you.

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R. Rachel: And you will come into the ark. So, what will His covenant contain?

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Sherrill Cropper: and oh gosh, why would we want one if God is so mean?

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R. Rachel: Love that. Are we really even interested in a covenant with this guy?

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lindabkramer: No.

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Brett Chinn: Can I respond to Cheryl?

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R. Rachel: Yeah, please!

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Brett Chinn: But, like, what other choice do they have, right? Well, yeah. Either that, or, okay, well, I guess I'm gonna die in a flood, so…

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lindabkramer: Goodbye.

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Brett Chinn: Might as well take a chance.

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Sherrill Cropper: Yeah.

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Brett Chinn: Can't be worse.

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Sherrill Cropper: The least… the least… the least… it's literally…

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Brett Chinn: I agree.

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Brett Chinn: Like, we'll sell.

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Sherrill Cropper: I don't like…

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Brett Chinn: the devil, just to, like, okay.

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R. Rachel: So not only is Noah the best of the worst, but also maybe this covenant is the best in a bad situation.

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Sherrill Cropper: Does it actually say what the covenant is?

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R. David (he/him): Wait for it…

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Sherrill Cropper: Well, that's what I said. I… we're only in this section.

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R. David (he/him): Well, well, right?

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Sherrill Cropper: I know.

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R. David (he/him): Right?

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Sherrill Cropper: My question…

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R. David (he/him): Yeah, wait.

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R. Rachel: I see… Lilith, and then Rachel.

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Lilith Blackmoon: Yeah, I'm just wondering… like…

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Lilith Blackmoon: where did God come from if there were people first?

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R. Rachel: Mmm… say more about that?

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Lilith Blackmoon: Cause it says… where was it?

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Lilith Blackmoon: The earth was corrupt before God.

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R. Rachel: Hmm…

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R. David (he/him): in front of God is the Hebrew.

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R. David (he/him): in, like, before God's face. Literally, this is just the ancient way of saying it.

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R. David (he/him): But I guess you could read it, it was Corrupt Lifenay.

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R. David (he/him): Before in time.

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R. Rachel: temporarily before, rather than just, like, what do I see before my eyes, kind of thing.

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R. Rachel: Wait, that's an… I had never thought of…

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R. Rachel: before God, here, as possibly meaning

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R. Rachel: prior to God, rather than in front of God. So that's been a while.

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Lilith Blackmoon: to the concept of religion, period. And I also, with my dyslexia, I read things, like, verbatim, so…

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R. Rachel: That's also a very, not this particular insight, but reading a word

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R. Rachel: Verbatim, or very literally, is something that the classical commentators often do.

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Lilith Blackmoon: And sometimes that can lead to wordplay.

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R. Rachel: That opens up a text in a different way. So, I think this is a great example.

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R. David (he/him): This is great, Lilith. Thank you. You keep turning it. Turn it around.

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Sherrill Cropper: And I think also she saw it in 1315, because that also, once you said that, Lilith, it opened up to me the first line, the end of all flesh came before me.

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R. David (he/him): With fun eye.

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R. Rachel: Whoa!

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Lilith Blackmoon: between those two…

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R. Rachel: For me. Wow, that's, that's really intense. I'm gonna be sitting with that one.

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Lilith Blackmoon: Oh.

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Sherrill Cropper: another creation before all of this. Everyone disappeared. God said, oh, maybe I can do it better.

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R. Rachel: We may… you may remember that last week, at the very beginning of our learning, Rabbi David mentioned that one way to understand the word Bereshit in the beginning could be in a beginning.

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Lilith Blackmoon: Mmm.

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R. Rachel: suggests that maybe there was another beginning. Maybe this is only one of them.

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R. Rachel: The syntax isn't clear, and from there come all kinds of ideas. Rachel, I see your hand.

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Rachel Rudansky: I, am curious about the arc.

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Rachel Rudansky: The arc is a structure, and the…

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Rachel Rudansky: The fact that it has, a bottom and a second and a third deck.

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Rachel Rudansky: It's kind of intriguing to me in terms of…

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Rachel Rudansky: Just a biological… a biological process going on there as a reflection.

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R. David (he/him): Hmm.

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Rachel Rudansky: also that the ark, you know, we put the Torah in an ark.

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R. Rachel: Mmm…

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Rachel Rudansky: And I'm sure that that's been said many, many times, but how that… this morning, it reflects

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Rachel Rudansky: that we come to the Ark, you know, to preserve ourselves, and we come to Torah sometimes for that reason, many times for that reason as well.

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R. David (he/him): What's being incubated here?

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R. Rachel: Hmm…

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Rachel Rudansky: Yeah.

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Rachel Rudansky: Thank you.

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R. David (he/him): Linda Kramer.

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lindabkramer: Yeah, I keep thinking about there's some underlying generations in here.

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lindabkramer: Like, when you start talking about these different levels of the arc, does that suggest that there are several generations to come?

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Lilith Blackmoon: Hmm. Or…

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lindabkramer: You know…

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R. Rachel: Right, what were… what are on these different floors? Is it…

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lindabkramer: Yeah.

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R. Rachel: Is it grandparents, parents, and kids? Is it different kinds of animals? Is it… right? We don't have clarity on what… what is in this three-story boat.

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lindabkramer: Where's the gym? Yeah, it talks about compartments, part of a biological process.

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R. David (he/him): when I met her, Wow, okay, I've gotten my money's worth today already, and we haven't even started.

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R. David (he/him): As a lawyer.

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R. David (he/him): I decided to negotiate.

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R. David (he/him): negotiated with you.

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R. Rachel: Corinne, I see your hand.

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Corinne: Yes, what was coming to my mind, it's like, really, very fittest Genesis is the creation, it's really the counter, the opposite of creation. And why…

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Corinne: the element of water to destroy, could have used something else. I think sometimes we refer to Torah, water and Torah, there's a common… there's a relationship.

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Corinne: Water, nikvay, dipping, and cleansing.

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Corinne: Water has that property, but what comes to my mind is really…

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Corinne: I will undo what I have done.

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Corinne: And why?

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Corinne: Are we also evil?

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R. David (he/him): I don't know.

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R. David (he/him): Well, thank you for asking the easy questions this morning. We'd like to thank you for attending, yeah, I mean, that's it, right? Genesis 1, Midrash, connecting text to text, and God flutters over the surface of the deep.

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R. David (he/him): And God says, let there be, right? So, obviously, this is another…

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R. David (he/him): Genesis moment. And we encountered good and quickly.

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R. David (he/him): And the whole…

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R. David (he/him): you obeyed me, you disobeyed me, you're gonna know good from evil, the whole tree thing, the whole Cain and Abel thing. So, already you're starting to see tropes being laid down in the text, some very directly, now this one's a bit more medrashically, it's symbolically.

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R. Rachel: But it doesn't take…

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R. David (he/him): Deep, deep, deep, trying to turn it around to figure out what's going on. You brought it right here. There's going to be water.

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R. David (he/him): Everything will be water. Remember Genesis, there was everything's only water, and then you had to create land again, right? So, creation moment.

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R. David (he/him): Yeah.

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R. David (he/him): I think we have time for one or two more comments.

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Lilith Blackmoon: Well, I was just thinking with the water thing, like…

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Lilith Blackmoon: He could have just done fire, which would have cleansed the earth, because, like, that's what people do with crop fields, is, every so often they do a controlled burn.

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Lilith Blackmoon: to, like, regulate the soil. He could have done that.

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R. David (he/him): Yup. Yeah.

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R. David (he/him): But then it wouldn't have been a recreation of Genesis 1, would it?

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R. David (he/him): There was no fire in Genesis 1. So that's another way you know. Why wasn't there a fire well?

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R. David (he/him): Was there fire in Genesis 1? Great. Wait, you wanna… Do you have…

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R. Rachel: I'm just… I'm lifting up in the chat, there's a question about ambient noise, and in this moment, that's just not something that we have a ton of control over, but we're doing the best we can with what we've got.

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R. David (he/him): Okay. We have time for two more comments. I see two more hands.

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R. Rachel: Brett, in a nutshell.

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Brett Chinn: Okay, sorry, I didn't know if someone was gonna call. I actually was…

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Brett Chinn: Rabbi David covered, I was gonna say, I wasn't there here last week, but yeah, the water is coming back, and then if I can add my woo-woo astrological piece of it, I mean, this is…

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Brett Chinn: the month of Scorpio, which is all about

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Brett Chinn: cleansing, transformation, re-coming, returning. So, to me, this… this entire story just feels like… I mean, we just went through it with the High Holy Days, like, always… it's always a cycle of returning, rebirth, cleansing, and transformation.

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R. Rachel: Beautiful. And I want to lift up also that Corinne mentioned mikvah.

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R. Rachel: You know, right? Water can be a… something… a substance that we use for sacred transition.

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R. Rachel: This seems to be some kind of sacred transition, but maybe not the one we were all looking for. Cheryl?

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Lilith Blackmoon: Oh.

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Sherrill Cropper: I love that I was reading about mikvah last night.

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Sherrill Cropper: Good article, maybe I'll share. So we know that we have been taught here that when something's repeated twice, usually there's some reason for that. So the very last line said, Noah did so.

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Sherrill Cropper: as God commanded?

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R. Rachel: So he did.

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Sherrill Cropper: did. So, either he did two different things, or he did the same thing, and we're just saying it again, but when we do that, it usually does mean something.

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R. Rachel: Our text just went away.

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R. Rachel: It'll come back. The Hebrew does the same thing. You'll see when it pops back up on the screen, right? The verb for to-do, you'll see them right on top of each other. It's two versions of the same word.

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R. Rachel: Right?

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Sherrill Cropper: Why?

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R. Rachel: There we go, Noah did so, so he did.

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R. Rachel: Right, so why is it in there twice? I feel certain there's a midrush that hangs on the fact that it's in there twice, because…

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R. Rachel: You're right, that's one of the ways that we read.

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R. David (he/him): So, one way to understand this is the classical teaching that why was Noah just the best of the worst, if you understand it that way? Well, he didn't warn anybody. That's a big arc!

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R. David (he/him): Abraham said, hey now, wait a second, you're gonna take out Sodom? Hey now!

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R. David (he/him): Hello, Deanna, welcome.

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R. David (he/him): Why didn't Noah warn anybody?

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R. David (he/him): Allah just did what he was told, and we're being told that he did what he was told, and we're gonna be told again, he did what he was told. He did what he was told. He. He. He. Hmm.

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R. David (he/him): He.

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R. Rachel: It seems like you're landing on that repeated word.

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R. David (he/him): Rabbi? He?

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R. Rachel: Okay.

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R. David (he/him): T. Yes.

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R. Rachel: So I'm seeing in the chat from Corinne, right, if what we do affects God, then in some way God is dependent on us.

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R. David (he/him): Boom. Boom.

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R. Rachel: Is that still the case? And if so, what's unfolding in God in response to what we are doing now?

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R. David (he/him): Beautious.

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R. David (he/him): Beautious, beauteous. So I'm…

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R. David (he/him): One thing that this group already brought, I see James's hand, I'll call on you in just a second, is…

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R. David (he/him): What was this covenant?

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R. David (he/him): Typically, the group, you know, once we gel, is gonna predict where we go.

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R. David (he/him): And I promise us that the Harry Potter thing, where the letters of the source sheet we've already shared will not quickly rearrange themselves to reflect what you've already said, this group has a way of pre-cogging it.

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R. David (he/him): Once we gel together. It's very… it's great. So, what's the Covenant is one piece of it. Let's see if we give a little more time what comes. James.

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R. David (he/him): And then we really want to get to the text.

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R. David (he/him): It's weird.

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James Nerlinger (Cincinnati, Ohio USA): So where in the text does it say that he didn't warn anybody?

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R. Rachel: Well, it doesn't specifically say that, but it doesn't…

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R. Rachel: say that he DID warn anybody.

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R. David (he/him): As opposed to Avram.

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R. Rachel: Right. There's no record of him going out and telling the people what was coming, or pushing back against God and saying, really? You're gonna wipe everybody out? Are you sure? Remember, Avraham is… Avraham is going to say, you know, if you're gonna wipe out this whole city, well, God, what if I can find 50 good people?

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R. Rachel: Alright, what if I can find 40 good people?

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R. Rachel: And he winnows it down to 10, and then, of course, it turns out he can't find 10 good people.

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R. Rachel: But no one doesn't take that kind of effort.

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R. David (he/him): Or Moses, right?

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James Nerlinger (Cincinnati, Ohio USA): He's… he's building this arc for, like, 120 years, and…

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James Nerlinger (Cincinnati, Ohio USA): you know, his neighbors are walking by, and they're seeing him, hey, Noah, what are you doing? Looks like you're building a big boat! What's going on, man? We're, like, 10 miles away from the ocean, how are you even gonna get it there? You know, I would imagine that under such circumstances, he's gonna say, yeah, well, you know, the Lord our God is about to smite the entire planet with a flood.

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James Nerlinger (Cincinnati, Ohio USA): You might want to think about doing the same thing yourself, but hey, you know, it's up to you.

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James Nerlinger (Cincinnati, Ohio USA): I would think this would come up at some point.

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R. Rachel: Yeah, that sure seems reasonable, and yet we don't know that it did.

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R. David (he/him): There is the function of Midrash. Fill in the gap.

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James Nerlinger (Cincinnati, Ohio USA): Didn't.

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R. David (he/him): Well, we know Torah doesn't say so. Here's what we know, James. Avraham explicitly warned.

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R. David (he/him): tried to talk God out of it. Jonah!

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James Nerlinger (Cincinnati, Ohio USA): Yeah.

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R. David (he/him): went. Moses!

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R. David (he/him): God says, alright, I'm done, get out of my way, I'm going to get them, sucker, and I'll start again with you. And Moses said, well, number one, if you try that, what will the Klingons think? What will the Egyptians think? You took them out of Egypt for the purpose of letting them fall in the desert, and you couldn't make it work, number one. Number two, you're gonna have to get through me.

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R. David (he/him): You might as well write me out of your book, too. So, plainly, we've got multiple

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R. David (he/him): Torah characters telling God, oh, don't you dare.

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James Nerlinger (Cincinnati, Ohio USA): But there's nothing that tells us here that he didn't do it. It's just not discussed. He just does what he's told, but…

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James Nerlinger (Cincinnati, Ohio USA): for some reason, some groups have jumped to this point that he didn't warn them, that this was actually a character flaw, that he should have done something, he should have been an Abraham, he should have been a Jonah, he should have been a Moses.

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R. David (he/him): And that's the function of Midrash. And that's the function of Midrash. It's asking, what's the moral theme that we can extract from this? Do we know for absolute sure? What are the sounds of silence in the text? No. But we do know that Torah leaves it out in the case of Noah.

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R. David (he/him): Why would…

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James Nerlinger (Cincinnati, Ohio USA): That's my question. Why is Midrash…

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James Nerlinger (Cincinnati, Ohio USA): Why is it saying this? Why is there somebody saying, hey, he didn't warn them?

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R. David (he/him): Because if Torah wants to say that somebody stands up to God.

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R. Rachel: It says so.

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R. David (he/him): Taurus says it.

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R. David (he/him): The daughters of Talafakhad go…

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R. David (he/him): to Moses saying, hey Al, it's unfair that we shouldn't be able to inherit just because we're girls.

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R. David (he/him): Hey now!

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R. David (he/him): So, why is Noah silent in Torah?

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R. David (he/him): It's a legit question, I think.

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R. Rachel: Merry Christmas!

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James Nerlinger (Cincinnati, Ohio USA): I disagree. He's not silent. We don't know it. And it's not… warning is not the same as standing up to God. Warning is warning people.

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R. David (he/him): Well, in this case, Torah doesn't say he did either of them. I get it that Torah doesn't say he didn't, but that's not the metric.

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R. David (he/him): The metric is if Torah wanted to say.

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R. David (he/him): Here are three examples, and Tanakh has, you know, the Nach part, Niveim Ketuvim, the prophets, have, like, many examples. Why nothing here?

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R. Rachel: I would say it… what Torah…

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R. Rachel: gives us here is Noah's silence.

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R. Rachel: And that's what the sages make something of.

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R. Rachel: Because if… if Torah had wanted to show us Noah being a stand-up guy, as we might understand it, and warning everybody, it would be in the text. It's not in the text, so that leaves it up to us. This is also one of those places where I would say we're on the line between exegesis and eisegesis.

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R. Rachel: Exegesis is interpreting what we find in the text. Eiseegesis is reading ourselves into the text.

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R. Rachel: And it may be that the moral message our sages wanted to convey was, we have an obligation to warn people when they're in danger.

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R. David (he/him): Well, loose.

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R. Rachel: They needed to give over.

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R. David (he/him): Later in the book of Leviticus, you will rebuke your neighbor.

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R. David (he/him): Don't stand idly by.

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R. David (he/him): We do want to move forward.

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R. Rachel: Yeah.

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R. David (he/him): grab Rachel Ludansky's comment, and we'll move forward.

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Rachel Rudansky: Okay, it's just a question that this conversation is bringing up. How do we know that God is creating the flood?

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Rachel Rudansky: Because my Aunt Judy used to say, Meredith's mother, is…

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Rachel Rudansky: Why do we hold God responsible for evil?

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R. David (he/him): Hmm.

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Rachel Rudansky: or for natural causes, or, like, God, I guess God does everything, but I don't see it in the text, that God is creating the flood, and of course, I'm not a well-read student in this work, but…

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Rachel Rudansky: Oh, I'm bringing the flood. Behold, I am bringing the flood. Okay.

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R. David (he/him): I… There are totally times where, you know, did…

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Rachel Rudansky: Oh, to destroy the flesh.

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R. David (he/him): Right, to destroy all flesh. It's kind of there. Now, you used a different word, though, Rachel. You used the word evil.

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R. David (he/him): Many people might say this is evil, what God is doing.

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R. David (he/him): Here, there are no adjectives. The adjectives are left to us. And that also is Midrash.

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R. David (he/him): What is our response to it? But in terms of the plot, this is not a moment where there's doubt about who's doing what. God is bringing the flood. This is happening.

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Rachel Rudansky: Right.

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R. David (he/him): And I'm doing it.

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R. David (he/him): What we think of it's another matter.

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Rachel Rudansky: That's a very good point.

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Rachel Rudansky: Because that applies to our lives as well, right?

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Rachel Rudansky: Seeing what happens and what we do with it, as opposed to just

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Rachel Rudansky: And I think it was James who said that at the end of last week, that there's emptiness, the quality, that there's… we add all of these values to it. Okay, thank you for…

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R. David (he/him): boom, boom.

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R. David (he/him): Boom, boom.

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R. David (he/him): Welcome, Nancy. So… It didn't quite happen this time that the group precogs where we're going.

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R. David (he/him): But… Let's start, as we're often gonna do.

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R. David (he/him): By pulling out the traditional, received Midrash, Mainly written by…

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R. Rachel: a clue, not women.

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R. David (he/him): We're men.

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Nancy Goody: Women in tights.

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R. David (he/him): So… Let's figure out what these men are thinking about.

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R. David (he/him): Rashi is our famous winemaker. He's the core exegete of

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R. David (he/him): the 11th and 12th centuries, and he says, you will come into the ark, you, your sons, your wife, your son's wife, with you. That's the Torah text.

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R. David (he/him): And he acknowledges this. So, the men are recognized first, you, your sons.

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R. David (he/him): And then the women next, your wife and your son's wife. It isn't Mr. and Mrs. Noah. It certainly isn't Mrs. and Mr. Noah.

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R. David (he/him): This is coming.

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R. David (he/him): And then, the sons and their wives.

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R. David (he/him): And from this… Quoting from Talmud almost 700 years before him, they were prohibited to use the bed.

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R. David (he/him): That's what it says.

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R. David (he/him): That's literally what it says.

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R. David (he/him): Thank you, Tom.

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R. David (he/him): Please, someone other than me say something.

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R. Rachel: I see Cheryl's hand?

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R. David (he/him): Thank God.

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Sherrill Cropper: No, just Cheryl.

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Sherrill Cropper: So… last night, services. We talked about the timing.

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Sherrill Cropper: of 40 days and 40 nights, and then how long they were on the water, and it was, like, almost a year, and the question was, why? And someone did say, perhaps it was to give them time to procreate a little bit, and get things going with, like, a new beginning.

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Sherrill Cropper: But here this says they were prohibited to use the bed, which we can… safely assume…

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Sherrill Cropper: Prohibition to not use the bed means to not.

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iPhone (8): I don't hear it now. It's on the speaker of the car.

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Sherrill Cropper: Okay.

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R. David (he/him): We're good.

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Sherrill Cropper: So… Yeah, so there's that thought.

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Sherrill Cropper: And so then that would… I don't know if you planned on using the time here of how long they were floating, but…

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00:33:26.620 --> 00:33:28.590
Sherrill Cropper: Clearly, they were not…

364
00:33:29.180 --> 00:33:40.520
Sherrill Cropper: allowed to procreate. But if James is… what James said earlier about some of the things that were going wrong in the world, being bestiality.

365
00:33:41.000 --> 00:33:42.549
Sherrill Cropper: You don't need a bed.

366
00:33:42.550 --> 00:33:43.120
R. Rachel: Mmm.

367
00:33:43.120 --> 00:33:47.420
Sherrill Cropper: Honestly, you don't need a bed to procreate. So.

368
00:33:47.420 --> 00:33:53.839
R. David (he/him): Is this the moment where I mentioned that we now have more hands up in this moment than at any time yet?

369
00:33:53.840 --> 00:33:54.870
R. Rachel: Yep.

370
00:33:54.870 --> 00:33:58.579
R. David (he/him): I don't know, what's it about this subject that's… I… I don't know.

371
00:33:58.780 --> 00:34:04.160
Sherrill Cropper: Okay, you're the only one hemming and hawing. The rest of us seem to be okay with the chats.

372
00:34:04.160 --> 00:34:07.220
R. Rachel: I see Lilith's hand and Deborah's.

373
00:34:07.220 --> 00:34:13.039
Sherrill Cropper: And then when we… I will pass on in one moment, when I have a thought on the covenant.

374
00:34:13.040 --> 00:34:13.460
R. David (he/him): Okay.

375
00:34:14.529 --> 00:34:16.399
Sherrill Cropper: Shall I wait till we get.

376
00:34:16.400 --> 00:34:20.599
R. David (he/him): No, no, let's go right in and put these two things together.

377
00:34:20.600 --> 00:34:20.960
Sherrill Cropper: Okay.

378
00:34:20.969 --> 00:34:23.229
R. David (he/him): A number of hundred years later.

379
00:34:23.469 --> 00:34:25.359
Sherrill Cropper: So the covenant,

380
00:34:25.360 --> 00:34:27.150
R. David (he/him): Here's, here's the covenant.

381
00:34:27.150 --> 00:34:32.570
Sherrill Cropper: says, this is the blessing with which God blessed Adam and Eve. Which is?

382
00:34:32.780 --> 00:34:40.900
Sherrill Cropper: Well, honestly, when he blessed them, he wasn't telling them to procreate, he was telling them to hang out and do nothing, and just be like little kids in the garden.

383
00:34:41.330 --> 00:34:41.920
Sherrill Cropper: So…

384
00:34:42.469 --> 00:34:48.099
R. Rachel: So, traditionally speaking, the thing that's understood to be a blessing that God offers them.

385
00:34:48.319 --> 00:34:52.159
R. Rachel: Which is the blessings of be fruitful and multiply.

386
00:34:52.159 --> 00:34:59.069
Sherrill Cropper: Yeah, which is what Hasid comes from this, right? The whole, but… I…

387
00:34:59.379 --> 00:35:05.769
Sherrill Cropper: I'm very happy to look at this, because one of the things I saw in Midrash on Safaria

388
00:35:05.929 --> 00:35:08.549
Sherrill Cropper: was that the covenant

389
00:35:09.169 --> 00:35:27.159
Sherrill Cropper: was so that, like, the food wouldn't rot, and they could be on the land all the time, because… and that made sense to me, because one of the concerns I had, as we know, this is an animal family, animal-loving family, and sometimes we're animals, is, like, where'd the poop go?

390
00:35:28.109 --> 00:35:40.409
Sherrill Cropper: And lots of animals. I have two rabbits in my house now, and boy, you have to keep cleaning them constantly, because the smell is bad. So, clearly, God made a covenant that this would not happen.

391
00:35:41.179 --> 00:35:45.229
Sherrill Cropper: On the Ark, as well as the food staying fresh.

392
00:35:46.809 --> 00:35:48.239
Sherrill Cropper: Had to toss that out.

393
00:35:50.540 --> 00:35:52.719
R. Rachel: Thank you for the animal husbandry.

394
00:35:52.720 --> 00:35:53.730
Sherrill Cropper: Yes, and thank you.

395
00:35:53.730 --> 00:35:55.530
R. David (he/him): Why is it called husbandry?

396
00:35:56.650 --> 00:35:57.269
R. David (he/him): Why isn't that…

397
00:35:57.270 --> 00:35:58.540
R. Rachel: His patriarchy.

398
00:35:59.140 --> 00:35:59.700
R. David (he/him): Just saying.

399
00:36:00.230 --> 00:36:03.199
R. Rachel: Just saying. All right, liz and then Deborah.

400
00:36:03.200 --> 00:36:05.510
R. David (he/him): Yeah, we're gonna try to move through this.

401
00:36:06.070 --> 00:36:21.019
Lilith Blackmoon: Well, I'm just thinking about how there were 3 levels to the arc, so maybe it was separated animals, women, and men, so each one got their own, like, level.

402
00:36:21.020 --> 00:36:29.070
R. David (he/him): Better than PGR and NC7. I… I… I hate? Yeah, we don't know.

403
00:36:29.900 --> 00:36:31.629
R. David (he/him): Deborah, last comment here.

404
00:36:33.390 --> 00:36:43.530
debra: So, I'm very new to all of this, so this is a really rookie question, but are we supposed to be interpreting this literally? Because…

405
00:36:43.680 --> 00:36:55.020
debra: First of all, like, you can't fit that, as Cheryl mentioned, you can't fit that many animals on any size boat. I mean, even our modern boats, right? With all the freighters and things.

406
00:36:55.470 --> 00:37:00.670
debra: But then, also, it's really difficult to keep them alive. And then finally, sort of.

407
00:37:00.700 --> 00:37:01.430
R. David (he/him): What?

408
00:37:01.430 --> 00:37:10.039
debra: James was saying before, if God didn't like bestiality, then He certainly wouldn't like incest, I suppose, and with only

409
00:37:10.380 --> 00:37:14.129
debra: These few people around after the flood.

410
00:37:14.590 --> 00:37:16.899
debra: You know, it's likely that would happen.

411
00:37:17.150 --> 00:37:23.739
R. David (he/him): Where have we heard that before? This feels like a repeat of last time.

412
00:37:25.460 --> 00:37:26.789
R. Rachel: Which last time?

413
00:37:26.790 --> 00:37:37.559
R. David (he/him): like, the whole Eve thing, and what's the role of Eve, and… by the way, where did Cain come from? Oh, Eve. And where does wife come… oh.

414
00:37:37.770 --> 00:37:39.370
R. David (he/him): Who?

415
00:37:40.330 --> 00:37:44.069
R. David (he/him): This is another creation.

416
00:37:44.510 --> 00:37:53.630
R. David (he/him): So, obviously, our ancestors are trying to figure out how you got from a few people taking a pleasure cruise.

417
00:37:53.750 --> 00:37:54.540
R. David (he/him): to a home…

418
00:37:54.540 --> 00:37:55.390
R. Rachel: 3 hours work.

419
00:37:55.390 --> 00:38:13.219
R. David (he/him): A 3-hour tour, yep. Yep. So, Deborah, no, you're not wrong. Midrash begs the question, do we interpret it literally? Do we imagine ourselves into it? Do we understand it metaphorically? That's the project.

420
00:38:13.220 --> 00:38:25.949
R. Rachel: By the way, the word I was trying to come up with last week, when I said, I know there's a word for a story that comes to teach us why things… to explain why things are the way we know them to be, that word is etiological.

421
00:38:27.090 --> 00:38:35.809
R. Rachel: A story that… that… In its narrative, explains something about why the world is the way we know it.

422
00:38:36.410 --> 00:38:49.559
R. Rachel: And that may also be one of the things… and it is also known that there were flood myths across the ancient Near East. Ours was not the only culture that had a story of a massive flood that wiped out everything on Earth, or almost everything.

423
00:38:50.160 --> 00:39:01.049
R. Rachel: So, another way of looking at all of this is, this is our story to help us understand this vast, natural happening that nobody can otherwise explain.

424
00:39:01.600 --> 00:39:03.590
R. Rachel: But that everybody remembers happened.

425
00:39:03.890 --> 00:39:06.609
R. Rachel: Or maybe they remember that they remember that it happened.

426
00:39:07.770 --> 00:39:12.700
R. David (he/him): Corinne, last comment here, and then we're gonna open this up in a different way.

427
00:39:13.450 --> 00:39:28.549
Corinne: Quickly, I look up the… on Google what is the Hebrew meaning of the name Noah. It says to rest or to repose. What I understand figuratively, I extrapolate, is not to rest. If you don't rest, you're awake.

428
00:39:28.840 --> 00:39:33.939
Corinne: I think it is a call for a kind of an awakening. I don't know why.

429
00:39:33.940 --> 00:39:34.780
R. David (he/him): time.

430
00:39:35.060 --> 00:39:40.010
Corinne: But… No hours to rest. It says, no bed, no rest.

431
00:39:40.150 --> 00:39:45.299
Corinne: So, to what level of awakening is God calling them?

432
00:39:45.560 --> 00:39:48.100
R. Rachel: Mmm… Beautiful. Beautiful.

433
00:39:48.100 --> 00:39:51.860
R. David (he/him): Beautiful. So, I understand that more I believe?

434
00:39:52.090 --> 00:40:01.590
R. David (he/him): We've had that conversation already, but there's another way to understand it. Let's go. What is this covenant?

435
00:40:02.460 --> 00:40:05.619
R. David (he/him): Is it to be fruitful and multiply, but not yet?

436
00:40:06.360 --> 00:40:17.139
R. David (he/him): Is it a covenant. Let's see if we can get there. So, this conversation in the received tradition. So.

437
00:40:17.430 --> 00:40:20.960
R. David (he/him): You gotta be fruitful and multiply, but not yet.

438
00:40:21.550 --> 00:40:26.260
R. David (he/him): We don't have any obstetricians on the boat, you know, the whole thing.

439
00:40:26.660 --> 00:40:28.709
R. David (he/him): Maybe it's so it won't be stinky.

440
00:40:29.170 --> 00:40:37.750
R. David (he/him): The Malbeam, this is 19th century now, comes and says, essentially, I'm gonna establish a covenant, but first I, God, have to break one.

441
00:40:38.960 --> 00:40:43.969
R. David (he/him): We made a covenant, God said. The laws of nature are gonna do their thing.

442
00:40:44.360 --> 00:41:04.850
R. David (he/him): But now, I have to intervene, I'm sorry, this… this… we need to recreate, we need to remix this business. So after I destroy everything, we're gonna come back. We're gonna come into the ark, you're not gonna be on the earth. Literally, you're not on the earth. Remember, all flesh on the earth has destroyed itself, but you're not gonna be on the Earth.

443
00:41:04.850 --> 00:41:05.770
R. Rachel: You'll be floating.

444
00:41:05.770 --> 00:41:11.550
R. David (he/him): above the Earth, and then you and your sons

445
00:41:11.820 --> 00:41:18.230
R. David (he/him): will survive by your merit. By your merit, your sons and your wife will come into the ark.

446
00:41:18.800 --> 00:41:24.929
R. David (he/him): By your merit, your sons and your wife will come into the ark.

447
00:41:25.810 --> 00:41:27.850
R. David (he/him): the Midrash.

448
00:41:29.990 --> 00:41:36.460
R. David (he/him): Strengthening your… Who wrote, Midrash.

449
00:41:39.020 --> 00:41:40.360
R. Rachel: Not the wives.

450
00:41:40.530 --> 00:41:46.860
R. David (he/him): Not the wives. In fact, we're not even told who Mrs. Noah is.

451
00:41:47.980 --> 00:41:48.650
R. David (he/him): not…

452
00:41:48.650 --> 00:41:54.390
R. Rachel: It's just a Mrs. Right? Now, how about this? Mr. and Mrs. Noah, that's how you would have addressed the envelope to the Ark.

453
00:41:54.390 --> 00:42:00.800
R. David (he/him): Right, right. Now, how about this one? If you really want to keep everybody alive, God, if you want to keep

454
00:42:01.880 --> 00:42:03.660
R. David (he/him): humanity alive.

455
00:42:04.340 --> 00:42:13.190
R. David (he/him): Mr. and Mrs. Noah have already had kids, and they've got wives, so why do you need Noah at all?

456
00:42:13.870 --> 00:42:18.850
R. Rachel: We don't imagine that they were… although we see other biblical

457
00:42:19.300 --> 00:42:23.310
R. Rachel: Figures having children at 90 and 100,

458
00:42:24.270 --> 00:42:31.620
R. Rachel: The text doesn't tell us anything about God imagining that Noah and Mrs. Noah were going to have more kids, so what are they even there for?

459
00:42:31.870 --> 00:42:34.990
R. David (he/him): Right? Want to keep humanity alive? Get the kids in the ark.

460
00:42:35.130 --> 00:42:38.480
R. David (he/him): And, you know, go to town.

461
00:42:38.660 --> 00:42:40.040
R. David (he/him): In this understanding.

462
00:42:40.040 --> 00:42:42.370
Lilith Blackmoon: Grandparent the children.

463
00:42:43.070 --> 00:42:49.329
R. Rachel: Mmm, we need grandparents to take care of the new generations that will come. Nice. I like that. Nice.

464
00:42:49.570 --> 00:42:50.400
R. Rachel: It takes a village.

465
00:42:50.400 --> 00:42:51.620
R. David (he/him): Right, this Midrash.

466
00:42:51.620 --> 00:42:52.280
Sherrill Cropper: Sure.

467
00:42:52.280 --> 00:43:00.849
R. David (he/him): Yeah, this Midrash here imagines that, you know, we actually don't need Noah and Mrs. Noah anymore, but we just don't want any more murder.

468
00:43:01.630 --> 00:43:10.220
R. David (he/him): And so we're gonna… the covenant is I'm gonna keep Noah alive, meaning I'm not gonna let those evil people kill him while he's making the boat.

469
00:43:11.330 --> 00:43:19.139
R. David (he/him): So, obviously, what's going on here is our ancestors are trying to suss out, what is this covenant? What is it?

470
00:43:19.760 --> 00:43:29.730
R. David (he/him): Because it's gotta matter, because it's in Torah. I will make a covenant with you. And with whom? Is it you, Noah? Or is it more?

471
00:43:30.020 --> 00:43:32.070
R. David (he/him): than Noah.

472
00:43:33.330 --> 00:43:35.040
R. David (he/him): 1.5 billion.

473
00:43:36.420 --> 00:43:40.360
R. David (he/him): Let's… Start opening this up.

474
00:43:40.830 --> 00:43:50.830
R. Rachel: One of the first places I wanted to go with this is, who exactly is Mrs. Noah, and what is she thinking? Because Torah doesn't give us any of that.

475
00:43:52.230 --> 00:43:56.830
R. David (he/him): Midrash function, give voice to the voiceless.

476
00:43:57.030 --> 00:44:03.330
R. Rachel: Would someone like to read this poem by Sherry Schunfenthal? She's a contemporary poet, alive now.

477
00:44:03.880 --> 00:44:06.109
R. Rachel: Noah's wife speaks. Anybody?

478
00:44:09.710 --> 00:44:18.419
Rachel Rudansky: Noah, my man of the soil, walks with God. He is a quiet man, faithful, dependable.

479
00:44:18.530 --> 00:44:22.759
Rachel Rudansky: Up with the sun to plant, he toils until nightfall.

480
00:44:22.980 --> 00:44:27.090
Rachel Rudansky: Sometimes he drinks the fruit of the vine to help him rest.

481
00:44:28.530 --> 00:44:38.720
Rachel Rudansky: Noah is different from the wild men of town. He's loyal, constant, like the sun and the moon. Noah senses weather patterns.

482
00:44:39.460 --> 00:44:43.610
Rachel Rudansky: Our fields flourish, we are never hungry.

483
00:44:45.760 --> 00:45:00.840
Rachel Rudansky: Noah listens. He hears God tell him to build a house that floats. Waters will come, cover the land. It's hard for me to understand. Noah is told to build a floating house called an ark.

484
00:45:02.700 --> 00:45:16.689
Rachel Rudansky: The arc must be 300 cubits in length, and 50 cubits in width, 3 floors high. Who has ever heard of a floating house? Who has ever heard of a house with 3 floors?

485
00:45:17.330 --> 00:45:21.920
Rachel Rudansky: Noah builds our son's help.

486
00:45:25.370 --> 00:45:28.160
Rachel Rudansky: Noah builds, our sons help.

487
00:45:31.160 --> 00:45:36.240
Rachel Rudansky: Okay, I think I need to leave out. Okay, Noah builds our son's help.

488
00:45:36.350 --> 00:45:44.109
Rachel Rudansky: They'll… Cypress trees from the wooden… Arc, for the wooden arc.

489
00:45:44.870 --> 00:45:58.940
Rachel Rudansky: People from town come to watch, they point their fingers, they steal wood, there lift laughter pieces like arrows aimed at our hearts. There are no big rains.

490
00:45:59.330 --> 00:46:00.430
R. Rachel: Sorry, typo.

491
00:46:00.660 --> 00:46:02.609
Rachel Rudansky: There are no big rains.

492
00:46:03.390 --> 00:46:13.549
Rachel Rudansky: Oh, pierces. Their laughter pierces like arrows aimed at their hearts. There are no big reins, they chide. My boys hide from their scorn.

493
00:46:14.560 --> 00:46:21.359
Rachel Rudansky: I trust Noah. I must. There is nowhere for a woman to go alone with three sons I stay.

494
00:46:22.090 --> 00:46:27.350
Rachel Rudansky: There is nowhere For a woman to go alone with 3 sons.

495
00:46:27.540 --> 00:46:37.960
Rachel Rudansky: I stay, I watch, work the fields, trying to imagine a floating house. I must trust Noah. I… I must.

496
00:46:38.430 --> 00:46:39.290
R. Rachel: Thank you.

497
00:46:40.410 --> 00:46:42.900
R. Rachel: So, a couple of little things to notice.

498
00:46:43.980 --> 00:46:53.649
R. Rachel: She described Noah as a man of the soil. This is a story about water, but she's telling us Noah is a… is an earth guy. He's a farmer.

499
00:46:54.600 --> 00:47:04.509
R. Rachel: There's a mention of the fruit of the vine, which will be relevant later in his story. We learn that he… the first thing he does when they get off the boat is plant a vineyard.

500
00:47:05.040 --> 00:47:13.689
R. Rachel: To help him rest. Remember, rest is the meaning of his name, so there's… the poet is playing with that a little bit.

501
00:47:15.810 --> 00:47:18.400
R. Rachel: And I love her point that

502
00:47:18.780 --> 00:47:31.049
R. Rachel: Who has ever heard of a floating house, or a house with three floors? We know what architecture looked like in the ancient Near East, where this story was written. It did not look like that.

503
00:47:31.550 --> 00:47:34.100
R. Rachel: Right, so this is a fantastical

504
00:47:34.320 --> 00:47:38.009
R. Rachel: thing that Noah has been told to do.

505
00:47:39.320 --> 00:47:41.809
R. Rachel: And as she imagines it in this poem.

506
00:47:42.330 --> 00:47:47.790
R. Rachel: Right? The people are… people are laughing at them. What the hell are you doing? You're a crazy guy.

507
00:47:49.370 --> 00:47:52.960
R. Rachel: So, this is one Midrashic imagining.

508
00:47:52.970 --> 00:48:00.110
R. David (he/him): Of Mrs. Noah. And it's still Mrs. Noah not exactly playing a central role.

509
00:48:00.630 --> 00:48:10.970
R. David (he/him): It's Mrs. Noah looking on at Noah, talking about Noah, trusting Noah, describing Noah, narrating Noah, video, right?

510
00:48:11.150 --> 00:48:13.320
R. Rachel: does not pass the Bechdel test.

511
00:48:15.110 --> 00:48:17.140
R. Rachel: Is that phrase familiar to anyone in the room?

512
00:48:17.330 --> 00:48:20.910
R. David (he/him): I'm seeing some heads nodding, right? The Bechdel test is this idea that.

513
00:48:20.910 --> 00:48:31.819
R. Rachel: For a piece of media, like a television show or a book, to be reasonably feminist, you need to have two non-male characters talking to each other about something other than a man.

514
00:48:32.720 --> 00:48:36.880
R. Rachel: You need two women who have a conversation that's not about the guy.

515
00:48:37.680 --> 00:48:53.830
R. Rachel: we do not have two women, and we do not have a conversation about anything other than the guy. So, this piece of story does not pass that test. Here is a different take on Noah's wife from Rabbi Paul Kipnis, who's also contemporary, he's one of our colleagues.

516
00:48:55.650 --> 00:48:58.539
R. Rachel: And this one at last gives her a name.

517
00:48:58.770 --> 00:49:00.310
R. Rachel: Somebody want to read this one?

518
00:49:02.130 --> 00:49:02.800
Sherrill Cropper: Well…

519
00:49:03.770 --> 00:49:04.369
R. Rachel: Thank you, Cheryl.

520
00:49:04.370 --> 00:49:05.450
Sherrill Cropper: know his wife.

521
00:49:05.620 --> 00:49:13.050
Sherrill Cropper: Noah, with his sons, his wife, and his sons' wives, came into the ark, Genesis 7-7.

522
00:49:13.500 --> 00:49:14.909
Sherrill Cropper: Speak my name.

523
00:49:15.320 --> 00:49:17.749
Sherrill Cropper: Says the unnamed wife of Noah.

524
00:49:18.020 --> 00:49:21.920
Sherrill Cropper: Five times the Torah mentions me, never by name.

525
00:49:22.370 --> 00:49:25.680
Sherrill Cropper: I went into the ark with him. We left together.

526
00:49:26.100 --> 00:49:30.620
Sherrill Cropper: Don't you imagine we labored together, too? We shared a partnership.

527
00:49:30.930 --> 00:49:42.799
Sherrill Cropper: Through the rains and the flooding, the feeding and the seed collecting, the ark riding and replanting, together with the Creator, we recreated this world.

528
00:49:43.560 --> 00:49:45.110
Sherrill Cropper: I am Nama.

529
00:49:45.610 --> 00:49:47.119
Sherrill Cropper: Daughter of Lemon.

530
00:49:47.440 --> 00:49:48.280
Sherrill Cropper: Lamec.

531
00:49:48.420 --> 00:49:50.790
Sherrill Cropper: and sister of Tubal Cain.

532
00:49:50.970 --> 00:49:55.660
Sherrill Cropper: My name means pleasing, as my actions were pleasing.

533
00:49:55.870 --> 00:49:56.980
Sherrill Cropper: N' name.

534
00:49:57.350 --> 00:50:00.610
Sherrill Cropper: As my beauty, some say, was pleasing.

535
00:50:01.260 --> 00:50:09.620
Sherrill Cropper: I was hidden in the Torah, but recalled by the rabbis and chosen by the Merciful One to be the consoler of a new world.

536
00:50:10.180 --> 00:50:11.180
Sherrill Cropper: Yes.

537
00:50:11.360 --> 00:50:18.610
Sherrill Cropper: I consoled our sons after they endured Noah's drunkenness, After Noah cursed them.

538
00:50:19.320 --> 00:50:27.449
Sherrill Cropper: Still, the rabbi silenced my contributions by reimagining me to be an idolater and seducer of men.

539
00:50:28.140 --> 00:50:34.130
Sherrill Cropper: They said that, like Lilith, I harmed infants and abused people in their sleep.

540
00:50:34.570 --> 00:50:39.110
Sherrill Cropper: Why was it so hard for them to embrace my accomplishments?

541
00:50:39.490 --> 00:50:44.340
Sherrill Cropper: Speak of me, lest you conspire to silence me too.

542
00:50:44.450 --> 00:50:46.469
Sherrill Cropper: I am Nama.

543
00:50:46.620 --> 00:50:48.090
Sherrill Cropper: Remember my name.

544
00:50:53.830 --> 00:50:55.340
R. David (he/him): I'd ask to be…

545
00:50:56.290 --> 00:50:57.609
R. Rachel: Yeah, this one lands.

546
00:50:58.360 --> 00:50:59.290
R. Rachel: for meat.

547
00:51:02.250 --> 00:51:05.180
R. David (he/him): So let's… Dig in a little bit.

548
00:51:05.780 --> 00:51:11.319
R. David (he/him): what… is Rabbi Paul getting at? Well, let's go there.

549
00:51:14.160 --> 00:51:21.860
R. Rachel: So, in case these names that we just encountered, Na'ama and Tubal Khain, are unfamiliar to us, here are some

550
00:51:22.400 --> 00:51:27.669
R. Rachel: These are the hyperlinks that this text is meant to evoke.

551
00:51:29.570 --> 00:51:33.309
R. David (he/him): Like, this is part of the begats, you know?

552
00:51:33.310 --> 00:51:37.469
R. Rachel: that long stretch of Genesis, this one gave birth to that one, who had

553
00:51:37.580 --> 00:51:40.500
R. Rachel: This… these children who gave birth to these ones.

554
00:51:42.330 --> 00:51:50.429
R. Rachel: But they… the tradition takes all of these early figures seriously. So, one of the

555
00:51:50.960 --> 00:51:58.979
R. Rachel: One of the wives… there are two wives, Zilah and Ada, and one of them bore two balkain.

556
00:51:59.120 --> 00:52:00.810
R. Rachel: and Na'ama.

557
00:52:02.900 --> 00:52:05.929
R. David (he/him): That's what Genesis says.

558
00:52:07.960 --> 00:52:11.020
R. David (he/him): But what if you didn't speak Hebrew?

559
00:52:13.480 --> 00:52:17.770
R. David (he/him): If you speak Hebrew, you got Torah in its original.

560
00:52:18.040 --> 00:52:19.540
R. David (he/him): We think.

561
00:52:20.940 --> 00:52:26.879
R. David (he/him): If you speak English, you probably know the King James Version, or

562
00:52:27.010 --> 00:52:34.459
R. David (he/him): the Rachel Baronblatt, Dave Marcus version, or JPS. These are all English translations.

563
00:52:34.750 --> 00:52:50.239
R. David (he/him): If you've learned with me before, you have heard me say this, every translation is Midrash. Every. Single. One. Here is an early translation called Targum, literally translation, by a guy named Yonatun.

564
00:52:50.980 --> 00:52:55.569
R. David (he/him): There are several Targumim, Targum Unclos.

565
00:52:55.690 --> 00:53:03.310
R. David (he/him): is one, Targum Yonatan is another, and the translation is from Hebrew to Aramaic.

566
00:53:04.120 --> 00:53:16.370
R. David (he/him): Which is one of the ancient languages that our foreparents spoke spiritual forefolk when they were in Babylon.

567
00:53:16.370 --> 00:53:29.559
R. Rachel: And the two languages are related, and they're sort of cousins, and if you know one, you can kind of fake your way through the other sometimes. And yet, this translation is going to… is not exactly the same.

568
00:53:29.990 --> 00:53:44.089
R. David (he/him): Zila also bore Tubal Kain, and now we're going to learn something more about this person, chief of all artificers who knew workmanship in brass and iron. And the sister of Tubal Khain was Nama.

569
00:53:44.530 --> 00:53:52.020
R. David (he/him): Mistress of Elegies and Songs. Is this directly translatable?

570
00:53:52.210 --> 00:53:55.810
R. David (he/him): Absolutely not. Not. Even.

571
00:53:56.960 --> 00:54:00.890
R. Rachel: the Aramaic says, but the Aramaic is not the same as the Hebrew.

572
00:54:00.890 --> 00:54:02.430
R. David (he/him): Not even close.

573
00:54:02.430 --> 00:54:03.989
R. Rachel: Mistress of what now?

574
00:54:03.990 --> 00:54:12.810
R. David (he/him): You can't… there's just no way to get there. The Ahut Tuvotain Nama, the sister of Tubokain Was Nama. Got it!

575
00:54:12.810 --> 00:54:13.430
R. Rachel: sets.

576
00:54:13.430 --> 00:54:28.320
R. David (he/him): And all of this other stuff is just added. It's just added. Mistress of Elegies in Song. That's just added. That's Midrash.

577
00:54:28.520 --> 00:54:30.699
R. Rachel: It's Midrash! It's not the original.

578
00:54:30.700 --> 00:54:32.429
R. David (he/him): Not even!

579
00:54:33.280 --> 00:54:34.130
R. David (he/him): Excellent.

580
00:54:34.270 --> 00:54:39.339
R. David (he/him): Okay, so what was floating in the ether?

581
00:54:39.590 --> 00:54:48.550
R. David (he/him): or the floodwaters back then. Genesis Rabbah, one of our compendia of Midrashim from about 1800 years ago, who wants it?

582
00:54:49.530 --> 00:54:50.419
R. David (he/him): You can see horses.

583
00:54:53.000 --> 00:55:05.380
Brett Chinn: Read. Rabbi Abab Bar Kahana said, Nama was Noah's wife. Why did they call her Nama? Because her actions were pleasing and mean. The rabbis say.

584
00:55:05.840 --> 00:55:21.220
Brett Chinn: The rabbis say… I'm confused by this, but the rabbis say Nama was someone else, i.e. not Noah's wife. As a descendant of Cain, she was sinful and had to die in the flood. And why did they call her Nama? Because she pleasantly played tambourine for idol worship.

585
00:55:21.220 --> 00:55:22.190
R. David (he/him): Whoa!

586
00:55:23.870 --> 00:55:30.230
R. Rachel: Note, also, we've got Rabbi Abba Bar Kahana, so a named guy says she's Noah's wife.

587
00:55:30.840 --> 00:55:41.469
R. Rachel: And then, the rabbis say, the anonymous voice of the collective. Nobody's willing to put their name on this one, this is just… oh, but people say…

588
00:55:41.740 --> 00:55:44.449
R. Rachel: Oh, no, it must have been somebody else, because…

589
00:55:45.130 --> 00:55:50.770
R. Rachel: Because she… if she's a descendant of Cain, she had to die in the flood, and also, by the way, she was an idolater.

590
00:55:51.880 --> 00:55:54.739
R. Rachel: Which is pretty much the worst thing that our sages could say.

591
00:55:55.500 --> 00:55:59.109
Sherrill Cropper: I was wondering where that came from in the poem, where it said… she said.

592
00:55:59.340 --> 00:56:02.560
Sherrill Cropper: they say I am an idolater. I was wondering where that came.

593
00:56:02.560 --> 00:56:09.609
R. David (he/him): Well, that's why we're unpacking this. Why are our ancestors hating on Nama?

594
00:56:11.360 --> 00:56:17.930
R. Rachel: Mistress of Elegies and songs might sound kind of cool to us, but it could also be, you know.

595
00:56:18.250 --> 00:56:23.070
R. Rachel: Some kind of weird idol worship that's… not the way we do things.

596
00:56:24.120 --> 00:56:31.550
R. David (he/him): Hmm. By the way, do we know anyone in Jewish tradition who also is a mistress of elegy and song?

597
00:56:32.260 --> 00:56:37.080
R. David (he/him): Yeah, so several of you are doing this universal sign language for.

598
00:56:38.920 --> 00:56:39.690
Brett Chinn: Miriam?

599
00:56:39.690 --> 00:56:40.150
Nancy Goody: Miriam.

600
00:56:40.150 --> 00:56:42.009
R. David (he/him): Sure! Why not?

601
00:56:42.010 --> 00:56:43.760
R. Rachel: Tambourine, right there.

602
00:56:43.760 --> 00:56:44.350
R. David (he/him): Why not?

603
00:56:44.350 --> 00:56:45.270
R. Rachel: Tambourine!

604
00:56:46.230 --> 00:56:54.160
R. David (he/him): Right? So, notice, notice the… the theme. Women play the accompaniment.

605
00:56:54.400 --> 00:56:57.350
R. Rachel: Yep, we have our little tambourines.

606
00:56:57.350 --> 00:56:59.030
R. David (he/him): White?

607
00:56:59.950 --> 00:57:03.159
R. David (he/him): Right? I mean, this is not coming from nowhere.

608
00:57:03.160 --> 00:57:06.749
R. Rachel: And yet, apparently, we're still incredibly powerful and scary, which is why you have to keep

609
00:57:07.950 --> 00:57:12.409
R. Rachel: You, the tradition, has to keep making sure everybody understands that we're… we're the minor part.

610
00:57:12.410 --> 00:57:14.790
R. David (he/him): So why are we hating on Nama?

611
00:57:15.510 --> 00:57:19.019
Brett Chinn: Can I ask… I'm confused, so is NAMA…

612
00:57:19.230 --> 00:57:21.400
R. David (he/him): Noah's wife or not his wife?

613
00:57:21.400 --> 00:57:21.780
R. Rachel: Don't know.

614
00:57:22.120 --> 00:57:22.700
R. David (he/him): But we don't know.

615
00:57:22.700 --> 00:57:24.470
Brett Chinn: be, like, asking that.

616
00:57:24.470 --> 00:57:27.929
R. Rachel: doesn't actually say. Torah just says, Mrs. Noah.

617
00:57:28.970 --> 00:57:30.210
R. David (he/him): And the tri…

618
00:57:30.320 --> 00:57:47.240
R. Rachel: the tradition, or at least Rabbi Abba says, oh, that was Noah's wife, was Na'amah. She's one of the few named women in the Torah at this point. She's one of the only female names we've seen. So if they… either he's gonna marry somebody we've never heard of, or it has to be this one woman who's already been named.

619
00:57:48.010 --> 00:57:50.809
R. Rachel: I mean, the very fact that Torah is giving a woman.

620
00:57:51.220 --> 00:57:52.930
R. David (he/him): so early.

621
00:57:53.550 --> 00:57:57.110
R. David (he/him): is telling us something. What it's telling us.

622
00:57:57.360 --> 00:57:57.870
R. Rachel: Who knows?

623
00:57:57.870 --> 00:57:59.310
R. David (he/him): Is the question.

624
00:58:00.320 --> 00:58:10.239
R. Rachel: In general, in Midrash Rabah, if we get a named person saying something, and then the collective is saying something else.

625
00:58:10.510 --> 00:58:14.320
R. Rachel: The view of the named person is usually the one we stick with.

626
00:58:14.860 --> 00:58:18.419
R. Rachel: We've preserved the voices of the collective who make a different argument.

627
00:58:18.890 --> 00:58:26.519
R. Rachel: Word for iron, does it actually mean iron? Yes, nechocette and Barzell, so copper and iron.

628
00:58:26.770 --> 00:58:31.680
R. David (he/him): Yeah. Also, elements of Worm.

629
00:58:32.740 --> 00:58:35.070
R. Rachel: What did we make out of copper and iron?

630
00:58:35.610 --> 00:58:36.000
R. David (he/him): I've been…

631
00:58:36.000 --> 00:58:36.550
R. Rachel: bronze.

632
00:58:36.550 --> 00:58:39.180
R. David (he/him): and… Idols!

633
00:58:40.930 --> 00:58:43.459
R. David (he/him): So why are you hating on Nama?

634
00:58:46.240 --> 00:58:49.199
R. David (he/him): Why is the collective hating on Nama?

635
00:58:56.690 --> 00:58:57.540
R. Rachel: Crickets.

636
00:58:58.470 --> 00:59:00.660
R. David (he/him): Crickets are hating on Nama.

637
00:59:07.260 --> 00:59:08.769
R. Rachel: Let's go a little bit further.

638
00:59:09.650 --> 00:59:12.069
R. David (he/him): So here's a text, Midrash Agada.

639
00:59:14.250 --> 00:59:18.319
R. David (he/him): It was compiled by Solomon Buber in 1894.

640
00:59:19.450 --> 00:59:22.800
R. David (he/him): But the story of how he did it is really quite fascinating.

641
00:59:24.370 --> 00:59:29.770
R. David (he/him): There is something called the Aleppo, as in Syria, Aleppo Codex.

642
00:59:30.290 --> 00:59:31.529
R. Rachel: It's a bound book.

643
00:59:31.530 --> 00:59:33.070
R. David (he/him): It's a bound book.

644
00:59:33.880 --> 00:59:38.949
R. David (he/him): Of stuff that got written down and sort of thrown away.

645
00:59:39.240 --> 00:59:42.270
R. David (he/him): It's like the Cairo Genesa.

646
00:59:42.540 --> 00:59:49.420
R. Rachel: We find so much great stuff on ancient scraps of parchment that we're… Left in the recycling bin.

647
00:59:49.730 --> 00:59:52.499
R. David (he/him): Right? Like, we know what people…

648
00:59:53.130 --> 00:59:57.499
R. David (he/him): ordering for food because there was, like, stuff in their…

649
00:59:57.760 --> 01:00:04.290
R. David (he/him): You know, contracts. Cheryl… Cheryl is writing Aleppo Chronicleless?

650
01:00:05.130 --> 01:00:06.109
R. David (he/him): Is that what that says?

651
01:00:06.110 --> 01:00:11.320
Sherrill Cropper: Yeah, is this the book? I had found this, it's so fascinating, Aleppo Chronicles.

652
01:00:11.320 --> 01:00:13.950
R. David (he/him): I don't know… I don't know the answer.

653
01:00:14.140 --> 01:00:14.510
Sherrill Cropper: Oh, no.

654
01:00:14.510 --> 01:00:15.580
R. David (he/him): I don't know.

655
01:00:15.580 --> 01:00:16.609
Sherrill Cropper: Wondering if it was the same.

656
01:00:16.930 --> 01:00:18.329
R. David (he/him): Now, check it out.

657
01:00:18.760 --> 01:00:22.889
R. David (he/him): Who wants to read from the Aleppo Codex of the 1200s?

658
01:00:32.060 --> 01:00:34.500
R. David (he/him): Courage, people. Courage.

659
01:00:36.130 --> 01:00:36.950
R. David (he/him): Deanna?

660
01:00:37.480 --> 01:00:56.509
Diana Rico: The sister of Tuval Cain was Nama. The rabbis said that she was called Nama because ultimately she was so quote-unquote pleasant in her ways that the ministering angels asked to wander after her, and she fled from them.

661
01:00:57.230 --> 01:01:01.359
R. David (he/him): Wait, I'm sorry, what? So, so, Deborah, I'm not…

662
01:01:01.360 --> 01:01:02.070
R. Rachel: now?

663
01:01:02.070 --> 01:01:17.099
R. David (he/him): Yeah, who, wait, what? Deborah, I'm just gonna pick on you for a second, because I just want to reflect back the… the weather I saw on the screen. You know, Deanna, I'm gonna be you, Debra. You know, Deanna's reading, and you're following along, and then… you went like this.

664
01:01:18.760 --> 01:01:19.300
debra: -Oh.

665
01:01:19.940 --> 01:01:20.480
debra: Sorry.

666
01:01:20.880 --> 01:01:27.059
R. David (he/him): No, no, no, no, that's not a sorry! That's the point! I was confused. That's calling you in!

667
01:01:27.060 --> 01:01:28.520
debra: I'm gonna go in that direction.

668
01:01:28.520 --> 01:01:29.380
R. David (he/him): Right.

669
01:01:30.400 --> 01:01:31.330
R. David (he/him): Who now?

670
01:01:31.830 --> 01:01:37.700
R. Rachel: Who are the ministering angels, and what… wander after her? What exactly does that mean?

671
01:01:37.700 --> 01:01:38.540
R. David (he/him): James?

672
01:01:38.540 --> 01:01:40.279
R. Rachel: Nice view?

673
01:01:41.940 --> 01:01:46.669
James Nerlinger (Cincinnati, Ohio USA): Well, I was going to say, Midrash is clearly

674
01:01:47.000 --> 01:01:54.470
James Nerlinger (Cincinnati, Ohio USA): taking this person and building some kind of an analogy to Lilith, to Fiemens…

675
01:01:54.740 --> 01:02:02.450
James Nerlinger (Cincinnati, Ohio USA): to, the pagan lore… I get that. What I'm trying to figure out is…

676
01:02:02.720 --> 01:02:06.559
James Nerlinger (Cincinnati, Ohio USA): Why is this so relevant here?

677
01:02:06.960 --> 01:02:10.149
James Nerlinger (Cincinnati, Ohio USA): I'm a little confused about where we're going with all this.

678
01:02:11.140 --> 01:02:15.140
R. David (he/him): Okay, well, Rachel, I think, I think, I think we… we did it.

679
01:02:15.920 --> 01:02:23.970
R. David (he/him): Congratulations. Why are our ancestors hating on Nama so much? Plainly, they are.

680
01:02:24.700 --> 01:02:36.500
R. David (he/him): And the fact that they have spent so much time and effort over the centuries doing so, taking a putatively anonymous person and giving her.

681
01:02:37.820 --> 01:02:40.530
R. Rachel: Womanly powers…

682
01:02:41.690 --> 01:02:43.490
R. David (he/him): What's this about?

683
01:02:43.490 --> 01:02:54.870
R. Rachel: In the chat, Debra's asking, what does ministering mean? Minister… ministering angels is usually how Malachi Hasharit is rendered. In fact, we probably sang to them last night at the start of.

684
01:02:54.870 --> 01:02:55.369
R. David (he/him): I don't know.

685
01:02:55.480 --> 01:02:57.980
R. David (he/him): Malachhem, Malachiha.

686
01:02:57.980 --> 01:02:59.640
R. Rachel: Sure, yep.

687
01:03:00.070 --> 01:03:01.660
R. David (he/him): We angels of service.

688
01:03:01.990 --> 01:03:03.340
R. David (he/him): to God.

689
01:03:04.550 --> 01:03:11.110
R. Rachel: The angels who… the tending angels, maybe the angels who tend after… Us. The world.

690
01:03:11.120 --> 01:03:11.870
R. David (he/him): Huh.

691
01:03:12.690 --> 01:03:23.000
James Nerlinger (Cincinnati, Ohio USA): So is this just supposed to be the standard, substandard fear of feminine power that we see throughout Midrash with all the old guys that just can't seem to get over the fact that a woman has a place in society?

692
01:03:23.680 --> 01:03:25.310
R. David (he/him): Quite possibly.

693
01:03:25.310 --> 01:03:26.589
R. Rachel: Might be part of it, yeah.

694
01:03:26.590 --> 01:03:28.340
R. David (he/him): Quite possibly.

695
01:03:28.970 --> 01:03:36.645
R. David (he/him): So much so, in fact, that the ministering angels like…

696
01:03:39.240 --> 01:03:45.300
R. Rachel: And angels are generally supposed to be Agender and asexual.

697
01:03:45.760 --> 01:03:50.900
R. Rachel: And our tradition gives that angels have one foot, they stand in one place, they can't move.

698
01:03:50.900 --> 01:03:51.720
R. David (he/him): Midrash.

699
01:03:51.950 --> 01:03:52.270
R. Rachel: Right?

700
01:03:52.270 --> 01:03:54.100
Ellen Ruth Topol: I wanna scream.

701
01:03:56.010 --> 01:03:57.100
R. David (he/him): Hi, Ellen Ruth!

702
01:04:00.350 --> 01:04:06.239
Ellen Ruth Topol: I'm sorry, I'm talking on an iPhone, and I don't know how to negotiate it.

703
01:04:06.240 --> 01:04:07.629
R. David (he/him): That's okay, no problem.

704
01:04:07.630 --> 01:04:08.050
Ellen Ruth Topol: Bye.

705
01:04:08.050 --> 01:04:09.400
R. David (he/him): That's okay.

706
01:04:09.880 --> 01:04:12.360
R. David (he/him): Cheryl.

707
01:04:14.340 --> 01:04:19.800
Sherrill Cropper: One of the… Midrash, I think. No, in the big…

708
01:04:20.190 --> 01:04:24.200
Sherrill Cropper: Is it in the beginning of, noah?

709
01:04:24.740 --> 01:04:30.890
Sherrill Cropper: talks about one of the problems was that angels were coming to Earth and copulating with human women.

710
01:04:31.830 --> 01:04:36.319
R. David (he/him): And so, is this one of the references to…

711
01:04:36.630 --> 01:04:44.420
Sherrill Cropper: why God decided to… one of the reasons God chose to cause the flood

712
01:04:44.570 --> 01:04:51.300
Sherrill Cropper: And so here, we're saying, not only was that one of the reasons, but she

713
01:04:51.480 --> 01:04:54.240
Sherrill Cropper: Gee was one of the reasons.

714
01:04:55.140 --> 01:05:04.219
R. Rachel: Yep, alright, I… Let's… you're, you're taking us exactly where we want to go. Let's look quickly at this piece from Tamar Khadari so that we can get.

715
01:05:04.220 --> 01:05:12.460
R. David (he/him): So, I just want to make sure we all… Rach, if I may, just jump in quickly. So, has anyone ever heard the phrase nephilim?

716
01:05:13.800 --> 01:05:20.020
R. David (he/him): literally the fallen ones. These… they're mentioned in Torah.

717
01:05:20.780 --> 01:05:28.740
R. David (he/him): These are the putative products of the union of human and superhuman

718
01:05:29.090 --> 01:05:36.990
R. David (he/him): And Midrash has turned that into exactly what was just said, and whose fault is that?

719
01:05:37.750 --> 01:05:40.469
R. David (he/him): And the men say…

720
01:05:41.190 --> 01:05:42.759
R. Rachel: It's the lady's fault!

721
01:05:42.950 --> 01:05:45.690
R. David (he/him): And by the way, whose fault was it?

722
01:05:45.690 --> 01:05:47.429
R. Rachel: Did you see what she was wearing?

723
01:05:47.430 --> 01:05:48.519
R. David (he/him): I know, right?

724
01:05:49.480 --> 01:06:01.889
R. David (he/him): By the way, I will never read this again, Rabbi Rachel, without what you wrote in the chat box. I now thank you, I'm seeing Nama being reframed as… Jessica Rabbit. Jessica Rabbit.

725
01:06:02.400 --> 01:06:05.040
R. Rachel: Oh my god. I mean, I've just dated myself.

726
01:06:05.040 --> 01:06:09.470
R. David (he/him): Oh my god, but, but everybody… you can see that image, right?

727
01:06:10.100 --> 01:06:12.099
R. David (he/him): This is the men blaming the women.

728
01:06:12.100 --> 01:06:13.220
R. Rachel: It's just drawn that way.

729
01:06:13.380 --> 01:06:18.089
R. David (he/him): But wait a minute, I thought the whole original sin thing…

730
01:06:18.940 --> 01:06:20.360
R. Rachel: It's not our jam.

731
01:06:20.360 --> 01:06:23.500
R. David (he/him): was not our jam. What happens

732
01:06:24.680 --> 01:06:27.590
R. David (he/him): I thought it wasn't Eve's fault.

733
01:06:29.000 --> 01:06:30.979
R. David (he/him): I thought we don't do that.

734
01:06:36.600 --> 01:06:38.980
R. David (he/him): Where do we get these ideas from?

735
01:06:44.730 --> 01:06:47.300
R. Rachel: We're not evolving as a people in a vacuum.

736
01:06:47.950 --> 01:06:53.310
R. Rachel: Right? We are always influenced by the cultures around us.

737
01:06:54.540 --> 01:07:03.220
R. Rachel: And as… Christianity begins to rise, and Christian interpretations are now part of the soup

738
01:07:03.520 --> 01:07:07.090
R. Rachel: Part of the water we're swimming in?

739
01:07:07.870 --> 01:07:15.079
R. Rachel: Maybe that's one direction. We take on some of the pagan ideas of other cultures around us, too.

740
01:07:15.940 --> 01:07:20.150
R. David (he/him): All of that finds expression. I mean, where did the Christians get it?

741
01:07:20.400 --> 01:07:33.020
R. David (he/him): there probably was plenty of misogyny out there. I mean, how many of the 12 disciples were women? And so, what do you infer about that? I'm not a Christian, I can't speak authentically to that.

742
01:07:33.190 --> 01:07:50.049
R. David (he/him): And yet, Jewish tradition has a shechina, and Christian tradition has a Mary, and these are founts of virtue and grace and holiness as well. So we've got this push-pull going on here between the sacred

743
01:07:50.860 --> 01:07:58.649
R. David (he/him): And the demonic, the blame, the big capital O other, the fear of feminine power going on here.

744
01:08:00.960 --> 01:08:05.590
R. David (he/him): Who's really working it behind the scenes?

745
01:08:07.520 --> 01:08:10.280
R. David (he/him): tiny little excerpt about Mrs. Noah.

746
01:08:17.380 --> 01:08:24.350
R. David (he/him): The very fact that we don't know about Mrs. Noah from the text creates a hole, a gap.

747
01:08:25.210 --> 01:08:30.979
R. David (he/him): And we've got to fill it. That's what Midrash does. It magnetizes us. Someone want to read?

748
01:08:40.950 --> 01:08:42.380
R. David (he/him): Legends grow.

749
01:08:43.350 --> 01:08:48.280
R. David (he/him): Legends grow into myths. Noah said he'd heard the voice of God, perhaps.

750
01:08:48.399 --> 01:08:49.160
R. David (he/him): But…

751
01:08:49.760 --> 01:09:00.069
R. David (he/him): You know whose voice nagged him and cheered him on through the years of hammering and sawing and through the dark berth of those 40 days, 40 nights and 40 days?

752
01:09:02.300 --> 01:09:05.960
R. David (he/him): I'm seeing a couple of heads in the room going like this.

753
01:09:07.229 --> 01:09:12.710
R. David (he/him): as if… Miss Ivy is saying, Thank you.

754
01:09:13.180 --> 01:09:16.230
R. David (he/him): Now, she's saying the quiet thing out loud.

755
01:09:19.590 --> 01:09:24.120
R. David (he/him): Does someone whose heads are going like this want to give some words to the head nod?

756
01:09:31.380 --> 01:09:32.889
Brett Chinn: Of course it's his wife.

757
01:09:38.290 --> 01:09:39.229
R. David (he/him): Deborah?

758
01:09:41.200 --> 01:09:45.600
debra: Extraordinary that even so long ago,

759
01:09:45.710 --> 01:09:55.450
debra: Women were only judged by their beauty, their beauty was used as a tool for the indiscretions of men who had all the power, and we nag.

760
01:09:58.050 --> 01:09:59.940
R. Rachel: Love it. Thank you.

761
01:09:59.940 --> 01:10:02.660
R. David (he/him): May I please mansplain what you just said?

762
01:10:02.840 --> 01:10:03.540
R. Rachel: You may not.

763
01:10:07.360 --> 01:10:08.320
R. David (he/him): Right.

764
01:10:08.500 --> 01:10:13.389
R. David (he/him): The very fact that Midrash goes there tells us something.

765
01:10:15.240 --> 01:10:19.900
R. David (he/him): And often Midrash, as we're gonna see, is inherently feminist.

766
01:10:21.680 --> 01:10:37.130
R. David (he/him): Because it includes the excluded, it uplifts the moral theme, it gives voice to the voiceless, it corrects power imbalances. It's very active, this Midrashik project. The question you asked, Debra earlier.

767
01:10:37.250 --> 01:10:48.230
R. David (he/him): Do we read it literally, figuratively? What are we doing? Well, we're doing it for the needs of this generation, and if we're being called into it because something's nagging at us.

768
01:10:48.340 --> 01:10:53.059
R. David (he/him): That impulse Is itself sacred.

769
01:10:53.910 --> 01:10:58.980
R. David (he/him): That's why we said in the beginning last week, or I should say, you know, Rabbi Rachel led.

770
01:11:01.790 --> 01:11:06.660
R. David (he/him): That is no less part of Torah than God said, let there be.

771
01:11:08.540 --> 01:11:10.260
R. David (he/him): And it's on us.

772
01:11:10.700 --> 01:11:12.270
R. David (he/him): to help Torah.

773
01:11:13.160 --> 01:11:15.670
R. David (he/him): And Torah's calling us to do that.

774
01:11:16.540 --> 01:11:24.010
R. David (he/him): So the five books of Miriam are as much part of Torah in this understanding as the five books of Moses.

775
01:11:24.010 --> 01:11:30.899
R. Rachel: And I want to be clear here, two things. One, that when we say the Five Books of Miriam, we don't just mean this volume.

776
01:11:31.580 --> 01:11:37.360
R. Rachel: Although we're about to read an excerpt from it, but we're using that phrase more broadly to mean

777
01:11:37.840 --> 01:11:50.500
R. Rachel: The white fire around the black fire, the voices that aren't included in the canon, which are often the voices of women, but also the voices of other disempowered or voiceless folks.

778
01:11:50.500 --> 01:11:58.489
R. Rachel: And I want us to notice that some of the… some of the contemporary feminist texts we've looked at have been written by men.

779
01:11:58.620 --> 01:12:07.089
R. Rachel: And so I want to be clear that this is not a women's endeavor that only women can do with our magic womanliness. That's not how this works.

780
01:12:10.940 --> 01:12:16.149
R. Rachel: I see your hand. So let's look at… anybody want to read a little Esther Frankel?

781
01:12:16.580 --> 01:12:20.430
R. Rachel: From the five books of Miriam, this is going to take us in a slightly different direction.

782
01:12:21.840 --> 01:12:23.599
R. Rachel: But one that relates, we think.

783
01:12:27.970 --> 01:12:32.799
Rachel Rudansky: Our daughters ask, what is the world like after the flood?

784
01:12:33.300 --> 01:12:46.840
Rachel Rudansky: Ulda answers, Before the flood, the earth is corrupt and filled with violence. In the face of compassion, clouds over, filling the world with dark rage.

785
01:12:46.920 --> 01:12:55.509
Rachel Rudansky: And the world returns to water as, at the beginning, undifferentiated, formless, and void.

786
01:12:56.090 --> 01:13:00.799
Rachel Rudansky: In the midst of this amniotic world floats an arc.

787
01:13:01.050 --> 01:13:11.289
Rachel Rudansky: An embryo suspended in the waters of birth and rebirth, encapsulating its tenets like a sea pod or a womb.

788
01:13:11.500 --> 01:13:15.149
Rachel Rudansky: It contains the potential for new life.

789
01:13:15.680 --> 01:13:23.809
Rachel Rudansky: What reemerges from the ark after this long gestation is not much different from what went in.

790
01:13:24.640 --> 01:13:29.340
Rachel Rudansky: The animals have not changed their natures, neither have the humans.

791
01:13:29.480 --> 01:13:35.579
Rachel Rudansky: Indeed, Noah's first act is to plant a vineyard and get drunk.

792
01:13:39.520 --> 01:13:50.639
Rachel Rudansky: Mother Rachel adds, but Shakhina has changed. Like all seasoned parents, she now knows that children need two things.

793
01:13:50.890 --> 01:13:56.359
Rachel Rudansky: A reasonable set of rules, and the promise of grace.

794
01:13:57.220 --> 01:14:02.890
Rachel Rudansky: So she gives humankind 7 ethical laws and the rainbow.

795
01:14:05.540 --> 01:14:06.400
R. Rachel: Thank you.

796
01:14:07.960 --> 01:14:10.220
R. Rachel: You've misspelled feminine, sir.

797
01:14:12.530 --> 01:14:13.700
R. Rachel: Thank you.

798
01:14:14.670 --> 01:14:21.960
R. Rachel: So, one of… at the very end of last week's Parsha, we see God saying.

799
01:14:22.140 --> 01:14:27.869
R. Rachel: Ugh, I'm disgusted with humanity. I'm sorry I created them. I'm going to wipe them out.

800
01:14:28.310 --> 01:14:29.540
R. Rachel: Right?

801
01:14:31.180 --> 01:14:36.660
R. Rachel: And now we're getting a different kind of Divine Parent.

802
01:14:37.190 --> 01:14:46.009
R. Rachel: We're getting a divine parent who seems to be learning that Children need more than just…

803
01:14:46.130 --> 01:14:49.419
R. Rachel: Alright, you screwed up, I'm going to wash everything away.

804
01:14:50.470 --> 01:14:52.049
R. Rachel: That's no way to parent.

805
01:14:52.490 --> 01:14:59.270
R. Rachel: And so now we're getting two things from God. Rules, story.

806
01:14:59.440 --> 01:15:00.660
R. Rachel: instruction.

807
01:15:01.070 --> 01:15:03.090
R. Rachel: And the promise of grace.

808
01:15:03.790 --> 01:15:07.569
R. Rachel: Ethics, And the rainbow. We need them both.

809
01:15:12.910 --> 01:15:20.870
R. David (he/him): So I have a question, and I'm going to play the role of Excuse me.

810
01:15:21.210 --> 01:15:22.400
R. David (he/him): The man.

811
01:15:23.810 --> 01:15:25.019
R. Rachel: That's gonna be fun.

812
01:15:26.100 --> 01:15:28.690
R. David (he/him): Hey, now… So…

813
01:15:31.730 --> 01:15:44.760
R. David (he/him): these qualities of grace and compassion and generativity, can they not also be qualities for… for men? Or is this men trying to

814
01:15:45.260 --> 01:15:48.610
R. David (he/him): Co-opt. Take. Over.

815
01:15:49.090 --> 01:15:54.260
R. David (he/him): All that crap.

816
01:15:56.410 --> 01:15:58.799
R. Rachel: I know what I think, but I want to hear from the room first.

817
01:15:59.080 --> 01:16:00.170
R. Rachel: What do y'all think?

818
01:16:04.080 --> 01:16:06.269
Rachel Rudansky: Sorry, but I don't know what your…

819
01:16:07.880 --> 01:16:22.759
R. David (he/him): Okay, so I'm not going to mansplain this. So, here comes grace. Here comes the womb of the ark, the waters, the flow. These are associated more with the feminine than

820
01:16:22.950 --> 01:16:29.940
R. David (he/him): Masculine, if we're really looking at imagery and stereotypes.

821
01:16:33.210 --> 01:16:36.649
R. David (he/him): Are these feminine? Feminist?

822
01:16:39.390 --> 01:16:41.109
R. David (he/him): Who do we think's going on here?

823
01:16:41.510 --> 01:16:51.560
Sherrill Cropper: So… I… I'm blessed to know men who have these qualities.

824
01:16:52.830 --> 01:16:56.650
Sherrill Cropper: Of caring and compassion.

825
01:16:56.830 --> 01:17:00.610
R. Rachel: As well as boundaries and helping others.

826
01:17:00.810 --> 01:17:12.360
Sherrill Cropper: I think… I'm just… tossing this out as it comes to me. It's not a very well-thought-out thing.

827
01:17:12.470 --> 01:17:17.840
Sherrill Cropper: But perhaps in the division of Adam and Eve.

828
01:17:19.250 --> 01:17:23.630
Sherrill Cropper: Our mission… Our goal in life

829
01:17:24.430 --> 01:17:27.300
Sherrill Cropper: Is to use these bodies to…

830
01:17:27.640 --> 01:17:30.700
Sherrill Cropper: Focus in on the pieces that aren't.

831
01:17:30.940 --> 01:17:32.400
R. David (he/him): as prevalent.

832
01:17:32.400 --> 01:17:36.709
Sherrill Cropper: And if the feminine side, as opposed to women.

833
01:17:37.100 --> 01:17:40.479
Sherrill Cropper: Because we all have feminine and masculine traits.

834
01:17:40.620 --> 01:17:51.920
Sherrill Cropper: The feminine side are certain traits, the masculine are others. And no matter what ratio we have, regardless of gender or…

835
01:17:52.460 --> 01:18:03.109
Sherrill Cropper: you know, what sex we were born as, and whatever gender we choose. Our goal, in these bodies are to

836
01:18:03.540 --> 01:18:09.960
Sherrill Cropper: Become better, to explore the things that are missing, And have them grow.

837
01:18:10.070 --> 01:18:18.069
Sherrill Cropper: So that there is an equality in them within us. And I think, perhaps, that drawing out

838
01:18:18.420 --> 01:18:25.089
Sherrill Cropper: Shekhina here is part of that, because I had a problem with using Shekinah here.

839
01:18:25.360 --> 01:18:33.929
Sherrill Cropper: Because Shekinah is not external things set upon us, but the divine presence within us.

840
01:18:34.360 --> 01:18:40.100
Sherrill Cropper: And therefore, That makes this maybe a little bit more…

841
01:18:40.280 --> 01:18:46.309
Sherrill Cropper: what I'm saying, in that that shehina within us is to help us develop

842
01:18:46.780 --> 01:18:54.520
Sherrill Cropper: Equally, all of those qualities that we are not innately given at birth at this time.

843
01:18:57.880 --> 01:18:58.710
R. Rachel: Beautiful.

844
01:18:59.570 --> 01:19:03.160
R. Rachel: I'm seeing in the chat that Nancy is giving that a thumbs up, too.

845
01:19:05.810 --> 01:19:13.409
R. Rachel: Right, and Rabbi David is typing, right, the root of the word Shechina, the name Shekinah is to dwell.

846
01:19:13.580 --> 01:19:22.889
R. Rachel: This is our tradition's word for God dwelling within and among For God embodied in creation.

847
01:19:23.560 --> 01:19:27.260
R. Rachel: Often associated with the Divine Feminine.

848
01:19:28.450 --> 01:19:29.190
R. Rachel: who…

849
01:19:29.340 --> 01:19:36.909
R. Rachel: Right. Feminine, in quotes, because God doesn't actually have a body, or a gender, or anything that we can actually wrap our heads around.

850
01:19:37.430 --> 01:19:39.620
R. Rachel: Or God has all of them, or both.

851
01:19:42.380 --> 01:19:45.710
R. Rachel: Shehina is God dwelling within us.

852
01:19:45.840 --> 01:19:54.450
R. Rachel: And I love, Cheryl, I love your idea that part of our spiritual call is to reunify these two

853
01:19:55.540 --> 01:20:05.069
R. Rachel: Kind of qualities that our culture has mapped onto masculine and feminine, but that we all have and we all need to uplift and balance.

854
01:20:10.140 --> 01:20:12.790
R. David (he/him): Yeah, lots of hands, Rachel Janes.

855
01:20:14.790 --> 01:20:23.000
Rachel Rudansky: Well, I wasn't sure, Rabbi David, what you were trying to say, for us to be considering, except that are we…

856
01:20:23.190 --> 01:20:29.539
Rachel Rudansky: Turning this into a feminist… Text, or is it indeed inclusive?

857
01:20:29.940 --> 01:20:33.890
R. David (he/him): Or is it already a feminist text, or is it already inclusive, right?

858
01:20:33.890 --> 01:20:51.119
Rachel Rudansky: Yeah, and so just looking at, I guess this is written by Esther Frankel, but this idea of correlating the embryological process of the embryonic fluid and the encapsulation of

859
01:20:52.240 --> 01:21:01.720
Rachel Rudansky: the membranes and the three levels. I was thinking in the beginning of our meeting that that did remind me of the embryological process, the R…

860
01:21:05.680 --> 01:21:07.689
Rachel Rudansky: So, and we need… we only have

861
01:21:08.950 --> 01:21:13.430
Rachel Rudansky: We do bring the masculine and feminine together.

862
01:21:13.890 --> 01:21:23.770
Rachel Rudansky: So, I'm kind of liking what… where we're going with that, is that we don't have to make something finished. It actually already is.

863
01:21:23.770 --> 01:21:29.089
R. David (he/him): We're already there. Life is that. Life is already…

864
01:21:29.110 --> 01:21:30.830
Rachel Rudansky: Inclusive of that.

865
01:21:31.170 --> 01:21:42.970
R. David (he/him): And maybe hi… yeah, yeah, yeah, thank you. And maybe hiding in plain sight, because we've… tradition… received tradition. Men.

866
01:21:43.160 --> 01:21:48.329
R. David (he/him): Has layered over our lenses a particular frame.

867
01:21:48.590 --> 01:21:50.219
R. David (he/him): But the text…

868
01:21:50.840 --> 01:22:02.420
R. David (he/him): the text maybe is already there. I mean, think about it for a sec. Creation version 1 came through water. Creation here came through

869
01:22:02.710 --> 01:22:13.149
R. David (he/him): Water. Every time someone's life is saved in Genesis, it's in all likelihood going to involve water or a pit.

870
01:22:13.660 --> 01:22:17.289
R. David (he/him): Every. Single. Time. When no…

871
01:22:17.290 --> 01:22:33.720
R. Rachel: say, a womb, right? Both of those, as a poet, I can… either of those can symbolize the womb, the place of rebirth, the place that we emerge out of. This is deep, fundamental human imagery across.

872
01:22:33.720 --> 01:22:36.500
R. David (he/him): Mythos.

873
01:22:37.090 --> 01:22:44.160
R. David (he/him): Baby Moses is sent into a new life. How does he get there? He's put in a what?

874
01:22:45.150 --> 01:22:46.510
R. Rachel: Basket in a river.

875
01:22:47.360 --> 01:22:51.120
R. Rachel: When the people of Israel emerge from Egypt?

876
01:22:51.610 --> 01:22:53.740
R. Rachel: They have to cross the…

877
01:22:54.680 --> 01:23:03.810
R. David (he/him): the sea, and the waters split, and they're reborn in through water. And the first plague is of what?

878
01:23:06.320 --> 01:23:08.690
R. David (he/him): Dumb. Blood. On the what?

879
01:23:09.490 --> 01:23:10.810
R. Rachel: Doorposts.

880
01:23:10.810 --> 01:23:12.160
R. David (he/him): No, no, dumb!

881
01:23:13.480 --> 01:23:14.600
R. David (he/him): the Nile turns…

882
01:23:14.600 --> 01:23:21.329
R. Rachel: Nile turns to blood. There's also the blood on the doorposts as… as the marker, the… the…

883
01:23:21.500 --> 01:23:25.440
R. Rachel: Threshold that we emerge out of into freedom.

884
01:23:26.550 --> 01:23:27.680
R. David (he/him): So…

885
01:23:28.260 --> 01:23:38.709
R. David (he/him): over and over and over again, connecting text to text. You see that pattern over and over. Why did we not see it?

886
01:23:40.830 --> 01:23:44.470
R. David (he/him): In part because the imagery was sublimated.

887
01:23:44.610 --> 01:23:50.970
R. David (he/him): To law, in part because women have been blamed

888
01:23:54.070 --> 01:23:58.879
R. David (he/him): when I first learned the Midrash that maybe God created

889
01:23:59.330 --> 01:24:10.500
R. David (he/him): in the story of Adam and Eve, created those trees… and set… Eve up.

890
01:24:10.970 --> 01:24:26.950
R. David (he/him): Precisely so that she would break a boundary, not because she did it wrong, but because, like any teenager coming into their own, needed to break a boundary and come into adult consciousness.

891
01:24:28.760 --> 01:24:29.900
R. David (he/him): Breaking.

892
01:24:30.420 --> 01:24:33.470
R. David (he/him): Boom. I was like, what? Wait? Because…

893
01:24:34.280 --> 01:24:40.419
R. David (he/him): thousands of years have blamed Eve, blamed Lilith, blamed Nama.

894
01:24:43.030 --> 01:24:46.059
R. David (he/him): Maybe it just ain't so.

895
01:24:51.100 --> 01:24:55.419
R. Rachel: With mindfulness that we're approaching our hour and a half mark.

896
01:24:56.210 --> 01:25:04.050
R. David (he/him): Let's just say what's left here… is… the Noahide laws, the covenant.

897
01:25:04.710 --> 01:25:13.080
R. David (he/him): If you count how many of these rules are extracted in Talmud.

898
01:25:13.340 --> 01:25:17.950
R. David (he/him): from the story of Noah. Let's see if we can count them.

899
01:25:18.390 --> 01:25:20.389
R. David (he/him): Oh, it's already told us, 7.

900
01:25:21.910 --> 01:25:27.500
R. David (he/him): Look at that. And how many colors of the rainbow if you're in second grade?

901
01:25:29.170 --> 01:25:37.220
R. David (he/him): Roy G. Biv, okay. 7 is Shabbat, 7 is the completion.

902
01:25:37.280 --> 01:25:54.869
R. Rachel: 7 is the seven sfirot that we count during the Omer, the seven qualities that we share with God, that we spend those 49 days cultivating in ourselves during the four weeks after… seven weeks after Pesach, and the seven weeks before Mosh Hashanah.

903
01:25:55.170 --> 01:25:57.039
R. Rachel: Right, 7 is…

904
01:25:58.090 --> 01:26:03.989
R. Rachel: A sacred number in all of these ways, and so the rainbow acquires a new kind of symbolism.

905
01:26:03.990 --> 01:26:16.899
R. David (he/him): Right? So this is the kind of covenant we're talking about. It's a covenant of peace, it's a covenant of inclusion, it's a covenant of completion.

906
01:26:19.040 --> 01:26:36.390
R. David (he/him): For bonus points, we offer the extra page here in Torah Journeys from Sheffa Gold, which we will use occasionally as one of the modern commentaries brought forward during this time. I'm going to take our

907
01:26:37.000 --> 01:26:50.629
R. David (he/him): text, now that it's been marked up, I'm gonna put it back in the chat box. All of this, with our recording, will be online. For those of you who came on time today, super thanks.

908
01:26:51.000 --> 01:26:56.819
R. David (he/him): For those who came in a little later, so glad you're here, awesome. If…

909
01:26:57.090 --> 01:26:58.570
R. David (he/him): We… if you want to make a…

910
01:26:58.860 --> 01:27:05.680
R. David (he/him): practice of being here at the stroke of as you're able, that would be wonderful, so that we can start on time.

911
01:27:05.920 --> 01:27:15.510
R. David (he/him): We're gonna make a run at doing that, next week. Next week is Parshat Lechacha, which is the beginning of the Judaic story.

912
01:27:15.940 --> 01:27:17.070
R. Rachel: Again, Abraham.

913
01:27:18.550 --> 01:27:19.500
R. Rachel: Avram.

914
01:27:19.500 --> 01:27:22.970
R. David (he/him): Avram, he doesn't have a… Yet.

915
01:27:25.330 --> 01:27:28.730
R. David (he/him): And… why is it that they couldn't have kids?

916
01:27:29.630 --> 01:27:34.570
R. David (he/him): And all that jazz. We're gonna stay on for a bit. Nancy.

917
01:27:36.480 --> 01:27:45.379
Nancy Goody: Bokart Tov and Shabbat Shalom, I'm sorry, I am still recovering from my hip surgery, so I know I was late, but… Be as you need.

918
01:27:45.380 --> 01:27:45.820
R. David (he/him): Of course.

919
01:27:45.820 --> 01:27:47.830
Nancy Goody: Sorry, I really try to be timely, but…

920
01:27:48.220 --> 01:27:49.839
R. Rachel: It isn't the yes.

921
01:27:49.840 --> 01:27:54.260
Nancy Goody: Sure, but thank you, but now I'm using a cane, not the walker, so…

922
01:27:54.340 --> 01:27:54.820
R. Rachel: That would be a.

923
01:27:54.820 --> 01:27:56.629
Nancy Goody: I have a pa- I have a pal.

924
01:27:56.870 --> 01:27:59.129
Nancy Goody: He's called Quaddy.

925
01:27:59.130 --> 01:27:59.850
R. David (he/him): Okay.

926
01:28:00.370 --> 01:28:01.849
Nancy Goody: I call him Quaddy.

927
01:28:01.850 --> 01:28:07.599
R. David (he/him): Not as that's. However folks can be here whenever, but if you can put a note to yourself…

928
01:28:07.600 --> 01:28:11.870
Nancy Goody: I understand, and I know in the past you've really tried to, to, get us.

929
01:28:11.870 --> 01:28:12.520
R. David (he/him): Rush my mom.

930
01:28:12.520 --> 01:28:15.550
Nancy Goody: Which I totally understand, but I wanted to say something else.

931
01:28:17.290 --> 01:28:28.930
Nancy Goody: Amy, had a very strange little accident this week and has a concussion. Her trunk, the rear trunk, hit her in her noggin.

932
01:28:29.870 --> 01:28:33.440
Nancy Goody: And she didn't think it was really all that bad, but then,

933
01:28:33.770 --> 01:28:39.729
Nancy Goody: You know, I mean, and it was funny, because… Thank you for telling us. You know, so she said I could. Thank you.

934
01:28:39.730 --> 01:28:41.400
R. David (he/him): Thank you for telling us, we're gonna hold her.

935
01:28:41.400 --> 01:28:45.259
Nancy Goody: And basically, she has to be on brain rest.

936
01:28:45.570 --> 01:28:46.070
R. Rachel: Hmm.

937
01:28:46.070 --> 01:28:46.520
R. David (he/him): Okay.

938
01:28:46.520 --> 01:28:50.650
Nancy Goody: Which means no screens, dark lighting, I mean, no lighting, and just…

939
01:28:50.650 --> 01:28:52.070
R. David (he/him): Please tell her.

940
01:28:52.070 --> 01:28:55.320
Nancy Goody: She's really okay. It's not a bad concussion.

941
01:28:55.320 --> 01:28:56.439
R. David (he/him): I got that copy.

942
01:28:56.740 --> 01:28:58.380
Nancy Goody: You know, so anyway.

943
01:28:58.380 --> 01:28:59.920
R. David (he/him): healing for Avi Gile.

944
01:28:59.920 --> 01:29:04.750
Nancy Goody: she couldn't be here, and I know Meredith had an obligation to, but anyway…

945
01:29:04.750 --> 01:29:09.299
R. David (he/him): But folks, folks will come, come as you can, right? But if you're gonna come, Please, yeah.

946
01:29:09.300 --> 01:29:12.480
Nancy Goody: Let you all know what's happening to other people, and… Amazing.

947
01:29:12.590 --> 01:29:15.709
R. Rachel: Thank you. Friends, we're being reminded that we're still recording.

948
01:29:15.710 --> 01:29:16.770
lindabkramer: You had a hip.

949
01:29:17.010 --> 01:29:29.370
R. David (he/him): Yep. Everybody, let me… I just want to cut in here for a second. We are still recording. We are still recording. Is there anyone that wants to say anything about the text? We'll come back to social in just a second.

950
01:29:32.670 --> 01:29:35.990
R. David (he/him): Okay, only stop the recording, say Shabbat Shalom. Rachel?

951
01:29:35.990 --> 01:29:37.289
R. Rachel: Shalom, friends.

952
01:29:37.290 --> 01:29:46.420
Rachel Rudansky: I'm going to say something about habituating how we look at ourselves and our world, and I think that that was part of

953
01:29:47.270 --> 01:29:52.989
Rachel Rudansky: This morning's takeaway for me, or my contemplation this Shabbat, is how…

954
01:29:53.440 --> 01:29:57.750
Rachel Rudansky: constantly put myself in the place that I've been put in because of.

955
01:29:58.270 --> 01:29:59.840
R. David (he/him): Because we didn't put there!

956
01:30:00.090 --> 01:30:07.590
Rachel Rudansky: So, I'm really enjoying that, and thank you both, rabbis, for that opportunity to see that.

957
01:30:07.980 --> 01:30:12.470
R. David (he/him): Thank you. Rabbi Rachel, what's that line? Hafukbah, Hafukhbah?

958
01:30:12.470 --> 01:30:14.269
R. Rachel: it. Everything is in it.

959
01:30:14.270 --> 01:30:19.680
R. David (he/him): the whole thing about Torah study. Hafachba, Hafachba.

960
01:30:19.760 --> 01:30:21.350
Nancy Goody: Kidah Khalabah.

961
01:30:22.340 --> 01:30:25.669
R. Rachel: Turn it, and turn it, for everything is in it.

962
01:30:25.770 --> 01:30:34.859
R. Rachel: We take Torah, and we turn, and we turn like a kaleidoscope. Or, like, put on a different lens. Okay, now how about this one? And what do you see?

963
01:30:35.440 --> 01:30:44.169
R. David (he/him): that project, and making sure you have some spiritual WD-40 in the joints so they don't get stuck.

964
01:30:44.680 --> 01:30:46.369
R. David (he/him): Is the whole point.

965
01:30:46.700 --> 01:31:05.550
R. David (he/him): So this way, we can pivot. So this way, we can say, alright, whose story are we not telling? Oh, what perspective have I missed? Oh, how are my own lenses blinding me? Those are life callings, and one of the reasons that

966
01:31:05.860 --> 01:31:08.220
R. David (he/him): I, I think we're all here.

967
01:31:09.100 --> 01:31:18.290
R. David (he/him): is not just, you know, let's stick it to the dominant social paradigm, and let's, you know, kick the patriarchy. It's that this…

968
01:31:18.540 --> 01:31:26.050
R. David (he/him): Has the potential to help nourish our lives, and help build resilience and ways

969
01:31:26.490 --> 01:31:30.150
R. David (he/him): Not just to cope, but to thrive amidst.

970
01:31:31.080 --> 01:31:32.629
R. David (he/him): That's the work. That's the work.

971
01:31:32.630 --> 01:31:34.730
Rachel Rudansky: Alum, tattoo and alum, right?

972
01:31:34.730 --> 01:31:38.920
R. David (he/him): Kunalam to help repair the world. Yeah.

973
01:31:39.560 --> 01:31:44.170
R. David (he/him): Yeah. Thank you. Yeah. Thank you for that.

974
01:31:44.380 --> 01:31:50.490
R. David (he/him): Other things on the text before we stop the recording, and we'll just stay on and schmooze.

975
01:31:51.010 --> 01:31:56.139
Sherrill Cropper: I was thinking, what if Adam Had eaten that.

976
01:31:56.140 --> 01:31:57.090
R. David (he/him): Apple.

977
01:31:57.400 --> 01:31:59.420
Sherrill Cropper: In spore of the fruit.

978
01:31:59.630 --> 01:32:02.100
Sherrill Cropper: Doesn't say it's an apple, right? The fruit.

979
01:32:02.350 --> 01:32:03.459
R. Rachel: Yeah, that too is Midrash.

980
01:32:03.460 --> 01:32:04.020
Sherrill Cropper: age.

981
01:32:04.130 --> 01:32:11.049
Sherrill Cropper: Yeah, and so I actually searched it, and there is a poem by Danielle Coffin.

982
01:32:11.430 --> 01:32:20.129
Sherrill Cropper: Kofene… I don't know how to say her name. If Adam picked the apple, it's very short, I'd like to read it. I think it's really important to what… Sure.

983
01:32:20.130 --> 01:32:20.560
R. Rachel: one.

984
01:32:21.250 --> 01:32:27.460
Sherrill Cropper: There would be a parade, a celebration, a holiday to commemorate.

985
01:32:27.750 --> 01:32:30.979
Sherrill Cropper: The day he sought enlightenment.

986
01:32:31.480 --> 01:32:45.009
Sherrill Cropper: We would not speak of temptation by the devil. Rather, we would laud Adam's curiosity, his desire for adventure and knowing. We would feast on apple-inspired fare.

987
01:32:45.500 --> 01:32:56.719
Sherrill Cropper: Quartz, chutneys, pancakes, pies, there would be plays and songs reenacting his courage, but it was Eve who grew bored.

988
01:32:56.810 --> 01:33:06.109
Sherrill Cropper: Weary of her captivity in Eden, and a woman's desire for freedom is rarely a cause for celebration.

989
01:33:08.210 --> 01:33:09.380
R. Rachel: Fabulous.

990
01:33:09.870 --> 01:33:11.760
Sherrill Cropper: Isn't that great?

991
01:33:12.720 --> 01:33:13.560
Diana Rico: Girl.

992
01:33:13.560 --> 01:33:16.769
R. Rachel: Ports and chutneys, I love it.

993
01:33:16.770 --> 01:33:19.560
Nancy Goody: And pies! And parade!

994
01:33:19.850 --> 01:33:21.439
Diana Rico: Is there a link to that?

995
01:33:21.440 --> 01:33:23.350
Sherrill Cropper: Holiday is declared.

996
01:33:23.840 --> 01:33:24.369
R. Rachel: I'll put a link.

997
01:33:24.370 --> 01:33:25.820
Diana Rico: That, Cheryl.

998
01:33:25.820 --> 01:33:34.549
Sherrill Cropper: I will type it in, but it was on, you know what? I can also share this on my Facebook page.

999
01:33:34.550 --> 01:33:35.200
lindabkramer: Oh, wow.

1000
01:33:35.200 --> 01:33:35.959
Diana Rico: I'm not off.

1001
01:33:35.960 --> 01:33:38.850
R. David (he/him): I will, I will…

1002
01:33:38.850 --> 01:33:42.570
Sherrill Cropper: Type this into the chat, the woman's name.

1003
01:33:42.570 --> 01:33:43.660
R. David (he/him): Amazing.

1004
01:33:43.880 --> 01:33:46.390
Diana Rico: Thank you. Thank you for finding that.

1005
01:33:46.390 --> 01:33:47.190
R. David (he/him): Wow.

1006
01:33:48.000 --> 01:33:48.550
Diana Rico: Yeah.

1007
01:33:50.160 --> 01:33:54.120
R. David (he/him): Where I land with that, personally, is…

1008
01:33:56.230 --> 01:33:58.789
Sherrill Cropper: You know, you don't have to share that if you don't want.

1009
01:33:58.790 --> 01:33:59.610
lindabkramer: Yeah.

1010
01:34:00.830 --> 01:34:07.769
R. David (he/him): No, no, no. Eve, whom we call Eve, is Chava.

1011
01:34:07.880 --> 01:34:13.549
R. David (he/him): And Chava is Chava, we are told, because she is the mother of all life. So…

1012
01:34:14.860 --> 01:34:17.410
R. David (he/him): It would have to be the woman.

1013
01:34:18.300 --> 01:34:20.999
R. David (he/him): As the one who gives life.

1014
01:34:21.640 --> 01:34:24.239
R. David (he/him): Because that's the point.

1015
01:34:27.400 --> 01:34:31.200
R. David (he/him): You see, the feminism of the text is already there.

1016
01:34:31.490 --> 01:34:33.119
R. David (he/him): It's already there.

1017
01:34:36.060 --> 01:34:42.989
R. David (he/him): And what have we been doing to not see it for thousands of years?

1018
01:34:43.780 --> 01:34:45.410
Sherrill Cropper: Oh, we have seen it.

1019
01:34:46.270 --> 01:34:47.450
lindabkramer: Don't really take it for granted.

1020
01:34:47.450 --> 01:34:51.379
Sherrill Cropper: it, and been suppressed to saying what we've seen.

1021
01:34:53.230 --> 01:34:55.600
Sherrill Cropper: We being the feminine.

1022
01:34:56.130 --> 01:34:58.170
Sherrill Cropper: Folks. This is part of the work.

1023
01:34:58.400 --> 01:35:01.119
R. David (he/him): On behalf of all men everywhere.

1024
01:35:01.610 --> 01:35:07.079
Sherrill Cropper: James, as usual, has actually found the actual hyperlink to it. That's beautiful.

1025
01:35:07.080 --> 01:35:08.530
R. David (he/him): Glorious.

1026
01:35:08.530 --> 01:35:09.240
lindabkramer: rule.

1027
01:35:09.560 --> 01:35:10.559
Sherrill Cropper: Yeah, that's terrific.

1028
01:35:10.560 --> 01:35:11.090
R. David (he/him): Fantastic.

1029
01:35:11.090 --> 01:35:12.670
R. Rachel: I'm gonna hang on to that one.

1030
01:35:12.960 --> 01:35:21.569
R. David (he/him): That's a keeper. I'm gonna say thank you, I'm gonna stop the recording, we'll be on next week. Shabbat Shalom, everyone. We are staying on just to schmooze.