er was eens once upon a time & if they are still
'alive ...'
We
bevinden ons
dus allemaal als
het ware bij wijze
van spreken en schrijven op
weg tussen de synaptische kloven en
spleten waar sterrenstof ons verleidde
tot het maken van keuzes en nemen
van beslissingen?!
Diep binnenin ons herkennen we
heelal en eeuwigheid als onverbrekelijk deel van onszelf
en omgekeerd.
Wij maken in al onze kleinheid
en onbeduidendheid een beslissende bijdrage aan alles wat er was en ooit
zal zijn. Het enige wat we hebben zijn onze innerlijke ogen en oren,
neus, mond, onze handen
en voeten.
Nadat we ooit
van elkaar gescheiden zijn geraakt
in de loop der revoluties van miljoenen jaren, zijn we nu
weer op weg naar elkaar toe samen met alle andere mensen, planten en dieren:
wat uit elkaar is geraakt moet zijn weg terug vinden naar elkaar toe
via alle voorbij fantasie, illusies,
veronderstellingen
en religies.
Onze verschillen
zijn niet langer meer een reden om ons af te scheiden,
elkaar te bevechten, te onderdrukken & wederzijds te vernietigen
maar juist om samen aan het werk te gaan
in alle rust en eenvoud
zonder haat!
Alle
rassen, stammen,
volken, talen, culturen
en tradities kwamen voort
uit die ene bron en keren terug
naar elkaar nadat ze zovele duizenden jaren
van g d en gebod zijn losgeraakt,
verdwaald en
verdwaasd?
Rabbi Hiyya,
however, was quite opposed
to Rabbi Shim'on bar Yohai's view,
both politically and midrashi-cally.
His notion is that Jews may purchase any sort of foodstuff from Gentiles,
as long, of course, as it is kosher. The Talmud asks, then,
how he would go about interpreting the same verse
that Rabbi Shim'on has read as strongly limiting
of commensality between Jews
and gentiles.
Rabbi Hiyya
develops a whole political philosophy
of Jewish-Gentile interaction ~ actually of Jewish-Roman interaction,
a procedure justified by the fact that the verse actually does refer to the proper behavior of Israel
toward the children of Esau,
or Edom.
The Bible
explicitly says not tp provoke them.
[For they are {already} hothearted and also hardheaded!]
An alternative to provoking them
is also offered by the verse, which Rabbi Hiyya understands in a way
that takes it out of its immediate biblical-historical context
and gives it new cultural power as a suggestion
to use gifts to turn Roman hearts favorably
to their Jewish subjects.
This is derived
from the verse by typically clever midrashic punning,
in addition to the mobilization of the foundational intertext,
the story of the original Yacob
and Esau:
How,
then does Rabbi Hiyya the Great
explain the verse:
"You shall buy food from them for money, and eat"? ~
If you feed him,
you have bought and defeated him,
for if he is harsh with you, buy/defeat him with food,
and if [that does] not [work], then defeat him
with money.
The phrase
"buy food from them"
can also with only relatively modest stretching of the syntax ~ well within
the bounds of midrashic practice ~ and none whatever of the lexicon, be read as "defeat them,"
since the word "buy" & the word "defeat" are homonyms, sharing, as they do,
the root {shin/beth/resh}.
Thus the verse is read as:
"With food, buy them, and [if that doesn't work],
break [= defeat by suborning] them with money."
This is an obvious allusion
to the situation within which the weak,
"feminine" Jacob bought the favor of the "virile," dominant Esau
by giving him food.
Baksheesh/'levakesh' itself
becomes institutionalized as a discursive practice of opposition to oppression.
Various "dishonest" practices and deceptions are valorized by rabbinic/islamic
and other colonized peoples
in direct opposition
to the "manly" arts of violent resistance.
As an Indian untouchable phrased it:
"We must also tactfully disguise and hide, as necessary,
our true aims and intentions from our social adversaries.
To recommend it is not to encourage falsehood
but only to be tactical in order
to survive!"
Proverbially/'representing':
these terms can be used advisedly
for I do not have to assume that these are
ipsissima verba of the "real" Rabbis {Shim'on & any other Rabbi}
in order to mobilize what is said about him [them] elsewhere in interpreting a passage
attributed to him [them] because the individual Rabbis themselves
came to be personifications of particular ideological stances
within the tradition, and we don't have to know
how "authentic" these personality sketches are
in order to read them.
Rabbi Hiyya's philosophy
is to follow the biblical injunction
not to provoke authority by standing up to it,
but to attempt to oblige it, with the result that the authority will favor
the entire people and act justly toward them.
The trick is to defeat them by seeming
to go along with them.
"Kill them with kindness"
is the lesson. Or,
if you prefer:
"By doing so
you will heap burning coals
upon their [opposing] heads.
Overpower evil by
doing good."
bevinden ons
dus allemaal als
het ware bij wijze
van spreken en schrijven op
weg tussen de synaptische kloven en
spleten waar sterrenstof ons verleidde
tot het maken van keuzes en nemen
van beslissingen?!
Diep binnenin ons herkennen we
heelal en eeuwigheid als onverbrekelijk deel van onszelf
en omgekeerd.
Wij maken in al onze kleinheid
en onbeduidendheid een beslissende bijdrage aan alles wat er was en ooit
zal zijn. Het enige wat we hebben zijn onze innerlijke ogen en oren,
neus, mond, onze handen
en voeten.
Nadat we ooit
van elkaar gescheiden zijn geraakt
in de loop der revoluties van miljoenen jaren, zijn we nu
weer op weg naar elkaar toe samen met alle andere mensen, planten en dieren:
wat uit elkaar is geraakt moet zijn weg terug vinden naar elkaar toe
via alle voorbij fantasie, illusies,
veronderstellingen
en religies.
Onze verschillen
zijn niet langer meer een reden om ons af te scheiden,
elkaar te bevechten, te onderdrukken & wederzijds te vernietigen
maar juist om samen aan het werk te gaan
in alle rust en eenvoud
zonder haat!
Alle
rassen, stammen,
volken, talen, culturen
en tradities kwamen voort
uit die ene bron en keren terug
naar elkaar nadat ze zovele duizenden jaren
van g d en gebod zijn losgeraakt,
verdwaald en
verdwaasd?
Rabbi Hiyya,
however, was quite opposed
to Rabbi Shim'on bar Yohai's view,
both politically and midrashi-cally.
His notion is that Jews may purchase any sort of foodstuff from Gentiles,
as long, of course, as it is kosher. The Talmud asks, then,
how he would go about interpreting the same verse
that Rabbi Shim'on has read as strongly limiting
of commensality between Jews
and gentiles.
Rabbi Hiyya
develops a whole political philosophy
of Jewish-Gentile interaction ~ actually of Jewish-Roman interaction,
a procedure justified by the fact that the verse actually does refer to the proper behavior of Israel
toward the children of Esau,
or Edom.
The Bible
explicitly says not tp provoke them.
[For they are {already} hothearted and also hardheaded!]
An alternative to provoking them
is also offered by the verse, which Rabbi Hiyya understands in a way
that takes it out of its immediate biblical-historical context
and gives it new cultural power as a suggestion
to use gifts to turn Roman hearts favorably
to their Jewish subjects.
This is derived
from the verse by typically clever midrashic punning,
in addition to the mobilization of the foundational intertext,
the story of the original Yacob
and Esau:
How,
then does Rabbi Hiyya the Great
explain the verse:
"You shall buy food from them for money, and eat"? ~
If you feed him,
you have bought and defeated him,
for if he is harsh with you, buy/defeat him with food,
and if [that does] not [work], then defeat him
with money.
The phrase
"buy food from them"
can also with only relatively modest stretching of the syntax ~ well within
the bounds of midrashic practice ~ and none whatever of the lexicon, be read as "defeat them,"
since the word "buy" & the word "defeat" are homonyms, sharing, as they do,
the root {shin/beth/resh}.
Thus the verse is read as:
"With food, buy them, and [if that doesn't work],
break [= defeat by suborning] them with money."
This is an obvious allusion
to the situation within which the weak,
"feminine" Jacob bought the favor of the "virile," dominant Esau
by giving him food.
Baksheesh/'levakesh' itself
becomes institutionalized as a discursive practice of opposition to oppression.
Various "dishonest" practices and deceptions are valorized by rabbinic/islamic
and other colonized peoples
in direct opposition
to the "manly" arts of violent resistance.
As an Indian untouchable phrased it:
"We must also tactfully disguise and hide, as necessary,
our true aims and intentions from our social adversaries.
To recommend it is not to encourage falsehood
but only to be tactical in order
to survive!"
Proverbially/'representing':
these terms can be used advisedly
for I do not have to assume that these are
ipsissima verba of the "real" Rabbis {Shim'on & any other Rabbi}
in order to mobilize what is said about him [them] elsewhere in interpreting a passage
attributed to him [them] because the individual Rabbis themselves
came to be personifications of particular ideological stances
within the tradition, and we don't have to know
how "authentic" these personality sketches are
in order to read them.
Rabbi Hiyya's philosophy
is to follow the biblical injunction
not to provoke authority by standing up to it,
but to attempt to oblige it, with the result that the authority will favor
the entire people and act justly toward them.
The trick is to defeat them by seeming
to go along with them.
"Kill them with kindness"
is the lesson. Or,
if you prefer:
"By doing so
you will heap burning coals
upon their [opposing] heads.
Overpower evil by
doing good."
11 jul 2008 - bewerkt op 11 jul 2008
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