[NGFP-BookClub] Growing up in Pharaoh's Court

[Elie Aharon]

"Distorting the truth"... has a nice ring to it.  But the greatness of the
stories is that there are multiple truths.  To say that only one is true is
the ultimate distortion.

1. When I am personally struggling I know Jacob's fight, and yisra-el is in
me.  Perhaps I will be wounded; perhaps I am not worthy of that.  Perhaps
especially then, I am in Yisrael.

2. When I address an ineffable YHVH, beyond my naming, I find trust beyond
what is consumable and only here now.

Only two interpretations.  At their moments, true.  I also see Moses'
courage, not to look away as we so often do; not to ignore the voice.  And
his insecurity despite YHVH's faith.  Also the long walk home, as he now
must explain to his wife why the household must move.

Is it not 'only' human, to project ourselves into the stories?  And our
obligation, as well?  Each such projection risks, anticipates, a new
meaning, as my life is not Moses' life; an ancient meaning, as I am Moses
again.

The stories resonate... no not all of them;  I cannot imagine a
meaningfulness in Moses' son's circumcision at the inn that would not be
contrived... but most of them resonate deeply, differently to different
ages, or to me at different times.

What is interesting to me is the extent that commonly accepted
interpretations are just that, and not specifically textual.  1. these are
the interpretations that have had the most repetition, and 2. they are
universally relevant to we-who-remain-humans in relationship.

Perhaps at one time the Moses' Inn story was ideal to transmit a meaning.
Perhaps that circumstance will arise again.  In case it does, we shrug and
leave it in the utilized text.

In my opinion, our obligation is to take the texts seriously and interpret
repeatedly, as both we and our percieved world changes... the texts remain
at once very ancient and entirely new.

Elie


-----Original Message-----
From: ngfp-bookclub-admin@lists.ngfp.org
[mailto:ngfp-bookclub-admin@lists.ngfp.org]On Behalf Of James Kugel
Sent: Thursday, April 28, 2005 2:50 PM
To: ngfp-bookclub@lists.ngfp.org
Cc: 'Aron Trauring'
Subject: RE: [NGFP-BookClub] Growing up in Pharaoh's Court


    Dear Students:

    I want to get back to the "truth" question we talked about earlier,
but perhaps from a different angle.

    Actually, I wanted to mention this a couple of lessons back: Modern
biblical scholars say that the incident of Jacob wrestling with the
angel is mostly out to explain how things got their names: Israel, first
of all -- so named because Jacob wrestled with God ((yisra-el), but also
the Jabbok ford, where the incident took place, since Jabbok (yabboq)
sounds a little like "wrestle" (ye'abbeq), as well as the city Peniel,
which sounds like penei-el, "face of God," since Jacob wrestled
face-to-face.

    Scholars make a similar point about Moses at the burning bush.
Moses asks to know God's name, and He answers "I am that I am" -- which
sound somewhat like God's actual name, spelled with the Hebrew letters
Y, H, W, and H. Thus the story, modern scholars say, is out to account
for God's name... though perhaps not only that.

    What do you think about either case? And if so, are the ancient
interpreters distorting the truth?

    _____________
    James Kugel
    11 Efrayim St.
    93621 Jerusalem
    Israel
    Tel. 972 2 672-2197
    Fax. 972 2 673-3027



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