Readin' Writin' 'n 'Rithmetic 'Rithmetic We'll start with 'rithmetic because at the beginning of Parshat Tazria, the first of the two Parshiyot we read this Shabbat, we find laws concerning a Jewish woman who has given birth, involving numbers. If the child is a boy, the woman must wait for seven days (during which she is considered a "niddah"; that is, in a state of ritual "impurity"), plus Biblically, with Temple-related implications, another thirty-three days before she returns to complete "taharah," or ritual "purity." And if the child is a girl, the numbers are double; that is, fourteen and sixty-six days, respectively, for the two periods. In Judaism, it seems to be a general rule that when a person is separated from normal life for some reason, whether it be a happy reason, such as the Days of Celebration following marriage, or unhappy, as in the case of mourning, G-d forbid, a count of time is required, usually seven days, before their return. We are now in the midst of the Period of Sefirat HaOmer, where we also are commanded to count the days and weeks between the Second Day of Passover until the Holiday of Shavuot. Again we have a Torah-authorized counting of time. In Judaism, one is not permitted to count objects arbitrarily. In particular, it is definitely prohibited to count people directly. This is why when a census was required of the Jewish People, the count was made by means of counting coins. And it is also why King David was punished severely when he conducted an unauthorized census of the Jewish People. With regard to one's wealth, there is also a negative connotation attached to making a direct count. In that area, the operative principle is "blessing is found only in that which is hidden from the eye." However, with regard to time, there seems to be no such hesitation on the part of the Torah. We have already seen several examples where the Torah explicitly authorizes counting, and there are many others. The Torah, it can be said, specifically wants us to count time, in order to help us evaluate it, appreciate it, cherish it, and properly utilize this great gift. The most important count for an individual is probably the count of the days of his or her life in terms of the measure of accomplishment in life versus potential, the count concerning which King David asks G-d, "how to count our days, let us understand." From the Jewish perspective, it is clearly true that "one's time is a terrible thing to waste!" Readin' 'n Writin' The New York Times Science Section of April 6, 1999 raised a fascinating question regarding the first written message created by a human being. For whom was it written, when nobody could read? How does one learn to read? By reading written material. But before the first writing, there was nothing available from which to learn to read! What came first - the chicken or the egg? It is possible that the Jewish approach to this question can be found in the statement
found in the Talmud in Pesachim 54a, which reads as follows: "Ten
items were created on Erev Shabbat during the period of twilight, and they are as follows:
Thus, after Adam and Chava partook of the Tree of Knowledge, which resulted in their
expulsion into the world more-or-less as we know it, Hashem illuminated in their minds
SIMULTANEOUSLY the ability to write and the ability to read, interdependent abilities
(as the Times pointed out) the development of which would have been impossible
without this Divine intervention. It is interesting to note, as well, that the most ancient example of writing yet
discovered is of Sumerian origin, found in a location between the Tigris and Euphrates
Rivers, two of the four river branches in the vicinity of which the Torah places the
Garden of Eden, dating it (by scientific methods) to approximately 5,600 years ago. This
is remarkably close to our traditional date for the emergence of the human race, Original
Man and Woman and their descendants, into history (their Creation?), as occurring 5,759
years ago, a percentage difference from the less reliable date of the Sumerian document of
only 2.8 percent! It is also interesting that the Sumerian document in question was in fact a recipe
for beer. This alcoholic tendency, which can be problematic at times, was not much
ameliorated for the next ten generations, for the Torah tells us that the first act
performed by "Noach," or Noah, after his surviving the Great Flood, was to plant
a vineyard! From a literary point of view, the Sumerian recipe is also highly reminiscent of the
"holy" document in "A Canticle for Leibowitz." That novel is set six
hundred years in the future, in the "dark ages" which ensued after Mankind had
effectively destroyed its civilization and all of its culture and literature by engaging
in nuclear warfare at the end of the twentieth century (a Y2K Problem of monumental
proportions!). In that book, the document attributed to Leibowitz, and the only
remaining evidence of human culture, was, in fact, a grocery list that the Saint
had been carrying in his pocket when the missiles fell! The bottom line, though, is that the three R's, the ability to form letters and words,
and to perceive and recognize their form and meaning, plus the ability to measure the
world and understand its quantitative relationships as they interact with great degrees of
subtlety, that represent the manifestation within the human being of G-dly intelligence.
It was these abilities with which the Creator favored His most beloved creature that
raised him from the level of only "What is man that You take notice of him?" to
the level "only a little bit (relatively speaking) lower than Yourself." (Psalms
8:5,6) Rabbi Pinchas Frankel Rabbi Frankel is an Educational Coordinator at the OU |
