{"id":61130,"date":"2018-12-05T12:39:38","date_gmt":"2018-12-05T17:39:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/?p=61130"},"modified":"2018-12-05T12:39:38","modified_gmt":"2018-12-05T17:39:38","slug":"mikketz-the-universal-and-the-particular","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/parenting\/mikketz-the-universal-and-the-particular\/","title":{"rendered":"Mikketz: The Universal and the Particular"},"content":{"rendered":"

Covenant & Conversation: Family Edition<\/em>\u00a0is a new and exciting initiative from The Office of Rabbi Sacks for 5779.\u00a0 Written as an accompaniment to Rabbi Sacks\u2019 weekly\u00a0Covenant & Conversation<\/em>\u00a0essay, the\u00a0Family Edition<\/em>is aimed at connecting older children and teenagers with his ideas and thoughts on the\u00a0parsha<\/em>. Each element of the\u00a0Family Edition<\/em>\u00a0is progressively more advanced;\u00a0The Core Idea\u00a0<\/em>is appropriate for all ages and the final element,\u00a0From The Thought of Rabbi Sacks<\/em>, is the most advanced section. Each section includes\u00a0Questions to Ponder<\/em>, aimed at encouraging discussion between family members in a way most appropriate to them. We have also included a section called\u00a0Around the Shabbat Table<\/em>\u00a0with a few further questions on the\u00a0parsha<\/em>\u00a0to think about. The final section is an\u00a0Educational Companion<\/em>\u00a0which includes suggested talking points in response to the questions found throughout the\u00a0Family Edition<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Download as PDF<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Covenant and Conversation on OU Torah<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

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The Parsha in a Nutshell<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mikketz\u00a0<\/em>tells two of the most dramatic stories in the Torah. The first is the reversal in Joseph\u2019s fortunes. Forgotten and abandoned in prison, he is brought out to interpret Pharaoh\u2019s dreams, which he does successfully. Having told Pharaoh that the dreams warn of eventual drought and famine, he then announces a solution to the problem. Pharaoh, impressed, appoints Joseph to high office in Egypt, second only to himself.<\/p>\n

The second story occurs when Joseph\u2019s brothers, driven by famine in Canaan, come to Egypt to buy food. They come before Joseph, but fail to recognise him as their brother, though he recognises them. Joseph, without revealing his identity, creates a complex situation for the brothers that is designed to test them. The test and outcome reaches a climax in the next\u00a0parasha<\/em>.<\/p>\n

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The Core Idea<\/strong><\/p>\n

When Joseph is brought from prison to interpret Pharaoh\u2019s dreams, both men refer to God. Three times the word\u00a0Elokim<\/em>, God, appears in\u00a0Genesis 41. On the face of it, this is surprising. Egypt was not a monotheistic (belief in one God) culture. On the contrary, it was a place of many gods and goddesses \u2013 the sun, the Nile, and so on. Why then does Joseph take it for granted that Pharaoh will understand his reference to God \u2013 an assumption proved correct when Pharaoh twice uses the word himself? What is the significance of the word\u00a0Elokim<\/em>?<\/p>\n

The Torah has two primary ways of referring to God, the four-letter name we allude to as\u00a0Hashem\u00a0<\/em>(\u201cthe name\u201d) and the word\u00a0Elokim<\/em>. Judah HaLevi, the philosopher-poet of the eleventh century, believed these represented two different ways to relate to God.<\/p>\n

The ancients worshipped forces of nature, which they personified as gods. Each was known as\u00a0El<\/em>, or\u00a0Eloah<\/em>. The word \u201cEl\u201d therefore generically means \u201ca force, a power, an element of nature.\u201d Judaism, however, believed that the forces of nature were not independent and autonomous. They represented a single totality, one creative will, the Author of being \u2013 God. The Torah therefore speaks of\u00a0Elokim\u00a0<\/em>in the plural, meaning, \u201cthe sum of all forces, the totality of all powers.\u201d Today we might say that\u00a0Elokim<\/em>\u00a0is God as He is found in science: the Big Bang, the various forces that give the universe its configuration, and the genetic code that shapes life from the simplest bacterium to Homo sapiens.<\/p>\n

Hashem\u00a0<\/em>is God\u2019s proper name. The difference between proper names and general descriptions is important.\u00a0Things\u00a0<\/em>have descriptions, but only\u00a0people\u00a0<\/em>have proper names. When we call someone by name, we are relating to them in their uniqueness and ours. We are opening up ourselves to them and inviting them, in readiness and respect, to open themselves up to us.<\/p>\n

Elokim\u00a0<\/em>is God as we encounter Him in nature.\u00a0Hashem\u00a0<\/em>is God as we encounter Him in personal relationships, above all in that essentially human mode of relationship that we call speech, verbal communication, conversation, dialogue, words. That is why Joseph is able to assume that Egyptians will understand the idea of\u00a0Elokim<\/em>, even though they are wholly unfamiliar with the idea of\u00a0Hashem<\/em>. An Egyptian can understand\u00a0Elokim<\/em>, the God of nature. He cannot understand\u00a0Hashem<\/em>, the God of personal relationship.<\/p>\n

QUESTIONS TO PONDER:<\/strong><\/p>\n

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  1. Do you think all people can relate to\u00a0Elokim<\/em>, the God of science and creation?<\/li>\n
  2. Do you think it is harder to relate to\u00a0Hashem<\/em>, the personal God, with whom you can speak with and have a relationship with?<\/li>\n
  3. Can you think of examples when you have connected to the aspects of God we are referring to as\u00a0Elokim<\/em>and\u00a0Hashem<\/em>\u00a0in your life?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
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    It Once Happened…<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Elijah was one of the greatest of the prophets, a man of justice unafraid to confront kings and prophets alike. What upset him the most was the spread of idolatry among his people. He decided to confront the prophets of the god Baal on Mount Carmel. He and they would offer a sacrifice. The God who sent fire to consume the offering would be the true God. His opponents prepared the sacrifice, said their prayers and waited. No fire came. Elijah then said a prayer and fire came down from heaven. Elijah had won! And the people declared \u201cThe Lord is God\u201d.<\/p>\n

    But the story does not end there. Queen Jezebel orders Elijah\u2019s arrest and he runs away to Mount Horeb, which is Mount Sinai. God asks him: \u201cWhat are you doing here, Elijah?\u201d Elijah replies: \u201cI have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty.\u201d God says: \u201cGo and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.\u201d Suddenly there was a whirlwind, \u201ctearing the mountains apart and shattering the rocks\u201d. But God was not in the wind. Then came an earthquake, but God was not in the earthquake. Then there was a fire, but God was not in the fire. Then came a \u201cstill, small voice\u201d. Immediately, Elijah recognised that this was the voice of God.<\/p>\n

    God then repeated his question, \u201cWhat are you doing here, Elijah?\u201d Elijah replied in the same words as before. God then told Elijah to appoint Elisha as his successor.<\/p>\n

    QUESTIONS TO PONDER:<\/strong><\/p>\n

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    1. In\u00a0The Core Idea<\/em>, we saw two aspects of God, represented by two different names,\u00a0Elokim<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0Hashem<\/em>. Which of those do you see in this story?<\/li>\n
    2. What lesson do you think God was trying to teach Elijah?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
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      Thinking More Deeply<\/strong><\/p>\n

      As we saw in\u00a0The Core\u00a0<\/em>Idea, Joseph refers to God in a way Pharaoh can understand \u2013 as\u00a0Elokim<\/em>, the aspect of God to be found in creation, rather than\u00a0Hashem,\u00a0<\/em>the aspect of God we find in personal relationships and in revelation (direct divine communication). This is the tension, within Judaism, between the universal and the particular. God as we encounter Him in creation is universal; God as we hear Him in revelation is particular.<\/p>\n

      This is mirrored in the way the narrative of Genesis develops. It begins with characters and events whose significance is that they are universal archetypes: Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, Noah and the Flood, the builders of Babel. Their stories tell us about the human condition as such: obedience and rebellion, faith and fratricide, hubris and nemesis, technology and violence, the order God makes and the chaos we create. Not until the twelfth chapter of Genesis does the Torah turn to the particular, to one family, that of Abraham and Sarah, and the covenant God enters into with them and their descendants.<\/p>\n

      That duality and its sequence \u2013 from the universal to the particular \u2013 is not marginal to Judaism. One might almost call it the basic structure, the depth grammar, of the Jewish mind. The duality has legal-theological expression in the form of two covenants, the first with Noah and all humanity after the Flood, the second with Abraham and his descendants, given detailed articulation at Mount Sinai and during the wilderness years. On the one hand there is the Noahide covenant with its seven commands: not to murder, steal, commit adultery, blaspheme, worship idols or practice needless cruelty against animals, together with a positive command to establish a system of justice. These are the minimal and basic requirements of humanity as such, the foundations of any stable and morally acceptable society. On the other is the richly detailed code of 613 commandments that form Israel\u2019s constitution as \u201ca kingdom of priests and a holy nation\u201d (Exodus 19:16).<\/p>\n

      Not only is the duality worked out in the form of law and ethics, covenant and command. It is also expressed in Judaism\u2019s dual epistemology (philosophy of knowledge), its twofold scheme of human knowledge \u2013\u00a0Chokhma\u00a0<\/em>and Torah.\u00a0Chokhma\u00a0<\/em>is the truth we discover; Torah is the truth we inherit.\u00a0Chokhma\u00a0<\/em>is the universal heritage of mankind, by virtue of the fact that we are created in God\u2019s \u201cimage and likeness\u201d; Torah is the specific heritage of Israel.\u00a0Chokhma\u00a0<\/em>reveals God in creation; Torah is the word of God in revelation.\u00a0Chokhma\u00a0<\/em>is ontological truth (how things are); Torah is covenantal truth (how things ought to be).\u00a0Chokhma\u00a0<\/em>can be defined as anything that allows us to see the universe as the work of God, and humanity as the image of God; Torah is God\u2019s covenant with the Jewish people, the architecture of holiness and Israel\u2019s written constitution as a nation under the sovereignty of God.<\/p>\n

      So there are the universals of Judaism \u2013 creation, humanity as God\u2019s image, the covenant with Noah and knowledge-as-chokhma<\/em>. There are also its particularities \u2013 revelation, Israel as God\u2019s \u201cfirstborn child,\u201d the covenants with Abraham and the Jewish people at Sinai, and knowledge-as-Torah. The first represents the face of God accessible to all mankind (creation); the second, that special, intimate and personal relationship He has with the people He holds close, as disclosed in the Torah (revelation) and Jewish history (redemption). The word for the first is\u00a0Elokim<\/em>, and for the second,\u00a0Hashem<\/em>.<\/p>\n

      Judaism was \u2013 and to this day remains \u2013 unique in its combination of universalism and particularism. We believe that God is the God of all humanity. He created all. He is accessible to all. He cares for all. He has made a covenant with all. Yet there is also a relationship with God that is unique to the Jewish people. It alone has placed its national life under His direct sovereignty. It alone has risked its entire being on a divine covenant. It alone testifies in its history to the presence within it of a Presence beyond it.<\/p>\n

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      From the Thought of Rabbi Sacks<\/strong><\/p>\n

      Without Torah we cannot understand the Jewish story. But without\u00a0chokhma<\/em>\u00a0we cannot understand the human story. There are three elements of Jewish faith: creation, revelation and redemption. Creation is God\u2019s relationship with the universe. Revelation is God\u2019s relationship with us. Redemption is what happens when we apply revelation to creation, when we apply God\u2019s word to God\u2019s world.\u00a0We cannot apply Torah to the world unless we understand the world.\u00a0<\/em>Without an understanding of creation, we will fail to bring about redemption.<\/p>\n

      Future Tense, p. 226<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

      QUESTIONS TO PONDER:<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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      1. According to Rabbi Sacks, is it a religious imperative to learn\u00a0chokhma\u00a0<\/em>and if so, why?<\/li>\n
      2. Why is the Jewish people in a unique position to influence the world for the better and how can we do this?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
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        Around the Shabbat Table<\/strong><\/p>\n