Post by Rabbi Neil on May 17, 2019 22:11:55 GMT
The universe is an inconceivably large place. If a person believes that God is present in the entire universe, then they can also believe that God pays special attention to Earth, which is basically the theology of Judaism. God has a special place, and a special place located within that special place, and a special people who need to live in that special place. As Reform Jews, we usually question that theology, but we cannot deny that it has been the underpinning of Jewish thought for around three thousand years. God is involved in the universe. God cares about the universe. God cares about the choices that we make. God cares if we are good, God cares if we take care of those in need, God cares if we act unjustly. All that I can understand. But if God is involved in this universe, and if God does care particularly about our planet, why does God care how I cut my hair? Why does God care how I trim my beard? Moral and ethical choices totally make sense – if God is good, however we define that, then God must want a moral and ethical world. But what difference does it make how I cut my hair or how I trim my beard?
In this week’s Torah portion – Kedoshim – we find what is commonly called The Holiness Code. The central chapter of the central book of Torah focusses on the need for the people to be holy. The root of the word speaking of holiness is a root meaning separation or distinction. Through Kiddush, we make Shabbat holy by separating it from the week that has passed. Through Kiddushin, we make the wedding couple separate from all other people. Being holy in Judaism means being reserved for a special, distinct purpose. The exhortation to be holy starts with honoring one’s father and one’s mother, an ethical commandment which one can understand, although it is clarified a little in later Rabbinic writings. It talks of sacrifices, which was obviously an important part of holiness in Biblical theology. It talks of leaving the corner of one’s field for the poor, or leaving behind gleanings that had been left on the ground. Again, an ethical commandment which we can understand. Don’t lie, don’t pervert justice, don’t peddle gossip, don’t hate your neighbor in your heart, don’t seek revenge, and ultimately love your neighbor as yourself. That is Leviticus 19:18 – the central verse in the central chapter in the central book of the Torah. That’s it, that’s what it’s all about. So clearly loving one’s neighbor and behaving ethically is essential to holiness – the particular Israelite ethical code is what makes them unique among the nations. Not that they’re ethical and no-one else is, but this is the particular, unique Israelite ethical code. That’s all fine.
Nine verses later, though, we have the following commandment – do not cut the hair at the sides of your head nor clip off the edges of your beard” (Lev. 19:27) Why? Why does God care about hair style? Are the Israelites really meant to have a specific dress code? If so, does that mean that no-one else in the world was growing their hair or beard long so as to make themselves separate? I find that very hard to believe.
This custom of not shaving the corners of one’s hair or one’s beard is aimed at men. That may be obvious but it still needs stating because of its patriarchal assumption. Separation from the rest of the world really only means the separation of the Israelite men from the rest of the world’s men. There is no similar injunction for the women on how to grow their hair, even if later commentators suggested that women should hide their hair for fear of tempting lust-filled men. This is where the custom, which is totally nonsensical in my opinion, arose of some Jewish women wearing a wig of hair to hide their own hair, because men are apparently tempted by real hair but not by wigs that look like hair. So, how could Israelite men grow long hair that would separate themselves from the rest of the world? When the Chassidic movement started, it created a particular way of growing the corners of the hair, which in Hebrew is known as pe’ot. With the Ashkenazi pronunciation, these are called pe’os. The corners were grown and curled in order to look beautiful. Adorning a mitzvah is an important aspect of Jewish life, even if you may not have realized it. For example, there is a mitzvah to light candles on Shabbat but not a mitzvah to have ornate silver candlesticks. So, why do we have them? Because we adorn the mitzvah. There is a mitzvah to say kiddush on Shabbat but no mitzvah to have an ornate kiddush cup. Why don’t we use a plastic cup? Because we adorn the mitzvah. So, pe’os became a way of adorning the mitzvah and setting a unique Jewish dress-code, which ultimately hopes to be something for all Jewish men, but in the end only became a unique way of dressing for one particular group of Jewish men.
I fulfil both mitzvot. According to Rabbinic sources, so long as a man can pull on his sideburns and on his beard, essentially he has fulfilled the mitzvah. But, interesting as I think that is, it still avoids the original question. We can talk until we’re blue in the face – certainly, I can! – about the specifics of the mitzvah, but not yet focus on the actual purpose of the mitzvah. Why does God care that Jewish men wear their hair in a particular way? Is that really in any way important for God? If so, what does that say about God? It seems that it would make Him – and I specifically use Him there because of the clearly androcentric focus of this mitzvah – ridiculously petty. I know others would disagree. One Jewish tradition tells us which shoelace to tie first (before you ask, it’s right shoe on, left shoe on, left lace tied, right lace tied and no, I really don’t want to explore that obsessive idea). Adherents of such strictness of Jewish practice say that if God is involved in our lives, God is involved in every aspect of our lives, even which shoelace to tie first or how long our hair should be. It is easy to counter such a statement – God can be concerned with the ethical without being concerned with the fashionable. If God were indeed so concerned with our own fashion, we would be left with very little free will. Or maybe that’s the point – choices relating to our own physicality are restricted so that the remaining choices are the important, moral ones. That might at least be a case for biblical theology concerning fashion of clothing and hair, but the gendered aspect still cannot be ignored. Yes, we could say that God cares about all of our choices, but then we would have to get into ridiculous apologetics to say why men’s fashion needs to be restricted to help them focus on moral choices, while women’s fashion apparently isn’t restricted in the same way. So, we need to look for another explanation.
For me, the explanation is in the structure of the Book of Leviticus. Mary Douglas wrote in her seminal work Leviticus as Literature that the book of Leviticus has a chiastic structure, just like many pieces of classical music. The opening and the closing theme is the same. The second theme and the penultimate theme are the same. Every theme is mirrored in Leviticus. The central point, the chapter which acts as the mirror, is chapter 19, the chapter we’re discussing. There’s something even more extraordinary about that. Within chapter 19, I contend that there is also a chiastic structure, that everything is centered around verse 18. So, talk of sacrifice before verse 18 is mirrored by talk after verse 18 talking about sacrifices. Ethical choices before verse 18 are mirrored by ethical choices after verse 18. So, what mirrors the verse that says that we should not shave the pe’ot, the corners, of our hair? Rather extraordinarily, it’s the verse that says that we should not harvest the pe’ot, the corners, of our field. There’s no way that’s accidental. On either side of the central verse of Torah, the verse that commands us to love our neighbor as ourselves, exactly the same distance either side of that verse, are two verses commanding us not to cut corners. One is the corner of a field to help feed the poor, the other is the corner of our beard and no explanation is given. That lack of explanation gives us midrashic permission to find our own meaning.
To me, it speaks of the enormous interconnectedness between people and the earth. And yes, I appreciate that it’s really men, but men were normative people in the Bible, so I feel at liberty to be able to extend that to normative individuals today, which means men, women and those who are neither. The human being is a microcosm, where the entire is a macrocosm. To me, this says that our own physicality is connected to the physicality of the earth. Our mitzvot cannot be separated from nature, they have to connect to nature. And, moreover, it suggests that the way we use the earth must be ethical, just as our own personal choices must be ethical. So, the question as to why God cares about my beard is only part of the question. Another way to look at the same question would be, how am I in sync with the Earth? Do I treat myself and the Earth in the same respectful way? And if not, what do I need to do to change that? Just growing long, curly sideburns misses the point if that mitzvah isn’t connected with the ethical requirement to protect the vulnerable in society. It’s not about adorning a mitzvah, it’s about the ethics of the mitzvah.
It's about the central verse that holds these corners together. Love your neighbor as yourself. Love the earth as yourself. Love yourself as the earth and as your neighbor. Love of the self, the neighbor and the earth cannot be separated. May we all be filled with such love, and let us say, Amen.
In this week’s Torah portion – Kedoshim – we find what is commonly called The Holiness Code. The central chapter of the central book of Torah focusses on the need for the people to be holy. The root of the word speaking of holiness is a root meaning separation or distinction. Through Kiddush, we make Shabbat holy by separating it from the week that has passed. Through Kiddushin, we make the wedding couple separate from all other people. Being holy in Judaism means being reserved for a special, distinct purpose. The exhortation to be holy starts with honoring one’s father and one’s mother, an ethical commandment which one can understand, although it is clarified a little in later Rabbinic writings. It talks of sacrifices, which was obviously an important part of holiness in Biblical theology. It talks of leaving the corner of one’s field for the poor, or leaving behind gleanings that had been left on the ground. Again, an ethical commandment which we can understand. Don’t lie, don’t pervert justice, don’t peddle gossip, don’t hate your neighbor in your heart, don’t seek revenge, and ultimately love your neighbor as yourself. That is Leviticus 19:18 – the central verse in the central chapter in the central book of the Torah. That’s it, that’s what it’s all about. So clearly loving one’s neighbor and behaving ethically is essential to holiness – the particular Israelite ethical code is what makes them unique among the nations. Not that they’re ethical and no-one else is, but this is the particular, unique Israelite ethical code. That’s all fine.
Nine verses later, though, we have the following commandment – do not cut the hair at the sides of your head nor clip off the edges of your beard” (Lev. 19:27) Why? Why does God care about hair style? Are the Israelites really meant to have a specific dress code? If so, does that mean that no-one else in the world was growing their hair or beard long so as to make themselves separate? I find that very hard to believe.
This custom of not shaving the corners of one’s hair or one’s beard is aimed at men. That may be obvious but it still needs stating because of its patriarchal assumption. Separation from the rest of the world really only means the separation of the Israelite men from the rest of the world’s men. There is no similar injunction for the women on how to grow their hair, even if later commentators suggested that women should hide their hair for fear of tempting lust-filled men. This is where the custom, which is totally nonsensical in my opinion, arose of some Jewish women wearing a wig of hair to hide their own hair, because men are apparently tempted by real hair but not by wigs that look like hair. So, how could Israelite men grow long hair that would separate themselves from the rest of the world? When the Chassidic movement started, it created a particular way of growing the corners of the hair, which in Hebrew is known as pe’ot. With the Ashkenazi pronunciation, these are called pe’os. The corners were grown and curled in order to look beautiful. Adorning a mitzvah is an important aspect of Jewish life, even if you may not have realized it. For example, there is a mitzvah to light candles on Shabbat but not a mitzvah to have ornate silver candlesticks. So, why do we have them? Because we adorn the mitzvah. There is a mitzvah to say kiddush on Shabbat but no mitzvah to have an ornate kiddush cup. Why don’t we use a plastic cup? Because we adorn the mitzvah. So, pe’os became a way of adorning the mitzvah and setting a unique Jewish dress-code, which ultimately hopes to be something for all Jewish men, but in the end only became a unique way of dressing for one particular group of Jewish men.
I fulfil both mitzvot. According to Rabbinic sources, so long as a man can pull on his sideburns and on his beard, essentially he has fulfilled the mitzvah. But, interesting as I think that is, it still avoids the original question. We can talk until we’re blue in the face – certainly, I can! – about the specifics of the mitzvah, but not yet focus on the actual purpose of the mitzvah. Why does God care that Jewish men wear their hair in a particular way? Is that really in any way important for God? If so, what does that say about God? It seems that it would make Him – and I specifically use Him there because of the clearly androcentric focus of this mitzvah – ridiculously petty. I know others would disagree. One Jewish tradition tells us which shoelace to tie first (before you ask, it’s right shoe on, left shoe on, left lace tied, right lace tied and no, I really don’t want to explore that obsessive idea). Adherents of such strictness of Jewish practice say that if God is involved in our lives, God is involved in every aspect of our lives, even which shoelace to tie first or how long our hair should be. It is easy to counter such a statement – God can be concerned with the ethical without being concerned with the fashionable. If God were indeed so concerned with our own fashion, we would be left with very little free will. Or maybe that’s the point – choices relating to our own physicality are restricted so that the remaining choices are the important, moral ones. That might at least be a case for biblical theology concerning fashion of clothing and hair, but the gendered aspect still cannot be ignored. Yes, we could say that God cares about all of our choices, but then we would have to get into ridiculous apologetics to say why men’s fashion needs to be restricted to help them focus on moral choices, while women’s fashion apparently isn’t restricted in the same way. So, we need to look for another explanation.
For me, the explanation is in the structure of the Book of Leviticus. Mary Douglas wrote in her seminal work Leviticus as Literature that the book of Leviticus has a chiastic structure, just like many pieces of classical music. The opening and the closing theme is the same. The second theme and the penultimate theme are the same. Every theme is mirrored in Leviticus. The central point, the chapter which acts as the mirror, is chapter 19, the chapter we’re discussing. There’s something even more extraordinary about that. Within chapter 19, I contend that there is also a chiastic structure, that everything is centered around verse 18. So, talk of sacrifice before verse 18 is mirrored by talk after verse 18 talking about sacrifices. Ethical choices before verse 18 are mirrored by ethical choices after verse 18. So, what mirrors the verse that says that we should not shave the pe’ot, the corners, of our hair? Rather extraordinarily, it’s the verse that says that we should not harvest the pe’ot, the corners, of our field. There’s no way that’s accidental. On either side of the central verse of Torah, the verse that commands us to love our neighbor as ourselves, exactly the same distance either side of that verse, are two verses commanding us not to cut corners. One is the corner of a field to help feed the poor, the other is the corner of our beard and no explanation is given. That lack of explanation gives us midrashic permission to find our own meaning.
To me, it speaks of the enormous interconnectedness between people and the earth. And yes, I appreciate that it’s really men, but men were normative people in the Bible, so I feel at liberty to be able to extend that to normative individuals today, which means men, women and those who are neither. The human being is a microcosm, where the entire is a macrocosm. To me, this says that our own physicality is connected to the physicality of the earth. Our mitzvot cannot be separated from nature, they have to connect to nature. And, moreover, it suggests that the way we use the earth must be ethical, just as our own personal choices must be ethical. So, the question as to why God cares about my beard is only part of the question. Another way to look at the same question would be, how am I in sync with the Earth? Do I treat myself and the Earth in the same respectful way? And if not, what do I need to do to change that? Just growing long, curly sideburns misses the point if that mitzvah isn’t connected with the ethical requirement to protect the vulnerable in society. It’s not about adorning a mitzvah, it’s about the ethics of the mitzvah.
It's about the central verse that holds these corners together. Love your neighbor as yourself. Love the earth as yourself. Love yourself as the earth and as your neighbor. Love of the self, the neighbor and the earth cannot be separated. May we all be filled with such love, and let us say, Amen.