I try to read a lot nowadays about the Torah from a more scientific perspective (DH, Finkelstein, James Kugel). This way I get a better picture of what the book, that I was taught the Universe was created with, really is about.
But sometimes it helps if you just read things for yourself. So I did some Chumash Rashi on Bereishis (just a few perakim) and I have to say that my perspective has totally changed. I am not reading anymore what I would like it to say or what I am supposed to believe it says, just the plain pshat.
And there I read about this strange thing called Rakia, created on day two:
ו וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלֹהִים, יְהִי רָקִיעַ בְּתוֹךְ הַמָּיִם, וִיהִי מַבְדִּיל, בֵּין מַיִם לָמָיִם. ז וַיַּעַשׂ אֱלֹהִים, אֶת-הָרָקִיעַ, וַיַּבְדֵּל בֵּין הַמַּיִם אֲשֶׁר מִתַּחַת לָרָקִיעַ, וּבֵין הַמַּיִם אֲשֶׁר מֵעַל לָרָקִיעַ; וַיְהִי-כֵן. ח וַיִּקְרָא אֱלֹהִים לָרָקִיעַ, שָׁמָיִם; וַיְהִי-עֶרֶב וַיְהִי-בֹקֶר, יוֹם שֵׁנִי.
6 And God said: 'Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.' 7 And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament; and it was so. 8 And God called the firmament Heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, a second day.
So Rakia was a layer that was sandwiched between the lower waters (oceans, lakes, etc.) and the upper waters (supposedly the clouds or the rain). Fine.
On day four, however, the following is written:
יד וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלֹהִים, יְהִי מְאֹרֹת בִּרְקִיעַ הַשָּׁמַיִם, לְהַבְדִּיל, בֵּין הַיּוֹם וּבֵין הַלָּיְלָה; וְהָיוּ לְאֹתֹת וּלְמוֹעֲדִים, וּלְיָמִים וְשָׁנִים. טו וְהָיוּ לִמְאוֹרֹת בִּרְקִיעַ הַשָּׁמַיִם, לְהָאִיר עַל-הָאָרֶץ; וַיְהִי-כֵן. טז וַיַּעַשׂ אֱלֹהִים, אֶת-שְׁנֵי הַמְּאֹרֹת הַגְּדֹלִים: אֶת-הַמָּאוֹר הַגָּדֹל, לְמֶמְשֶׁלֶת הַיּוֹם, וְאֶת-הַמָּאוֹר הַקָּטֹן לְמֶמְשֶׁלֶת הַלַּיְלָה, וְאֵת הַכּוֹכָבִים. יז וַיִּתֵּן אֹתָם אֱלֹהִים, בִּרְקִיעַ הַשָּׁמָיִם, לְהָאִיר, עַל-הָאָרֶץ. יח וְלִמְשֹׁל, בַּיּוֹם וּבַלַּיְלָה, וּלְהַבְדִּיל, בֵּין הָאוֹר וּבֵין הַחֹשֶׁךְ; וַיַּרְא אֱלֹהִים, כִּי-טוֹב. יט וַיְהִי-עֶרֶב וַיְהִי-בֹקֶר, יוֹם רְבִיעִי.
14 And God said: 'Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days and years; 15 and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth.' And it was so. 16 And God made the two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night; and the stars. 17 And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, 18 and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness; and God saw that it was good. 19 And there was evening and there was morning, a fourth day.
Duh? So I am supposed to believe that the sun, the moon and the stars were all stuffed into this Rakia thing? Remember that this Rakia thingy must be somewhere between the sea and the clouds!
Does the Torah really wants us to believe that both the sun, the moon and the stars are all within kilometers distance from the earth, nicely put next to each other within a comfortable distance!?!
I ain’t buying that. And nobody should.
My understanding here is that the sun and the moon are within the firmament at night/day i.e. when they are visible, but they travel above the firmament through windows when not.
ReplyDeleteThe water above the firmament, was believed to have been a vast, stockpile of water which is not to be confused with clouds. Floodgates opened during the flood which gave earth direct access to these reservoirs.
Al achas kamma vekamma!
ReplyDeleteNot at all. The firmament i,e, Rakia, can now potentially be outside of the atmosphere or as high as you wish.
ReplyDeletehey; watch with saying what other people should or shouldn't do. that's a slippery slope, cowboy. :)
ReplyDelete>I try to read a lot nowadays about the Torah from a more scientific perspective (DH, Finkelstein, James Kugel).
ReplyDeleteThat's great!. It may be modern and critical and certainly different. But I would not call it scientific.
PT: So you are saying that the upper waters are a reservoir of water? Well, let them first identify where that is. In any case, the beliefs you wrote down (nightly travels of heavenly bodies, water reservoir outside of the earth) are so outdated that they are equally outrageous.
ReplyDeleteSB: Yes, mom! :P
BHB: Why not scientific? These books are all written by scientists.
For more information, see BT Pes. 94a, where the Talmud spells out the cosmological model Pen T. described above. This was the ANE prevailing view of the workings of the cosmos, and is also seen in the Enuma Elish (which many believe to be a source of the Bereishis story).
ReplyDelete(btw, XGH has a nice post on the real meaning of Bereishis, with pictures: http://modernorthoprax.blogspot.com/2009/10/six-days-of-creation.html)
(correction: Pes. 94b).
ReplyDeleteThere is a nice diagram of ancient cosmology here. As you can see, the firmament is above the clouds, and waters are above it. It makes sense if you don't know anything about the physical world beyond what you and your fellows can observe with naked eye.
ReplyDeleteBefore I saw that diagram or another like it (if you are interested: example 1, example 2), I had assumed that the reference to "foundations of the earth" in the Book of Job ("Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?") was just a figure of speech. I should have known better!
perhaps the fact that the sky is not a solid firmament should be realized to be proof enough that Moses (the writer of the myth) lied, that he was no better than other extremists (he murdered people for breaking the sabbath and other "crimes") and should not be regarded as a prophet, but had his story aggrandized and mythologized as hitler would have after his own death, had he been successful in his crimes.
ReplyDeleteWho says that Moses was the writer? Perhaps he is just a legend and Yoshia placed him in the story to make him sound like the new Moses. But otherwise, I agree to your rant ;)
ReplyDelete