Rabbi Dr. Erin Leib Smokler, On the "Repeatability of the Unprecedented"
If catastrophe has shaped the Jewish historical experience, then response to catastrophe has shaped the Jewish spiritual experience. From the “churban” (destruction) of the Temple in Jerusalem in the first century to the Crusades in the Rhineland in the 11th and 12th; from the Spanish expulsion in 1492 to the pogroms in the Pale of Settlement in 1882; from forced Hellenization to the Holocaust, Jewish thinkers have reacted to their present by way of their past. As David Roskies points out, "The Jewish dialectical response to catastrophe” has always been: “the greater the immediate destruction, the more it [is] made to recall ancient archetype.”Individual experiences of persecution in history have repeatedly been framed as instances of meta-historical phenomena. The present reenacts foundational moments of the past, anticipates the promises of the future, and thereby affirms the continuity of the Jewish people’s biblical covenant with God. “Through their literature of destruction, Jews perceive the cyclical nature of violence and find some measure of comfort in the repeatability of the unprecedented.” It seems that no horror is too great to be assimilated into the grand narratives of ancient Judaism.
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The author, quoting his father (if I understand correctly) traces the source of this pleasing odour, הניחוח, to pleasurable experiences by man on earth, (as opposed to spiritual experiences). If man can sublimate these pleasurable experiences to reinforce him in his service of the Lord, then G’d can truly “boast” of him as we read in Isaiah 49,3 ישראל אשר בך אתפאר, “Israel, I can glory in you.” The author continues by quoting Rabbi Dov Baer of Mezeritch, as tracing the word אתפאר, to the word תפר, describing the first garments Adam and Chavah made themselves from fig leaves to cover their nudity. (Genesis 3,7) “A pleasant smell” originating from appropriate clothing, is therefore the most ancient method of ingratiating oneself with G’d after one has fallen out of favour. Pleasant smells as a source of pleasure are familiar to us all, and describing G’d’s reactions to man’s good deeds in such terms is not at all far-fetched. “Clothes” has long been a simile for the deeds of people wearing them, whether good or evil; it is therefore appropriate that when the Torah describes these clothes in complimentary terms, i.e. as pleasing, the reference is to the good deeds performed by the people so described.
וירח ב' במסורה הכא ואידך וירח את ריח בגריו. וזה שדרשו רז''ל אפי' פושעי ישראל עתידין שיתנו ריח וזה הוא וירח את ריח בגדיו א''ת בגדיו אלא בוגדיו וירח ה' את ריח הניחוח שעתידין ליתן ריח ניחוח.
'And He smelled...' there are two instances of this unique phrase. This is the first, and the other is when Isaac smelled the pelts of Esau on Jacob's person...this is the source of the teaching that in the future, the smell of the evil ones will be transformed into a sweet, pleasing odor.