(1)מוסר - בין אדם לאדמה Mussar - Between Humans and Earth (1)

ByGila Caine

Earth Mussar

כָּבוֹד / אַחְרָיוּת / סַקְרָנוּת/ מָקוֹם / בַּגְרוּת

Middot to explore:

Kavod / Achrayut / Sakranut / Makom / Bagrut (the last two will need some explanation)

What categories of mitzvot do we have?

here is one set of distinctions:

בין אדם לחברו

בין אדם למקום

Between humans

Between humans and God

Here is another category:

בין אדם לאדמה

Between humans and earth

איוב ל״ח:א׳-י׳

(א) וַיַּֽעַן־יְהֹוָ֣ה אֶת־אִ֭יּוֹב (מנהסערה) [מִ֥ן ׀ הַסְּעָרָ֗ה] וַיֹּאמַֽר׃ (ב) מִ֤י זֶ֨ה ׀ מַחְשִׁ֖יךְ עֵצָ֥ה בְמִלִּ֗ין בְּֽלִי־דָֽעַת׃ (ג) אֱזׇר־נָ֣א כְגֶ֣בֶר חֲלָצֶ֑יךָ וְ֝אֶשְׁאָלְךָ֗ וְהוֹדִיעֵֽנִי׃ (ד) אֵיפֹ֣ה הָ֭יִיתָ בְּיׇסְדִי־אָ֑רֶץ הַ֝גֵּ֗ד אִם־יָדַ֥עְתָּ בִינָֽה׃ (ה) מִי־שָׂ֣ם מְ֭מַדֶּיהָ כִּ֣י תֵדָ֑ע א֤וֹ מִֽי־נָטָ֖ה עָלֶ֣יהָ קָּֽו׃ (ו) עַל־מָ֭ה אֲדָנֶ֣יהָ הׇטְבָּ֑עוּ א֥וֹ מִי־יָ֝רָ֗ה אֶ֣בֶן פִּנָּתָֽהּ׃ (ז) בְּרׇן־יַ֭חַד כּ֣וֹכְבֵי בֹ֑קֶר וַ֝יָּרִ֗יעוּ כׇּל־בְּנֵ֥י אֱלֹהִֽים׃ (ח) וַיָּ֣סֶךְ בִּדְלָתַ֣יִם יָ֑ם בְּ֝גִיח֗וֹ מֵרֶ֥חֶם יֵצֵֽא׃ (ט) בְּשׂוּמִ֣י עָנָ֣ן לְבֻשׁ֑וֹ וַ֝עֲרָפֶ֗ל חֲתֻלָּתֽוֹ׃ (י) וָאֶשְׁבֹּ֣ר עָלָ֣יו חֻקִּ֑י וָ֝אָשִׂ֗ים בְּרִ֣יחַ וּדְלָתָֽיִם׃

Job 38:1-10

(1) And Adonai answered Job from the whirlwind and He said: (2) Who is this who darkens counsel, in words without knowledge? (3) Gird your loins like a man; That I may ask you, and you can inform Me.
(4) Where were you when I founded earth? Tell, if you know understanding. (5) Who fixed its measures, do you know, or who stretched a line upon it? (6) In what were its sockets sunk, or who laid its cornerstone (7) When the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
(8) Who hedged the sea with double doors, when it gushed forth from the womb, (9) who made cloud its clothing, and thick mist its swaddling bands? (10) I made breakers upon it My limit, and set a bolt with double doors.

(translation by Robert Alter)

איוב ל״ח:ל״ג

(לג) הֲ֭יָדַעְתָּ חֻקּ֣וֹת שָׁמָ֑יִם אִם־תָּשִׂ֖ים מִשְׁטָר֣וֹ בָאָֽרֶץ׃

Job 38:33

(33) Do you know the laws of the heavens, can you fix their rule on earth?

(translation by Robert Alter)

בראשית ד׳:א׳

וְהָ֣אָדָ֔ם יָדַ֖ע אֶת־חַוָּ֣ה אִשְׁתּ֑וֹ וַתַּ֙הַר֙ וַתֵּ֣לֶד אֶת־קַ֔יִן וַתֹּ֕אמֶר קָנִ֥יתִי אִ֖ישׁ אֶת־יְהוָֽה׃

Genesis 4:1

Now the Human knew his wife Eve, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, “I have gained a person with the help of יהוה.”

"Heb. yada‘, often in a sexual sense." The root of yada‘, expands the act of knowing into a larger sphere than the mind alone. This is a relationship with the other which is not only cognitive, but also physical, emotional, experiential.

סַקְרָנוּת

Middah #1:

Sakranut / Curiosity

ברכות נ״ה א

אָמַר רַב יְהוּדָה אָמַר רַב: יוֹדֵעַ הָיָה בְּצַלְאֵל לְצָרֵף אוֹתִיּוֹת שֶׁנִּבְרְאוּ בָּהֶן שָׁמַיִם וָאָרֶץ.

Berakhot 55a

... Rav Yehuda said that Rav said: Bezalel knew how to join the letters with which heaven and earth were created.

ספר יצירה א׳:א׳

(א) בשלשים ושתים נתיבות פליאות חכמה חקק יה יהוה צבאות אלהי ישראל אלהים חיים ומלך עולם אל שדי רחום וחנון רם ונשא שוכן עד מרום וקדוש שמו וברא את עולמו בשלשה ספרים בספר וספר וספור:

Sefer Yetzirah 1:1

(1) With thirty-two wondrous paths of wisdom, Y"H YHW"H, God of Israel, Living God and King of the World, El Shaddai, Merciful and Compassionate, High and Lofty One Dwelling Eternally Above, Holy is His Name [Isaiah 57:15]—He engraved and created His world with three SP"R: with sfar (enumeration), sefer (scroll), and sipur (telling).

Another translation of this text:
The Infinite One...hollowed out existence with thirty-two pathways of wondrous mystery wisdom and he sculpted the universe within three spheres: sefer, s'por, sippur - text, number, and story. [Gershon Winkler, Magic of the Ordinary: Recovering the Shamanic in Judaism. North Atlantic book, Berkeley, California. 2003. p. 25]

"Why then do most people in modern societies have such a superficial knowledge about how the world really works? The complexities of the modern world are an obvious explanation: people are constantly interacting with little black boxes, whose relatively simple outputs require little or no comprehension of what is taking place inside the box... But explanations of this comprehension deficit go beyond the fact that the sweep of our knowledge encourages specialization, whose obverse is an increasingly shallow understanding - even ignorance - of the basics..... most Americans have no idea, or only some vague notion, about how their bread or their cuts of meat came to be. Combines harvest wheat - but do they also harvest soybeans or lentils? How long does it take for a tiny piglet to become a pork chop: weeks or years?...this disconnect is the case across the world... The gap between wishful thinking and reality is vast, but in a democratic society no contest of ideas and proposals can proceed in rational ways without all sides sharing at least a modicum of relevant information about the real world, rather than trotting out their biases and advancing claims disconnected from physical possibilities. ( from: Vaclav Smil, How the world really works: The science behind how we got here and where we're going. Viking, 2022, pp. 3-6)

For a conversation about Smil's thoughts, check out this podcast episode: https://open.spotify.com/episode/2a2AhypMImOeyLl9NHo0ej?si=3d1d0e35e7f64ad2