[Avodah] Fables and Lies

[Chana Luntz]

RAM writes:

> So it's not just the Christians. We too have fables, 
> fictions, and lies. Perhaps it is only this one solitary 
> example. But one is not zero.
> 
> My heart is still not fully healed from the pain of this 
> disillusionment. And I apologize if this post has 
> disillusioned any others. But I think that it is very 
> relevant to the question which was asked in the previous 
> thread. And given RBW's comment, I figured it might be 
> worthwhile to spin it off into a new thread.
> 
> To repeat his question:
> > the people who are motivated to repent will basing their 
> avodat Hashem 
> > based on a fable, and maybe even on a lie. Do we really want that?
> 
> My gut reaction is to scream, "No! It is too dangerous! How 
> will they react when the lie is discovered!" But that 
> consideration does not seem to have bothered those who chose 
> to include Ayleh Ezk'rah in the machzor.

Um, Ayleh Rzk'rah is a myth, not a lie.  I realise that the modern (or
should I say "postmodern") study of myth is probably not most people's
normal territory, and indeed most of the texts involved probably can be
considered apikorsis, but to give you a flavour I quote from "A short
History of Myth" by Karen Armstrong p7-8:

"Today the word "myth" is often used to describe something that is
simply not true. ... Since the eighteenth century, we have developed a
scientific view of history; we are concerned above all with what
actually happened.  But in the pre-modern world, when people wrote about
the past they were more concerned with what an event had meant. A myth
was an event which, in some sense, had happened once, but which also
happened all the time.  Because of our strictly chronological view of
history, we have no word for such an occurrence, but mythology is an art
form that points beyond history to what is timeless in human existence,
helping us to get beyond the chaotic flux of random events, and glimpse
the core reality.
An experience of trancendence has always been part of the human
experience.  We seek out moments of ecstasy, when we feel deeply touched
within and lifted momentarily beyond ourselves.  At such times it seems
we are living more intensely than usual, firing on all cylinders, and
inhabiting the whole of our humanity. ... Like poetry and music,
mythology should awaken us to rapture, even in the face of death and the
dispair we may feel at the prospect of annihiliation.  If a myth ceases
to do that, it has died and outlived its usefulness.
 It is therefore mistaken to regard myth as an inferior mode of thought,
which can be cast aside when human beings have attained the age of
reason.  Mythology is not an early attempt at history, and does not
claim that its tales are objective fact. ...

And P9 ... " A myth, therefore is true because it is effective, not
because it gives us factual information.  If, however, it does not give
us new insight into the deeper meaning of life, it has failed.  If it
*works*, that is, if it  forces us to change our minds and hearts, gives
us new hope, and compels us to live more fully, it is a valid myth.
Mythology will only transform us if we follow its directives.  A myth is
essentially a guide; it tells us what we must do in order to live more
richly.  If we do not apply it to our own situation and make the myth a
reality in our own lives, it will remain as incomprehensible and remote
as the rules of a board game, which often seem confusing and boring
until we start to play.
  Our modern alienation from myth is unprecedented.  In the pre-modern
world, mythology was indispensible.  It not only helped people make
sense of their lives but also revealed regions of the human mind that
would otherwise have remained inaccessible ... "

I would probably add that of course there are life giving, life
affirming, myths, and destructive, death myths, and some of the
(post)modern studies of mythology do not, to my mind, sufficiently
distinguish between the two (I was not joking about the apikorsis).  But
I tend to think there is still quite a bit of value in these studies,
because they are able to explain in modern language something that I
think we moderns sometimes forget, which is how to more fully understand
some of our own texts.

> Akiva Miller

Regards

Chana