[Avodah] Do we Owe Respect to Old Bones?

[Micha Berger]

On Wed, Jan 11, 2012 at 02:54:10AM +0000, kennethgmiller at juno.com wrote:
: My -- probably mistaken -- understanding is that Adnei Hasadeh are
: precisely those homo sapiens who were not endowed with Tzelem Elokim. Is
: it possible for there to be a being which is assur to murder, yet not
: be metameh?

My own pet theory:

In the 19th cent, the gorilla was only known to westerners by rumor. In
1846 a missionary was shown a skull and found other remains, and in 1860
the first European, Paul du Chaillu encountered a living gorilla. During
this rumor period, fantastic stories grew about them. US newspapers
carried stories of local gorilla sightings much like bigfoot today.

But I don't think adnei hasadeh were gorillas.

However "forest men" were known in Malysia and Indonesia, where they
are called by the Malay and Indonesian equivalent -- orang hutan. The
Sassanid Empire, which ruled the Bavel of Chazal's era, had regular trade
routes as far as China and Japan. So the idea that rumors reached Chazal
of these "forest men", orangutans, could very well have reached them.

Adnei hasadeh have a stem running from their umbilica down to roots in the
ground, and if you cut it, they die. This doesn't fit teva as we know it.

Which is why I prepped this post with the gorilla mashal. Chazal might
be a poetic or rumor-based description of an ape that lives in trees
and tends to stop eating when taken out of their habitat. The gap from
"forest people" to "masters of the field" is real, but to my mind
suggestive of common origin.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             When faced with a decision ask yourself,
micha at aishdas.org        "How would I decide if it were Ne'ilah now,
http://www.aishdas.org   at the closing moments of Yom Kippur?"
Fax: (270) 514-1507                            - Rav Yisrael Salanter