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<DIV><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" face=Arial color=#000000
size=2>From: "Chana Luntz" <A
href="mailto:chana@kolsassoon.org.uk">chana@kolsassoon.org.uk</A></FONT></DIV><FONT
style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" face=Arial color=#000000
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<DIV><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" face=Arial color=#000000
size=2> </DIV>
<DIV><BR>>>Um, Ayleh Rzk'rah is a myth, not a lie. ....</DIV>
<DIV>I quote from "A short<BR>History of Myth" by Karen Armstrong
p7-8:<BR><BR>"Today the word "myth" is often used to describe something that
is<BR>simply not true. ... Since the eighteenth century, we have developed
a<BR>scientific view of history; we are concerned above all with
what<BR>actually happened. But in the pre-modern world, when people wrote
about<BR>the past they were more concerned with what an event had meant....
<BR></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>An experience of trancendence has always been part of the
human<BR>experience. We seek out moments of ecstasy ... Like poetry
and music,<BR>mythology should awaken us to rapture, even in the face of death
and the<BR>dispair we may feel at the prospect of annihiliation. If a myth
ceases<BR>to do that, it has died and outlived its usefulness.....</DIV>
<DIV><BR> ....Our modern alienation from myth is unprecedented. In
the pre-modern<BR>world, mythology was indispensible. It not only helped
people make<BR>sense of their lives but also revealed regions of the human mind
that<BR>would otherwise have remained inaccessible ... "<BR><BR>I tend to think
there is still quite a bit of value in these studies,<BR>because they are able
to explain in modern language something that I<BR>think we moderns sometimes
forget, which is how to more fully understand<BR>some of our own
texts.<BR><BR>>>>>></DIV>
<DIV>I totally reject the formulation "Eilah Ezkarah is a myth." </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>I reject this whole line of thought, that all our midrashim and so on are
the same as Greek and Roman myths, all human creations "like poetry and music"
and so on. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>The person who wrote the book about myth from which R'n CL quotes clearly
does not believe in G-d or in anything Out There besides the amazing workings of
the human brain, which seeks the "experience of transcendence" and
"ecstasy." He does not believe there is an Afterlife (death =
"annihilation") , but thinks "myth" helps us overcome despair. And
look at this passage: "In the pre-modern world, mythology was
indispensable. It...helped people make sense of their lives." There
is the most incredible condescension there, on the part of a modern
person with scientific training who does not need mythology to make sense
of our lives, but nevertheless thinks that mythology is sweet and
meaningful on an emotional, creative level. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>"In the pre-modern world, mythology was indispensable." In actuality,
in the pre-modern (non-Jewish) world, it would not have been possible to
say, "Mythology is indispensable" because they didn't think they /were/ teaching
"mythology" -- i.e., made-up stories. They believed their founding stories
were true. Mythology is pretty stupid and useless if you consciously
think, "These things I believe in are just myths." Only /we/ looking back
at the ancients can say, "<U>They</U> believed in myths, and they just couldn't
have survived without their comforting stories."</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>If you consciously considered your own beliefs to be "just
myths", that would render your entire belief system redundant and
stupid. It would be absurd for ancient Greeks and Romans, and al
achas kamah vekamah for Jews, to say, "Well most of what's in our traditional
texts is just myth."</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>I never, never use the word "myth" when discussing midrashim or
piyutim. Regardless of this passage in a textbook, the word "myth" will
always carry connotations of 1. falsehood 2. created by people 3.
not historically based 4. not scientifically based
5. childish, primitive 6. something
that modern man has outgrown and can afford to smile at indulgently.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>When I teach that some midrashim are not necessarily meant to be taken
literally, I never say "this is not true" or "this is a myth." Words are
powerful and must be used with care. Never do we want our children
to smile indulgently at the foolish false beliefs of the primitive and childlike
Tannaim and Amoraim, considering themselves to be in possession of superior
knowledge and wisdom to that of those who came before us.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>I don't think Chazal /meant/ for all the midrashim to be taken literally,
and they indeed might be smiling indulgently at /us/, for taking them so
literally! But nor do I believe that these stories are "myths."</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>The story of the Asarah Harugei Malchus, in particular -- even though
discrepancies have crept in -- is based on totally true history and nothing
mythological at all. You cannot compare the stories of Roman
persecution of great Torah leaders to, say, the Romulus and Remus founding
stories of Rome.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>As I wrote those words I remembered that Chazal themselves also mentioned
that very story, which Rashi somewhere quotes. Nevertheless I do not
believe that Chazal believed in the literal historicity of the Romulus and Remus
story, which, as told by the Romans, WAS myth, but as told by Chazal
was--midrash.<BR><BR></DIV></FONT>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT lang=0 face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF"
PTSIZE="10"><B><BR></B><B>--Toby
Katz<BR>=============</B></FONT></DIV></FONT><BR><BR><BR><DIV><FONT style="color: black; font: normal 10pt ARIAL, SAN-SERIF;"><HR style="MARGIN-TOP: 10px">Check out AOL Money & Finance's list of the <A title="http://money.aol.com/special/hot-products-2007?NCID=aoltop00030000000001" href="http://money.aol.com/special/hot-products-2007?NCID=aoltop00030000000001" target="_blank">hottest products</A> and <A title="http://money.aol.com/top5/general/ways-you-are-wasting-money?NCID=aoltop00030000000002" href="http://money.aol.com/top5/general/ways-you-are-wasting-money?NCID=aoltop00030000000002" target="_blank">top money wasters</A> of 2007.</FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>