THE DANGERS OF VISION

Welcome back. It is September. School is starting. The High Holy Days are coming. Welcome back to the synagogue. What do we come back to? One answer might be that we return to eternal truths and to patterns of observance going back thousands of years. I want to argue that we are coming back to ambiguity. Moreover, I am not going to make an argument that some ultra-Orthodox think that they know the eternal truths but that we, as Reform Jews, recognize that it isn't that simple. Rather, I want to argue that Jews have had an uncomfortable relationship with religious precision for 2000 years and more.

I am, by trade, a vision researcher and I think that this point can be made by looking at the role of the senses in Jewish theological life; specifically, the different roles played by vision and audition.

Hearing does well in our tradition. Hearing is good. "Hear, O Israel" says the Shema. It does not say "Look, O Israel". God speaks to Moses. Section after section of Torah begins with the statement that God said these words to Moses. God speaks to the prophets.

Vision, on the other hand, is dangerous. "No human can see me and live" says God (Ex 33:20) when Moses asks to see God's glory. Many years later, the first form of Jewish mysticism dealt with Ma'aseh Merkavah, the Mysteries of the Chariot. The goal of this practice was a trip to through the heavens to see the Divine palaces and, perhaps, to glimpse the Divine. This was deemed to be a very risky business. "Four entered Paradise" we are told in the Talmud, "Ben Azzai, Ben Zoma, Aher, and Rabbi Akiva. Ben Azzai looked and died. Ben Zoma looked and lost his mind. Aher 'mutilated the shoots'. Only Rabbi Akiva entered and departed in peace. " One out of four: Those are not good odds, and the one is one of the most famous of the rabbis. By the way, Aher is Rabbi Elisha ben Abuyah and 'mutilating the shoots' is said to refer to his apostasy, somehow caused by what he saw. He abandoned Judaism and, while the Talmud did not read him out of its history, it did refuse to use his name, referring to him as Aher, "the other".

What is wrong with seeing the Divine? One possibility is that any effort to describe God in concrete visible terms is an invitation to idolatry. We have no idea what the Divine might look like and if we think we do, we might worship that image and not the real thing. Isn't it interesting that there is no similar ban on putting words into God's metaphorical mouth? If a child asks what God was wearing, we say that is the wrong question. If that child asks what God was saying, we can quote at length.

You might think that the apparent concreteness of vision would be a benefit. Two stories about Moses would seem to point in this direction. Some of the less gripping portions of the Torah involve God telling Moses how to make objects like the menorah for the Temple. God uses lots of words but Moses apparently doesn't quite get it. Then, at the end of one long passage, God says "Now see and make it according to the building pattern that you are granted to see". See what? Midrash says that God made a model for Moses out of red, green, black, and white fire. When that wasn't clear enough, God engraved the plans on Moses' hand as a reference. Audition is ambiguous. Vision makes clear. Later Moses has the same problem when God lists the animals that can be eaten. "Was Moses then an expert hunter or herbalist, that he should know all these species?" asks Rabbi Akiva. Since the answer is "no", God had to show all these animals to Moses.

Not only does vision clarify, it reassures. When Moses' faith in his mission is wavering, he begs to see God. He hears God all the time but this does not seem to be enough.  Similarly, the dangerous quest for the mysteries of the chariot begins at around the nervous time when prophecy ends. Heschel says that "the task of the prophet is to translate the words uttered by God's voice to his own voice" so that they can be conveyed to the rest of us. When prophecy ends, apocalyptic writing comes to the fore and, again quoting Heschel while "the prophet hears, the apocalyptist sees". Without words coming down from on high, those seeking assurance try to see for themselves.

We still want to see. Seeing is believing.  A picture is worth a thousand words. However, what our tradition seems to recognize is that vision can deceive and that, as a result, firm belief might be based on an illusion. It would be wonderful to be able to see ultimate truths but I think that Jewish nervousness about vision comes from the realization that we may not be equipped to see such things and that we are all too likely to be seduced by limited vision into some dogmatic error. Better to wrestle for 2000 years with the ambiguous words.

When Elijah is beset by trouble and doubt, he retreats to a cave to seek some ultimate truth.  "And, behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and broke in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice." (1 Kings 19:18-19)  Welcome back to another year of trying to understand the still small voice.