Reivew of Shelby's Paper

Shelby does a great job of explaining how culture and and the individual have on how religion is viewed and followed in society. She notes in the introduction of her paper how humankind began to realize that life contains many hardships and downturns. Many people question their connections to God or the existence of a god all together. I like the idea of the "mist or vapor" that was discussed in class and how people can be left with a void. Searching for this "inherent truth" does seem to be one of the biggest goals and obstacles of people living on this earth now.

There is also is a fear that some people choose to accept and others remove, that we should not question the actions of the divine. There are people that place their fate and religion along the same line. Those people that don't look beyond the incident or circumstance to find a meaning, just want to accept that wisdom above theirs has taken place and no further investigation is needed. People "choose the path of ritual, law and habit. He gives the question of suffering no more thought than a cursory glance, afraid of what he might find, and returns instead to the known path of." I think this line really sums up the a traditional way of viewing the Bible and the path a lot of people choose to take.

I also like the idea of a "mental apocalypse" and am awaiting mine. She goes on to explain the power of words and I would agree that faith has a lot to do with to what degree we take words seriously. For some of us that still don't have answer or have found a concrete place to look for it, I like the day to day realizations that its just a good day to be alive.

So many rules

The book of Leviticus is very interesting, because it holds all of the laws that people are supposed to live by, but are not followed anymore today. The book of Leviticus has a law for just about anything under the sky. There are laws for slavery, sacrifices, eating, and praying so that you don’t worship God in the wrong way. One of the sins that stand out in this book is when Aaron’s sons Nadab and Abihu “offered unholy fire before the lord, such as he had not commanded them. And fire came out from the presence of the lord and consumed them, and they died before the Lord.” There are many evil and bloody things that happen throughout the Bible, but this is one of the worst punishments for such a meager crime. Plotz describes it as “an episode they probably skipped in church.” He also says that this passage helps put into perspective the importance some of these rituals had for Jewish and other cultures. They obviously needed some fear to coax the others into keeping a meticulous count of how rituals were operated.
God also puts the Ten Commandments into Leviticus as well. For most people, I think the Ten Commandments are as far as the rules go in the Bible. I was never given any information in school on the hundreds of other rules that are supposed to be followed. God starts to sound more like the pagan deities of old when he discusses his rewards and penalties for choosing whether or not to follow his rules. “If you follow my statutes and keep my commandments and observe them faithfully, I will give you your rains in their season, and the land shall yield its produce, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit.” This reminds me of Mayan people praying for their Gods to produce a better rain season or the The Lottery, when the pick the person to stone to death before the new growing season. The best though, is how God plans to punish those who do not follow his statutes. “I will bring terror on you; consumption and fever that waste the eyes and cause life to pine away.” Even though God has contradicted himself several times on this issue, I still like to see the fire and brimstone God laying down the law. Follow the laws of the Bible or you will die a slow and painful death and have a good day.

Female Influences

I was lucky enough years back to have started this class and not finish it. This situation lent to me the Book of J by Harold Bloom. This book relates to the intellectual level of Northrop Frye with a little of the subtlety of David Plotz. In this text Bloom argues that the J writer (Yahwist) may have been a female. Some of the reasoning behind this is that the J writing is very story driven instead of lists and laws like a lot of other parts in the Torah. The theory is that J might have been a high priestess in the court of King Solomon. The writings reflect the situations of the time, but they are done in a way that is not restrictive to imaginative forms of literature. I suppose Bloom is saying that most men write like accountants. Bloom makes some definitive points about why this might have been possible.

"he points out that almost all of the major female characters--from Eve through Sarai and Tamar--are stronger and more vivid than the men. And Eve, he notes, was created after Adam, and "surely J’s ironic point is that the second time around, Yahweh has learned better how the job ought to be done."

This female centered ideal about the Bible contradicts a lot of the assumptions made in class that most of the women in the bible are whores or morally weak. I would agree that the Bible does spend more time explaining the female characters than it does the male characters. The female characters do get into more mischief than other characters and usually get a vibrant explanation within the text. Bloom is unhappy however, about how much controversy this theory has created.

"If I had the book back in my hands, I don’t mind telling you or anyone else, since it’s become such a red herring in the discussion of the book, that I would suppress that [the claim that J was a woman] completely. It is a book about God and about the representation of God and about the scandal of the J text, which I’m trying to bring forward."

Bloom is one of the most famous literary critics still alive today. If he makes an assumption I would be inclined to give it the time of day. However, as he states he would rather discuss the finer details of the book than banter about who is male and who is female. Bloom discussion about the inconsistencies of the text greatly relates to the discussions in class. He just found another way of bringing it about.

Where's God in Esther

My group project was on the story of Esther. Our group ended up doing a play on the significance of Esther in the Bible, but I think that we may have missed one interesting point in the story. Even though this story follows the same story as many books in the Old Testament, with its persecution of the Jews and it's rise from certain doom, the reader may begin to notice that there isn't any mention of God throughout the entire story. All of the issues handled in this story are done by men and women. It was weird to be reading a book in the bible and noticing that you are no longer reading about God. Considering that this story is about the deliverance of Jews from destruction, you would have thought to have seen some divine influence pop out somewhere. This story gives a lot of power to it's main character, a girl, Esther. It's odd for God not to be in a biblical story, but for it also to give the lead role to a girl is very surprising. Esther was the voice to a Persian king and she persuades him to allow the Jews to live. Having a women as the subtle voice of God may relate to how Moses was considered to be a bad speaker. God usually picks a person that isn't the common type hero. This story gives the Jews a sense of ability, showing that God doesn't make an appearance during all of their situations.

God’s Fear of Man

Since reading through the main parts of the Pentateuch and through some of the prophets of the Old Testament, there are many similarities in the structure and messages produced from the book. It seems that the bible tries to get its point across using stories of different lineages that come across with the same lesson. Lineage seems to be a strong focus of the first books of the bible. This could be because of the need to spread people across lands. God, though, does not want all the people to stand under one nation, or under one language. God appears to want people to be morally responsible and multiply throughout the earth, but almost contradictorily destroys any family line that is close to achieving a united society. It would seem that God is afraid of people uniting above his power. There are many stories in the Old Testament that have this tone, but focusing on just a few of the stories will illustrate God’s fear of man.
Starting from the second creation story, God creates man and women and places them in the garden that he has created. He loves his creations and only has but one rule that they must follow. God does not want his new subjects to eat from the tree of knowledge hinting that God is happy with their subservient actions and childlike innocence. After the serpent convinces them into eating from the tree of life, God doesn’t look at them in the light of his creation. God feared for them not to eat from the tree. He even lied to them saying that, “You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree… or you shall die.” God knew that they wouldn’t die, but become as powerful as him, or become one of us [being of heavenly council] if they were to have reached the tree of life. Even through Adam and Eve’s children God enacts his doubt on man by making Cain’s decedents bloodthirsty, establishing a culture of violence that eventually leads to humanity’s destruction. God make sure that people fight amongst themselves instead of climbing the evolutionary ladder.
God’s reign is again in jeopardy when Noah’s descendents build the Tower of Babel. Humanity unites together in the post-flood world and decides to build a tower that will reach the heavens. People wanted a symbol of their ambition and strength as a united people. God came down and saw that the people were once again overstepping their bounds and said, “Look, they are all one people, and they have all one language; and this is only the beginning of what they will do; nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them.” God once again sees the potential that humans have to step up to another level. Harris explains this part of the bible as “hubris, a pride that offends the gods” God’s reaction to this seems to more out of fear than disdain.
Another story that is very similar to the story of Cain and Abel is the story of David’s sons Amnon and Absalom. This story doesn’t show God’s fear as much as it has the same story line as Cain and Abel. The Davidic lineage was very strong during the time of Absalom and Amnon and David has almost conquered all of the known world. If David were to be successful in this there would once again be a chance to unite all people under one rule and one language. Even though this plot is not narrated in the bible, Absalom’s murder of his brother Amnon sends the Davidic rule into chaos and once again separating the people across the world. Harris suggests that God has had a hand in this by stating, Yahweh’s judgment extends far beyond the infant’s death, precipitating a series of betrayals and rebellions that reduce David’s royal household to a state of moral anarchy. It seems that God had already knew the outcome of David’s kingdom.
God uses strong family names to create the downfall of society when it is God himself that sets the fall of society out in the first place. These passages show that the bible is set up in a way to show that there cannot be a perfect society, because God fears that people may one day overpower him. God’s attempt to create an obedient servant failed, but for some reason still clings on to them. This could be that God feels human emotions just like the subjects he creates. The stories of the bible themselves could have enough influence on modern society that another attempt to create a society of one could fall under the same types of tragedies told of in the Bible.

Commentary of My paper

I wrote my paper on the Slave, which was probably one of my favorite novels that I got to read this semester. I picked this story to write about, because I really liked how well the story mirrored the tales in the Bible. The connection between Jacob and Jacob was easy to make, considering that many stories run along the same plot line. The renaming of Wanda to Sarah was the connection that was the funnest to create. Wanda was the most compelling character in the novel to me, because I felt that she symbolized free will throughout the story. She was one of the few characters capable of thinking, that hadn't already been corrupted with a traditional outlook. She was born a pagan in the eye's of Jacob and therefore was unfit to take home or marry. The renaming of Wanda to Sarah demonstrates a re-birthing or born again ideology. Now that Wanda is Sarah she is fit to live among the "chosen" people. Just as Sarai was now able to take on the roll of the mother of the people Wanda was now able to live amongst society.

It also gave an interesting look at how the worlds religions have evolved throughout time and where beliefs in modern religion get their basis. This novel deals with the blending and meshing of several different pagan and modern religions. There is still a heavy pagan influence in the novel that is really interesting. Imps,trolls and witches are discussed and sometimes referenced to solve problems. The passion that these people in the novel put into their beliefs, shows the decline of folklore and oral traditions that used to drive culture. The traditions and symbols of this story may have become watered down as time progresses, but there are still remnants of it in our daily lives. Choices are still made today out of superstition and luck.

This novel should help explain to it's reader the importance that beliefs have played on our culture and how that is likely to shape the future. As I discussed in the novel, this story is an archetype for many stories to come.

Paper

Connections between The Slave and the Bible

The Slave by Isaac Bashevis Singer is a story about a young Jewish slave named Jacob that falls in love with a gentile girl named Wanda. The story in set in the 17th century in a Polish village. This story depicts the animosity between the Christian and Jewish religions and greatly mirrors several stories of the Bible. Since the story has a Jewish theme it is very much rooted within the Old Testament. The story helps illustrate the troubles that people have with interpreting the Bible and the superstitions and hostilities it creates. The story also goes deep into Jewish tradition and how the Jews are looked upon by the outside world.
The main connection with the novel to the Bible would have to be the story of Jacob meeting Rachel. In Genesis, Jacob travels to his Uncle Laban’s house and finds Rachel with whom he instantly falls in love with. Jacob says, “I will serve you seven years for your younger daughter Rachel.” (29.18-19) In Singer’s novel Jacob is a slave to Jan Bzik and has been for seven years. Wanda is the slave owner’s daughter and both Jacob and Rachel are madly in love. Unlike the Genesis story where Jacob willingly marries Rachel, Jacob is very apprehensive to show his love for Wanda, because he knows that it is against the laws of the Torah for a Jew to marry a gentile. Jacob’s abstinence of Wanda for the duration that he was a slave directly mirrors the work that Jacob did to acquire Rachel. (It should be known that after the first seven years that Jacob worked for Laban he received Leah instead of Rachel. He Had to work for another seven years to acquire Rachel.) Jacob realized his connection to his namesake in the bible:
“The analogy between him and his Biblical namesake had already occurred to him. Jacob Had left Beersheba and journeyed to Haran for love of Rachel and had toiled seven years to win her.” (134)

Jacob, after being freed from bondage from his fellow Jews, returned to the small Polish village to get Wanda and bring her back to his village. If Wanda was to be brought to a Jewish village she had to change her name. She must start anew and be reborn into the Jewish tradition. Jacob baptized her in the river and renamed her Sarah. This is a representation of the sign of the covenant that Abram and Sarai made with God. Abram was circumcised and renamed Abraham and Sarai was renamed Sarah.

“As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name.” (17. 15-16)

Jacob of Josefov, being a scholar of all the Jewish religious texts, also made contradictions to his religion and namesake. After he had been sold into slavery and heard of all the terrible things that the Cossacks had done to his town and his people he questioned “Thou Shalt Love Thy God. No, I cannot, Father, not in this life.” (108) Jacob had been taught that good would prosper and the wicked would be punished, but through the trials of his life he had only seen the good raped and enslaved and the honest tricked and robbed. Even though Jacob was a slave to the Bziks, he saw that they were decent people. He would also always tell Wanda the idea of retributive justice, but he began to question his logic.

Jacob said that God was just, that He rewarded the and punished the wicked, but Stephen, idler, whoremaster, assassin, flourished like the oak, while her father, whose life had been dedicated to work and who had done injustice to no one, crumbled into ruins. What sort of justice was this? (81)

This section of the book correlates with the lesson in the Book of Job. Job becomes part of a wager between God and Satan. Satan arguing that Job is obedient, because he has all of the luxuries of life. So God willed that Job would lose his family, property, and become infested with sickness and boils. Job is then chastised by his friends, for they believe he must have been wicked to receive such bad luck.

"Oh that I might have my request; and that God would grant me the thing that I long for! Even that it would please God to destroy me; that he would let loose his hand, and cut me off! Then should I yet have comfort; yea, I would harden myself in sorrow: let him not spare; for I have not concealed the words of the Holy One. What is my strength, that I should hope? and what is mine end, that I should prolong my life?" Job, 6:8-11

In the end of this story Job’s questioning of God is justified. The moral of the story being that people can question God’s plan within reasonable boundaries. Jacob also respects God’s decisions to kill the just with the wicked saying, “Well, now I have seen it… “These are those abominations which prompted God to demand the slaying of entire peoples.” (57) Jacob was speaking in respect to the corruption of the gentile’s he was enslaved too and their savage partying and lust which would be an allusion to the fall of Sodom and Gomorrah.
Jacob of Josefov also questions God’s plan in respect to the laws of the Torah. His desire for Wanda is so great that he can no longer accept the rules of the Bible and begins to reason with himself about the logic of his situation. “The Jew does not tempt Evil by denying the body but harness it in the service of God.” “Moreover, he should obey the precept: “Be fruitful and multiply.” (112) Jacob has been placed in a position where the traditional rules are no longer befitting him. He has been taken from his homeland and been made to start a new. With the Torah being his only guide he relates his situation once again to his namesake and contemplates; “But, perhaps, Jacob thought, he was an emissary of Esau, sent by those powers who wished Jews and gentiles to mate.” (134) This idea helps connect Jacob of Josefov to when Jacob and Esau are reunited after their separation and after the blessing.
One of the last connections to the bible that the Slave introduces is the naming of Sarah’s son. Sarah is in labor for a long time during the birth of her son and barely makes it to see him survive. Jacob decides to name him Ben-oni (Benjamin) after the last child that Rachel had before her death. The name Benjamin means a child born of sorrow and that seems to be the case for both Rachel and Sarah, since both of them lost their lives giving birth to a Benjamin.
The story of the Slave and the correlating stories of the Bible show how dogma has been used throughout the early ages of Judaism and Christianity and how it still functions today. The stories portrayed in these books describe life lessons and situations that have proven to be timeless archetypes for the world. Just as Jacob of Josefov questioned and reinvented how the bible is followed and interpreted, the modern world will have its own story that relates to Jacob and Sarah and Jacob and Rachel.