Tuesday, December 17, 2013

סמיכת גאולה לתפלה

[ While there's certainly a need for discretionary צניעות as in ואת צנועים חכמה -- no one really reads my blog anyway and the majority of the world doesn't take me seriously anyway. so this should be ok ]

Was thinking in recent weeks the appropriateness of the male-term יסוד in conjunction with the female - נפילה  (as in נפלה ולא תוסיף קום בתולת ישראל and סוכת דוד הנופלת and ביצת ניפול among many others). The natural phenomena of a standalone solitary woman to be prone to insecurity, doubt, unsettledness -- in short a bundled mess of anxiety-ridden nerves. And of course the validity of such a perspective in an empirical physical world of probabilistic chaos.

The myriad permutations of how life can get derailed, devolved, and discombobulated -- at any moment; for the smallest of reasons, for the most pathetic of circumstances [as in אקמצא ובר קמצא חרוב ירושלים אתרנגולא ותרנגולתא חרוב טור מלכא וכולי וכולי ].

The beautifully fitting description then of a solution to such a problem being that of a yesod -- a foundation, a concrete thing which you can build on; bank on; lean on [ as in סומך ה' לכל הנופלים ].

A solid commitment and an unwavering determination in the face of all the chaos, all the doubt, all the naysayers and all the skeptical critics (critics of all kinds - of Life, Love, Existentialal Values, etc).

Something or someone that stays true to preserving or redeeming kindred relationships that once were, even after they've 'fallen' to the side [as in או דודו או בן דודו יגאלנו ] . THAT is truly an anchor that a woman can wrap herself around and build outwards from. Something that gives a backbone to a structure that otherwise is in a constant state of falling [ as in סומך ה' לכל הנופלים - נופלים ולא נפלו ]

That being the case it becomes very clear the directly pernicious effect of the standard Post-Modern theological thinking that is so rampant in many of the jewish communities and flavors today.

NOTHING is a given. Nothing is an absolute. Nothing is hard enough to grab on to. No line or sentence of a text has any definite meaning, because after all -- "that's your interpretation and your way of looking at it, and I have my way of looking at it" -- and there's no common ground of agreed upon truths to which any process of elimination can even begin to be undertaken to successfully ascertain something that is certain.

And so -- what I realized in these past few weeks -- is that the crux of many of the modern day dysfunctions and problems that we as a world suffer from today can arguably be summed up in phallic terms:

The need for a concrete, stable and enduring אבר חי that can offer a foundation to build upon to the would-be נופל. With the stamina and the selflessness needed to see things till their end and not prematurely ejaculate beforehand for lack of integrity. One that's awake and alive to Life's value, meaning, and beauty; and doesn't become limp and flacid in the face of Post-Modern psycho babble b$llsh*t where nothing's really important and everything is reduced to emptiness and subjective opinion.

On one such a יסוד can we find סמיכה. On one such a יסוד can you have גאולה.