The Biology of Grace (Berakhot 10a)

This section of Berakhot meanders into several discussions of the Psalms, including one ascribed to R. Simeon bar Yochai.    He is one of the Rabbis associated in later traditions with mystical ideas; indeed the magnum opus of kabbalah, the Zohar, was published in his name (although it was actually written much later).  So when I read in Berakhot his statement that King David “dwelled in five worlds and spoke a song [in each],”  I was expecting a journey through heavenly realms or levels of the soul.  What I read, however, was predominantly biological.

• He dwelled in the belly of his mother and spoke a song: “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all my inwards bless his holy name” (Psa. 103: 1).

• He came forth into the world and looked at the stars and planets and spoke a song: “Bless the Lord, you angels of his, you mighty in strength that fulfill his word, hearkening to the voice of his word.  Bless the Lord, all you his hosts” (Psa. 103:20, 21).

• He sucked at the tit of his mother and looked at her breasts and spoke a song: “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits’ (Psa. 103:2).”

• He saw the catastrophe that came upon the wicked and spoke a song: “Let sinners cease out of the earth and let the wicked be no more. Bless the Lord, O my soul, Halleluyah” (Psa. 104:35).

• He looked upon the day of death and spoke a song: “Bless the Lord, O my soul. O Lord my God, you are very great, you are clothed with glory and majesty” (Psa. 104: 1).

The moral conflict, the drama of right and wrong decisions, is part of the picture, but does not predominate.   The pageant that Bar Yochai presents is dominated by the facts of birth, breath, nourishment, death, the wonder of worlds.