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.
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