There are
two ways of looking at time: linear and
cyclical.
Of course, time is linear in the sense that it marches on. Once a particular point in time has passed,
we simply cannot return to it. There is
no way to relive it. There is no way to
replace it. It isn’t, as Seals and
Crofts sang, that we may never pass this way again. Rather, that we won’t. There simply is no doubt about it.
It is said that the idea of linear time permeates Western thought. The idea of Progress, a very Western notion,
hinges on the notion that time is linear.
That time marches forward, leading towards ever-better conditions. That there is a goal of time, and that is
perfection, the ultimate expression of Progress. That it is our task to be a part of the march
of time, to contribute to Progress and the quest to perfect the world.
Of course, if you know anything about Jewish thought, you know that
Progress is an essential element of the Jewish notion of time. We see the world as marching forward to a
logical conclusion of the Will of G-d.
To a point where the Divine Will and humanity’s shall find their
nexus. In Jewish circles, we refer to
this point in time as The Messianic Age.
We refer to the quest to reach this point, as Tikkun Olam, the
perfection of the world.
We would be forgiven, then, if we saw Jewish time as linear time. And if we saw Jewish time as the very basis
of Western time.
The alternate view is that time is cyclical. There is nothing new under the sun
because we and our world continually turn in cycles. Each new cycle, is basically a rerun of a
previous one. Whether the cycle we’re
looking at is a day, a week, a month, a year, or whatever…each one is an
opportunity to revisit a concept already studied, or return to an experience
already…experienced. Thinking of the cycle
of life, we realise that time renews itself again and again.
The idea of cyclical time is considered organic to aboriginal
cultures. It is also essential to Eastern
thought. In the Eastern mindset, it is
our goal to fit in with the pattern, to go with the flow of the continually
turning cycles of time. It is by finding
our place within these cycles that we find meaning.
So the question is: is the notion
of cyclical time antithetical to the Jewish worldview? This, since we’re already ‘determined’ that
Jewish time is linear? In a word,
no. Because the two notions – linear
time and cyclical time – are not mutually exclusive. Time does indeed march on. But it also renews itself.
Of course, you may have recognised the declaration that I made a moment
ago – there is nothing new under the sun – as coming straight out of our
sacred Jewish literature. In Hebrew, ein
chadash mitachat lashemesh. It comes
from the Book of Ecclesiastes, or Kohelet, part of the ‘wisdom
literature’ of the Hebrew Scriptures. It
is traditionally attributed to King Solomon, supposedly written in his old age.
The Book of Ecclesiastes is read, either on Shemini Atzeret, which
occurred Thursday this week, or on the intermediate Shabbat of Sukkot when
there is one. There are two separate
traditions regarding this. It’s
interesting that this book, seen to offer a rather blasé view of life, is read
specifically during this festival, which we refer to as Mo’adim Lesimcha, or
the Season of our Joy. It seems,
on the surface, like a contradiction.
But in reality, it is just looking as one reality through different
aspects.
Time marches on, but in repeating cycles. The cycles are opportunities to reach and
grow and learn something new from the experience. They’re not meant to be akin to a treadmill.
This week, on Thursday or Friday depending on how traditionalist you
are, was Simchat Torah. Simchat Torah is
symbolic of the ultimate, ever-repeating cycle that should never be like
a treadmill. On this festival, we
complete the annual cycle of reading the Torah publicly, and begin anew with
the next cycle. We read the final
chapter of Deuteronomy and then proceed immediately to read the first chapter
of Genesis. And this Shabbat, the first
Shabbat following Simchat Torah, is Shabbat Bereishit, when we read Bereishit, the
first weekly portion in the Torah, which means ‘in the beginning.’
We read familiar words: Bereishit
bara Elohim et hashamayim ve’et ha’aretz…
But we’re not supposed to read them in a mindset of, oh, here
come the same old words again. Rather,
we’re to read them in a spirit of, what new aspect will I discern this time
I read these words?
Well, this time that I read these words I did hear something new,
and frankly it was thanks to our friend and member, Paul. Sometime in the past year, he suggested to me
that the word ‘et’ implies completeness since it is spelled alef-tav: the first and last letters of the Hebrew
alphabet. Well, I’m something of a
grammarian, so I insisted on the simple meaning of the word: it doesn’t translate, it just signals that
the word that follows is the direct object of the sentence. You know, as in: subject-predicate-object. Paul chided me a bit at the time for
discounting the mystical qualities of the Hebrew language, but I stuck to my
guns.
Well, guess what?
Today when I heard the words Bereishit bara Elohim et hashamayim
ve-et ha-aretz, I heard it!
I heard not just, what follows is the direct object. I also heard:
what follows is complete. And so it is. G-d gave us a world that is complete, at
least in the material sense. And also
complete in its potential to reach perfection.
If only we would participate as G-d’s partners and make it so.
And to do so, we must see time as being linear. We must buy into the notion of progress, the
notion of Messianic redemption. But we
must also see time as being cyclical.
We must be ready, as we repeat festivals and re-visit texts, to learn
something new. To re-examine them and be
open to something beyond what we learned and believed before.
The March of Time is very real. But so is the Cycle of Life. And they’re not mutually exclusive. It’s not either-or, but both-and. And we will have mastered time – mastered life,
for that matter – only when we manage to truly grasp this truth. Shabbat shalom.
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