September 19, 2007
The Narrative of the Days of Judgement and Atonement
In the beginning, Man rejects Divine authority in favor of his own reason and autonomy. This leads to all sorts of problems for Man, most of which involve other people being unhappy. At some point, a small group of Men, related by blood and recently emancipated from the tyrannical authority of an oppressive despot, subjugate themselves (not completely willingly) to Divine authority and accept upon themselves to abide by God's Law. This goes somewhat well, but, as with most things, there's a few bumps along the way; what becomes clear is that Man is locked in a constant battle, between obedience to a higher power and asserting himself as an autonomous individual; it is taken as a given that disobedient Man is not good.
As such, once a year (on what is considered the anniversary of the initial rejection of Divine authority), that nation gathers to reestablish their willing subjugation to Divine authority by submitting themselves, their deeds, their legal record, if you will, for judgment before God. As they are inevitably found lacking both on a collective and individual level in some aspect of their adherence and devotion to Divine authority and law, they enter into a plenary period of repentance, culminating in a final day of atonement for their grievances. By doing so they, to some extent, make whole the relationship with the Divine and reaffirm their acceptance of Divine Law. They begin a celebration of communion with their King by dwelling in his house for a period of time, in happiness and free from the concerns brought about by their finite nature.
on what is considered the anniversary of the initial rejection of Divine authority --
On Tisha Bav, Rabbi Leff noted that Friday (Rosh Hashanah) Adam was created - and sinned. Shabbos was the second day of Rosh Hashanah, as it were.
By Sunday, it was the 3rd of the aseres yemei Teshuva, and Adam was without mitzvos. That's called being dead. So, since he was basically the only one around, he sat Shiva for himself for 7 days. The following Motzei Shabbos (read: Sunday) he got up from Shiva, G-d forgave him, gave him fire (havdalah candle...), new mitzvos (Pru Urvu...) and a new chance. This day of selicha and kappara was the 10th day of creation - Yom Kippur.
I don't think your narrative fits. The constant Biblical battle is between worship of God and idolatry. Atheistic autonomy only emerged fairly recently.
Posted by: Moishe Potemkin at September 19, 2007 9:06 PMI'm not discussing theology; atheism isn't the issue. You can acknowledge God and still not listen to Him.
Idolatry is simply an outgrowth of Man looking elsewhere for his authority, investing his sense of power in something else, the natural world. Gen. 1's main point is that these objects are all inert without intelligence. Anyway idolatry doesn't come about until generations after Adam.
The constant struggle God has with Man is Man not paying heed to God. This subsumes idolatry.
Posted by: Greg at September 19, 2007 11:18 PMIn the beginning, Man rejects Divine authority in favor of his own reason and autonomy. ...Man is locked in a constant battle, between obedience to a higher power and asserting himself as an autonomous individual...
I was just responding to these sentences. I don't know how adam's sin reflected his preference for reason, and I don't know where in the Bible you see a desire for autonomy (unless you're defining autonomy as the right to choose one's master, I guess).
Posted by: Moishe Potemkin at September 20, 2007 9:12 AMCF - doesn't shiva start at stimas ha-golal?
Posted by: adderabbi at September 20, 2007 3:41 PM
