From the Desk of Rabbi Desmond Mac Innes-Reese, First Viscount of Glamorgan

 

 Faith and Science are Not Enemies – a d’rash on Bere’shit 

(for AI audio, with hot pictures, see below).

 

Have you ever looked at the Cosmic Calendar?  The Cosmic Calendar is a method to visualize the chronology of the universe, scaling its current age of 13.8 billion years to a single year in order to help intuit it for pedagogical purposes in science education or popular science. In this visualization, the Big Bang took place at the beginning of January 1 at midnight, and the current moment maps onto the end of December 31 just before midnight. At this scale, there are 437.5 years per second, 1.575 million years per hour, and 37.8 million years per day. The concept was popularized by Carl Sagan in his book The Dragons of Eden (1977) and on his television series Cosmos - who says Wikipedia is useless! In other words, the Cosmic Calendar is a visual reminder that we are but a blip in time, and that we weren’t the creation, we were just a part of it.  

And after reading Bere’shit this morning, I am struck by how similar the Biblical story of creation is to the outline by our scientists. Genesis first through the fourth day correspond perfectly with Sagon’s September through early December of Year One. As for the time element, remember there was no way to “tell time” (time as a reference point – the average person’s conception of it) until Day Four when other animals were created and no one noting the “passage of time” until Day Six when humans were created. So who knows what a “day” or “year” meant back then – potato/potato – and if we follow time by the Earth’s fundamental elements, 13.8 billion years sounds about right to me.    

What’s the real difference between the two versions?  Bere’shit sounds better. Think about it . . . Neil deGrasse Tyson wasn’t alive yet, so how else were the rabbis going to make it interesting, eh? By putting it in a story with divine beings, magic forces, and strange creatures -instead atoms colliding, nuclear fusion, and chance occurrences the story becomes a fascinating tale easily passed down, particularly to children as part of religious education.

Here’s another point of confusion. On the sixth day (Genesis 1:29-30),

“כָל־הָאָ֔רֶץ וְאֶת־כָּל־הָעֵ֛ץ אֲשֶׁר־בּ֥וֹ פְרִי־עֵ֖ץ זֹרֵ֣עַ זָ֑רַע לָכֶ֥ם יִֽהְיֶ֖ה לְאָכְלָֽה׃ 

G-d said, “See, I give you every seed-bearing plant that is upon all the earth, and every tree that has seed-bearing fruit; they shall be yours for food. 

וּֽלְכָל־חַיַּ֣ת הָ֠אָרֶץ וּלְכָל־ע֨וֹף הַשָּׁמַ֜יִם וּלְכֹ֣ל ׀ רוֹמֵ֣שׂ עַל־הָאָ֗רֶץ אֲשֶׁר־בּוֹ֙ נֶ֣פֶשׁ חַיָּ֔ה אֶת־כָּל־יֶ֥רֶק עֵ֖שֶׂב לְאָכְלָ֑ה וַֽיְהִי־כֵֽן׃ 

And to all the animals on land, to all the birds of the sky, and to everything that creeps on earth, in which there is the breath of life, [I give] all the green plants for food.” And it was so.

Hashem directs us to eat all the vegetation we want and gives the same directions to the animals in a previous verse. 

We all know many animals species, no matter where they are on the spectrum of earthly creatures, that eat meat, oftentimes each other. Is Hashem implying a certain equity across as well as amongst species, i.e., we eat what they eat? We have free will so our bad habits make sense – thus we are greedy carnivores. 

But why aren’t all animals vegetarian? 

If it was declared in the beginning why isn’t vegetarianism Jewish law number 613? And where’s the enforcement? Where is the wrath should you that should come after you eat that Whopper with Cheese? 

At least at Sinai, you got some decent smiting.

And I have other concerns. On Day 7+ (Genesis 2:3-7), after already declaring mission accomplished and still full of divine pomposity, Hashem must have realized that something was amiss when the shrubs wouldn’t grow and the animals collapsed due to severe dehydration.  Hashem had forgotten to create rain and the Great Lakes. And initially, YHVH said man and woman were in charge of everything else (Genesis 1:28):

וַיְבָ֣רֶךְ אֹתָם֮ אֱלֹהִים֒ וַיֹּ֨אמֶר לָהֶ֜ם אֱלֹהִ֗ים פְּר֥וּ וּרְב֛וּ וּמִלְא֥וּ אֶת־הָאָ֖רֶץ וְכִבְשֻׁ֑הָ וּרְד֞וּ בִּדְגַ֤ת הַיָּם֙ וּבְע֣וֹף הַשָּׁמַ֔יִם וּבְכָל־חַיָּ֖ה הָֽרֹמֶ֥שֶׂת עַל־הָאָֽרֶץ׃ 

G-d blessed them and G-d said to them, “Be fertile and increase, fill the earth and master it; and rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and all the living things that creep on earth.” 

But Adoni forgot to offer any specific instructions on what that meant. And when G-d realized the need for a project manager (Genesis 2:7-9):

וַיִּיצֶר֩ יְהוָ֨ה אֱלֹהִ֜ים אֶת־הָֽאָדָ֗ם עָפָר֙ מִן־הָ֣אֲדָמָ֔ה וַיִּפַּ֥ח בְּאַפָּ֖יו נִשְׁמַ֣ת חַיִּ֑ים וַֽיְהִ֥י הָֽאָדָ֖ם לְנֶ֥פֶשׁ חַיָּֽה׃ 

the LORD G-d formed man from the dust of the earth. He blew into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being. 

וַיִּטַּ֞ע יְהוָ֧ה אֱלֹהִ֛ים גַּן־בְעֵ֖דֶן מִקֶּ֑דֶם וַיָּ֣שֶׂם שָׁ֔ם אֶת־הָֽאָדָ֖ם אֲשֶׁ֥ר יָצָֽר׃ 

The LORD G-d planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and placed there the man whom He had formed. 

וַיַּצְמַ֞ח יְהוָ֤ה אֱלֹהִים֙ מִן־הָ֣אֲדָמָ֔ה כָּל־עֵ֛ץ נֶחְמָ֥ד לְמַרְאֶ֖ה וְט֣וֹב לְמַאֲכָ֑ל וְעֵ֤ץ הַֽחַיִּים֙ בְּת֣וֹךְ הַגָּ֔ן וְעֵ֕ץ הַדַּ֖עַת ט֥וֹב וָרָֽע׃ 

And from the ground the LORD G-d caused to grow every tree that was pleasing to the sight and good for food, with the tree of life in the middle of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and bad.

“Holy Project Failure, Batman!” Make you wonder if Hashem had other oversights? For example, what’s with the second male. Did Eve kick him out or did he leave her?  Or did G-d fire the original man for laziness and environmental malfeasance?  The second half of this story is equally as confusing. I mean if YHVH knew Adam and Eve would be up to mischief, why didn’t he keep a better eye on them? Considering that they couldn’t be more than a few days old, shouldn’t someone call child protective services and make a neglect complaint?  

Well, I guess that explains Cain and Abel.

Then there is the social justice angle to all of this. I could understand how even the divine can be overwhelmed. I mean, let’s face it, Hashem only had 7 days to get it all done. Have you ever had to make such a deadline? Someone had his foot on G-d proverbial neck and was pressing hard. G-d could have had three other galaxies to take care of on $10/hour job. Oy! 

Does this mean that Hashem was abused by “the Man” too?

Or did G-d “forget” these things on purpose? For if he’d made the world perfect, there would there be no room for t'shuva (repentance) and no opportunities to secure our bonds with nature, self and the rest of Beit Yisroel (the House of Israel). The world is perfect in its imperfections and all are in their place. And if Adoni knew all along that this world would be bequeathed to us, YHVH also knew we didn’t like being idle and would need something for which to define ourselves. So Hashem made us the COOs, chief operations officers of Planet Earth and in charge for now until . . . until . . . 

 

2ND INSTALLMENT OF COVID-19 & THE SUBMISSIVE

COVID-19 & THE SUBMISSIVE - Musing # 1348: Family Quarantine – Day 1 minus 2

Chapter 1 – Deetz and Angus

Some background, eh?  My name is Desmond Mac Innes-Reese.  Most folks call me Deetz.  I’m married to the 12th Earl of Glamorgan, Angus Mac Innes-Reese, a descendent of Welsh royalty and one of the richest men in the world (yeah, just like the fairy tales).  My sister Ciara says I look like Bruce Lee’s brother from another mother.  Angus looks like he just left the cover of some corner store bodice ripper, kilt and all.  We’ve been married for nearly six years and things are changing. 

YOU, ME, AND YOU MAKE THREE

This is a draft of an excerpt from the upcoming second in the Glamorgan Progeny series.  Let me know what you think in the comments section.  Thanks for reading!

I was sitting on the wicker chair with a few papers, books, and mobile scattered across the matching coffee table.  It was a damp, early winter day and I could sense the greenhouse’s residents breathing and talking to one another – I am psychically sensitive like that.  I had been working on a drash, a biblical interpretation, to justify critical points in my article for Tikkun magazine.  I am Desmond Mac Innes-Reese, 1^st Viscount of Glamorgan.  Close friends call me Deetz.  I am a rabbi over a small but growing Welsh congregation that was gaining some international statue because of its unapologetically progressive politics.  We were a welcoming space for Jewish misfits ostracized by more traditional settings.

I stood up, stretched, and sighed at my lack of progress in light of the lateness of the day.  The moon was nice though and I found myself missing my husband of six years, Angus Reese, the 12^th Earl of Glamorgan.  He is an MP representing Cardiff in the House of Commons and currently away on diplomatic business.  He's been gone for two weeks.  The Crown often presses him into secret diplomatic service because of his grasps of multiple languages – a big advantage during high stakes negotiations.  He wasn’t due back until tomorrow.  We are quite ‘close’ and I’ve been missing the feel of his body against mine.  If asked, Angus would claim he wasn’t gay but then again, neither am I.

I walked over to the samovar to get some more tea, reckoning on a few more minutes of work before I went to bed.  Sipping at the hot brew, I looked out to the rest of the garden, bits of snow dusting the bushes which surrounded the ancestral estate.  Remodelling of the mansion was nearly over and our entire clan of reprobates had settled throughout it.  We were related by deeds and blood, having saved one another’s lives more times than we cared to remember and in ways 007 wouldn’t have dreamed of.  But that’s another story . . .

I started back to my seat when I felt a rustling behind me.  I turned around and Mr Handsome appeared like someone teleporting from Blake’s 7 Liberator.  More likely he flew our jumbo, private jet.  “Oi!  You’re home early!”  Ah, finally a legitimate excuse to stop working.  And what an excuse Angus was.  He still looked like a model off the cover of an Arthurian romance novel - long-hair, beard, and all.  Whereas he is buff, I’m slight and tight, like Bruce Lee’s brother from another mother.  We both have random Oriental and Welsh tattoos all over our bodies, only I have a tree of life brand that lights up when I get emotional.  Luckily I was no longer in puberty where burning a hole in my shirt was embarrassingly commonplace.  “Things must have gone well, eh?”

“Right,” he said in a low growl.  He came into the light.  I noted how his suit was wrinkled and his hair was untied.  “I’ve crossed three datelines to get to you.”  He looked a bit wild, his grey-green eyes were dark, glaring at me with a smouldering intensity.  He placed his suitcase on a nearby chair unceremoniously and walked to the middle of the room, hands behind his back.  “Come here.”  I looked at him incredulously.  “Now.”