In an example of ancient piyyut, אתה כוננתה עלום ברב חסד, You set the world in place with abundant loving care, God’s gift of particular Godlike capabilities to larger-than-life figures of biblical narrative exemplifies the gift of Godlike capabilities to humankind in general. The figures recalled: Jacob, Moses, Joshua, Elijah and Elisha. A common denominator of the gifts is their liminality. They are exercised on the edges, where heaven and earth meet.
An individual, face to face with preternatural, accumulated, transcendent power, vanquishes it. In the
thick of battle, deliverance comes by means of a surreal turn of events. Face
to face with apparent death, life returns through the intervention of one human
being invoking divine help on behalf of another.
Rationalists deride biblical
accounts of the kind just cited for their liminal supernaturalism. But ordinary people who battle with
demons or are visited by angels "unawares" do not. Neither do soldiers who, when asked which film best captures the
sense of the Vietnam War, are likely to name Apocalypse Now. Neither do
doctors and patients familiar with near-death experiences.
According to ancient piyyut, God made humanity a little less than himself,
not the angels. Human beings bear the imago Dei in their feats of wonder,
including the prodigy of prevailing over supernatural power:
ובהבנות
עולם בחכמה
ובהערך נחת
שלחן ודשן
When it was built,
the world with wisdom,
when contentment was spread,
a table and rich fare,
וּבְהִבָּנוֹת
עוֹלָם בְּחֹכְמָה
וּבְהֵעָרֵךְ נַחַת
שֻׁלְחָן וְדֶשֶׁן
ותשקד
להזמין אורח
ןלהאכילו
טוב מאכלך
you took care
to board a wayfarer,
to feed him
your bounteous food,
וַתִּשְׁקֹד
לְהַזְמִין אוֹרֵח
וּלְהאכילו
טוב מאכלך
ולהרדותו
במעשה ידך
היות כאלהים
שוטר ומושל
and make him dominant
over your handiwork,
to be like God,
an administrator, a ruler,
ולהרדותו
במעשה ידך
היות כאלהים
שוטר ומושל
ולשור אל מלאך
ולקרוע מי שועל
להדמים מאורות
ולחהיות רדומים
to look down on an angel,
to rend the waters of the
Ladler;
to dim the lights,
to revive the sleepers.
ולשור אל מלאך
ולקרוע מי שועל
להדמים מאורות
ולחהיות רדומים
The language is thick with allusions, most of
which cannot be grasped without a thorough knowledge of the Tanakh. With
reference to the last strophe, S & Y note Gen 32:29; for the phrase with
‘Ladler,’ Isa 40:12; Josh 10:12-13; Elijah and Elisha, who revived the dead.
It is not hard to see how the Messiah would
be expected to be all of the above to the nth power (from אז באין כל lines 695-696):
אשרי אבותינו
מה חזו עיניהם
ואשרי בניהם
למי הם מצפים
Happy our ancestors,
what their eyes saw!
Happy their children,
for whom they watch!
אַשְׁרֵי אֲבוֹתֵינוּ
מַה חָזוּ עֵינֵיהֶם
וְאַשְׁרֵי בְּנֵיהֶם
לְמִי הֵם מְצַפִּים
Bibliography
Michael D. Swartz and Joseph
Yahalom, Avodah: An Anthology of Ancient Poetry for Yom
Kippur, Penn State Library of Jewish Studies; University Park:
Pennsylvania State University Press, 2005
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