The Role of Story (Part 2)

In my last post I conceded to Michael’s point that my attempt to formulate a Jewish Narnia in which each book is permeated with a theme of one of the Sefirot (God’s character traits as perceived by man) could not encompass the entire essence of Judaism. Nonetheless, I believe there would be great value in such a series for the reasons I will outline in this post. 

First, let me expand on the minimalist answer I suggested in reply to Michael’s comment. Jews have a tendency to try to demonstrate the truth, beauty, and, dare I, superiority of their religion and culture. As a minority living in exile this need for self-validation is certainly understandable as it is constantly necessary to identify sources of pride and arguments against assimilation. Thus, while a Jew may not dispute the intellectual greatness of Greek philosophy, the argument was made that they learned it from Jeremiah. Similarly, the beauty of Arabic poetry in Muslim Spain was a source of motivation for Jewish poets to demonstrate the beauty of the Hebrew language. 

Along these lines, we have seen in the United States Jewish religion-based versions of everything from self-help books to children’s stories. Part of the rationale for the existence of these versions is so that Jews will not be influenced by what may be perceived as the pernicious thoughts and attitudes of the non-Jewish works. Yet, some motivation is also to demonstrate that self-help, children’s entertainment and instruction and everything else must be found in Judaism. This approach is supported by the statement of Ben Bag-Bag in Ethics of Our Fathers (5:22), “Turn it (the Torah) over, and [again] turn it over, for all is therein.”

If we are to adopt this attitude, how much more so should it be applicable to a popular and deeply religious work like the Chronicles of Narnia? If Christianity can produce such a work so should Judaism.

Second, a Chronicles along the lines I suggested (if done properly) would impress upon its readers God’s multifaceted interactions with man. Though one can be a good Jew without ever having heard of the Sefirot, it is much more difficult to claim the mantle of a religious Jew without ever having considered man’s relationship with God. Our most basic liturgy speaks of God as our Father, our Master, and our King. Judaism’s most fundamental stories such as the Exodus, the Flood, and Abraham’s trials uphold God as man’s Savior, Judge, and Guide. A Jewish Narnia attempts to organize and present the basic elements of this relationship. Thus, while perhaps not capturing the entire essence of Judaism it certainly would capture an essence of Judaism. 

Finally, and perhaps this is the most appropriate response, there is a fundamental difference between Christianity and Judaism. Christianity strives to be a universal religion, Judaism does not. However, Judaism does have a universal message, one which is minimal in terms of law (restricted to the Noahide laws) but maximal in its scope: all of Creation should join together to follow His will. 

The goal of a Jewish Narnia would be to impart the universal message of Judaism and to demonstrate that universal morals and ethics come from Judaism. Jewish rituals of the kind I mentioned in the last post are not relevant for a Jewish Narnia attempting to provide a universal message. Therefore, in a sense Michael’s question is off-base (though likely due to my implications that a Jewish Narnia would be Jewish in all ways), so let me rephrase. How does one encompass and relate the universal part of Judaism? The part that is applicable to the entire world?

Stories, I believe, is now a pretty good answer, and has been shown to be so in the United States. It was the Jews wandering in the desert towards the promised land that inspired the Puritans and others. It was the eventual freedom of the Jewish slaves that gave hope to African slaves. The Maccabees, David, and Esther (see here, for example) continue to demonstrate to Americans that, in the battle of good versus evil, good can triumph even against all odds. 

So, I’m going to end this part here. I haven’t yet related to all of Michael’s comment but hopefully this is a start to help others (but mainly myself) think through these elements of religion and how to transmit them to others. 

A Jewish Narnia Book 1: Ruth

Over the past several weeks I have suggested that the Sefirot would be an appropriate theme from which to construct a Jewish Narnia. Following the path C.S. Lewis discovered for us by Michael Ward, each book would create an atmosphere permeated with one of the Sefirot thus allowing the reader to “look along the beam” of that particular Sefirah and perceive God. In this post I would like to advance the idea that such a book already exists for the first Sefirah, Kindness: the book of Ruth. 

The book of Ruth is replete with examples of kindness. Let’s quickly review the main story. Elimelech, an important citizen of the city of Bethlehem in Judea, leaves his homeland due to famine and settles in Moab. He eventually dies and his two sons marry Moabite women and, after 10 years, they also die. At that point Naomi, Elimelech’s widow, decides to return to Judea having heard that the famine is over. She encourages her daughters-in-law to remain with their families in Moab, for neither she nor they can hope for a fulfilled life in Judea. Despite Naomi’s directive and the logic of her argument, one of her daughters-in-law, Ruth cleaves to her widowed mother-in-law and accompanies her home to Judea. 

In Judea, Naomi is too ashamed to be seen in public and it is Ruth who must support their needs. She does this happening upon a field where the poor are (as allowed by biblical law) collecting wheat (and later barley) that has fallen from the harvesters. It turns out that the owner of the field, Boaz, is related to Elimelech. He goes to see how the harvesters are doing and notices Ruth. He offers her food and water, and the opportunity to stay in his fields, essentially pledging support, explaining that he has heard of the great kindness she has performed for Naomi. 

Upon returning home, Naomi sees that Ruth has been incredibly successful. After hearing Ruth’s story she is galvanized to action and becomes determined to repay the kindness shown to her by arranging Ruth’s marriage to Boaz (though perhaps Naomi herself would have been better suited). Skipping over the details of her plan and its execution, Boaz agrees, though Ruth is a stranger in a foreign land. In fact, he declares that it is Ruth who is performing a kindness since her sterling character would certainly ensure she would have many credible suitors. The story ends with God’s payment in kind, blessing Ruth with a son who becomes a substitute for the two Naomi lost and is the progenitor of the Davidic dynasty. 

The major acts of kindness are obvious:

1. Ruth refusing to leave Naomi
2. Boaz’s support of Ruth
3. Naomi attempting to arrange for Ruth’s happiness in marriage
4. Boaz agreeing to marry Ruth
5. Ruth agreeing to marry Boaz
6. God blessing their offspring with the monarchy of Israel

Of course, the simple theme of kindness is insufficient to fulfill our criteria for a novel of Jewish Narnia. The book must be permeated with the atmosphere of the Sefira, and indeed it is. Subtle and small acts of kindness abound. Just to name a few: Boaz kindly greets his workers blessing them in the name of God, Ruth going home to Naomi every evening though she is invited to stay with Boaz’s clan, God granting a child for Naomi to care for in place of her own, and more. 

Beyond the acts of kindness themselves, Ruth strongly parallels Abraham, the personality most associated with the Sefirah of Kindness. Both are strangers who travel to Canaan/Israel to form a covenantal relationship with the true God. Both suffer from childlessness and are affected by famine. Once in Canaan/Israel both are rewarded with children from apparently elderly spouses eventually leading to the Jewish people and the Jewish monarchy. Of course, both exhibit acts of kindness. 

Other symbols of the Sefirah of kindness also weave their way into various parts of the story. The setting for much of the story are the grain fields of Boaz. Such fields are referred to by our Sages as “fields of white,” white being the color of the Sefirah of Kindness. Along similar lines, the Sefirah of Kindness is representative of God’s fourth utterance in Creation, “And God said, 'Let the Earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed…” (Genesis 1:11). Boaz offers that Ruth drink “from what the servants draw” referring to water. However, the verb drawing echoes the joyful drawing of water (Isaiah 12:3) performed during the Festival of Sukkot. There the drawing was not only of physical water but the drawing of the “upper waters,” that of divine inspiration (Jerusalem Talmud, Sukkah 22b). Finally, Ruth marries into the tribe of Judah which is represented by a lion, another symbol of the Sefirah of Kindness. 

One final point, despite the complete lack of overt miracles in the story, God’s name is constantly invoked. No doubt, this is due to God’s acts of kindness that exist “behind the scenes.” Ruth happens to end up in Boaz’s field, Boaz happens to be walking by, and so on. The emphasis on God is also to drive home that the kindness described in the book should teach us not only about human kindness, but should serve as a beam of light along which we can perceive the kindness of God. 

In summary, the book of Ruth may represent, or be a model for, the first book of a Jewish Narnia. Ruth’s main theme, side descriptions of the character's actions, and setting, all reflect the first Sefirah, Kindness, and its symbols. Furthermore, while the story can be told without invoking God as a character, God’s name is constantly mentioned, demonstrating that the book can be used to enlighten us on God’s kindness with humanity. 

Perhaps there are other sections of the bible that reflect other ones of the Sefirot and can also serve as a model for books of a Jewish Narnia. Feel free to chime in with ideas and I’ll let you know if I find any. 

A Jewish Narnia: Summary and Conclusions

Six months ago we started analyzing a question posed by Michael Weingrad, "Why is there no Jewish Narnia?" 

This question has meaning on multiple levels (for example, Weingrad himself interprets the question as to why Jews do not write fantasy and proceeds to address this issue), but our perspective was to first supplement this question with another one: "Should we care that there is no Jewish Narnia?" To this latter question I would answer emphatically, yes, we should care!  

The Chronicles of Narnia are extremely popular and not only amongst Christians. In the decades since they have been written, the Chronicles have successfully spread the ethos and ethics of Christianity to the entire world in a way that Jewish literature has not. Why the Chronicles are so popular is an important question. However, it is reasonable to assume that it is due to their portrayal of universal moral truths. C.S. Lewis presents these truths encompassed within a Christian worldview demonstrating Christianity as their natural home and thus as the source of moral clarity. A Jewish Narnia, were one to exist, would present universal moral truths from a Jewish worldview and thus present Judaism as the source of universal morality and ethics. In addition, the Chronicles of Narnia successfully convey these themes to children (they are children’s literature). A Jewish Narnia would accomplish the same. 

Having affirmed the positive elements in having a Jewish Narnia, we turned to the question of how to write one. Clearly, an avenue for answering this is to determine how Lewis wrote the Chronicles. We noted that the framework of the Chronicles was quite a mystery for several decades, finally solved by Prof. M. Ward in Planet Narnia. Ward's thesis is that each Chronicle is permeated with the atmosphere of one of the seven wandering planets (sun, moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn), and the Roman gods they represent, as envisioned by the great theologians and scholars of the Middle Ages. Of course, Lewis does not believe in these Gods, but each portrayal embodies one aspect of the true God. To borrow from one of Lewis' most famous formulation, Lewis wants us to look along the beam, and see God from the perspective of each of the seven planets.

Summarizing, what Lewis accomplished in writing the Chronicles was to have his readers perceive God from each of seven different perspectives as represented by the gods of the seven wandering planets. Each of these perspectives is a universal truth in that it is how humans perceive their interactions with God. A Jewish Narnia should have similar goals, they should be an attempt to perceive God from all of the different perspectives that He relates to us. How can this be accomplished?

From a Jewish worldview, the climb from pagan religions, as represented by the Roman gods, to monotheistic religions, such as Christianity, is an appropriate one for the non-Jewish world and should be supported and applauded. However, such a transition is not appropriate for Judaism which has the benefit of revelation from Sinai. Jews did not have to struggle to find the the truths of monotheism, it was handed to them on a silver platter. Hence, while it is appropriate for Lewis and Christianity to perceive God in a way built on pagan undertones, it would improper to model a Jewish Narnia in this way.  

What then is a proper model or framework that encapsulates the different modes in which we perceive God's interactions with humanity (and/or individuals) that could serve to create different atmospheres for a series of novels? We entertained a number of different possibilities.  Our first attempt utilized the different characteristics for the days of the week. The Talmud assert that these characteristics are inherent to the day itself due to what God created on that day (as told in the first chapter of Genesis). Our second attempt, again relying on Talmudic assertion, was similar, suggesting as the framework the different hours of the day. The hours have different characteristics based on which of the seven wandering planets are in the ascendant during that hour. Both of these attempts, but especially the second, have similarities with the Chronicles of Narnia given their relationship to the seven wandering planets.

We rejected both of these attempts for the following reason. Both frameworks would require significant expansion, or even redirection, of the Talmudic narrative to properly manifest God’s interaction with His creations. The Talmud’s assertion, for example, that one born on Monday will be short-tempered is quite the opposite of God’s characteristic of being “slow to anger.” While certainly such expansion and substitutions are possible (and were raised in our posts) the framework than lacks the simple, and perhaps, inherent appeal Lewis uses in the Chronicles of Narnia.  

Our third attempt at an appropriate framework was to use the zodiac. The zodiac is symbolically invoked on a number of different levels ensuring there is enough material to create an atmosphere in a novel. These include, (1) the months of the year and, thus, the events and holidays that occurred during that month plus its astronomical constellation, (2) the 12 tribes, (3) man's life, (4) man's activities and so forth (summarized here). While requiring 12 books, this would seem like an excellent framework except for one problem. 

Despite the characteristics granted to the zodiac in Jewish literature, the Talmudic conclusion is that "Israel has no mazal", meaning Jews are not subject to any contrived astrological influences. If so, suggesting these themes as a framework with which to approach the interactions between God and man, would be off the mark. 

Our final attempt at finding a framework for a Jewish Narnia is the kabbalistic Sefirot. The Sefirot have been redefined numerous times over the centuries, and are taken to reflect God’s Will, His character traits, the forces He used in creation of the world, and the portals of the human soul which themselves mirror Godliness. Each of these Sefirot is represented by great Jewish personalities, biblical verses, a part of the Creation story, a color and more. The richness of the kabbalistic and chassidic literature guarantee a myriad of themes that could be used to build the stories. Perhaps most importantly, while a Jewish construct, the Sefirot are universal. All of humanity can resonate with the themes manifested by the Sefirot. Hence, an author could write an unmistakably Judaic series that could attract universal acclaim while teaching the foundations of how a Jew should relate to God.

We posited that each book in a Jewish Narnia reflect one the seven “lower” Sefirot: Kindness, Strength, Beauty, Eternity, Splendor, Foundation, and Kingship and made suggestions of how the different aspects of each one of the Sefirot could be utilized in a novel. 

I hope there's someone out there who can actually write such a series. I would certainly buy it! 

 

Sefirot (Part 5)

The final Sefirah is that of Malchut or Kingship. Malchut is the ultimate synthesis of all of the Sefirot and the link which connects God to the finite world. The Kabbalists further identify Malchut with the Shechinah, the feminine mode in which humanity experiences God. It is the Shechinah that accompanies Israel throughout its long exile just like a mother who would never abandon her children. Indeed, while Kingship is inextricably tied to the House of David, it is our mother Rachel whose tears, midrashically, convince God to ultimately redeem her children, who is a Shechinah-like human manifestation.

The concept of God’s accompaniment of those in exile clearly demonstrated in The Horse and His Boy in Aslan’s accompaniment of Shasta: as a lion forcing him to join with Aravis, as a cat by the Tombs of the Ancient Kings outside of Tashbaan, and as the spirit who comforts Shasta as wanders into Narnia. God is close, personal, and a fellow wanderer, the One on whom we can unburden ourselves and will always be there to listen.       

Exile, however, is not merely a punishment for not following God’s word, despite trials and tribulations exile is yet another stage for our ultimate quest: to be a Nation of Priests bringing true enlightenment to humanity. From this perspective God is not only a fellow wanderer but a Comrade-at-Arms. R’ J. B. Soloveitchik makes this point explicitly in “Emergence of Ethical Man.” God is our leader, the leader of a small band of rebels attempting to revolutionize humanity and bring about knowledge and fidelity to the true God. As a mark of our appreciation for His Leadership we crown him our King. 

Of course, that is only one aspect of the King-subject relationship we have with God. God is very much the universal, cosmic King, creator of the universe and all it encompasses. Humanity, Israel, or any particular human, is simply one subject in His vast kingdom. From the first aspect we follow God’s commands because of our trust in His leadership and out of gratitude for His Friendship. From the second aspect we follow God’s commands for He is the ultimate ruler of all and we are mere subjects. Either way we must follow God’s commands irrespective of our understanding. 

This thought is clearly demonstrated in the Chronicles by Puddleglum the Marshwiggle. In the Silver Chair, the final sign given to Jill is that she will know the lost prince as he will be the first on her travels to ask you to do something in the name of Aslan. When that person actually appears to be a madman, Jill hesitates. But Puddleglum makes the following point, “Aslan didn't tell Pole what would happen. He only told her what to do. That fellow will be the death of us once he's up, I shouldn't wonder. But that doesn't let us off following the sign.” 

God as King suggests that the final installation of the Jewish Narnia explore this duality perhaps as follows. On the one hand our main characters understand that God is on their side. He has a stake in their quest and encourages them to succeed. On the other hand, God’s Will is not to be challenged. What happens when these two ideas clash is the theme of the final book.   

  

The final book in the Chronicles of Narnia ends with the death of every main character, the destruction of Narnia, and the curtain fall on the physical world. Of course, the story continues in the spiritual world which, in line with Lewis’ concept of transposition, of which the physical world is simply a shadow. A Jewish Narnia should not share the same fate. While martyrdom all too often found its place in Jewish history, and even appears to be an aspiration of R’ Akiva, there is ample evidence that the Jewish ideal is to live a meaningful life rather than to die an (even meaningful) death. Redemption, and the victory of good over evil, occurs in this world, not only the spiritual world. 

Rosh HaShana (the Jewish New Year) is the day when we assemble to coronate God as King and accept His judgment for the coming year. The utopian future, as captured in the prayers of the day, provides the universal vision I would expect from the end of a Jewish Narnia, 

“And all of creation will worship You, and they will bound all together as one to carry out Your will with an undivided heart.” 

The Sefirot (Part 4)

In our last post we discussed the Sefirot of Netzach and Hod. We noted that while God’s ultimate goal is to perform Chesed and Gevurah, Kindness and Judgment, humanity does always properly perceive His actions as such. Netzach and Hod are, as it were, the channels for Chesed and Gevurah. Similarly, the Sefirah of Yesod (Foundation) is the channel for Tiferet. Just as Tiferet is the synthesis of Chesed and Gevrah, so too Yesod is the synthesis between Netzach and Hod. It is thus not surprising that Yesod, as the synthesis between the channel of Kindness and the channel of Judgment, is the foundation upon which God constructed the world. The world cannot be purely of one or the other!

Yesod is also referred to as Tzedek, Righteousness, as in the verse, (Proverbs 19:25), “And the righteous is the foundation of the world. Thus, the biblical character identified with Yesod/ Tzedek is Yosef (the Righteous), who sustained Egypt, and the known world, during the great famine. 

Several other concepts, such as the covenant, the commandments, peace, and Mount Zion, are identified with Yesod. These are all acclaimed by our Sages to be foundations of Creation. The Torah, the commandments, and circumcision are foundational as expressed by the verse in Jeremiah (33:25), “Thus said God: As surely as I have established My covenant with day and night, the laws of heaven and earth (nature), so I will never reject the children of Jacob and My servant David…” The rabbinic reinterpretation of the verse reads: If not for my covenant day and night, I would not have put in place the laws of Heaven and Earth. Thus the Talmud (Avoda Zara 3a) relates that, “The Holy One, Blessed be He, made Creation conditional saying: If the Jewish People accept My Torah at the revelation at Sinai, good, but if they do not accept it, I will return you to nothingness.” The mishna in Nedarim (3:11), however, reads the term ‘covenant’ as referring to circumcision. 

The midrash (Yalkut Shimoni 670) views the same verse in Jeremiah from a slightly different perspective. The commandments were the inscription (or blueprint) that God used to create the ‘carve’ the world (building off of the same root [ch,k,k] for inscription and carve). Nonetheless, we see the commandments as foundational to Creation. 

The centrality of the Temple worship is also highlighted as foundational to creation in the Talmud (Ta’anit 27b), “If not for the watch (the weekly rotating posts or stands of Jews involved in the Temple service) the heaven and earth would not continue to exist. 

Finally, peace is identified in Ethics of our Fathers (1:18) as one of the pillars of the world. 

All of the above are inherent to Creation. All are active, fidelity to the Torah, its commandments, and the covenant between God and the Jewish people, ensuring peace between individuals and nations, and the continued service and devotion to God in His Temple. All require synthesis between Kindness and Strength, between Netzach and Hod: the Torah provides paths of pleasantness but in its actualization strength is needed to remain steadfast at difficult times. Peace is an act of kindness but its realization requires Strength to act when boundaries have been crossed. The Temple is dedicated by Solomon as a place for communion and repentance, but is also the seat of the High Court. All are thus properly identified with the Sefirah of Yesod. 

At this point, of course, we are getting towards the end of our series of books. There is only one volume left after this (the Sefirah of Malchut, Kingship). If we are to end our series with some sort of redemption or messianic-type era, we should have by now identified our main protagonist(s). That person or group is set up to be the seat for a new world order. However, doing so is not straightforward. Understanding, flexibility, and compromise may be required. Most importantly our protagonists must realize what is truly foundational and what is overreach. Learning that lesson would be a good theme for the book of Yesod.

The Sefirot (Part 3)

The next pair of Sefirot are Netzach, which can be translated as Eternity or Victory, and Hod, which literally means Splendor, but  is taken to mean submission, surrender, or sincerity. Kindness and Judgment are God-oriented, they describe God's ultimate goals in His interactions with man. Netzach and Hod account for humanity's ability to receive Kindness and Judgment. Thus, while God’s ultimate aim in a series of events may be one of great kindness, the person may not initially perceive it as such. Nonetheless, God can take the eternal (Netzach) view and His ultimate aim is always achieved. Similarly, while the wicked may seem at times to prosper, and the righteous must submit or surrender, this is only temporary. God is the true Judge and justice will eventually reign. 

Understandably, prophecy and prayer flow from these Sefirot. The prophet can foresee that what true today will not be true tomorrow. Isaiah foresaw the subjugation of Judea while it was a regional power under King Uzziah. He then foresaw the ultimate redemption after Samaria (the northern kingdom of Israel) and a large portion of Judea was exiled by Assyria. Prayer as well flows from Hod for the opposite reason. Prayer attest to both our submission to God, and our confidence that justice will prevail in the face of evil. Finally, fear and awe of God also grow from Hod. When we finally see justice, and realize that those who were so powerful do fall in the face of God’s judgement, we are filled with awe of God’s power and God’s justice. 

The Sefirot of Netzach and Hod are represented by Moses and Aaron, respectively. Moses is the ultimate prophet. When he first returns to Egypt the situation actually worsens for the Jewish slaves. Nevertheless, according to our Sages, this increase in workload was actually for their benefit as it allowed them to leave Egypt sooner. Moses is also the great lawgiver, bringing God’s Torah, which He gave to us out of His great kindness. 

Aaron is, of course, the first High Priest. In that role he oversaw the Tabernacle (or, in later times, the High Priest looked over the Temple) the ultimate place of prayer. It is also the place of repentance, inspiration, and learning through which Jews came to awe of God. 

The tribulations of the righteous before ultimate victory and the prosperity of the wicked before ultimate defeat, are classical themes in novels of all cultures. Added elements of the biblical figures, prayer and prophecy will transform the novels in our Jewish Narnia into works manifesting particularly Jewish themes.  

The Sefirot (Part 2)

After several attempts to identify a Jewish organizational structure to be used as a source of as thematic material for a Jewish parallel to Narnia, we have settled on the kabbalistic notion of the Sefirot. For our purposes, we approach the Sefirot as kabbala’s attempt to classify, from a human perspective, God’s interactions with man. Each Sefirah represents what in human terms is manifest as a character trait. While we dare not attribute such characteristics to God directly, we can still speak of His relationship with us from our (albeit limited) point of view. 

Hence, each Sefirah can, and does, have symbols and paradigms in this world. For example, each Sefirah has an associated human, biblical figure. The people were preeminent in the manifestation of the particular characteristic of the Sefirah. Abraham exhibited unparalleled kindness, Isaac, unsurpassed strength and so on. Each Sefirah is also symbolized by a color, body part, and more. These symbols provide a treasure trove of material to create a story in which the Sefirah provides the environment and thus tinges all its aspects. Previously, we explored the first two Sefirot, Kindness and Strength. In this post we explore the third Sefirah that of Tiferet, Glory. 

In kabbalistic lore, Glory is the harmonization of the first two Sefirot, Kindness and Judgement. As we saw in our previous post, such a fusion is necessary for the world to exist. God’s infinite kindness would leave no room for human independence and free will. God’s eternal judgement would leave no room for human error or repentance. A balance is needed which is Glory. 

The biblical figure that manifests Glory is our forefather Jacob. It is he who properly synthesized the Judgment and Strength of his father with the Kindness of his mother and grandfather. This is also the reason why Jacob is associated with Emeth, Truth. It is easy and convenient to declare a child or criminal worthy of pure kindness or unadulterated Judgement. One might think it kind to let such people off the hook for evil actions, or strong to enforce unyielding punishment. Truth, however, the best path to teach a child maturity or a criminal remorse, likely falls somewhere in the middle. 

Balance, both on Earth proper and in the cosmos as a whole, is necessary for life to exist. The planet must not be too hot and or too cold. The sun must not only be a certain distance away from Earth, but also the proper type of star. Thus, not surprisingly, other symbols that represent Tiferet including the sun, the color green, and the human spine, demonstrate the life bearing character of God’s glory. 

Balance is also necessarily for a proper spiritual life. This is highlighted most brightly by Maimonides’s golden mean:

The straight path is the mean disposition found in each and every tendency of all the human tendencies. Such tendency is removed from both extremes an equal distance, and is not nearer to one than to the other. Therefore have the wise men of yore commanded that man should ever review his tendencies, estimate them, and direct them toward the middle-path so that he will be sound in body. How may one do it? He should not be an excitable person, easily angered; nor like the dead without feelings, but adopt a middle-course, not to become indignant, save only at something big which is worthy enough to be angry at, so that the like should not be done another time. (Mishneh Torah, Hilkhot De’ot 1:4)

In our third book of a Jewish Narnia our characters from the books of Kindness and Judgement must somehow find the balance between these two extremes. They must demonstrate mercy where appropriate, but also severity. They must learn that truth on Earth is complex and man must find his own way. Resolution of the third book must come via heroic balance and not heroic extreme.

The Sefirot (Part 1)

In our last post we forwarded the kabbalistic Sefirot as an overarching construct for a Jewish parallel to the Chronicles of Narnia. Let us now expand on this idea and try to outline what themes and accompanying motifs would be manifested in each volume of such a series. In this post we’ll start with the first two, Kindness and Strength. 

The first of the lower Sefirot, which encompass our perception of how God interacts with man, is kindness. In fact, it is God’s unbounding kindness that motivated Him to create the world and humanity. No doubt, then, our first book would be permeated with kindness with characters perhaps reflecting on biblical figures who exemplified this trait such as Abraham and Rebecca. The sefirah of kindness also has a color, white, and is symbolized by water (Rebecca’s kindness is demonstrated by her giving water to Abraham's servant, Eliezer, and his donkeys). We can thus paint a setting for at least part of our story. 

Kindness, left alone, can become overwhelming and smothering. God’s kindness is infinite and creation based on kindness alone would leave no room for the initiative, creativity, and independence of finite humans. Similarly, a child treated with only kindness will not become an individual and will instead be spoiled. Thus, the second Sefirah, that of strength or judgment. God, as it were, held Himself back to create ‘space’ in His infinity for the finite world. God’s willingness to ‘limit’ Himself as it were, provides humans space to develop and grow, and also to degrade and fail. Paraphrasing C.S. Lewis (Screwtape Letters) “He cannot ravish but can only woo,” for He wants humans to become sons. Biblically, the paradigm of strength is Isaac who, without protest, allows his father to bind him in sacrifice to God. 

With this in mind, the characters in our second book manifest strength and the unswerving belief in their ideals. They resist the sirens of sin and desire as stated by our Sages, “Who is strong? One who conquers his evil nature.” Judgement is symbolized by fire and is represented by the color red. Thus, the evil cities of Sodom and Gemorrah are punished with fire while on Yom Kippur, the day of atonement, the thread attached to the entranceway of the Temple goes from red (judgement) to white (kindness) to demonstrate that God has granted forgiveness. 

Wishing everyone to be inscribed in the Book of Life on the upcoming Day of Judgement. 

Introduction to Attempt #4: The Sefirot

In our last post, we concluded that we cannot utilize astrology as a means within Judaism to convey the relationship between God and man. Thus, it cannot be used as a basis for constructing a Jewish Narnia. Nonetheless, our latest attempts have been along the right track. What we need is an alternate construct, one that is authentically and a priori Jewish, that categorizes the different modes in which God interacts with man. A series amplifying those categories could then serve as a blueprint for a Jewish Narnia. 

There are two such constructs that come to mind. The first is the names of God. While modern academic scholars pointed to the names of God as proof to multiple authorships and manuscripts in the Torah, our Sages and great commentators properly realized that the names of God reflected different modes of God’s interaction with man. In fact, God Himself says this to Moses when informing him of the future Redemption from Egypt. Thus, the different books could manifest the themes of Judgement, Mercy, Omniscience, Almighty, and so forth. 

The Kabbalists, however, have already given us a similarly comprehensive categorization, and one which I think fits better with our goals: the Sefirot. The Sefirot have been defined and redefined numerous times over the centuries, and are taken to reflect God’s Will, His character traits, the forces He used in creation of the world, and the portals of the human soul which themselves mirror Godliness. 

Specifically, one could imagine seven books each of which reflect the seven “lower” Sefirot: Kindness, Strength, Beauty, Eternity, Splendor, Foundation, and Kingship. Each of these Sefirot has attached to them great Jewish personalities, biblical verses, one of the plagues that afflicted Egypt, part of the Creation story, a color and more. The richness of the kabbalistic and chassidic literature guarantee a myriad of themes that could be used to build the stories. 

Perhaps most importantly, while a Jewish construct, the Sefirot are universal. All of humanity can resonate with the themes manifested by the Sefirot. Hence, an author could write an unmistakably Judaic series that could attract universal acclaim while teaching the foundations of how a Jew should relate to God.

Israel Has No Mazal

Our first two attempts to formulate a Jewish Narnia were based on Talmudic statements regarding the personality traits of those born under the influence of various astronomical orbs. For our third attempt we studied the numerous ways in which the Sages utilized the signs of the zodiac to symbolize Jewish concepts. However, if our goal is to write a Jewish Narnia that reflects through story how God interacts with His creations (or at a minimum with His Chosen People), there is much evidence advising us to look elsewhere. 

Immediately after the Talmudic horoscopes regarding the nature of those born on a given day or under the influence of a given planet, the Talmud (Shabbat 156a) records an argument as to whether the Jews are subject to ‘mazal,’ loosely translated as astrological signs or luck. The greatest of the Talmudic scholars believed that there is no such concept as mazal with respect to Jews and this opinion appears to be the more accepted one by later generations. 

The rationale behind this statement is straightforward. Belief that our lives are governed by the stars would appear to nullify the efficacy of prayer and omnipotence of God. Furthermore, the Torah’s prohibitions against magic, divination, and necromancy (Deuteronomy 18:9-15) point to the inappropriateness of astrology and its related beliefs. 

Of course, the Talmudic assertion in no way closed the book on this subject. Many of the Medieval Sages still take the Talmud’s astrology at face value but state that its dictates can be changed via prayer. On the other side of the spectrum, those of the Maimonidean school insist that the entire concept is false and belief in any influence of the stars borders on apostasy. A modern, rationalist viewpoint is forwarded by R’ Yisrael Lipschutz (commentary on the last mishna in Kiddushin). He rejects out of hand the notion of an astrological influence in favor of genetics, family wealth, and the circumstances of one’s birth, combined with inscrutability of God’s decision to arrange that each person would be born under their particular circumstances. The Talmud’s decision to record these astrological beliefs, says R’ Lipschutz, is, like with all aggadic statements, to teach us a variety of moral lessons but not that they should be taken at face value. 

The casting of astrological influence as (at most) changeable for a Jew, speaks to the inappropriateness as a means of reflecting God’s relationship with humanity. Even those Sages who claim the truth of Jewish astrology would acknowledge that it is ‘natural,’ simply the way God created the universe. Having a relationship with God allows one to circumvent or undermine this natural influence. Certainly the more rationalist approach would claim that belief in astrology is more akin to idol worship. Thus, writing a Jewish Narnia with Jewish astrology as its underlying theme is at best missing the point and at worse bordering blasphemy. 

This conclusion, however, puts us back to square one. What is the overarching theme within which we can build a Jewish Narnia? We’ll try again in our next post. 

A Jewish Alternative: Attempt 3 (Part 2)

In our last iteration attempting to find a model for a Jewish Narnia we explored several of the themes the Sages saw manifest in the zodiac. Specifically, we saw how they reflect the themes of the months during which each zodiac  is ascendant. We noted that each of the 12 tribes corresponded to a sign of the zodiac and that each of the zodiac had a certain merit thereby causing it to be an unfavorable time for Haman’s attempt to destroy the Jewish nation.   

The zodiac reflects additional themes explained as midrashic (Pesikta Rabbati 27) rationales given by God as to why the Temple could not be destroyed in that month. “God desired to destroy [the Temple] in the first month. The merit of Isaac arose and said, ‘Master of the Universe! Recall the Binding, when I was bound before you (and almost sacrificed by Abraham), and gave ram, in place of a ram [Aries being the sign for the first month].” God was unable to destroy the Temple in the second month due to the merit of Abraham who ran to the cattle (Taurus) to prepare meat for his guests. For the third month it was the merit of Jacob who was a twin [Gemini]. The fourth month was not possible either due to the merit of Moses who was saved from the water (similar to Cancer, who is a beast created from water). Finally, in the fifth month represented by a lion (Leo) God destroyed the Temple which is compared to a lion, smote Israel (Judea) which is compared to lion, because they disregarded the words of the prophets whose message is compared the roar of a lion. 

Another midrash interprets the creation of the zodiac as symbolic of the actions of man (Pesikta Rabbati 20). And a final one (Tanchuma Ha’azinu 1) invokes the zodiac to define the stages of a man’s life. All of these are compiled in the below table. 

Sign of Zodiac	Hebrew Name	Hebrew Month	Tribe	Merit Haman	Merit Temple	Man’s Actions	Man’s Life
Aries	Lamb	Nissan	Judah	Passover	Isaac	Light	newborn
Taurus	Ox	Iyyar	Issachar	Joseph / sacrifices	Abraham	Angel of darkness	Grows in strength
Gemini	Twins	Sivan	Zebulun	Peretz & Zerach	Jacob	Man	Gains evil inclination
Cancer	Crab	Tamuz	Reuben		Moses	Pinches from crack	Weakness (to sin)
Leo	Lion	Av	Shimon	Daniel (from tribe of Judah)		Strong like a lion	Strong versus sin
Virgo	Virgin	Elul	Gad	Chananya, Mishael, & Azarya		Rejoices in marriage	Sins and weakens
Libra	Scales	Tishrei	Ephraim	Job		Actions weighed	Sins and is judged
Scorpio	Scorpion	Cheshvan	Menashe	Ezekiel		Sins and sent to hell	Sent to hell
Sagittarius	Bow	Kislev	Benjamin	Joseph		They seek mercy, shot from hell	Repents, shot from hell
Capricorn	Kid (Goat)	Tevet	Dan	Jacob		Leaps out like a kid	Becomes soft and clean
Aquarius	Bucket	Shevat	Asher	Moses		God purifies man	Man is purified
Pisces	Fish	Adar	Naftali			Israel not ruled by signs (like fish)	Grows in joyous pleasure

The above table provides useful themes to model God’s interactions with man and, perhaps, as a basis for a Jewish based Narnia. 

  

However, there is a fundamental problem with using the planets or the zodiac as our themes. You can already see it in the Table. We’ll discuss in our next post.