Take Control of Your Faith

Is it just me or did Perek 3 turn out to be a pretty swell perek? At the beginning there (during chavruta time) I wasn't too sure about where thins thing wasgoing. Sure, the language was easier to understand than in the other perakim. Yes, there wasn't a lot of scary, destructive imagery (baruch Hashem). Still, it was odd at first glance! When we were studying it in chavrutot, it seemed like there was this random 'Gever' person who had an unstable relationship with God. My group assumed he spent the beginning  part kvetching about how much God hated him and how much he hated God, and then out of the blue he switched his mind and decided to become best friends with God. I didn't see how this was significant to the development of the sefer, and I definitely saw no connection between this perek and my life in general. What was your initial reaction to the Perek?

Aha! Once we began studying in-class, slowly the pieces began meshing together. The Gever is this universal man, and his story of transformation teaches us a valuable lesson for our spiritual lives. He starts off as this self-absorbed dude who's angry because his tefillah is being shut out. He feels as though the world is arbitrary because there is no escaping his terrible affliction. The implication here is that there can't be any God. How could there possibly be a god if I'm suffering so much for no good reason? Oh.. the age old question. Any suggestions are welcome! About 12 pessukim into the perek, he veers away from the 'there's no god' philosophy and ventures into the 'I'm being targeted by God' one. Now there's a God at least, but it's not a very nice God. Actually, it's a very mean God- this god is cruel. As we've mentioned (in class and in blogs), though, once the Gever opens up the whole 'God' thing (as in, he admits there there is a god, albeit an angry one), he begins feeling more complex emotions. (Hey! Women express complex emotions! Maybe it should have been a geveret.. #psych.)

It's not a Peanuts, but I thought it was funny. 

Now it all starts to open up. First he implies that there is a possibility that his relationship with God is fixable. Then he gets even more logical: he realizes that the good and the bad come from God,and God doesn't punish from spite. The only logical conclusion, then,to explain his sorrows is that he did something wrong. Look how mature our little Gever is getting! He's almost all growed up! Do you believe that most of the times 'bad' happens to you, it is because you did something wrong? Towards the end, the Gever takes a giant step and rejoins the community. He stops talking about 'I' and 'me' and enters into the realm of 'we' and 'us'. He acknowledges the sin and makes it clear that they want to have a relationship with God. In the last section, he goes back to speaking in the singular, but now it's from a different perspective. He's not a lone, angry man anymore. Now he's an amalgamated member of a community. He's tired of whining and complaining in vain, he just wants God to hear his simple request. He knows he doesn't deserve forgiveness- he knows he probably should have a worse punishment- but he would like God to use mercy instead of justice and forgive them. Do you really believe the 'he probably deserved worse' part? Someone wanna explain it is exactly that was so treacherous? Because.. remember how terrible the destruction was? 

I know what you all are thinking- Wait a second Rawchelli. Where's the lesson for life? Funny you asked. This Gever fellow teaches us a grand lesson about life in Galut (ya know, the life we live). We don't always see the presence of God (see: Gever at the beginning). Okay, maybe we never see the presence of God obviously at all. Maybe we pray really hard and nothing happens; maybe something bad happened and we're totally devastated. Maybe we feel completely alone and we don't think that there's anything out there. In the last section of this perek, the Gever is fully developed and teaches us that even if we can't see God, we still have to do the right thing. We don't have a Biet Hamigdash or anything of the sort, so it's hard to see God when there's nowhere God can respond from. We need to be proactive, take control of our lives, and do all this perspectifying just like the Gever did. What do you think of this 'independent' method of taking control of your faith? Is it too difficult to apply in real life? 

I'm so mad at G-d, but maybe there's hope?

In Perek Gimmel, we are introduced to a new character, the Gever. In the first 17 pesukim of the perek, we are told about mad this Gever is at G-d for the destruction. This Gever blames G-d for all that He did to him, but he never actually mentions G-d's name until the Pasuk 17, where he has a change in heart. It blames G-d releasing all the anger that he had towards G-d and blaming Him for everything that happened without even using G-d's name.

There are three themes in the first 11 pasukim: 1. Darkness, 2. Animal Imagery, and 3. Entrapment/Encirclement. We see the theme of darkness when the Gever explains how he was misled and there was no one to guide him. There was an absence in the relationship with G-d and he has nothing. We see Animal Imagery when he explains that the pain is arbitrary. He says that G-d is a cruel and random G-d and the paain is not connection to any actions in this world. Finally, we see Entrapment/Encirclement when he says he was suffering without any chance of escape.

These 11 pasukim are all about the Gever in a very personal and self-absorbed way. He says that he tries to pray, but his Tefillot were shut out. He only mentions "I" and no "you" or "we". He says that everything that is happening to him is arbitrary. At this point, the gever fails realize that he sinned or the fact that there is a G-d and that is why this is happening to him.

In the next section of pasukim, 12 - 18, The Gever sees himself as the target of G-d and he wonders why G-d is picking on him. He no longer sees himself as like an animal where the pain is arbitrary. There might be a reason that this is happening to him, but he hasn't gotten to that point yet. He sees it as G-d is pointing an arrow towards him and that he is the target. At this point, he says that he has no hope in G-d beccause G-d did all of this to him. This was the first mention of G-d, and that is what causes him to actually think about this situation, there is a G-d.

The next section, 19 - 20, he really recognizes G-d as being there. He recognizes that G-d pulls all the strings, and he will later realize that G-d also pulls the good strings. Before, he had started being completely focused in himself and no one else, but now he is beginning to notice that there is a G-d there too and He is the one that is pulling the strings.

In the next section, 21 - 26, the Gever has a complete change of heart. He is starting to finally realize the good in G-d. He is going to have a conversation with himself and that conversatoin is going to give him hope. As much as he had the horrible experiences, G-d also does the good things. If I hope for G-d - if I recognize He does good things, I will once again have this salvation in the future. The relationship is mendable. The Gever has not said that G-d is amazing. He is only saying, so far, that G-d is merciful. Before he had shut his soul out to G-d, but noe he realizes that he can maybe have hope.

Next section, 27 - 30, is about how the Gever comes to a conclusion that maybe suffering is good. He says that man should accept G-d when they are young, because if you are going to suffer, it is better to suffer when you are young.

The next section 31 - 39, the Gever says that G-d decides wherther there is good or bad in the world, G-d is who decrees everything. He says that even if G-d causes man to suffer, He will still be kind to him. It is His command that decides whether good or evil will come to someone. He also mentions sinning in this section which means that maybe he is coming to the realization that maybe all of this is happening because he had sinned.

So far, we have seen the Gever go from someone who was completely self absorbed, a man that just lashed out his anger towards G-d for all the suffering that He caused to him and he has absolutely no hope to a man that maybe recognizes G-d and maybe he has some hope in G-d and maybe the relationship can be fixed, all the way to a man that really sees that it's G-d who pulls the string and controls what happens in this world and there is a reason that G-d does these things.

#TransformationTuesday

This guy goes through a major transformation in perek gimmel. He starts off angry and says that everything that happens is arbitrary. There is chaos and nothing he has done could have caused all of this destruction and pain. He then realizes that G-d did to him on purpose. He is the target. After saying G-d's name, he begins to realize that it is possible for him to mend his relationship with G-d. After all, if the bad stuff comes from G-d, the good stuff must come from Him too. He realizes that G-d is not spiteful and He is just punishing him for sinning. Then, all of a sudden, we're looking at the exact same situation that he was in in the beginning of the perek. Before, he concluded that it was all arbitrary and there might not even be a G-d. Now, he looks at everything and tells the people to do Teshuva. He begs G-d to be remorseful and does everything he can to have a relationship with G-d. What happened? How did this whole transformation take place? Well, the way I see it, there were two main factors that had a huge affect on the Gever's transformation.

The first is community. In the first 39 pasukim, the Gever only said "I." He was self-absorbed and saw everything from his point of view. Then, in pasuk 40, he makes a change. He starts saying "we" and "us." He rejoins the community and asks them to look inside themselves, at their actions, and come back to G-d. We see how much power the community has. G-d made a Brit with all of Bnei Yisrael and said that we would never be obliterated. The community has the ability to speak to G-d in a way that the individual cannot. When the Jewish community is united, amazing things can happen. Back then it might have been asking G-d to be remorseful and stop the Hester Panim. Today, we see the Jewish community do incredible things all the time. We band together when a Jewish teenager goes missing in Boston, we all come together to raise money for Jews in need all over the world, and when someone is sick in a community, everyone works together to take care of them and make sure that they have everything they need. Community is a very powerful thing and in the Gever's case, it was a huge component in his transformation.

The second factor is his perspective on the situation. Of course we're talking about perspective--this is a Mrs. Perl class. Anyway, when the Gever first looked at the situation back in the first 11 pasukim, all he could see was chaos and arbitrary punishments. Now he has remembered G-d and recognizes that G-d brings the good to the world as well as the bad. He has accepted responsibility for his sins and sees that his enemies are the ones attacking him and G-d is only punishing him for his sins (as He said he would in Devarim). He is still in the same situation in pasuk 48. There is still pain and destruction and chaos. However, his perspective on the situation has changed. He now sees that this is all a result of his sins. It is still possible for his relationship with G-d to be fixed. He begins to cry out to G-d and ask Him to be merciful even though they deserve these punishments. He asks G-d to stop the Hester Panim and have a relationship with him. This is all a result of his change in perspective--he is now able to see the situation clearly and understands why this is all happening and realizes that he must mend his relationship with G-d.

The Power of "Hi"

For the first third of Perek 3, the Gever could not be angrier. The gever is certainly angry, and there's definitely someone to blame for all this... but the Gever doesn't actually say who. There's a lot about how he was misled into the darkness and how everything is random. There's a lot about himself- about "I", the individual. But there's nothing about God. 

 

God is finally mentioned in passuk 18 when the Gever says, "Gone is my life, and my expectations from the Lord." The second that he singles out God- the second that he makes it clear that it's not all randomness- is when he starts to think a little more rationally and put some of the pieces together. Before he wasn't mentioning God's name because it hurt. He didn't even want to think about God. He knew that if he even said God then memories of God would come flooding back: the good and the bad. He only wanted to focus on the bad at the beginning.  Once he says God's name, the floodgates open up, and he can't help but think about the broader context of things. God has destroyed, but God also does chessed. 

 

The Gever is Olivia and God is President Fitz. They always get in dumb fights and then he calls... and it's all like "hi", and then she remember how much she love him. It's all very cheesy and annoying, but it's also eerily similar to this Perek.

Have you ever been so mad at someone that you didn't even want to say their name? Once you said their name, did anything change?

I think the Gever is singing the blues. He's hurt but all he really wants is to know that God's going to be there for him again after what just happened. What do you guys think?

Who is this mysterious Gever?

In Megilliot class this week, in perek Gimeel we heard about this very strange character the Gever. The Gever is described as a self absorbed character, who is in pain and is suffering. The Gever is angry and so he is blaming G-d for everything. Were not sure if we know exactly who this "Gever" character is. There are these two different aspects of the Gever. The first one is Rashi and the second one is the Ibn Ezra. Rashi is saying that it's yirmiyahu who wrote the book of Kohelet, because he uses phrases that yirmiahu wrote, and he experienced it. The second interpretation, is the Ibn Ezra, who represents every man.

There are different sections in perek Gimmel. The sections are:

 א-יא- Feels like a very trapped, walled up, stuck, depressed and a chaotic place.

יב-יח- The Gever seems like he is caught up in everything, and his conclusion is that he is done with G-d.

יט-יכ- The Gever is remembering all of the pain that his soul suffered.

כא-לט- Hashem has the ability to act with Chessed, and mercey- Be merciful
           What am I about to say that will give me reward- Sense of hope
            Hashem is good to those who hope in him, and have faith in him, G-d can be good.

כז-ל- The Gever is thinking that maybe it is good to suffer. If it is deserved.

לא-לט- G-d doesn't afflict man to be spiteful or cruel. G-d does bad things to man, when man sins.

When we first took a look at Perek Gimmel, we thought that the Gevar was bipolar. When we take a closer look, we see that he is just going through the response to trauma phases (shock, sadness, anger, blame, re-evaluate).  In the beginning he talked about being entrapped, encircled, and walled up. He seems a little self absorbed (this was done to ME). We can see that he is in the stuck or depressed phase. He then realizes that God must have done this for a reason and he is a cruel God. The Gevar is now angry. He is also blaming God and gives up hope. He then recognizes that God is not all bad, and starts to think that he can repair his relationship with God. He is re-evaluating his life. As you take a look a the Gevar's phases you can pick apart and see when he thinks each thing, and how he is feeling. If you think about it, you can do this in your own life as well, and really see how you have changed.

The Gever?

This week in class we learned Perek Gimmel of Eicha, and we met a mysterious new character named the Gever. Who is the gever fellow we asked ourselves? While sitting here this morning to trying to figure out what to blog about, the song by Lev Tahor popped into my head. You know the one that goes, ברוך הגבר אשר יבתח ה. This songs literally translates to, Blessed is the Gever. Maybe this song can help us figure out who the Gever is?

In class we learned two different approaches, one given by the Ibn Ezra, and one given by Rashi. Rashi says that the Gever is Yirmiyahu, the author of Eicha, while the Ibn Ezra says that the Gever is a collective voice of B'nei Yisrael responding to the recent tragedy. While these explanations are nice, and very well could be right, I would like to explore the meaning of "Gever" before we jump to any conclusions.

The work Gever in Hebrew literally means man. Of course the explanations above could could be accurate, but I don't think that either are completely right because if we put the whole statement together we get, "Blessed is the man who trusts in G-d." At this time, no one in Israel was trusting in G-d because he had just destroyed the Beit HaMikdash and all of their lives.

After exploring the meaning of Gever, I am left stuck as to who the man who is trusting in G-d is? My one guess would be it is G-d in disguise trying to set an example for B'nei Yisrael of a man who would trust Hashem. But, if I did have to choose an approach given by one of the commentators, I would chose Rashi, because the Pasuk from the song is found in the book of Yirmiyahu. WHO DO YOU THINK THE GEVER IS AND WHY?