SPINOZA AND GOD

Rabbi Rifat Sonsino, Ph.D

Recently I have been re-reading Spinoza’s Ethics. The more I read it, the more I like it.

          Baruh Spinoza was a Dutch Jew, born in Amsterdam in 1632. He was a philosopher who read Scriptures critically, and got into trouble with the Jewish community, which actually banned him from the synagogue.

          I consider Spinoza to be a God-intoxicated person. He did not believe in a theistically defined God as a Person who created the universe and humanity. In his book, Ethics, written in Latin between 1661 and 1675, and published posthumously in 1677, he defines God as “an absolute infinite being of whom no attribute expressing the essence of substance can be denied” (Proof to Proposition 14). God “necessarily exists”, and “there is no other substance but God.” Very often, Spinoza equates God with Nature. This God “ acts solely from the laws of its own nature,” (Prop. 1/17) “Whose existence and essence are one and the same.” (Prop. 1/ 20). God is not the “creator” of the universe because God and the universe are one and the same thing.

          According to Spinoza, God acts by necessity and not with free will. God does not “hear” our prayers or respond to them. God does not reward or punish individuals. He would say, God was not responsible for the Holocaust or other calamities that befell humanity. God simply is. The laws of nature are an expression of God. I love that. It is so rational. And it resolves the age old problem of evil. (If God is all-powerful and all-good, why is there evil in the world?)

          It is not very clear why the leaders of the Jewish community of Amsterdam excommunicated him, at the age of 23, on July 27,1656, on account of his “wicked ways, “abominable heresies” and “monstrous deeds.” (Quotes from the Edict of Excommunication). At the time, he was only a small businessman. True, he did not believe in a theistically defined God or that the soul is immortal. The harshness of the decree is still puzzling.

          Attempts to rescind the edict has failed. In fact, recently in Nov. 2021, Yitzhak Melamed, a Spinoza scholar and a Prof. of philosophy at Johns Hopkins University, who wanted to create a film about Spinoza, was denied entry into the Amsterdam synagogue attended by Spinoza in the past, on the basis that “the ban (against Spinoza) remains in force for all time and cannot be rescinded.”(Quote from a letter written by Rabbi Joseph Serfaty, on behalf of the Jewish community in Amsterdam).

          This is sad and unacceptable. Spinoza’s work will continue to influence many, as it did in my case. My religious philosophy is in line with his thinking. (See, my new book, co-edited with R. Agler, A God We Can Believe In). Spinoza died in 1677 at the age of 44. May his memory be a blessing.

SONSINO’S BLOG, rsonsino.blogspot.com

 

 

 

ANOTHER BIBLE TRANSLATION: THE LATIN VULGATE

 Rabbi Rifat Sonsino, Ph.D.

 The term Vulgate, often abbreviated as Vg, comes from the Latin, vulgatus, meaning “commonly known.” It is the official Bible of the Roman Catholic Church.

 In 382 CE, Pope Damasus I , commissioned Jerome (born as Eusebius Sophronius Hieronimus, in Dalmatia, Croatia, 340 or 342 CE), his secretary, to produce an authoritative version of the Bible in Latin. Jerome did this in stages. After he moved to Bethlehem, he first translated the New Testament, using the Septuagint, namely, the Greek version of the Bible,  and then, having studied with many Hebrew tutors, he translated many books of the Hebrew Bible from the Hebrew original.  At the beginning, his renditions were not universally accepted but in 1546, the Council of Trent, the ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic Church, declared the Vg to be the exclusive Latin text of the Bible for the Catholic Church. In 1965 a commission was established  by the Vatican Council to revise the Vg, and the new version was published in 1979, called Nova Vulgata.

 The Vg contains the Hebrew Bible , the New Testament and the Apocrypha. It has been very influential in the history of Bible translations. Like other versions, however, it reflects the thinking and style of its time.

For example, when Moses came down from Mt. Sinai holding the two tablets of the Law, the Hebrew Bible reads, “the skin of his face shone (Ex 34: 29).” The Hebrew is, QARAN  OR PANAV. When Jerome translated this verse, he used the expression, cornuta esset facies, literally, “his face was horned.” Based on this rendering, the famous Italian sculptor and painter, Michelangelo (1475-15640, placed two horns on Moses’ face, in his famous sculpture found in the Church of St. Peter- in- Chains of Rome. Many readers, even today, think that Moses had horns! In our time, some anti-Semites even believe that Jews have horns. But, as Lee M. Jefferson, in his recent article in the Biblical Archaeology Review  (Spring 2023, p. 59)  stated that , “It is debatable whether Jerome had any malicious intent in using the word cornuta (“horned”), but it seems unlikely.” He probably used the best Latin word of his time to indicate that Moses was glorified after meeting God.

 The Italians have an expression, traduttore, traditore, meaning, that every translator is like a traitor who does not reflect the real meaning of the original text. The same applies to contemporary readers. If they have a negative view of the Jews, they see horns; if they have a positive attitude toward Jews, they see glory!

 SONSINO’S BLOG, rsonsino.blogspot.com

 

 

 

Co[author, available for lectures and presentations. 

PASSOVER; THEN AND NOW

 

Rabbi Rifat Sonsino, Ph.D

This year, on Wednesday night, April 5, 2023, Jews all over the world will begin to celebrate the festival of Passover with a ritualized meal called Seder, a Hebrew word meaning “order” that refers to the order of the prayers that are recited and the symbolic foods that are eaten prior to a fancy meal. The purpose of the Seder is to tell the story of the liberation of the Israelites from the Egyptian slavery in biblical times.

Passover is a popular family holiday, primarily observed in the home. Its history, however, is complicated and its celebration varies around the Jewish world.

Here are some facts about Passover:

1.The festival appears to be a combination of two different holidays: Hag ha-Pesah (“Pascal Offering” Ex.34:25), reflecting a nomadic life-style, and Hag Ha-Matzot (“The Festival of Unleavened Bread” Lev. 23:5), representing a sedentary society. After these two were combined, it was historicized and celebrated as the exodus from ancient Egypt. In Biblical times, Passover was one of the three pilgrimage festivals (to Jerusalem); after the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE, it became a home festival.

2. Jewish lore also reflects two different traditions, one that knows of Egypt as a place where Israelites were mainly “sojourners” (gerim, in Hebrew, Ex.22:20), living the good life, and another that stresses the liberation from the Egyptian slavery (Ex.20:2).

3. It is not clear how the Israelites got out of Egypt. Some say all Israelites left as a group, others say that the exodus took place over a long period of time. Furthermore, it is impossible that a group of 70 individuals who entered Egypt with the patriarch Jacob (Gen.46:27), would end up , in about four generations, as a group numbering millions (Ex.12:37).

4. During the recitation of the story at home (Hagaddah), Moses, the great liberator, is mentioned only once.  Maybe because of the fear that Moses could be given all the glory, and even deified, whereas in Jewish tradition only God is viewed as being responsible for the redemption of the people.

5. One of the prohibitions during Passover is not to eat hametz (“leaven”) for seven days . Instead, one must consume Matzah, unleavened bread. The biblical rationale is that the Israelites left Egypt in haste and prepared unleavened cakes instead (Ex. 12: 19). In reality, this type of unleavened bread was consumed by the farmers who are in the field during the spring harvest.

In addition to this prohibition, there is the custom among many eastern European Jews not to eat rice or eat different types of legumes (kitniyot), or grains that can ferment ,such as wheat, oats, rye, barley or spelt. On the other hand, Sefardic Jews, like me,  have no problem eating these food items during Passover. Now, there are a number of rabbinic responsa that allow Reform, Conservative and Reconstructionist Jews to eat all types of legumes.

6. In Israel, Passover is celebrated, as the Bible commands, for seven days (Ex. 23:14); outside of Israel, following the rabbinic teaching, it is kept for eight days. In Reform Judaism, however, the practice is to follow Israeli custom and keep Passover for seven days

7. Finally, it must be stressed that the “last supper” of Jesus (Mark, 14:25), though taking place during Passover, was not a Passover Seder, because the Seder, as it is celebrated today, is a Rabbinic creation that did not exist during the life of Jesus.

Have a great Passover

SONSINO’S BLOG rsonsino.blogspot.com

A BIBLE TRANSLATION: THE SEPTUAGINT

 Rabbi Rifat Sonsino, Ph.D

 The Septuagint, Greek for 70 and usually identified as LXX, is the earliest extant Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible (See, Encyclopedia Britanica, ad loc). This was done in two stages: The Pentateuch, namely, the Five Books attributed to Moses (i.e., Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy) was translated into Greek in the 3^rd cent. BCE, and the rest of the Hebrew Bible, namely, The Prophets and Writings, in the 2^nd cent. BCE. The LXX is the official text of the Greek Church. There is a new English translation of the Septuagint by the Oxford University press, 2007.

 The story dealing with this famous translation is found in the Letter of Aristeas, a text written in Greek in the 2^nd cent. BCE. According to this text, a certain Aristeas, probably a Jew from Alexandria, in a letter written to his brother Philocrates, tells him that the Greek king in Egypt, Ptolemy II (mid. 3^rd cent. BCE) had ordered his chief librarian, Demetrius to request from the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem a list of qualified translators to be sent to Alexandria, where a large Jewish community lived, in order to carry out the translation of the Hebrew Bible into Greek. The Jewish high priest,  Eleazar, responded favorably, and sent six learned individuals from each of the twelve tribes of Israel, a total of 72, to Alexandria to begin the work. According to the legend, this was accomplished in 72 days. All translations were made to agree with others. It was then presented to the king and the leaders of the Jewish community for their approval. This was done, and, in fact, a curse was issued against anyone who would alter the translation proposed by the experts from Israel.

 Philo of Alexandria, a Jewish philosopher who lived in the 1^st cent. BCE (See, On the Life of Moses, II, 25-44), repeats the story of Aristeas. So does the Jewish historian, Josephus (1st cent. CE), who approvingly quotes the Letter  (Antiq. 12: 2). In reality, Aristeas’ text is a mixture of facts and myth, containing many mistakes. For example, the so-called librarian, Demetrius[RS1] , never held such a position in the court of Ptolemy II. The Letter is a typical work of Jewish apologetics and self-defense, directed to the Greeks of the time.

 The Septuagint translation varies considerably from the Hebrew text that we have: For example, the Song of Moses in the LXX, is longer by six verses; Similarly, the Greek text in Samuel is much longer than the Hebrew; On the other hand, the LXX text of Job is much shorter. Furthermore, the LXX contains the books of the Apocrypha, that is, Jewish texts that were not included in the Hebrew Bible.

 The “most important reason for studying the LXX is to read and understand the thought of Jews in the pre-Christian centuries” (Anchor Bible, Dict. Vol 5, p. 1102).

 When Christians started to rely on the Septuagint, Jews stopped using it.

 SONSINO’S BLOG, rsonsino.blogspot.com

 

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 [RS1]

BACK TO BASICS: THE BIBLE, THE WORD

 Rabbi Rifat Sonsino, Ph.D

The English word “Bible” comes from the Greek, biblion, meaning “scroll,” because, in the past, most written material had the form of a parchment that could be rolled.

 Writing originated in Sumer during the 4^th millennium BCE. In antiquity,  Sumerian or Akkadian was written on soft clay tablets, going back to Mesopotamia in the 3^rd millennium BCE. In ancient Egypt, papyrus reed was used to write documents (about 2400 BCE). The first printing of books started in China in the 9^th cent. BCE. using woodblocks. Between the 2^nd and 4^th centuries CE, the scroll was replaced by the codex, which was a collection of sheets attached at the back. The earliest most complete Hebrew Bible is called Codex Sassoon (c.900).  The printing press was invented by Johannes Gutenberg of Mainz, Germany, around 1440 CE.

                                    The Hebrew Bible

       

The Hebrew Bible, originally written on prepared skin of an animal, contains 3 sections: a. The Pentateuch (called Torah in Hebrew), the Five Books attributed to Moses; b. The Prophets (Neviim), which include some quasi-historical books, like Joshua, Judges, Samuel and Kings, as well as a number of prophetic texts, like Hosea, Amos and Isaiah, and finally, c. The Writings (Ketuvim), a collection of books, like Psalms, Proverbs, Job etc. The Hebrew canon, called TANAKH (short for Torah, Neviim and Ketuvim)  has 24 books.

                                 Authorship

 a.     Pentateuch (Torah) : Jewish tradition claims that Moses wrote the Five Books: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy (BB 14b). In fact, according to the ancient Rabbis, “even the questions that students were to ask of their teachers,” were revealed to Moses by God on Mt Sinai. (Midrash Rabba, 47/1). In reality, biblical scholars tell us that the Pentateuch was made of four different sources: J (using the name of God “Yahweh” by those living in the southern kingdom of Judah, c. 850 BCE), E (using  Elohim as the name of God  by those who lived in the Northern kingdom of Israel, c.750 BCE), D (for Deuteronomy, c.621 BCE) and P (for Priestly, mostly dealing with temple rituals, c.450 BCE). It is estimated that these 4 sources were at some point combined around 400 BCE to form the Pentateuch.

b.    The Prophets (Neviim), both Early and Late: these books were most likely finalized c. 200 BCE.

c.     The Writings (Ketuvim): this collection was completed around the 1 cent. CE.

          The earliest Hebrew compositions in the Hebrew Bible are The Song of    the Sea (Ex.15) and The Song of Deborah (Jud.5), both probably     coming from the early monarchic period, c.11-10 cent. BCE. Most of    the material included in the Tanakh was transmitted orally for many           generations until they were written down at different times.     The entire           Hebrew Bible was finalized toward the end of the 1^st cent. CE. 

The Jewish Bible versus Christian Bible (“The New Testament”)

 Even though there are a number of Bible translations in English, like The New American Bible, the New Oxford Annotated Bible  or The Jerusalem Bible, which use the term “Bible” in their title, these are NOT Jewish scriptures, because they include  the New Testament, considered sacred by Christians,  not by Jews. Most Jews use Tanakh, an English translation published by the Jewish Publication Society or The Soncino Bible. 

 Furthermore, the New Testament contains a number of late Jewish books, like Tobit, Judith and the Book of Maccabees, that were not included in the Hebrew Scriptures. Also, Jews do not use the term “Old Testament” (which implies the existence of a New Testament), because they do not accept the Christian assertion of the sacred nature of the New Testament.

 Next blog: The First Bible translation.

 SONSINO’S BLOG, rsonsino.blogspot.com

 

 

ON GETTING OLDER

 Rabbi Rifat Sonsino, Ph.D

 This is a personal blog but I like to share it with you, my viewers, who have followed me for years. It has to do with getting older, and the way I try to deal with it.

 According to the Hebrew Bible, 70 was considered “old age.”—that’s when King David died (II Sam. 5:4). In reality, people did not usually live that long. It is estimated that in Biblical times, the average age at death was about 35.  I, now at 84, view myself as getting older but not old. I do not know how much longer I have but I am certain I will not reach 120, a la Moses.

I am, however, noticing some changes in my daily life:

 1.     I am much slower. I do not process novelties fast. Everything takes a bit longer. Recently we went on a Caribbean cruise with my wife Ines, but I could not keep up with her during our daily walk around the deck, so I gave up.

2.     I like my routine. There an element of security there. I walk everyday. I use the gym twice a week. But I am afraid to fall.

3.     My memory is falling. I don’t remember too many names or locations. As a Bible scholar with a Ph.D in Bible and Cuneiform studies, I used to know all the Assyrian kings by name and in the correct order. Now, as president of our residents’ association at the Willows in Westborough, MA, where we live, I don’t even bother memorizing names. For this, I rely on my wife who is much younger. 

4.     During my professional life, I have published 11 books and chaired many national committees, but these days, I live reservedly, enjoying each breath I take. Even though, last year I co-authored a new book, A God We Can Believe In and my blog has reached almost 800,000 viewers around the world, I am slowing down and do not have the energy I had before.

5.     Recently, my daughter asked me for my happiest moment in my life? In the past, I had many such occurrences: when I came to the USA, when I got married, when our children and grandchildren were born, when one of my articles or books was published, but now the best I can say is that I am content with what I have and am. In comparison to many of my neighbors, I still have it, and my mind is still working.

6.     More and more I am irritated at the narrow mindedness of many of the younger people I encounter or read about, who still believe in “miracles” –it is only a metaphor, they say-; who follow what I call a  primitive theology that is based on false hopes instead of dealing with issues with reason and rationality. But I keep my mouth shut. I will not change the world. People who are interested in my views can read my books or my blog.

7.     After I die, I am sure, someone will say, there was a man by the name Rifat Sonsino, who used to say…..but I will never hear it myself, because I do not believe in resurrection!!!

  So, my friends, I am content with my achievements for which I was fortunate, and leave it to my children and grandchildren and their generation to keep the universe going.

 I am ok with this.

 SONSINO’S BLOG, rsonsino.blogspot.com