Mishpatim 29 Shevat 5767 / February 17, 2007

First you get down on your knees,
Fiddle with your rosaries,
Bow your head with great respect,
And genuflect, genuflect, genuflect!

Do whatever steps you want, if
You have cleared them with the Pontiff.
Everybody say his own
Kyrie eleison,
Doin' the Vatican Rag.

Get in line in that processional,
Step into that small confessional,
There, the guy who's got religion'll
Tell you if your sin's original.
If it is, try playin' it safer,
Drink the wine and chew the wafer,
Two, four, six, eight,
Time to transubstantiate!

     These are part of the lyrics from “The Vatican Rag” by Tom Lehrer, the Mark Russell of the 1960’s, who shared this song on a short-lived program called “That Was the Week That Was.” (Some of the songs were issued as an album, “That Was the Year That Was.”)

Many Protestant groups which have kept the Eucharist or Mass see the bread and wine as symbols, not as transformed substances as do Catholics.

We as Jews can’t even conceive of the metaphor, let alone the idea of transubstantiation, that suggests ingesting a part of God.

     I offer this song and this ritual as a way to grapple with the very strange text at the end of the portion of Mishpatim, chapter 24 9-11. 70 elders plus Moses and Aaron and his two eldest sons, Nadav and Avihu, not only see God—and two different Hebrew words are used for seeing, one is Vayiru and the second is Vahyechezu, the second suggesting prophetic status--., but seemingly eat and drink in God’s presence. There are questions galore about what transpires. What do they see? The throne? The floor of the throne room? Do they in fact see God? How did they survive, after all aren’t we taught later in Exodus (33:20), than no one can see God and live? And as for their dining, what do they eat and drink? Are they sharing in God’s sacrifices? The implications of the scene are staggering.

     If you glanced at the commentary at the bottom of Etz Hayim, you will see the effort to spiritualize the story. It is an effort with long antecedents: it harks back, at the very least to the Septuagint, the Greek translation, 2,200 years ago. For example in verse 11, instead of reading “they beheld the Deity” the Greek reads “they appeared in the God’s palace.”  Frankly, we are uncomfortable with the notion of a) being able to see God—the physicality and anthropomorphism causes us to shudder- and b) the idea that you eat in God’s presence—and that they are eating God’s food; sharing in the heavenly sacrifices! Traditional rabbinic commentators, by and large had the same aversions and also engage in a revisionist exegesis that mutes the daringness of the text. For example, several suggest that the meal was a celebratory meal after the Divine encounter. Indeed, subsequent tradition evolved an etiquette about the inappropriateness of eating in shule; in God’s presence.

Nonetheless, we have developed the concept of Seudat Mitzvah; eating and drinking to celebrate a ritual event; be it a Brit Milah, or a Bar Mitzvah or an Aufruf or a Wedding. And for some of these events, a Brit Milah and a Wedding, in particular, a special Birkat HaMazon exists; as a way of proclaiming God’s presence at that moment; as part of the festivities.

So while we may not eat of the Godhead, and concur with the Tradition that has attempted to tame the sharp anthropomorphism of the Biblical encounter, in our lives we remain with means of asserting God’s presence and thanking God for Divine blessings in our lives.

Shabbat shalom.