Catastrophics (2002)
Catastrophics (prepared for Hirt party 9/10/02 & Midtown 9/11 memorial). Catastrophes, both man-made and natural, have plagued mankind from the beginning of time. In my lifetime: Stalin’s Gulag, WWII, Khmer Rouge, Cambodia, etc. For us Jews: שואה – proportionately, WTC cataclysm would have resulted in 80+ million victims! Still, for us this WTC terror made us, a happy optimistic country, realize our vulnerability – hence, very significant for future of USA. Debate in NYC as to how to commemorate 9/11/01 WTC bombing – some: leave it in its devastation, everlasting mourning; others: mostly restore financial offices as sign of victory, defiance of terrorists. There’s more to this debate than participants know! Talmud – of two minds on reaction to catastrophe: זכר לחורבן, זכר למקדש – mourning or hope? Examples: laws promulgated זכר לחורבן – as in prohibition on instrumental music, unpainted slab on wall. Also, זכר למקדש – as in halakha requiring lulav to be waved only one day, but after destruction – seven days; זכר למקדש – כורך מצה ומרור כהלל; Amemar’s ruling that counting of Omer is only days, not weeks, because זכר למקדש – because all mitzvah of Omer = זכר למקדש, not דין תורה. The arguments, both Talmudic and contemporary, are reflections of deeper ambivalence in the universal human psyche in relating to catastrophes, whether natural or man-made, resulting in paradoxical reactions. On one hand: deep grief, mourning, defeat, despair – on the other: defiance, struggle, hope, healing, striving to overcome. So, in relating to death of a loved one or close relative – אבלות שמקורה בהתבדלות מחברת בני אדם – followed by ניחום אבלים and gradual reintegration into society. So, the Kaddish – always problematic: what is the relation of the text to death? Answer: both defeat and victory, despair and defiance, mourning and hope! Thus, the oldest version of the Kaddish, the קדיש דאתחדתא, which speaks of the banishment of idolatry, the rebuilding of Jerusalem and the Temple, an…
