תַּנְיָא, אָמַר רַבָּן גַּמְלִיאֵל:
פַּעַם אַחַת הָיִיתִי מְהַלֵּךְ בִּסְפִינָה, וְרָאִיתִי סְפִינָה אַחַת שֶׁנִּשְׁבְּרָה. וְהָיִיתִי מִצְטַעֵר עַל תַּלְמִיד חָכָם שֶׁבָּהּ, וּמַנּוּ — רַבִּי עֲקִיבָא.
וּכְשֶׁעָלִיתִי בַּיַּבָּשָׁה, בָּא וְיָשַׁב וְדָן לְפָנַי בַּהֲלָכָה. אָמַרְתִּי לוֹ: בְּנִי, מִי הֶעֶלְךָ? אָמַר לִי: דַּף שֶׁל סְפִינָה נִזְדַּמֵּן לִי, וְכׇל גַּל וְגַל שֶׁבָּא עָלַי — נִעְנַעְתִּי לוֹ רֹאשִׁי.
§ It is taught in beraita: Rabban Gamliel said:
Once I was traveling in a boat, and I saw another boat that was wrecked. And I took to grief on the Scholar that was in it. And who was it? Rabbi Akiva.
And when I disembarked onto dry land, he came, and sat, and deliberated before me about halakha.
I said to him: My son, who brought you up from the water?
He said to me: A plank from the boat came to me, and I bent my head before each and every wave that came toward me.
דף של ספינה נזדמן לי, וכל גל וגל שבא עלי נענעתי לו ראשי
The Talmud is the textual record of generations of rabbinic debate about law, philosophy, and biblical interpretation, compiled between the 3rd and 8th centuries and structured as commentary on the Mishnah with stories interwoven. The Talmud exists in two versions: the more commonly studied Babylonian Talmud was compiled in present-day Iraq, while the Jerusalem Talmud was compiled in Israel.
Something to Hold Onto
“Daf”, a plan -- a piece of shipwreck floating in the waters, something to grab hold of, a flotation device to weather stormy waters.
“Daf” another definition -- a whole page (front and back) of Talmud.
A daf then, is something to grab hold of, literally and symbolically a flotation device for raging waters.
(ו) וְלֹא תָתוּרוּ אַחֲרֵי לְבַבְכֶם (במדבר טו, לט), הַלֵּב וְהָעֵינַיִם הֵם סַרְסוּרִין לַגּוּף, שֶׁהֵם מְזַנִּין אֶת הַגּוּף. (במדבר טו, מ): לְמַעַן תִּזְכְּרוּ וַעֲשִׂיתֶם אֶת כָּל מִצְוֹתָי, מָשָׁל לְאֶחָד מֻשְׁלָךְ לְתוֹךְ הַמַּיִם, הוֹשִׁיט הַקַּבַּרְנִיט אֶת הַחֶבֶל וְאָמַר לוֹ תְּפֹס חֶבֶל זֶה בְּיָדְךָ וְאַל תַּנִּיחֵהוּ, שֶׁאִם תַּנִּיחֵהוּ אֵין לְךָ חַיִּים. אַף כָּךְ אָמַר לָהֶם הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא לְיִשְׂרָאֵל, כָּל זְמַן שֶׁאַתֶּם מְדֻבָּקִין בַּמִּצְוֹת (דברים ד, ד): וְאַתֶּם הַדְּבֵקִים בַּה' אֱלֹהֵיכֶם חַיִּים כֻּלְכֶם הַיּוֹם. וְכֵן הוּא אוֹמֵר (משלי ד, יג):
(6) “You shall not rove after your heart” – the heart and the eyes are the mediators of the body, as they cause the body to stray. “So that you will remember, and perform all My commandments” – this is analogous to one cast into the water. The captain extended the rope and said to him: ‘Grasp this rope in your hand and do not let it go, as if you let it go, you will have no life.’ This, too, is what the Holy One blessed be He said to Israel: ‘As long as you cleave to the mitzvot – “but you, who cleave to the Lord your God, all of you live today”’ (Deuteronomy 4:4). Likewise it says: “Hold fast to admonition, do not let go; safeguard it, as it is your life” (Proverbs 4:13).
Bamidbar Rabbah is an eleventh- or twelfth-century midrash on the book of Numbers.
End of Titanic (1997): Holding Onto a Promise
- Rose: I love you, Jack.
- Jack: Don't you do that, don't say your good-byes. Not yet, do you understand me?
- Rose: I'm so cold.
- Jack: Listen, Rose. You're gonna get out of here, you're gonna go on and you're gonna make lots of babies, and you're gonna watch them grow. You're gonna die an old... an old lady warm in her bed, not here, not this night. Not like this, do you understand me?
- Rose: I can't feel my body.
- Jack: Winning that ticket, Rose, was the best thing that ever happened to me... it brought me to you. And I'm thankful for that, Rose. I'm thankful. You must do me this honor. Promise me you'll survive. That you won't give up, no matter what happens, no matter how hopeless. Promise me now, Rose, and never let go of that promise.
- Rose: I promise.
- Jack: Never let go.
- Rose: I'll never let go, Jack. I'll never let go. I promise.
On Laughter: Reinhold Niebuhr:
Laughter must be heard in the outer courts of religion… but there is no laughter in the holy of holies. There laughter is swallowed up in prayer and humor is fulfilled by faith… If we persist in laughter when dealing with the final problem of human existence, when we turn life into a comedy, we also reduce it to meaninglessness.
Karl Paul Reinhold Niebuhr (June 21, 1892 – June 1, 1971) was an American Reformed theologian, ethicist, commentator on politics and public affairs, and professor at Union Theological Seminary for more than 30 years. (Wikipedia)
Man’s Search for Meaning, Viktor Frankl wrote:
Humor was another of the soul’s weapons in the fight for self-preservation. It is well known that humor, more than anything else in the human make-up, can afford an aloofness and an ability to rise above any situation, even if only for a few seconds.
Viktor Emil Frankl (26 March 1905 – 2 September 1997) was an Austrian neurologist, psychologist, philosopher, and Holocaust survivor, who founded logotherapy, a school of psychotherapy that describes a search for a life's meaning as the central human motivational force. (Wikipedia)
הדרן עלך אלו הן הלוקין וסליקא לה מסכת מכות
(א) (ה) ויהי בישורון מלך
יחד שבטי ישראל, כשהם עשוים אגודה אחת ולא כשהם עשוים אגודות אגודות, וכן הוא אומר (עמוס ט ו) הבונה בשמים מעלותיו ואגודתו על ארץ יסדה. רבי שמעון בן יוחי אומר משל לאחד שהביא שתי ספינות וקשרם בהוגנים ובעשתות והעמידן בלב הים ובנה עליהם פלטרין כל זמן שהספינות קשורות זו בזו פלטרין קיימים פרשו ספינות אין פלטרין קיימים כך ישראל כשעושים רצונו של מקום בונה עליותיו בשמים וכשאין עושים רצונו כביכול אגודתו על ארץ יסדה
(1) (Devarim 33:5) "And He was a King in Yeshurun": "together, the tribes of Israel" — when they constitute one unit, and not when they are divided into many factions, as it is written (Amos 9:6) "Who builds His heights in the heavens and His bond on earth endures." — R. Shimon b. Yochai says: This is analogous to one's bringing two ships, connecting them with braces and bars, and building stately edifices upon them. So long as the ships are bound, the edifices endure; once the ships separate, the edifices no longer endure. So, with Israel: When they do the will of the Lord, their heights are in the heavens and His bond on earth endures.
Talmudic Israel/Babylon, 200 CE
Sifrei Devarim is a halakhic (legal) midrash on the Book of Deuteronomy. Though its main portion is halakhic and from the school of Rabbi Akiva, it opens and concludes with significant aggadic (narrative) sections that resemble the style of the school of Rabbi Yishmael.
Presidents come and Presidents go. Through it all. God is still on the throne.
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(ב) שִׁמְעוֹן הַצַּדִּיק הָיָה מִשְּׁיָרֵי כְנֶסֶת הַגְּדוֹלָה. הוּא הָיָה אוֹמֵר, עַל שְׁלשָׁה דְבָרִים הָעוֹלָם עוֹמֵד, עַל הַתּוֹרָה וְעַל הָעֲבוֹדָה וְעַל גְּמִילוּת חֲסָדִים:
(2) Shimon the Righteous was one of the last of the men of the great assembly. He used to say: the world stands upon three things: the Torah, the Temple service, and the practice of acts of piety.
Composed: Talmudic Israel, c.190 – c.230 CE
Pirkei Avot (literally “Chapters of the Fathers,” also known as “Ethics of our Fathers”) is a tractate in Seder Nezikin (“Order of Damages”) and the only tractate in the Mishnah with almost no laws, consisting instead of short statements of advice, ethics, and wisdom.
(טז) וַתֹּ֤אמֶר רוּת֙ אַל־תִּפְגְּעִי־בִ֔י לְעׇזְבֵ֖ךְ לָשׁ֣וּב מֵאַחֲרָ֑יִךְ כִּ֠י אֶל־אֲשֶׁ֨ר תֵּלְכִ֜י אֵלֵ֗ךְ וּבַאֲשֶׁ֤ר תָּלִ֙ינִי֙ אָלִ֔ין עַמֵּ֣ךְ עַמִּ֔י וֵאלֹהַ֖יִךְ אֱלֹהָֽי׃ (יז) בַּאֲשֶׁ֤ר תָּמ֙וּתִי֙ אָמ֔וּת וְשָׁ֖ם אֶקָּבֵ֑ר כֹּה֩ יַעֲשֶׂ֨ה יְהֹוָ֥ה לִי֙ וְכֹ֣ה יוֹסִ֔יף כִּ֣י הַמָּ֔וֶת יַפְרִ֖יד בֵּינִ֥י וּבֵינֵֽךְ׃ (יח) וַתֵּ֕רֶא כִּֽי־מִתְאַמֶּ֥צֶת הִ֖יא לָלֶ֣כֶת אִתָּ֑הּ וַתֶּחְדַּ֖ל לְדַבֵּ֥ר אֵלֶֽיהָ׃
(18) When [Naomi] saw how determined she was to go with her, she stopped talking to her; (19) and the two went on until they reached Bethlehem. When they arrived in Bethlehem, the whole city buzzed with excitement over them. The women said, “Can this be Naomi?” (20) “Do not call me Naomi,” she replied. “Call me Mara, for Shaddai has made my lot very bitter. (21) I went away full, and the LORD has brought me back empty. How can you call me Naomi, when the LORD has dealt harshly with me, when Shaddai has brought misfortune upon me!”
(22) Thus Naomi returned from the country of Moab; she returned with her daughter-in-law Ruth the Moabite. They arrived in Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest.
Radical Hope: Ethics in the Face of Cultural Devastation, by Jonathan Lear
“When the buffalo went away, the hearts of my people fell to the ground, and they could not lift them up again.”
Chief Plenty Coups, Crow Nation
At a time of radical historical change, the concept of courage will itself require new
forms. In traditional times, it was in terms of such an ideal that a courageous warrior
would face up to reality -- that is, decide what to do in the face of changing
circumstances. But now, facing up to reality seemed to include facing up to a
situation in which those traditional ideals were no longer applicable. And yet, these
ideals helped to constitute the courageous person's psychological structure. So, if there
were to be such a thing as a courageous response to these radically altered
circumstances, it would seem to require a transformation of the psychological
structure with which we face up to reality. At a time of cultural devastation, the
reality a courageous person has to face up to is that one has to face up to reality in
new ways.
Radical Hope: Ethics in the Face of Cultural Devastation by Jonathan Lear was first published by Harvard University Press in 2006. Lear, a professor of philosophy at the University of Chicago, is also a trained psychoanalyst. In the years since he wrote Radical Hope, he has maintained and expanded his relationship with members of the Crow tribe, and has continued to explore the themes of the book.
https://socialconcerns.nd.edu/virtues/magazine/radical-hope-retrospective-an-interview-with-jonathan-lear/
"That Which is Indestructible Within"
“Oh God, times are too hard for frail people like myself. I know that a new and kinder day will come. I would so much like to live on, if only to express all the love I carry within me; carry into that new age all the humanity that survives in me, despite everything I go through every day. And there is only one way of preparing for the new age, by living it even now in our hearts. Somewhere in me I feel so light, without the least bitterness and so full of strength and love. I would so much like to help prepare for the new age and to carry that which is indestructible within me intact into the new age, which is bound to come, for I can feel it growing inside me, every day. —
Etty Hillesum: An Interrupted Life the Diaries, 1941-1943 and Letters from Westerbork, Excerpt from July 20, 1942
Esther "Etty" Hillesum (15 January 1914 – 30 November 1943) was a Dutch Jewish author of confessional letters and diaries which describe both her religious awakening and the persecutions of Jewish people in Amsterdam during the German occupation. In 1943, she was deported and murdered in the Auschwitz concentration camp. (Wikipedia) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etty_Hillesum