Requiem: A Tale of Exile and Return - in Hebrew

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The Binding of Isaac and the Parting of the Red Sea

From the Haggadah of Arthur Szyk

The Jewish spring holiday of Pesach, Passover, begins on the 15th day of the month of Nisan, the first month in the Hebrew calendar's festival year, on the night of the full moon after the vernal equinox. This year, the eve of Pesach is celebrated on Friday, April 6.

A legend tells us that at the very moment the children of Israel went into the Red Sea, Mount Moriah began to move from its place, along with the altar for Isaac that had been built upon it. The whole scene had been arranged before the creation of the world. Isaac was bound and placed upon the altar, and Abraham raised his knife.

Far away, at the Red Sea, God said to Moses, “Moses, My children are in distress, the sea is blocking their path and the enemy is pursuing them, and you stand so long praying?” Moses asked God, “What should I be doing?” God said, “Raise your staff!” Moses lifted his staff, the waters of the Red Sea parted, and on Mount Moriah the voice of the angel went forth and said to Abraham, “Do not raise your hand against the boy, or do anything to him” (Gen. 22: 12).
(A midrash from Mekhilta de-Rabbi Ishmael)

The two events, the Parting of the Red Sea and the Binding of Isaac, do here not take place along the timeline of history, but are synchronistically juxtaposed.

In both cases, God tells his earthly representatives to raise the knife or staff:

In the one case, God asks Abraham to reaffirm their covenant by the sacrifice of the son. The actual deed of sacrifice to the gods is then exchanged for its symbolic representation, which is a significant stage in the process of civilization and acculturation.

In the other case, God tells Moses to stop praying and raise his staff, to do the actual deed of parting, of dividing, of differentiating the sides, which is an essential act of consciousness (separating this from that, for instance to know good from evil).

Both take place simultaneously. The one does not follow the other, and one does not take place at the exclusion of the other. The sacrifice, not as a concrete deed but as a meaningful reaffirmation of the transcendent dimension, beyond the acts of the ego, enables depth and soulfulness. However, consciousness and the actual deeds of humans in the realm of ego-reality, are equally necessary, and required for the manifestation of the soul.

The following are excerpts from my novella Requiem: A Tale of Exile and Return (Fisher King Press, 2010), which is forthcoming this spring also in Hebrew:

....

Truth was, Shimeoni essentially agreed with Derrida on many points, such as his interpretation of Abraham’s covenant with God of circumcision.

The Divine Father’s archetypal scar inflicted by generations of fathers of the flesh on generations of consent-less Jewish boys seemed to Professor Shimeoni, as indeed to Derrida, to be a repetition-compulsion, rather than the profound internalization of memory.

He recalled Yosef Hayim Yerushalmi’s epic work Zakhor, wondering if the Jews don’t merely repeat the trauma when they cross the desert every Passover – outside of the Land of Israel even repeating the hegira a second night, perhaps to ensure that the Jews of the Diaspora do arrive to the Promised Land...

“Does not compulsive repetition constitute the dangerous engine of fundamentalism?” he wondered, “in contrast to an enlightened process of internalized memory, in order to liberate the trauma.” Is this not the very opposite of that monumental cultural transition when the knife is taken out of Abraham’s hand, turning the actual, concrete sacrifice of Isaac into the acculturated representation by his Binding, the akedah?

The knife need not actually cut, in order for man to humbly bow before the transcendent image of God. Shimeoni adhered to Einstein’s view of God, as when he says that the religious attitude is the knowledge and emotion “of a knowledge of the existence of something we cannot penetrate, of the manifestations of the profoundest reason and the most radiant beauty,” and when he expresses his belief in the God of Spinoza “who reveals himself in the orderly harmony of what exists, not in a God who concerns himself with the fates and actions of human beings.”

…

Truly, he repeated to himself, the binding of Isaac signifies this striking cultural transition from literalness to symbolic representation.

God told Abraham there is no need for complete sacrifice, only a sacrifice of the complete (shalem), in order to be seen (yireh), to be recognized, to be named, to become completely human. He will suffice with sacrifice-by-proxy.

Rather than being trapped in the harsh reality of actual deed, reality can be transformed into images; rather than slaying the flesh of the son, the soul can expand by the creation of images that represent reality. By substituting the sacrificial animal for the actual son, the story of the akedah represents the separation of meaning from act, which is essential to culture and civilization.

But war is the destruction of representation and civilization, said Eli to himself, thereby arguing with Heraclitus that War is the Father of All. The tragedies on the battlefield are all too real and irreversible, and the essence of trauma of battle and war and Holocaust, is the loss of the representative symbol – all that remains is the hellish repetition of trauma.

Nothing represents the loss of symbolization better than the survivor from hell who holds on to a dry slice of bread. In hell, there are no mirrors and no images, no images in the mirror, only the bare walls of suffocation. In the cruel reality of war, the knife is raised and the angels circle above, repeatedly descending, attempting to divert the hand that holds the knife from descending upon the son, until the angels have all gone, and the son is no longer bound but sacrificed, the knife ripping out the soul of life and Isaac laughs no more.

Happy Easter - Happy Passover!

Erel Shalit

Forthcoming in April: Requiem: A Tale of Exile and Return in Hebrew

An announcement in Hebrew and an excerpt from Requiem in Hebrew (forthcoming paperback and eBook) will follow the English.

חזרה:סיפור של גלות ושיבה - קטע מהספר (שייצא לאור בעברית בחודש אפריל) לאחר הטקסט באנגלית

Recently, “The European Preparatory Committee for the Global March to Jerusalem” published the intention to organize marches to Jerusalem on March 30, 2012, coinciding with the annual commemoration of “Land Day.”

The organizers state: “We aim to make this march a turning point in the nature of the confrontation, with the occupation having to face millions of protesters and demonstrators demanding Freedom for Palestine and its capitol Jerusalem.”

Amos Harel writes in Haaretz, Monday, March 26, 2012:

IDF girds for Land Day disturbances

The army is making preparations to deal with demonstrations along Israel's borders in advance of Land Day on Friday. The day commemorates the deaths of six Israeli Arabs on March 30, 1976, in protest of Israeli government land policies.

Over the past several days, the Israel Defense Forces has finalized its instructions concerning circumstances under which soldiers can open fire along the borders and in the territories. It has also been decided that forces will be reinforced to a limited extent in some areas.

Although the IDF is prepared for relatively serious events, the current intelligence assessment in General Staff headquarters and at the Shin Bet security service is that demonstrators are organizing fairly limited activities at this point.

The current security preparations have drawn on the experience of three events last year: Nakba Day, marking the anniversary of Israel's establishment on May 15, 1948; Naksa Day, commemorating the anniversary of the outbreak of the Six-Day War; and last September's effort by the Palestinian Authority to secure recognition at the United Nations for an independent Palestinian state.

In all three cases, appropriate steps were carried out by the IDF Central Command and effective coordination was undertaken with the security forces of the Palestinian Authority to contain the situation and avoid large numbers of casualties. In the June and July incidents, however, demonstrators on the Lebanese and Syria borders were killed by the army as they attempted to storm across.

Preparations for Land Day have included readying crowd-dispersal equipment and the deployment of marksmen. In areas of the West Bank which are recognized areas of friction with the Palestinians, the so-called "skunk" devise, which sprays a particularly harsh-smelling substance at demonstrators, is being pressed into service.

Officials in the defense establishment are particularly concerned about what might occur on the Lebanese border. According to reports from Lebanon, the main demonstration is planned for the Beaufort area, north of the Israeli town of Metula. Israel recently approached the Lebanese government demanding that it help prevent demonstrators from approaching the actual border with Israel.

Israeli officials believe the Lebanese army does in fact plan to deploy in the area to head off possible bloodshed.

On the Syrian border, there are currently no signs that authorities in Damascus will be encouraging violent demonstrations, in contrast to events in May and June of last year, when Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime was behind the protests.

In the West Bank, demonstrations are anticipated at known flash points during the past several years, including around the villages of Bil'in and Na'alin near the security barrier, the Qalandiyah checkpoint north of Jerusalem and the village of Nabi Saleh west of Ramallah. A special police presence will also be deployed at the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, particularly because some protest organizers are describing the demonstration as an international march to Jerusalem. Some Fatah members are planning to take part in West Bank demonstrations.

Despite the intense attention preparations for Land Day have attracted on the Internet, there is no indication on the ground of a large-scale response to the call for protests in the West Bank or along Israel's borders. Nonetheless, a senior defense source told Haaretz: "The Palestinian Authority is looking for ways to again raise the Palestinian issue on the [world] agenda, and therefore it has an interest in protest that attracts attention on Friday."

The source also said that in the coming months other protest days are expected to be observed in the West Bank, including one in solidarity with Palestinian prisoners on April 17.

From Requiem: A Tale of Exile and Return:

Those very days in that tidy little room with the little desk where he could sit down and write after he had summoned some of his strengths and managed to rise from the bed and exorcise the apathy in which he had been stuck, he did what he always did, and started to scribble down his account of events. He looked back in bewilderment how quickly it all had unfolded. Perhaps it started a year and a half ago, on March 30, when the Arabs in Israel commemorated “Land Day.”

“Well,” he thought, “of course it started long before.” Perhaps it started around the talks in Annapolis – the impressive peace production with its open-ended declaration, followed by a year of “vigorous, ongoing and continuous negotiations,” that were ultimately no more than fruitless attempts at reconciliation. President Peres had said at the time that the alternative to Annapolis is catastrophe. Only later would it become evident how right he was, or, rather, how Annapolis and its aftermath could not prevent the inevitable catastrophe. And did not the Prime Minister at the time say, when he went off stage yet on record, that “the state of Israel is finished” if a separate Palestinian state is not created. The end was certainly on his mind, just like on everybody else’s.

Professor Shimeoni tried to organize the order of events, and he jotted down:

For a long time Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas had threatened to resign, but yielded to American pressure to remain in office. His continuously weakened position, however, was exposed by the humiliating coup carried out by a coalition of Islamic Jihad, Hamas and groups from within his own Fatah movement. Without any resistance, they entered his Muqata compound, pointed their guns and threatened to execute him. After merely an hour or so, a document was signed, and President Abbas was allowed to leave the headquarters of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) and the West Bank of Jordan for a safer haven. He appeared to be quite relieved from a burden far heavier than what a decent man’s shoulders can bear.

Requiem: A Tale of Exile and Return, as well as The Hero and His Shadow: Psychopolitical Aspects of Myth and Reality in Israel (Revised Edition, 2012) can be purchased at Amazon, Barnes & Nobles, and directly from the publisher,  Fisher King Press.

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עמוס הראל, הארץ, 26/3/2012

צה"ל נערך להסתערות של מפגינים על הגבולות: חודדו נהלי הפתיחה באש, חלק מהכוחות יתוגברו

צה"ל משלימים את ההיערכות לקראת צעדות המחאה המתוכננות בעולם הערבי ביום האדמה, החל ביום שישי הקרוב, אז צפויים המפגינים לצעוד לעבר גבולות ישראל. בימים האחרונים חודדו הנחיות הפתיחה באש לכוחות בגבולות ובשטחים. במטכ"ל אף הוחלט על תגבור כוחות מוגבל בחלק מהגזרות. עם זאת, אף שצה"ל נערך לתרחיש חמור יחסית, ההערכה המודיעינית כעת - המקובלת הן על אגף המודיעין במטכ"ל והן על השב"כ - היא שמדובר לעת עתה בהתארגנות בהיקף מוגבל בקרב המפגינים.

ההיערכות הצבאית מבוססת על לקחי האירועים בשלוש יוזמות המחאה הקודמות אשתקד: "יום נכבה" במאי, "יום הנכסה" ביוני וההפגנות סביב פניית הרשות הפלסטינית לאו"ם בספטמבר. בשלושת המקרים הובילה היערכות נכונה בפיקוד המרכז, יחד עם תיאום ביטחוני אפקטיבי עם מנגנוני הביטחון של הרשות, להכלה של האירועים בגדה המערבית, תוך הימנעות מגרימת נפגעים רבים. ואולם, בגבול לבנון וברמת הגולן הרגו החיילים כמה מפגינים שניסו לחדור לישראל.

במסגרת ההכנות חולקו לכוחות אמצעים לפיזור הפגנות והוצבו קלעים וצלפים. בגדה המערבית גם יוצבו בנקודות החיכוך המוכרות אמצעים כמו "בואש", המתיזים חומרים בעלי ריח חריף במיוחד על המפגינים.

במטכ"ל נערכו בימים הקרובים כמה דיוני מעקב אחר ההכנות לאירועי יום שישי. במערכת הביטחון מוטרדים בעיקר ממה שעלול להתרחש בגבול לבנון. על פי דיווחים מלבנון, ההפגנה המרכזית מתוכננת באזור הבופור, צפונית למטולה. בימים האחרונים פנתה ישראל לממשלת לבנון בדרישה למנוע התקדמות של המפגינים לאזור הגבול עצמו. בישראל מתרשמים כי צבא לבנון מתכנן להתפרס במקום כדי למנוע תקריות דמים. בגבול הסורי אין לפי שעה סימנים כי השלטונות יעודדו הפגנות אלימות. זאת, בניגוד לאירועי מאי ויוני, שם עמד משטר הנשיא, בשאר אל-אסד, מאחורי ההפגנות.
בגדה המערבית צפויות הפגנות במוקדי החיכוך המוכרים מהשנים האחרונות, בהם אזור הכפרים בילעין ונעלין שליד גדר ההפרדה, מחסום קלנדיה מצפון לירושלים והכפר נבי סלאח ממערב לרמאללה. גם באזור הר הבית תהיה היערכות משטרתית מיוחדת, בעיקר משום שהמחאה מתוארת על ידי מארגניה כ"צעדה בינלאומית לירושלים". גורמים בפתח נוטלים חלק בארגון חלק מההפגנות בגדה. עם זאת, למרות העיסוק האינטנסיבי בהכנות באתרי אינטרנט שונים, אין כעת סימנים בשטח להיענות גדולה, בגדה או בגבולות ולכן מעריכים בישראל כי לא יהיו הפגנות גדולות במיוחד בסוף השבוע. גורם ביטחוני בכיר אמר ל"הארץ" כי "הרשות הפלסטינית מחפשת דרכים להעלות מחדש את הנושא הפלסטיני על סדר היום ולכן יש לה עניין במחאה שתעורר תשומת לב ביום שישי". הוא הזכיר כי בחודשיים הקרובים צפויים ימי מחאה נוספים בשטחים, בהם יום הזדהות עם האסירים הפלסטינים ב-17 באפריל.

מתוך חזרה: סיפור של גלות ושיבה (ע' 25)

בעצם אותם ימים, באותו חדר קטן ונקי, ליד שולחן הכתיבה הקטן שעליו יכול היה לכתוב לאחר שאגר כוחות והצליח לקום מהמיטה ולגרש את שדי האפטיה והכניעה, הוא עשה את מה שתמיד נהג לעשות, והחל לשרבט על הנייר את סיפור האירועים. הוא הביט אחורה בתדהמה כשראה באיזו מהירות הכול התפתח. אולי זה התחיל לפני שנה וחצי, ב-30 במרס, ביום האדמה.
"טוב", חשב, "זה התחיל כמובן הרבה קודם". אולי סביב שיחות אנאפוליס – הפקת השלום המרשימה עם ההצהרות הלא מחייבות, שאחריהן באה שנה של "משא ומתן רציני ומתמשך", שבסופו של דבר התברר כלא יותר מאשר ניסיונות פיוס עקרים. הנשיא פרס אמר בזמנו שהחלופה לאנאפוליס היא קטסטרופה. רק מאוחר יותר התברר כמה הוא צדק, או איך ועידת אנאפוליס ומה שקרה אחריה לא יכלו למנוע את הקטסטרופה הבלתי נמנעת. והאם ראש הממשלה לא אמר באותו זמן, מאחורי הקלעים אך לציטוט, שאם לא תקום מדינה פלסטינית "זה סופה של מדינת ישראל"? הוא בוודאי חשב על הסוף, בדיוק כמו שכל אחד אחר חשב.

פרופסור שמעוני ניסה לארגן את סדר האירועים, ושרבט:

הנשיא הפלסטיני איים להתפטר במשך זמן רב, אך נענה ללחץ האמריקאי להישאר בתפקידו. אך מעמדו ההולך ונחלש נחשף באמצעות ההפיכה המשפילה שבוצעה בידי קואליציה של הג'יהאד האסלאמי, החמאס וקבוצות מתוך תנועת הפתח עצמה. ללא כל התנגדות הם נכנסו למוקטעה ברמאללה, כיוונו לעברו את רוביהם ואיימו להוציאו להורג. כעבור כשעה נחתם מסמך, והנשיא הורשה לעזוב את משרדי הרשות הפלסטינית ואת הגדה המערבית למקום מקלט בטוח. הוא נראה כמי שהוקל לו לאחר שמשא כבד מאוד הורד מעל כתפיו.

חזרה מחזיר אותנו לנושא נצחי, דו שיח עם הנפש; והרי אנחנו יודעים היטב מה קורה כשמשוחחים עם הנפש – אנחנו משתנים, התודעה מתרחבת, הבלתי אפשרי נהיה אפשרי, וכבר לא חייבים ללכת בדרך הקטלנית של האבות הקדמונים.

חזרה היא סיפור דמיוני על תרחיש שמתרחש בראשם של ישראלים רבים, על הרהורים קיומיים ופחדים אפוקליפטיים – ויחד עם זאת, על התקווה והמחויבות שעולים מתהום הפחד. הסיפור אומנם מתרחש בארץ בזמן כלשהו בהווה, אך הוא קושר אותנו לנצחיות ההיסטוריה על ידי שילוב מארג של דיונים עם קפקא והיינה, וכך מקבל משמעות אוניברסלית.

אראל שליט, פסיכואנליטיקאי יונגיאני, יו"ר לשעבר של החברה הישראלית לפסיכולוגיה אנליטית. הוא מיסד ומנהל התוכנית לפסיכותרפיה יונגיאנית בבר אילן, וניהל בעבר את היחידה הקהילתית לבריאות הנפש ע"ש דודסון, של שלוותה.

הוא חיבר ספרים רבים שיצאו לאור בעברית, באנגלית ובשפות אחרות, ביניהם הגיבור וצלו: היבטים פסיכופוליטיים של מיתוס ומציאות בישראל, The Cycle of Life ו- Enemy, Cripple & Beggar.

ד"ר שליט מרצה במכונים, באוניברסיטאות ובבמות תרבות בארץ, באירופה ובארה"ב

פרטים נוספים בקרוב

Depth Psychology Alliance book club - Cycle of Life

I wish to invite you to the Depth Psychology Alliance book club for the month of February. During this month we will discuss my book The Cycle of Life: Themes and Tales of the Journey, and I invite you to share your thoughts, comments and questions on this theme.

I write these lines from my home in Ra'anana, a small town north of Tel Aviv, at the eastern shores of the Mediterranean. This is the narrowest part of this small country, around 9 miles from the sea to Israel’s border with the Palestinian National Authority in the east (the local bus will take you cross-country).

This place in which I live, seems to eternally waver back and forth between profound creation and relentless destruction. Here, history fuses with mythology, and the heart of three monotheistic religions beats from within an area of a third of a square mile; a heartbeat that sends hurricanes of the spirit and floods of blood, across the face of the earth. From this same harsh earth arose, as well, some of humankind’s most powerful beliefs and influential individuals.

Hope and despair are common visitors in the souls of the peoples that dwell here, coloring their passions in dark red and their spirits in deep blue. You will find the terrors of war alternating at your doorstep with the dreams of reconciliation, reminding you how small we humans are, particularly when we have power and guns in our hands (on all sides). We are constantly reminded of the responsibility that rests on the shoulders of Psyche in each and every one. As Jung said, man’s psyche is the origin of all coming evil.

I have shared my thoughts about these issues in other books.* However, one further characteristic brings us to the cycle of life: the seasons. Here, at the eastern Mediterranean (which means “the sea in the middle of the earth”), the seasons don’t flow gently into each other. The seasons that soften the transition between summer and winter are very brief, sometimes barely noticeable. Likewise, the transitions along life’s journey, from the fires of adolescence to the gray ground of adulthood, for instance, may be sharp and painful. In some, this may evoke resistance and the desire to stay forever young, as in the puer aeternus or the puella aeterna, the eternal youth, who refuses to grow up. Others may prematurely, and sometimes unprepared, have to take on the burden of adult responsibilities, experiencing how the fire and the spirit of youth are extinguished.

My book focuses less on actual development through life’s stages, but rather on the archetypal core of the respective stages, or ages of life, from the perspective of their archetypal meaning. Consequently, the emphasis is not on the child’s development through the stages of childhood, but rather on the child as carrying the image of living in “the mysterious world of mythical images and magical relatedness,” as Gerhard Adler says.

If you are interested, please join the book club and read more

You can also listen to or watch an interview that Bonnie Bright conducted with me.

Furthermore, there will be two drawings, one on February 14th for The Hero and His Shadow, and one on the 28th for Enemy, Cripple & Beggar. The winner of the book will be announced the following day.
Looking forward to sharing thoughts and perspectives along the journey,

Erel Shalit

*Please see The Hero and His Shadow (the most recent, revised edition of this book was published this January by Fisher King Press); and Requiem: A Tale of Exile and Return (if you sign up for my newsletter, you will receive a free pdf eBook edition of the novella, but those of you who, like me, prefer the ‘real’ thing, can purchase directly from the publisher Fisher King Press, or Amazon).

Free eBook

Spring by Benjamin Shiff, whose wonderful painting Life appears on the cover of The Cycle of Life. See more of his paintings here, and at Benjamin Shiff Studio.

1. Receive a free pdf ebook edition of Requiem when you update your profile or register for my free newsletter. 

2. Depth Psychology Alliance Book Club for February – Cycle of Life During the month of February, I have the privilege of discussing my newest book The Cycle of Life – Themes and Tales of the Journey at the DPA Book Club. read more...

3. Bonnie Bright interviews Erel Shalit  Listen to or watch an interview on the theme of the cycle of life.

4. New edition of The Hero and His Shadow, now available in a variety of eBook editions as well  as a new printed version with a substantially lower price, thanks to Fisher King Press.

The Armchair Hero's Companion

From Enemy, Cripple, Beggar

Were the hero to believe he already knows all there is to know, and if he would insist on standing on the firm ground of principles and conventions, he would seldom bother to respond to the call to adventure.(Joseph Campbell, 'The Hero with a Thousand Faces', p. 49ff.) Our hero would remain at home, seated like Archie Bunker in the confined and drowsy embrace of the armchair-ego. He would stay away from the unknown, unaware of moonlit nights, and intolerant of the shadow-carrying 'Other'. “The usual person is more than content, he is even proud, to remain within the indicated bounds…,” says Campbell.(ibid.) “The hero,” says Jung beautifully, “is the symbolical exponent of the movement of libido.”(The Structure and Dynamics of the Psyche, CW 8, par. 68.)

Erel Shalit titles are on Sale now at Fisher King Press.

Depth Psychology Online Book Club: The Cycle of Life

I am pleased to let you know I will be tending the free Depth Psychology Alliance online book club with my book The Cycle of Life: Themes and Tales of the Journey in the month of February.

Each month, the group is "tended" by a different author who takes charge of the group on the first day of the designated month to introduce the book, assign selected readings, and pose study questions, so I will be on call to monitor progress, field questions online, point out themes, comment on select passages, draw out correlations with current events, and will be open for questions, comments and discussions.

I will also be featured in an audio interview for Depth Insights Radio a couple of weeks before the beginning of my session (in February), giving you ample time to get the book and read along.

The new Book Club started on January 1, with author Sandy Nathan, followed by me in February.
Here’s a link for an overview and the entire line-up of Depth Psychology Authors for 2012, which also features a link to a page for my month (February).

Hope you will check it out!

Erel Shalit

Ps. There will be a drawing for a free copy of my book Enemy, Cripple & Beggar: Shadows in the Hero’s Path and one of The Hero and His Shadow: Psychopolitical Aspects of Myth and Reality in Israel, among the attendees during the month of February.