See, I give you today the blessing and the curse.
Deuteronomy 11:26
"The blessing and the curse": all phenomena, and all human activity, seem
subject to categorization by these two most basic definers of reality. A
development is either positive or negative, an occurrence either fortunate or
tragic, an act either virtuous or iniquitous.
Indeed, the principle of "free choice" -- that man has been granted
the absolute autonomy to choose between good and evil -- lies at the heart of
the Torah's most basic premise: that human life is purposeful. That our deeds
are not predetermined by our nature or any universal law but are the product of
our independent volition, making us true "partners with G-d in
creation" whose choices and actions effect the continuing development of
the world as envisioned by its Creator.
Philosophers and theologians of all ages have asked: From where does this
dichotomy stem? Does evil come from G-d? If G-d is the exclusive source of all
and is the essence of good, can there be evil in His work? If He is the ultimate
unity and singularity, can there exist such duality within His potential?
In the words of the prophet Jeremiah, "From the Supernal One's word/
there cannot emerge/ both evil and good"( Lamentations 3:38). Yet the Torah
unequivocally states: "See, I am giving you today the blessing and the
curse" -- I, and no other, am the exclusive source and grantor of both.
Transmutation
One approach to understanding the Torah's conception of "the blessing
and the curse" is to see how this verse is rendered by the great
translators of Torah.
Aramaic, which was widely spoken by the Jewish people for fifteen centuries,
is the "second language" of the Torah. It is the language of the
Talmud, and even of several biblical chapters. There are also a number of
important Aramaic translations of the Torah, including one compiled at the end
of the first century CE by Onkelos, a Roman convert to Judaism who was a nephew
of the Emperor Titus; and a translation compiled a half-century earlier by the
great Talmudic sage Rabbi Yonatan ben Uziel.
In Onkelos' translation, the Hebrew word kelalah in the
above-quoted verse is translated literally as "curse" (lotin
in the Aramaic). But in Rabbi Yonatan's translation, the verse appears
thus: "See, I give you today the blessing and its transmutation." The author is
not merely avoiding the unsavory term "curse" -- he himself uses that
term but three verses later in Deuteronomy 11:29, and in a number of other
places in the Torah where the word kelalah appears. Also, if Rabbi
Yonatan just wanted to avoid using a negative expression, he would have written
"the blessing and its opposite" or some similar euphemism. The Aramaic
word he uses, chilufa, means "exchange" and
"transmutation," implying that "the curse" is something
which devolves from the blessing and is thus an alternate form of the same
essence.
In the words of our sages, "No evil descends from heaven" -- only
two types of good. The first is a "blatant" and obvious good -- a good
which can only be experienced as such in our lives. The other is also good, for
nothing but good can "emerge from the Supernal One"; but it is a
"concealed good," a good that is subject to how we choose to receive
and experience it. Because of the free choice granted us, it is in our power to
distort these heavenly blessings into curses, to subvert these positive energies
into negative forces.
Onkelos' is the more "literal" of the two translations. Its purpose
is to provide the student with the most rudimentary meaning of the verse. The
verse, in the Hebrew, says "the blessing and the curse," and Onkelos
renders it as such in the Aramaic. Anyone searching for the deeper significance
of the negative in our world must refer to those Torah texts which address such
issues.
On the other hand, the translation of Rabbi Yonatan ben Uziel provides a more
esoteric interpretation of the Torah, incorporating many Midrashic and Talmudic
insights. So instead of simply calling "the curse" a curse, it alludes
to the true significance of what we experience as evil in our lives. In essence,
Rabbi Yonatan is telling us, what G-d gives is good; but G-d has granted us the
ability to experience both "the blessing and its transmutation" -- to
divert His goodness to destructive ends, G-d forbid.
This also explains why Rabbi Yonatan translates kelalah as
"transmutation" in the above-cited verse (verse 26) and in a later
verse (verse 28), yet in verse 29 he renders it literally as "curse,"
in the manner of Onkelos. In light of the above, the reason for the
differentiation is clear: the first two verses speak of G-d's giving us
both a blessing and a "curse"; but G-d does not give curses -- only
the option and capability to "transmute" His blessings. On the other
hand, the third verse ("And it shall come to pass, when the L-rd your G-d
has brought you into the land ... you shall declare the blessing on Mount
Gerizim and the curse on Mount Eval") speaks of our articulation of
the two pathways of life, where the "concealed good" can be received
and perceived as an actual "curse."
Galut
On a deeper level, the different perspectives on the nature of evil expressed
by these two Aramaic translations of the Torah reflect the spiritual-historical
circumstances under which they were compiled.
Galut, the state of physical and spiritual displacement in which we have
found ourselves since the destruction of the Holy Temple and our exile from our
land nearly 2,000 years ago, is a primary cause for the distortion of G-d's
blessing into "its transmutation." When the people of Israel inhabited
the Holy Land and experienced G-d's manifest presence in the Holy Temple in
Jerusalem, they experienced the divine truth as a tactual reality. The
intrinsic goodness and perfection of all that comes from G-d was openly
perceivable and accessible.
Galut, on the other hand, is a state of being which veils and distorts
our soul's inner vision, making it far more difficult to relate to the divine
essence in every event and experience of our lives. Galut is an
environment in which the "concealed good" that is granted us is all
too readily transmuted into negativity and evil.
The translation by Rabbi Yonatan ben Uziel, also called the "Jerusalem
Translation,"1 was compiled in the Holy Land in the generation
before the Temple's destruction. The very fact that its authorship was
necessary -- that for many Jews the language of the Torah was no longer
their mother tongue, and the word of G-d was accessible only through the
medium of a vernacular -- bespeaks the encroaching galut. The
"concealed good" was already being experienced as something other than
an expression of G-d's loving relationship with us.
Still, in Rabbi Yonatan's day the Holy Temple stood in Jerusalem. The
descending veil of galut was translucent still, allowing the recognition,
if not the experience, of the true nature of reality. One was aware that what
one perceived as negative in one's life was a distortion of the divine goodness.
The Onkelos Translation was compiled a generation later, by the nephew of the
Roman Emperor who destroyed the Holy Temple and drove the people of Israel into
exile. In Onkelos’ day, the galut had intensified to the point that the
prevalent reality was that of a world dichotomized by good and evil, a world in
which the "concealed good" is regarded as simply "the
curse."
But it is precisely such a world that offers the ultimate in freedom of
choice, which, in turn, lends true import and significance to the deeds of man.
It is precisely such a world that poses the greater -- and more rewarding --
challenge to reveal the underlying goodness, unity and perfection of G-d's
creation.
