Is this: Snakes that speak have been noted to speak with forked tongues.
Not just in mythology, snakes have been noted to speak with “forked tongues.” Was this an innovation in speech — What does it mean in current and contemporary discourse? Especially at a time of new beginnings, such as a time of B’reshit (“In the Beginning”), why would the Torah choose to introduce to us a snake with a hidden agenda of his words?
Snakes in general can and do — go both ways. Maybe why “the forked tongues . . . ”
Maybe the lesson here is not new; perhaps the snake’s hidden agenda might have been an exposure of something “older” and more sinister, perchance something we should especially now come to”know.”
Where have we heard or experienced this story and its meaning before?
In terms of the Garden, and in terms of our lives, is it legitimate to ask, Does the snake’s message have meaning for us? And if so, in what way do we understand how the snakes’ words play out in the garden the one in which we now call home, and in which we live?
And, for the record, it is not by accident that the words of this snake, just as the words of any duplicitous creature, have a rather well-known and hideous propensity to envelop the world, our world.
_______________
Genesis 3:1
וְהַנָּחָשׁ֙ הָיָ֣ה עָר֔וּם מִכֹּל֙ חַיַּ֣ת הַשָּׂדֶ֔ה אֲשֶׁ֥ר עָשָׂ֖ה יְהֹוָ֣ה אֱלֹהִ֑ים וַיֹּ֙אמֶר֙ אֶל־הָ֣אִשָּׁ֔ה אַ֚ף כִּֽי־אָמַ֣ר אֱלֹהִ֔ים לֹ֣א תֹֽאכְל֔וּ מִכֹּ֖ל עֵ֥ץ הַגָּֽן׃
Now the serpent was the shrewdest of all the wild beasts that God יהוה had made. It said to the woman, “Did God really say: You shall not eat of any tree of the garden?”
________________________
Not so hidden meanings
New York Currents: “Did I ever say the words: Globalize the Intifada? I cannot repudiate it. I did not say it, my friends say it, and I respect them.
_______________________
Do “words” such as these affect us —
What happens when words take effect, especially when they are “pivoted to others,” containing hidden and harmful agendas?
Here is one example:
Is this an incident at Temple Israel, or a sign of the new normal? A Minneapolis synagogue was vandalized yesterday, with “watch out Zionists” spray-painted on its exterior walls, along with red triangles — a symbol used by Hamas to mark Israeli targets during the Oct. 7 attacks …
(background question: What did the vandals mean? Did they mean Jews, or just right-wing, colonial, and apartheid pro-Israeli types? Does this have any effect on us?
excerpt: Several key Minnesota political leaders across the ideological spectrum condemned the vandalism of a synagogue in Minneapolis on Wednesday as an act of antisemitism. Temple Israel, which had been vandalized previously, was spray-painted with the message “watch out Zionists” as well as red triangles — a symbol used by Hamas to mark Israeli targets.
_______________________________
How do words and speech affect us? Here is a bit of a thermometer, a broader example of trends and attitudes currently sweeping the wider nation:
By the Numbers: In The Hill, Jonathan Schulman challenges the narrative that American Jews are “embracing hostile views” toward Israel. “A national survey earlier this year found that 72% of American Jews hold a favorable view of Israel. Another poll shows that Jews are almost universally supportive of Israel — a mere 5% of Jews ‘say they are not supporters of the Jewish state.’ Polling has found that 85% of young Jews ‘believe that Israel has a right to exist as a Jewish state,’ and that 70% of American Jews ‘believe anti-Zionism is antisemitic by definition.’ …
No community of millions speaks in one voice. But Jewish political organizations play an essential role in reflecting the shared values and commitments of the majority. And in that mission, they remain aligned with the core beliefs of the American Jewish community, who continue to value Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state and to defend itself against its adversaries.” [TheHill] link: https://thehill.com/opinion/international/5541252-two-years-after-10-7-jews-still-value-israel-and-its-right-to-exist/?utm_source=cio
________________
Here I mention a small little smidge from last week:
Words, and Hidden Meanings: “It’s an anxious and divisive time for American Jews.”
