Finishing Touches  

Chapter 5 of Pirkei Avot (Ethics of the Fathers) is an extended riff on the number 10: the 10 utterances with which the world was created, the 10 generations between Noah and Abraham, the 10 tests that Abraham was subjected to. Here’s the most intriguing list:

Ten things were created on the eve of the first Sabbath at twilight, and these are they: [1] the mouth of the earth, [2] the mouth of the well, [3] the mouth of the donkey, [4] the rainbow, [5] the manna, [6] the staff, [7] the shamir, [8] the letters, [9] the writing, [10] and the tablets. And some say: also the demons, the grave of Moses, and the ram of Abraham, our father. And some say: and also tongs, made with tongs.

This “Top 10 List” (actually, 14 items, including the add-ons) has a quirky randomness that is oddly compelling. But what does it mean?

The first telling of creation, in Genesis chapter 1 through the beginning of chapter 2, has majestic sweep. It starts mysteriously with “Bereishit”, a word that means “at the beginning of” (with its implicit question, “beginning of what?”); marches out of the void (“tohu va’vohu”) into the light; details six days of “making” that proceed in a roughly evolutionary order (thousands of years before Darwin!); and then takes a turn to the “meta” by adding, after the creating, a period of resting and “re-souling” on the Sabbath, pausing before beginning again. It feels intricate, ordered, beautiful and complete. Like clockwork.  

That seeming perfection makes this list of creative afterthoughts, squeezed into the twilight time before the first Sabbath, so alluring. This neatly ordered plan narrated in the Torah was somehow still incomplete.  We are pulled into the game – for each item on the list we wonder, “Why this?” And why create this list in three parts, 10 + 3 +1?

First, a little background on these items.

1.      The mouth of the earth is the crater that swallowed Korach and his followers, who rebelled against Moses’ authority.

2.      The mouth of the well refers to the well that gave the Israelites water through 40 years of desert wandering.

3.      The mouth of the donkey belonged to the ass that Bilaam rode on his way to curse the Israelites.

4.      The rainbow was God’s sign, after the flood, that never again would God seek to destroy the world.

5.      The manna was that miraculous substance that fed the Israelites in the desert.

6.      The staff of Moses was what he used to perform the miracles of the Exodus.

7.      The shamir was a worm whose corrosive discharge could cut through stone; Solomon used it to build the Temple to avoid using any metal tools in its construction.

8, 9 and 10. The letter, the writing and the tablets refer to the Torah.

11. The demons – it is not clear what this refers to.

12.  The grave of Moses – a reference to the end of the Torah, which notes that God buried Moses but no one knows where.

13. The ram of Abraham, caught in the brambles, was sacrificed instead of Isaac. 

14. Tongs, made with tongs, references the blacksmith’s tool for forging. But… hunh? 

Sit with this list for a minute. What ties these items together?

As is the Talmud’s way, philosophy and theology come wrapped in enigma. This list addresses two fundamental questions: What kind of world did God create? And does God remain involved?

This teaching says that God did not set the world spinning only to abandon it. There are items sprinkled throughout this list that will come in handy at times of future crisis – the staff of Moses was the means of our liberation from slavery; the manna and the well gave food and drink to the Israelites as they made their tortuous 40-year journey to the Promised Land; the crater ended Korach’s dangerous rebellion that could have splintered the Israelites in the desert.

The shamir teaches that everything, even a lowly worm, has significance and utility if we are patient enough for its purpose to be revealed.

The mouth of the donkey says that there is a force out there that sometimes intervenes on our behalf. (You can be down 3-0 to the Yankees and still reverse the curse.)

The letter, the writing and the tablets are the gift of Torah, the Tree of Life that still sustains us.  We would not exist as a people without it.

That’s the top 10 – gifts for our salvation, waiting to be unwrapped in troubled times.

As for the next three, they represent the challenges of this world. They include the demons with which we must wrestle; there is evil. Moses’ grave means certain things will remain a mystery. The ram in the thicket? Life presents us with seemingly impossible dilemmas. (“Serve God. Sacrifice your son.”)  Sometimes they have a solution, if we look closely.

Which leaves us with the last item. What of the tongs made with tongs?

This is a fraught time. Evil seems to prevail unchecked in this world. We despair for what it means for ourselves but more importantly for our children and their children. This Mishnah offers some comfort, suggesting that the universe contains gifts that were placed for our benefit. The final gift is the ultimate one – tongs that we can use for repair of the world (made with the original tongs created by God). We are not passive actors in this play. We have agency.

And over above the tongs, we hope that the list of gifts is illustrative and not exclusive, and that there are further gifts of salvation awaiting discovery along the way, just when they are needed.

Rich Moche

October 2024