This is part twenty-five of Marc H. Ellis’s “Exile and the Prophetic” feature for Mondoweiss. To read the entire series visit the archive page.
My little guy, Isaiah, just turned nineteen. Obviously the “little” designation is somewhat past tense. He’s been texting me about the Penn State/Sandusky, Paterno scandal. He’s asking if I think the football program should have received the death penalty from the NCAA. Of course I do. But then the cascading images begin. Believe me, it would never end.
If the death penalty were applied it would reach the shores my alma mater, Florida State University, where the former second in major college coaching victories, Bobby Bowden, is, after the voiding of more than a hundred Paterno wins, back in the lead. A second look at the NCAA’s action against Bowden would commence, since they already voided almost an entire season of his victories. Admittedly Bowden wasn’t guilty of turning a blind eye to the rape of children, just an extensive player cheating scandal either ignored or abetted by his coaching staff. Then it would be off to my recent place of employment since in the past and in the present, the NCAA has also been there.
By all accounts these investigations skim the surface of sex, lies and videotapes. What’s interesting is the men – and women – at the top of the university pyramid. Presidents and Provosts, then down the line, vacant stare players, with envelops to stuff, all know what’s going on. Fancy stationary and pious prayers can’t disguise scum.
So, Isaiah, you are playing your prophet’s namesake game, shouting it from the rooftops. I agree. Now get a life. Get real. The Wheel of University Life is greased by all sorts of industrial-size hypocrisy. Be wary of following in your older brother’s footsteps, a la letters to the Israeli Consul. At least know what lies ahead if you maintain truthfulness as your guide. As you know Aaron stood up and never looked back.
After a while Jewish/non-Jewish/(un)Jewish issues of injustice seem to run together. Maybe they are the same thing.
Some years ago, after making our way through the terminals that regulated entry into Ramallah, Aaron and I stood at Apartheid Wall. With my arm around his shoulder, I said to him – “This is the end of Jewish history.” His reply – “It’s unjust, Dad, wrong. We have to bring the Wall down.”
Generational difference. I carry so much Holocaust/Israel baggage. Baggage surrounded by mourning. Aaron doesn’t have any time for that. Let’s get on with the task at hand.
There was something of that when I read the Bible out loud to Isaiah, word for word, every night, for weeks on end. Just like I had read it to Aaron some years earlier. When we came to the prophet Isaiah, my Isaiah smiled. The recognition was immediate. Was he named for this Biblical heavyweight, he asked? Isaiah’s eyes lit up when we reached the plowshares text.
Prophet naming, just like I did for your brother, Aaron. I didn’t name Aaron for his priestly role, though that is quite interesting. I named him for the early Aaron who, as the older brother of Moses, introduced the palace-raised Moses to his people and spoke for the stuttering Moses. Aaron, the first prophet. He started an entire tradition.
A household of prophetic names where nowhere to go? I had an idea of where Jewish history was heading when their names were given. But no idea how far it would go. As fate would have it. By the time I read Aaron the Torah out loud Star of David helicopter gunships commanded the skies over Palestine. I knew then that no greater challenge had ever presented itself to the Jewish prophetic.
Whether the Jewish prophetic was up to the task, whether it is up to the task, that’s still an open question. Or is it?
Speaking truth to Jewish power. A lifetime task filled with all sorts of dangers. I have experienced many. My children will also find others on their journey. They already have.
And the non-Jewish allies who also pounce on Jewish dissidents, well, it raises the question of what is happening in the Jewish/Christian empire box suites.
Sure, I understand how some believe Star of David helicopter gunships are mandated by the Bible. Protect the people Israel, the Land, God’s chosen ones in the Promised Land. Yet, the prophetic seeds of conscience are also there. Use conscience to interrupt power wherever it comes from, even when it seems to be Biblically commanded by God.
When you read the Torah out loud to your children you have to choose – for yourself. So many Biblical texts present us with choices. Only we can make them. The Bible is on both sides of the Empire Divide. Much of the narration can go either way. When it goes toward empire, we need to read the Bible against its own grain. When it goes toward community, we need to read the Bible critically as well.
For in every community, there remains the temptation toward empire. In every empire, there is the trust toward community. Most community is built within and in spite of empire. Empire remains as a temptation even as opposition to it increases.
The empire/community tipping point is difficult to discern. One way of thinking about our own empire temptation is imagining a cloak room where hats and coats are checked. As we move toward community what empire aspirations/temptations have to be checked before entering the community theatre? A checklist of ideas/habits/ideologies/rituals that have to be checked before entering should be developed. But, then, the disputes over that checklist will be endless, don’t you think?
Just to name a few disputed coat room questions. It would be easy to say that all particularities, like Jewish or African American or Arab, have to be checked. But, then, about universality, if that can be defined without particularities, isn’t “universality” a hodgepodge of quite particular notions in and of itself? If we allow broad categories, if only for initial location and identification, does that mean that “Arab” can be carried into the theatre but that “Palestinian” has to be checked?
Maybe the rule of thumb is more about how we carry our baggage rather than the baggage itself. Identity baggage may be like the Bible, cutting in different ways at different times. Taking all the empire baggage away might leave us void of community resources as well.
Identifying our baggage is essential. And being able to laugh at the absurdity of it all.
Like the Jewish concept of chosenness. Ludicrous!
Or, listen to this: Palestinians are different than other Arab collectives. LOL!
Jesus saves! Mohammed is the final prophet!
Or, imagine this: Reading the Torah out loud can be instructive.
Total absurdity, most of it, I agree. Like a belief in God. Who in their right and intelligent mind could contemplate such an order to the universe?
Since all of us here are above these absurdities, let’s lay out the ones we hold as dear as they hold the ones I just skewered. Put our absurd cards down on the table.
I’ll go first with a series of belief statements that are central to my life. I say them often to my children. They nod their heads. Here he goes again!
I also slip them in academic settings. You can imagine the reception. How (un)academic can he be!
These, also, may be absurd. Consider them by Prophet Doxology.
The people Israel gave the prophetic to the world.
It is the greatest gift in the history of the world.
Without the prophetic there is no meaning in the world.
There may be no meaning in the world.
The prophet embodies the possibility of meaning in the world.
Unpacking at another time. Prophetic baggage. Can it still be spoken in the world?
