ANIMISM IN THE EARLY RABBINIC PERIOD

Sometime starting towards the end of the Second Temple period in Judaism and after the codification of the Hebrew Bible, the Rabbis as spiritual leaders came to the fore. They replaced the Priests and Prophets of the Hebrew Bible. The Second Temple period ended with the destruction of Temple by the Romans in 70 CE.

Rabbinic literature from this period is vast and often confusing. Much of it began as oral teachings and there was a reluctance to commit the teachings to writings. Many of the writings have a mix of law and stories and topics that seem wildly unrelated to each other. A lot of it is collections of commentary on the Hebrew Bible that specialize in taking fragments of text, commenting on them and then providing “proof” of the perspective of the speaker by taking another text fragment out of context. If you are oriented towards coherent texts, as I am, reading Rabbinic collections is frequently an exercise in frustration.

And yet these are the records of Jewish imagination for over a thousand years. We’re going to look at three sets of texts. One set of texts focuses on four stories of communicating with other beings. The second text is a text talking about the four times the more than human world is judged. A third set of texts focuses on Solomon who emerges as a kind of cultural hero of this literature.

I debated but decided not to include stories of Jewish miracle workers such as Choni the circle maker, Chanina ben Dosa, Rabbah and Rabbi Zeira etc. These stories deserve greater visibility than they have, but I am unsure about how much they say about the possibility of Jewish Animism. Choni, for instance, seems more like a discussion of what kinds of prayers are more effective in persuading the divine to release the life giving rains of heaven than it is a statement of the independent agency of the rains.

Here are four texts that speak to communicating with the more than human world.

“The Rabbi taught, eighty students of Hillel the elder . . . the least one of all was Rabbi Yohanan ben Zakai . . . he was proficient in Bible, Mishnah, Gemara, Jewish law, and legendary stories . . . Astrology, numerology, general parables, fox parables, speaking with demons, speaking with trees, and speaking with angels ...” (Babylonian Talmud, Bava Batra 134A.)

“It was said of Hillel that he had not omitted to study any of the words of the Sages, even all languages, even the speech of mountains, hills and valleys, the speech of trees and herbs, the speech of wild beasts and cattle, the speech of demons and parables.” (BT Soferim 16:9)

“Rabbi Pinchas ben Ya’ir went to a place where they came to him and said, rats are eating our grain. He commanded them; they assembled and started to whistle. He asked them, do you understand what they are saying? They said, no. He said to them, they say that it is not put in order. They said to him, be our guarantor. He promised and they had no further losses.” (Jerusalem Talmud D’mai 1:3)

“At the time David completed the book of Psalms, he became full of pride and said to the Holy one, blessed be he, “surely there is no creature which you have made that can sing songs and praises greater than mine.” At that exact moment a frog appeared before him and said “David, do not be so proud, for I can sing praises and songs even greater than yours.” (Perek Shira, 10th Century?)

One core theme is the wide range of beings who have language. We have demons, trees, angels, mountains, hills, valleys, herbs, wild beasts, rats and frogs. It’s obviously possible to interpret this metaphorically that e.g. the frog doesn’t actually speak to David but that he remembers to be a bit more humble. Equally, when Hillel understands the speech of wild beasts or Rabbi Pinchas the speech of rats, maybe this is like understanding a parable, which is clearly a human creation. We can interpret what cattle want from their behavior, just like we interpret parables, and even if we grant sentience to cattle, that doesn’t mean we grant them any rights—we can still feel free to exploit them by putting them in bovine concentration camps aka feedlots.

And yet, language is often viewed as the distinguishing characteristic of humans—at least in the elaborate and abstract quality of our language as represented here by parables. And here is this whole list of beings who speak in ways comparable to humans. The core thesis of Animism is that all beings are alive and have similar interiors or souls, but different bodies. So from an Animist perspective, all beings should have their own languages.

Many of us have done an exercise where we go talk to a tree and ask the tree what message it may have to convey to us. This guided visualization is going to be a bit different and perhaps more difficult. Instead of asking the tree to speak English, we are going to ask us to speak tree—or squirrel or mountain etc.

Take a few deep breaths…Feel your feet on the ground, your butt on the chair if you are sitting…a few more deep breaths…find in your imagination a being with whom you wish to communicate—might be a tree, a rock, a bird…now here comes the hard part, imagine becoming that tree, rock, bird. Keep breathing and be that tree, rock, bird. (figure out how long to give them to be the being). OK, take a few more deep breaths and come back to your human body. Breathe. Open your eyes. Let’s share.

Here's the text about judgment.

“At four times of the year the world is judged: On Passover judgment is passed concerning grain; on Shavuot concerning fruits that grow on a tree; on Rosh HaShanah, all creatures pass before Him like sheep [benei maron], as it is stated: “He Who fashions their hearts alike, Who considers all their deeds” (Psalms 33:15); and on the festival of Sukkot they are judged concerning water, i.e., the rainfall of the coming year.” (BT Rosh Hashanah 1:2)

It is certainly possible to interpret this text as simply taking the theme of judgment and applying it to the more than human world. There’s a correlation between what is happening ecologically on the holidays of Passover and Sukkot and what is being judged. If the rains don’t stop at Passover the grain harvest is at risk, and if it doesn’t start to rain after Sukkot, again, the growth of all crops and the well being of all beings is at risk.

That Shavuot is used instead of Tu B’shvat for the judging of the fruits that grow on a tree might have to do with needing something to apply to Shavuot. It is also possible that Tu B’shvat had not yet come into play when this text was first recited. The first mention of Tu B’shvat is also Talmudic and precise dating of Talmudic texts is difficult if not impossible.

But all of this, it seems to me, does not negate the fact that the divine is judging rain, fruit, grain and indeed all beings in exactly parallel ways as he is judging humans starting on Rosh Hashanah, continuing through Yom Kippur. Psalm 33:15 is about specifically about judging humans. Here’s the two lines that proceed our proof text. “From heaven the LORD looks down and sees all mankind; from his dwelling place he watches all who live on earth—

I recently read a novel where the Redwoods in conjunction with an underground humanoid species decided to judge humans and condemn them by withholding their carbon dioxide absorbing function (trees absorb Carbon Dioxide and release Oxygen as part of photosynthesis). The idea was to get rid of the humans who were harming the trees. It certainly is an interesting idea.

Do you believe that there is a difference between judging humans and judging beings such as grain, rain, fruits? On what basis would you judge grain, rain, fruits? Can grain, rain, fruit judge humans in any sense?

There’s a theme about Solomon, his being wise and his connection to the more than human world. There are a decent number of stories where Solomon interacts with various beings from the mythical Ziz to lions, eagles, donkeys and bees. The stories are told to exemplify Solomon’s wisdom. They also show a belief in the ability of all these beings to communicate with a human and interact in ways that express their agency. This theme will continue into tales from Eastern Europe that I first learned at Wilderness Torah. I’m going to share two shorter stories and one longer one with this theme to give you a flavor of these tales.

“Solomon “knew and understood the speech of birds, cattle and beasts of the field. Deer and Gazelles were his forerunners, lions and tigers his armor bearers.” (Book of Legends, Bialek and Ravitsky p. 123—originally from Targum Sheni on Esther which dates sometime between the 6th to 10th Century CE).

Solomon, a little drunk at a party, summons all the nearby kings and “Then he commanded the birds of heaven, the beasts of the field, the creatures that creep on the ground, demons, spirits and night harpies dance before him, in order to demonstrate his greatness to all the kings seated in his presence. The king’s scribes summoned the animal and spirits by name, and all gathered and came to the royal palace of their own accord, neither fettered nor bound, with no human hand to lead them.” (The Book of Legends, Bialek and Ravitsky, p.127, also originally from Targum Sheni on Esther).

“God was pleased with Solomon's request [for wisdom] and said, "You could have asked for long life or great wealth or victory over your enemies. But instead you asked for wisdom and you shall have you wish. You shall be able to understand the language of the birds and beasts…"

Then Solomon woke up from his dream. He wondered if God had really spoken to him or whether it had been a spirit beguiling him in his dreams.

Then he heard the birds squawking and twittering to each other in his garden below. He heard one suddenly cry out, "Silly birds — stop all this noise! Don't you know that the God has just given Solomon the ability to understand what we say and to make us do as he wishes!"

Then Solomon knew that the dream had indeed been sent by God.

"Nonsense!" chirped another bird. "How can a human being rule over us? Human beings are stuck on the ground while we can fly up into the heavens. Only the eagle who lives high in the mountains, can be our king."

"We'll see about that," whispered Solomon. Then he thrust his head out of the window and thundered, "Birds be quiet. King Solomon commands you!"

Instantly all was quiet in the garden.

"Where is the little bird who, a moment ago, talked so boldly? Come here at once!"

The poor little bird came fluttering to Solomon's finger, shaking as if her little heart would break.

"So," grumbled the young king, "you think that the eagle is stronger than I. We shall soon see about that. I command you to fly to the desert and summon the great White Eagle, mightiest of birds, to Jerusalem. Then we shall see who is king over the birds!"

"He will kill me if I speak so boldly to him!" stammered the little bird.

Then Solomon attached a letter to the bird's foot with a gold ring and placed the royal seal upon it. The little bird flew off shaking with fear. The next day, as the sun rose, Solomon's guards felt a great blast of wind howling down upon their heads. Then came a second blast, then a third. Their hearts melted within them.

Then a fourth blast shook the palace to his foundations. In flew the great White Eagle, sparks of fire flashing like a sharp sword. As soon as his broad wings stopped beating, a little bird peered out from one of them and then darted behind the king's golden throne.

"Why have you summoned me here?" demanded the Eagle.

"To show you my power," answered the king.

Then Solomon ordered his guards to sound the shofar (ram's horn). Within moments, the vast throne-room filled with birds: parrots and peacocks, hawks and hummingbirds, cranes and cuckoos. The noise in the room was deafening.

Then the king cried, "Silence!" Instantly they all hushed.

Solomon turned to the White Eagle, who towered above the other birds like a mighty tree. "I command you, King of the Birds, to come back here once each month. Upon your wings, I shall keep watch over my great kingdom."

And so each month, the White Eagle returned to Jerusalem and King Solomon mounted his broad wings and shepherded the skies over Israel. (This is from Ellen Frankel The Classic Tales l via Ginzberg and incorporates Biblical and Rabbinic sources)

Do you see these as just cute folktales designed to convey a message about Solomon’s human wisdom and power or can we learn something more from them? Does Wisdom necessarily mean that a person is attuned to the more than human world the way Solomon is in these stories? If you could speak to the beings that comprise the more than human world, to whom would you speak and what would you say?