Could it be time for a new kind of taking?
Could it be possible to consider "the land" as a non-fungible phenomenon - in other words, identical and not interchangeable?
Could we reframe the way we think about "taking", "possessing", "inheriting" through a lens of non-fungibility?
A new, post-modern, entirely necessary way of thinking about possession and dispossession?
(כא) רְ֠אֵ֠ה נָתַ֨ן ה׳ אֱלֹקֶ֛יךָ לְפָנֶ֖יךָ אֶת־הָאָ֑רֶץ עֲלֵ֣ה רֵ֗שׁ כַּאֲשֶׁר֩ דִּבֶּ֨ר ה׳ אֱלֹקֵ֤י אֲבֹתֶ֙יךָ֙ לָ֔ךְ אַל־תִּירָ֖א וְאַל־תֵּחָֽת׃
(21) See, your God ה׳ has placed the land at your disposal. Go up, take possession, as ה׳, the God of your fathers, promised you. Fear not and be not dismayed.”
What does this verse really say?
Does it really say that God has placed the land "at our disposal"? (The familiar JPS translation is above).
Let's look closely at the Biblical Hebrew here:
...רְ֠אֵ֠ה נָתַ֨ן ה׳ אֱלֹקֶ֛יךָ לְפָנֶ֖יךָ אֶת־הָאָ֑רֶץ
I propose a different translation:
So: what is "לְפָנֶ֖יךָ"/ "l'fanecha"? Does this necessarily mean "at your disposal"?
I understand this as: "in your presence, in front of your face, facing you, presenting it for your consideration".
With this in mind, I wonder if you would join me in a thought experiment:
Perhaps this interpretation (the land is at our disposal) is as much of a mis-read / distortion as the familiar idea that Genesis 1:28 means that we're supposed to eat animals (when in fact it can just as easily - perhaps more easily - be read as meaning that we're to have stewardship over the animals - but not to eat them).
(כח) וַיְבָ֣רֶךְ אֹתָם֮ אֱלֹקִים֒ וַיֹּ֨אמֶר לָהֶ֜ם אֱלֹקִ֗ים פְּר֥וּ וּרְב֛וּ וּמִלְא֥וּ אֶת־הָאָ֖רֶץ וְכִבְשֻׁ֑הָ וּרְד֞וּ בִּדְגַ֤ת הַיָּם֙ וּבְע֣וֹף הַשָּׁמַ֔יִם וּבְכׇל־חַיָּ֖ה הָֽרֹמֶ֥שֶׂת עַל־הָאָֽרֶץ׃
(28) God blessed them and God said to them, “Be fertile and increase, fill the earth and master it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and all the living things that creep on earth.”
Back to our thought experiment, back to Devarim 1:21
It looks to me as if this verse is telling us that God has given the land that is facing us. God has put us into a relationship with the land such that we can encounter it. It does not say that God has given us the land to own it.
Thus: when we read later in the verse:
עֲלֵ֣ה רֵ֗שׁ
I suggest that we can similarly interrogate this phrase: "go up, possess" - what does this mean? Does it have to me literally take / own / pillage?
Could it also mean: come into a meaningful relationship with the land [which leads to another interrogation of what"the land" might mean; see below].
Could it mean: face what this is; make it yours. Incorporate something about this phenomenon called "the land" that will sustain and change you.
With these questions, I am continuing a process of questioning that I began in my commentary last week, about Parshiot Matot- Masei: engaging in a interrogation of our notions of possession and the inevitably attendant dispossession of others that this entails.
Other verses in Parsha Devarim suggest that a new attitude is required in order to "enter" the land. The desert generation, those who were too attached to the trauma mentality of oppression... these cannot "possess" the land.
A new attitude is required. I'd like to explore whether part of this new attitude could be a new way of thinking about inheriting and possessing.
וְטַפְּכֶם֩ אֲשֶׁ֨ר אֲמַרְתֶּ֜ם לָבַ֣ז יִהְיֶ֗ה וּ֠בְנֵיכֶ֠ם אֲשֶׁ֨ר לֹא־יָדְע֤וּ הַיּוֹם֙ ט֣וֹב וָרָ֔ע הֵ֖מָּה יָבֹ֣אוּ שָׁ֑מָּה וְלָהֶ֣ם אֶתְּנֶ֔נָּה וְהֵ֖ם יִירָשֽׁוּהָ׃
Moreover, your little ones who you said would be carried off, your children who do not yet know good from bad, they shall enter it; to them will I give it and they shall possess it.
Can we "inherit" or "possess" the land in a non-fungible way? In other words: can we "possess" something without dispossessing others, if we each possess the "thing" (in this case, the land) in ways that are not identical.
I propose that considering the land to be a non-fungible phenomenon could create a path to coexistence in the land; could obviate the need for dispossession; could open paths to peaceful coexistence rather than violent dispossession.
The way to such peaceful coexistence may be difficult to see, may feel hidden or obscure.
And in fact, the children of Israel, in the desert, waiting to enter the land, will be told to "turn north":
רַב־לָכֶ֕ם סֹ֖ב אֶת־הָהָ֣ר הַזֶּ֑ה פְּנ֥וּ לָכֶ֖ם צָפֹֽנָה׃
You have been skirting this hill country long enough; now turn north.
Now, we're told that we need to turn north. What is "north" - צפן ?
When God says that we've been "going around and around [in circles?]" and it's time to head toward the north... what does this directional instruction mean?
Interestingly, we see in Gesenius that "north" has an attribute of "hiddenness". On first consideration, it seems as if this is a paradoxical instruction: why would God be telling us to move toward obscurity?
When Abraham died, Ishmael and Isaac buried him together. This is a very powerful and striking interpolation in the narrative in the Book of Genesis:
(ח) וַיִּגְוַ֨ע וַיָּ֧מׇת אַבְרָהָ֛ם בְּשֵׂיבָ֥ה טוֹבָ֖ה זָקֵ֣ן וְשָׂבֵ֑עַ וַיֵּאָ֖סֶף אֶל־עַמָּֽיו׃ (ט) וַיִּקְבְּר֨וּ אֹת֜וֹ יִצְחָ֤ק וְיִשְׁמָעֵאל֙ בָּנָ֔יו אֶל־מְעָרַ֖ת הַמַּכְפֵּלָ֑ה אֶל־שְׂדֵ֞ה עֶפְרֹ֤ן בֶּן־צֹ֙חַר֙ הַֽחִתִּ֔י אֲשֶׁ֖ר עַל־פְּנֵ֥י מַמְרֵֽא׃ (י) הַשָּׂדֶ֛ה אֲשֶׁר־קָנָ֥ה אַבְרָהָ֖ם מֵאֵ֣ת בְּנֵי־חֵ֑ת שָׁ֛מָּה קֻבַּ֥ר אַבְרָהָ֖ם וְשָׂרָ֥ה אִשְׁתּֽוֹ׃
(8) And Abraham breathed his last, dying at a good ripe age, old and contented; and he was gathered to his kin. (9) His sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron son of Zohar the Hittite, facing Mamre, (10) the field that Abraham had bought from the Hittites; there Abraham was buried, and Sarah his wife.
Abraham dies, and his two sons, Isaac and Ishmael, together bury him; the two sons who seem to represent irreconcilable factors... join together to bury their father - and perhaps, move into a new future?
Notable here is that Abraham's burial place, the Cave of Machpelah, is not a location that was obtained by dispossession; rather, it was purchased; in fact, Abraham insisted on paying for the cave.
Might there be hints here, as to how the land could be shared; something about discovering new ways to face the land - to be in a relationship of l'fanecha with the land.
In closing this commentary, my mind turns to Isaac's wells:
(יח) וַיָּ֨שׇׁב יִצְחָ֜ק וַיַּחְפֹּ֣ר ׀ אֶת־בְּאֵרֹ֣ת הַמַּ֗יִם אֲשֶׁ֤ר חָֽפְרוּ֙ בִּימֵי֙ אַבְרָהָ֣ם אָבִ֔יו וַיְסַתְּמ֣וּם פְּלִשְׁתִּ֔ים אַחֲרֵ֖י מ֣וֹת אַבְרָהָ֑ם וַיִּקְרָ֤א לָהֶן֙ שֵׁמ֔וֹת כַּשֵּׁמֹ֕ת אֲשֶׁר־קָרָ֥א לָהֶ֖ן אָבִֽיו׃ (יט) וַיַּחְפְּר֥וּ עַבְדֵֽי־יִצְחָ֖ק בַּנָּ֑חַל וַיִּ֨מְצְאוּ־שָׁ֔ם בְּאֵ֖ר מַ֥יִם חַיִּֽים׃ (כ) וַיָּרִ֜יבוּ רֹעֵ֣י גְרָ֗ר עִם־רֹעֵ֥י יִצְחָ֛ק לֵאמֹ֖ר לָ֣נוּ הַמָּ֑יִם וַיִּקְרָ֤א שֵֽׁם־הַבְּאֵר֙ עֵ֔שֶׂק כִּ֥י הִֽתְעַשְּׂק֖וּ עִמּֽוֹ׃ (כא) וַֽיַּחְפְּרוּ֙ בְּאֵ֣ר אַחֶ֔רֶת וַיָּרִ֖יבוּ גַּם־עָלֶ֑יהָ וַיִּקְרָ֥א שְׁמָ֖הּ שִׂטְנָֽה׃ (כב) וַיַּעְתֵּ֣ק מִשָּׁ֗ם וַיַּחְפֹּר֙ בְּאֵ֣ר אַחֶ֔רֶת וְלֹ֥א רָב֖וּ עָלֶ֑יהָ וַיִּקְרָ֤א שְׁמָהּ֙ רְחֹב֔וֹת וַיֹּ֗אמֶר כִּֽי־עַתָּ֞ה הִרְחִ֧יב ה׳ לָ֖נוּ וּפָרִ֥ינוּ בָאָֽרֶץ׃
(18) Isaac dug anew the wells which had been dug in the days of his father Abraham and which the Philistines had stopped up after Abraham’s death; and he gave them the same names that his father had given them. (19) But when Isaac’s servants, digging in the wadi, found there a well of spring water, (20) the herdsmen of Gerar quarreled with Isaac’s herdsmen, saying, “The water is ours.” He named that well Esek,*Esek I.e., “contention.” because they contended with him. (21) And when they dug another well, they disputed over that one also; so he named it Sitnah.*Sitnah I.e., “harassment.” (22) He moved from there and dug yet another well, and they did not quarrel over it; so he called it Rehoboth, saying, “Now at last ה׳ has granted us ample space*ample space Heb. hirḥib, connected with “Rehoboth.” to increase in the land.”
Finally, as a prayer of blessing for all, I share a section of a poem I recently wrote ("fill my hands")
I want to dig like Isaac
I want to dig like Isaac
but not
out of contention
not
out of hatred
I want to dig
like Isaac finally did
dig that new third well
undiscovered til now
yet surely there all along
רחבות
רחבות
broad
deep
ample in its abundance
ample in its teaching
Yes, I want to dig like Isaac
I want to dig even deeper than he
so let me be
an instrument
divining rod
let my hands be filled
with truth and trust
care and willingness
let my hands be filled
with the courage to be empty