Sippur Yetziat Mitzraim, Narrative Therapy and Amalek

As humans we are constantly creating narratives about ourselves and the world. At times those narratives can be limited or limiting; we only tell half of the story, minimizing or maximizing aspects, and sometimes never aware of significant dimensions of the narrative. Narrative therapists pay special attention to the stories we tell, and invite people  “to take a new look at their own lives and to find significance in events often neglected, to find sparkling actions that are often discounted, to find fascination in experiences previously overlooked, and to find solutions to problems and predicaments in landscapes often previously considered bereft.” 1

Thus, the story-telling on Passover night is not merely an act of remembrance; it is a creative redemptive force. It is through telling the story of our exile and redemption - delving into and exploring our history year-in and year-out -  that a more full, true, and pristine Vision emerges. The Sefat Emet (Pesach 5635) explains:

"It is stated in the Haggada that 'All those that tell the story at length are praiseworthy,' for story-telling [sippur] leads to knowledge [da'at], as the verse states 'and that you may tell in the ears of your son, and of your grandson...  that you may know that I am the Lord.' Since the Exodus from Egypt is written in the Torah and the Torah was given to Israel, it has the potential to awaken the force of redemption, for the redemption moves from potential to actual through story-telling. This is similar to the relationship between the Written Torah and the Oral Torah through which Israel creates new understandings of Torah. This comes through the power of language, which reveals hidden reasons.

“The Tannaim [R. Yosi the Gallilean, R. Eliezer, and R. Akiva] mentioned in the Haggada accomplished this when they expounded that each plague consisted of four or five plagues and at the splitting of the sea two-hundred and fifty plagues. These plagues were hidden in the plagues [explicit in the narrative], and the Tannaim brought them from potential to actual. This is the meaning of  'All those that tell the story at length are praiseworthy,' that they increase and expand the miracles through recounting the Exodus.

“The final redemption will emerge when all of the hidden aspects of the narrative of the Exodus from Egypt will become clarified. The initial redemption included within it the future redemption. This is why the Sages stated that ‘All the days of my life’ comes to include the Messianic era, since through remembering and recounting the Exodus it will bring the Messianic era.”

However, there is an insidious danger in viewing our current narratives as incomplete, contingent, and malleable. It can lead to the destructive view that all narratives are relative, subjective, socially constructed, and ultimately meaningless. This outlook maintains that there is no such thing as Reality, Truth, and Objectivity; all narratives can be deconstructed and subverted. In fact, it was this perspective of Amalek that confronted Israel when they first left Egypt. The Sefat Emet continues:

“When Israel left Egypt it was intended that this would be the final rectification, with the revelation of God is One and His Name is One. However, the wicked Amalek confused Israel, as it states: '[Amalek] cooled you [the Children of Israel] on the way'. Therefore we must remember our hatred of Amalek for all time since they caused all future exile. Only through telling the story of the Exodus from Egypt every year will the ultimate rectification emerge and the name of Amalek erased little by little.”

Amalek, the primal cynics, injected doubt into the minds of Israel. The philosophy of Amalek expounds that all life just “happens” and is lacking any telos and purpose. All that is precious and sacred is targeted by Amalek’s cynicism. In a moment of weakness, Israel’s confrontation with Amalek led them to question the absoluteness of their redemption. It placed a question mark on their narrative and they were thus open to doubt if “God is in our midst or not” (Exodus 17:7).

Since then we have been struggling to piece together the complete story year after year, knowing that we cannot capture the full picture in our current state but that through asking the questions and being open to new answers we can slowly awaken to the full Vision of Redemption.

“Every time we ask a question, we're generating a possible version of a life” 2

“Why is this night different than all other nights?...Next year in Jerusalem!”

1 Retelling the Stories of Our Lives: Everyday Narrative Therapy to Draw Inspiration and Transform Experience, by David Denborough, p. x, quoting Michael White

 2 David Epston in,Narrative Therapy: The Social Construction of Preferred Realities, Jill Freedman and Gene Combs, p. 113

The Discovery of the Unconscious By Henri F. Ellenberger (1970): Summary of Chapter One

Chapter One: The Ancestry of Dynamic Psychotherapy

1.     Primitive healing theory and techniques display many similarities to modern psychodynamic theory and techniques. This has been recognized by Charcot, Levi-Strauss, Aldous Huxley, and Oskar Pfister, among many others. As will been shown in chapter two there is also a historical continuity between primitive healing and modern psychotherapy.

2.     Forest E. Clements distinguished five main aspects of primitive disease theory and healing:

3.     Disease-object intrusion -> Extraction of disease object

a.     Loss of the soul -> To find and restore lost soul

b.     Spirit intrusion -> Exorcism, mechanical extraction of foreign spirit or transference of foreign spirit into another being

c.     Breach of taboo -> Confession or propitiation

d.     Sorcery -> Counter magic 

4.     Loss of soul is related to the dynamic concept of patients being "alienated and estranged" from self, or an "impoverished ego" which needs to be reconstructed.

5.     There are three general types of possession (see Oesterreich):

a.     "Somnambulic possession" where the individual loses consciousness of self and speaks with the "I" of the supposed intruder vs. "Lucid possession" where the individual feels a "spirit within his own spirit"

b.     Spontaneous vs. artificial possession. The latter is not a disease but a voluntary mental technique

c.     Overt vs. Latent possession. It is latent when the patient is unaware of the spirit. The exorcist's task is to make the possession manifest.

6.     The modern possession/exorcism case of Gottliebin Dittus and the Reverend Blumhardt (1842/3) has been the subject of much discussion from a psychiatric standpoint (e.g. Michaelis, Benedetti).

7.     Other primitive healing techniques included:

a.     Healing through (public) confession: In modern terminology this is known as a pathogenetic secret and it being made conscious. This played a role in hypnosis and was emphasized by Moritz Benedikt in 1864. This greatly impacted Breuer/Freud,  Pfister, Janet, and Jung. 

b.     Healing through gratification of frustrations

c.     Ceremonial healing: There are many different types but sometimes they take on the character of psychic shock therapy or psychodrama. They might re-enact a trauma or a myth. They often included song, art and rituals.

d.     Healing through incubation: This was usually part of a larger ceremony but this segment consisted of spending a night in a cave or sanctuary. Therapeutic dreams or visions were the healing agents.

e.     Healing through hypnosis: It is not clear if this was a therapeutic agent or a side effect of other procedures.

f.      Magical healing: There are many different practices and types of magic but it is understood that suggestion plays a large role in its efficacy.

g.     Rational therapies: This includes diet, massage, oils, bathing, light work, sleep schedule, abstinence from alcohol etc.

h.     Philosophical psychotherapy: The Greek schools of philosophy were not merely proponents of philosophical systems but were organized sects. This included mental training, mode of living, education, discipline, and written and verbal exercises to develop control over emotions. It has been suggested by R. de Saussure that Stoicism is found in the Adlerian and existential schools of psychotherapy, Platonism in the Jungian school and Epicureanism in Freud's school.

i.       Religious healing and "Cure of souls":  This consisted of confession and moral theology taught by priests, and use of the charismatic personality of a pastor.

8.     Modern dynamic psychotherapy derives from primitive medicine with an uninterrupted continuity. As will be shown in next chapter, exorcism developed into magnetism, magnetism into hypnotism, and hypnotism into the modern dynamic schools.

Rebbe Nachman and Pierre Janet: Entering the Delusion

A prince once became mad and thought that he was a turkey. He felt compelled to sit naked under the table, pecking at bones and pieces of bread, like a turkey. All the royal physicians gave up hope of  curing him of this madness. The king grieved tremendously.
A sage arrived and said, “I will undertake to cure him.”
The sage undressed and sat naked under the table, next to the prince, picking crumbs and bones.
“Who are you?” asked the prince. “What are you doing here?”
“And you?” replied the sage. “What are you doing here?”
“I am a turkey,” said the prince.
“I’m also a turkey,” answered the sage.
They sat together like this for some time, until they became good friends. One day, the sage signaled the king’s servants to throw him shirts. He said to the prince, “What makes you think that a turkey can’t wear a shirt? You can wear a shirt and still be a turkey.” With that, the two of them put on shirts.
After a while, the sage again signaled and they threw him pants. As before, he asked, “What makes you think that you can't be a turkey if you wear pants?”
The sage continued in this manner until they were both completely dressed. Then he signaled for regular food, from the table. The sage then asked the prince, “What makes you think that you will stop being a turkey if you eat good food? You can eat whatever you want and still be a turkey!” They both ate the food.
Finally, the sage said, “What makes you think a turkey must sit under the table? Even a turkey can sit at the table.” The sage continued in this manner until the prince was completely cured.

- Rebbe Nachman of Breslov, The Turkey Prince
 

Another of [Pierre] Janet's first patients in Paris was Justine, a forty-year-old married woman...For several years she had a morbid fear of cholera and would shout repeatedly, "Cholera...it's taking me!" which would signal a hysterical crises. As a child she already had a morbid fear of death, probably because she sometimes helped her mother who was a nurse and who had to watch dying patients. She also once saw the corpses of two patients who had died of cholera. Janet treated Justine as an out-patient for three years and achieved one of his most celebrated cures with her. Here too psychological analysis could not be separated from the therapeutic process.

Janet began by analyzing the content of the hysterical crises. It was useless trying to talk to Justine during her crises. She did not seem to hear. Janet therefore entered the private drama of her crises and a second actor. When the patient cried, "Cholera! He will take me!" Janet answered, "Yes, he holds you by the right leg!" and the patient withdrew that leg. Janet then asked, "Where is he, your cholera?" to which she would reply, "Here! See him, he's bluish, and he stinks!" Janet could then begin a dialogue with her and was able to carry it on throughout the crises and gradually transform her crisis into an ordinary hypnotic state. Later he could easily elicit hypnosis directly and obtain a full description of her subjective experience during the crises. She saw two corpses standing nearby, one of whom stood closer to her, an ugly naked old man of greenish shade with a stench of putrefaction. Simultaneously she heard bells tolling and shouts of "Cholera, cholera!" Once the crises was over, Justine seemed to  have forgotten everything but the idea of cholera, which remained constant in her mind. Janet elaborated on how hypnosis could be used in such a case. Commands given to the hypnotized patient were of limited usefulness. The breaking down of the hallucinatory picture was more effective but it was a slow procedure and also had limitations. The most effective method proved to be substitution, that is, suggestions of a gradual transformations of the hallucinatory picture. The naked corpse was provided with clothes and identified with a Chinese general whom Justine had been greatly impressed to see at the Universal Exposition. The Chinese general started to walk and act so that instead of being terrifying his picture became comical. The hysterical attack changed in that it now consisted of a few cries followed by fits of laughter. Then the cries disappeared, and the visions of cholera persisted only when she dreamed, until Janet expelled them in turn by suggesting innocuous dreams. This result had required about one year of treatment. But the fixed idea of cholera persisted both on the conscious and subconscious level. Sometimes Justine was observed whispering the word "cholera" while her mind was taken up with some other activity. Attempts with automatic writing produced nothing but endless repetitions of the word "cholera, cholera..." Janet now directed his attack against the word itself, and suggested that Cho-le-ra was the name of the Chinese general. The syllable cho was associated with other terminations until the day arrived when the word "cholera" lost its evil connotations.

-Henri F. Ellenberger, The Discovery of the Unconscious: The History and Evolution of Dynamic Psychiatry, p. 369

Time Consciousness and the Mesorah

"Thus a situation has developed which is quite paradoxical in human terms: The barriers of the past have been pushed back as never before; our knowledge of the history of man and the universe has been enlarged on a scale and to a degree not dreamed of by previous generations. At the same time, the sense of identity and continuity with the past, whether our own or history's, has gradually and steadily declined. Previous generations knew much less about the past than we do, but perhaps felt a much greater sense of identity and continuity with it."

Hans Meyerhoff, Time in Literature. Quoted in Zachor: Jewish History and Jewish Memory, p 79 by Yosef Hayim Yerushalmi

 

"When I sit down to learn, the giants of the masorah are with me. Our relationship is personal. The Rambam sits to my right, Rabbenu Tam to my left. Rashi sits at the head and explains, Rabbenu Tam asks, the Rambam decides the halakhah, and the Rabad objects. All of them are with me in my small room, sitting around the table…. Learning Torah is the intense experience of uniting many generations together, the joining of spirit to spirit, the connecting of soul to soul. Those who transmit the Torah and those who receive the Torah are invited to meet one another at the same historic juncture."

Rav Soloveitchik, U-vikashtem Mi-Sham, p. 232

Lech Lecha: Go into yourself!

"God did not guide Abraham. He bewildered him; He completely mystified and confounded him. He told him to move on, to go forth "to the land which I will show you." Is the land to be found in the east or the west? No hint was disclosed to Abraham. God willed Abraham to guess, to find out intuitively, to somehow smell the fragrance of the land, to feel the pull that the land exerts, to be attracted to the land spontaneously, so that the heart was Abraham's compass and lodestar. If Abraham had been mistaken in his adventurous selection of the land, everything would have been lost; Abraham would not have been the charismatic chosen leader and patriarch."

R. Soloveitchik, Abraham's Journey, p. 74

"So it is too that in the eyes of the world it is dangerous to venture...and to venture in the highest sense is precisely to become conscious of oneself."

Søren Kierkegaard, Sickness unto Death, p. 52 (Lowrie edition)

 "You ask whether your verses are any good. You ask me. You have asked others before this. You send them to magazines. You compare them with other poems, and you are upset when certain editors reject your work. Now (since you have said you want my advice) I beg you to stop doing that sort of thing. You are looking outside, and that is what you should most avoid right now. No one can advise or help you - no one. There is only one thing you should do. Go into yourself. Find out the reason that commands you to write; see whether it has spread its roots into the very depths of your heart; confess to yourself whether you would have to die if you were forbidden to write. This most of all: ask yourself in the most silent hour of your night: must I write? Dig into yourself for a deep answer. And if this answer rings out in assent, if you meet this solemn question with a strong, simple "I must", then build your life in accordance with this necessity; your whole life, even into its humblest and most indifferent hour, must become a sign and witness to this impulse."

 Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet, p. 16 (Norton edition)

 

 

A Bm'ei ha'daga Production: haunting portraits of the homeless

Music by 8th Day - "Beggar Woman"

Today, she was sitting on the street

Sorrow in her eyes, a tin can at her feet

Holes in her stockings and holes in her shoes

She’s an old beggar woman no stranger to bad news

So I reached in my pocket to give a bill or two

In my heart I was trying to see what I could do

She thanked me for the money, I turned to walk away

But I waited for a moment as she began to say

(Chorus:)

G-d loves the widow and the orphan and the blind 

The old and the needy who haven’t got a dime 

G-d loves the sickly in his eyes we’re all the same 

And G-d he loves you too in the sunshine and the rain. (You just call upon His name)

I don’t know where she came from, don’t know her at all

But the wrinkles on her face, they kinda tell it all 

So reach in your pocket and give a bill or two 

And you can thank G-d in Heaven that the beggar isn’t you.

The Great Divorce - Teshuva as Returning to Self

כששוכחים את מהות הנשמה העצמית, כשמסיחים דעה מלהסתכל בתוכיות החיים הפנימיים של עצמו, הכל נעשה מעורבב ומסופק. והתשובה הראשית, שהיא מאירה את המחשכים מיד, היא שישוב האדם אל עצמו, אל שורש נשמתו, ומיד ישוב אל , האלהים, אל נשמת כל הנשמות, וילך ויצעד הלאה מעלה מעלה בקדושה ובטהרה. ודבר זה נוהג בין באיש יחידי, בין בעם שלם, בין בכל האנושיות, בין בתקון כל ההויה כולה, שקלקולה בא תמיד ממה שהיא שוכחת את עצמה. ואם תאמר שהיא חפצה לשוב אל ד' ואת עצמה היא אינה מכוננת לקבץ את נדחיה, הרי היא תשובה של רמיה, שתשא ע"י זה את שם ד' לשוא. על כן רק באמת הגדולה של התשובה אל עצמו ישוב האדם והעם, העולם וכל העולמים, ההויה כולה, אל קונה, לאור באור החיים. וזהו הרז של אורו של משיח, הופעת נשמת העולם, שבהאירו ישוב העולם לשורש ההויה, ואור ד' עליו יגלה. וממקור התשובה הגדולה הזאת ישאב האדם את חיי הקודש של התשובה באמת

אורות התשובה טו י

The Great Divorce

Chapter Nine:

‘What troubles ye, son? asked my Teacher.

‘I am troubled, Sir,’ said I, ‘because that unhappy creature doesn’t seem to me to be the sort of soul that ought to be even in danger of damnation. She isn’t wicked: she’s only a silly, garrulous old woman who has got into a habit of grumbling, and feels that a little kindness, and rest, and change would due her all right.’

‘That is what she once was. That is maybe what she still is. If so, she certainly will be cured. But the whole question is whether she is now a grumbler.’

‘I should have thought there was no doubt about that!’

‘Aye, but ye misunderstand me. The question is whether she is a grumbler, or only a grumble. If there is a real woman- even the least trace of one – still inside the grumbling, it can be brought to life again. If there’s one wee spark under all those ashes, we’ll blow it till the whole pile is red and clear. But if there’s nothing but ashes we’ll not go on blowing them in our own eyes forever. They must be swept up.’

‘But how can there be a grumble without a grumbler?’

‘…But ye’ll have had experiences…it begins with a grumbling mood, and yourself still distinct from it: perhaps criticizing it. And yourself, in a dark hour, may will that mood, embrace it. Ye can repent of it and come out of it again. But there may come a day when you can do that no longer. Then there will be no YOU left to criticize the mood, nor even to enjoy it, but just the grumble itself going on forever like a machine…