Introduction
SIEGEL, DANNY
IN HIS ACTIVE IMAGE DANNY SIEGEL Prominently situated among the gravities of theology courses is the concept of Imitatio Dei, the Imitation of God. At first, I was very taken by the term—more than...
...I fell away from theological thinking and turned to other, more haymisch sources...
...I was unable to focus on the beyond-all-elses implied by these sublimities...
...She is in Ramat Gan...
...First, the Talmud's words: Rabbi Joshua ben Levi said, "Anyone who makes Tzedakah a regular pattern in his life will have children who will be wise, prosperous, and wonderful tale-tellers...
...I considered: if, as some say, God is Self-contemplating all day and night, day in and day out, then, I, too, was to imitate Him, doing much the same...
...He has published two books of poems...
...Deuteronomy 34:6) So, too, the Midrash says, must we, in turn, visit the sick, comfort the mourners, and bury the dead...
...They seem so much more fitting to an understanding of Torah as a Guide to Menschlichkeit than the subtleties of the infinite and the eternal, the self-contemplative...
...I do not know if she has degrees in special education or social work or child care, but every child that has come to her daycare center for the retarded now walks—though none could walk when he or she was carried to her presence...
...Even the statement in the Talmud—"Just as He is merciful, so too, must you be merciful...
...There is one more Act of Imitation, one more Gesture of Likeness, that the Midrash offers...
...Every child speaks, though none could speak when a mother or brother or aunt brought the child to her care...
...They will be prosperous, as the Talmud explains, "Give away your tithe, and you shall enjoy riches...
...The Talmud and Midrash were rich in signs and glimpses...
...And most exquisitely, most delicately, the Talmud states that God braided Eve's hair, so greatly He desired to make the First Wedding a delight for the chossen and kallah...
...Did he not clothe the naked, as it is written, "And God made for Adam and his wife garments of skins, and clothed them"?—So, too, should you clothe the naked...
...Here is one such story: There is a certain Hadassah Levi in Eretz Yisrael...
...I think of the 115,000,000-plus trees of JNF, and I sense the divine image of people...
...So I gave up on being God's mime...
...And further: In the beginning of Creation, God devoted Himself to planting, as it is written, "And the Lord God planted a Garden in Eden...
...But I was not so skilled at self-contemplation...
...Whether they might be stories of our ancestors sharing their scant Shabbas food with wayfarers in the Old Country, or stories we have seen lived out in Israel, or happenings of our everyday selves that brush against the mysterious sparks of Life—the telling and retelling partake of the Divine...
...Bava Batra 9b) They will be wise, for they have seen the kindnesses and gentleness of their parents, as they distribute their money in a way that restores the sense of the holiness of Life to those who may have lost it for a moment...
...And He buried the dead: God buried Moses "in the valley, in Land of Moav, near Bet Pe'or...
...Shabbat 119a) And they will be wonderful tale-tellers, as they will have a wealth of stories to transmit to friends and future generations, stories of the mitzvah-acts of their parents...
...The texts state: Rabbi Chama the son of Rabbi Chanina said, What does it mean, "You should walk after God...
...Because I was raised in a doctor's home, the Latin twang reminded me of the Great Maladies I have heard from my father, the spina bifidas and anorexia nervosas and myasthenia gravises of my childhood...
...But how...
...Rather, the meaning is: Act as He acts...
...Is it possible for a person to walk after the Shechinah...
...So melodious the words, I rarely considered the painful realities they represented...
...Is it not clearly stated, "The Lord, your God, is a devouring fire...
...One day I heard my Rabbi explain that Rabbi Akiva was in love with God, and while I could never hope to be one of Akiva's stature, I craved to know how his acts could be Godlike...
...Eruvin 18a) Hachnassat Kallah—providing for marriages is also an act of imitation of God...
...Amorphous blobs of thoughts...
...If you go to see her at Me'on HaYeled, you will hear more, many more tales of the wonders of God and His creatures...
...And they play and they learn, each according to his or her capabilities, as given by God and brought to life by Hadassah Levi...
...And I considered: if He is Infinite and Eternal, then, I, too, was somehow to strive to partake of Infinity and Eternity...
...Clutching and grasping, I could not grip...
...Connecting our Midrash with the verse, "By the word of God the heavens were made" (Psalm 33:6), we may understand that it is also our obligation to create new heavens, new worlds, interconnecting them by the stories we have to tell...
...Danny Siegel, a contributing editor to moment, lives in New York...
...I could not see the reality of these Ultimate Realities...
...Sotah 14a, Genesis 3:21) The text then goes on to explain that God visited the sick (when the angels came to Abraham...
...Abraham was sitting at the opening of his tent in the heat of the day, recovering from his bris, and God, in the form of angels, performed the Mitzvah of Bikkur Cholim, visiting the sick...
...He comforted the mourners, also, blessing Isaac with the Blessings of Consolation after the death of his father...
...In like fashion the term Imitatio Dei was much more exciting to me than the meta-reality behind it...
...God the Creator and his human creatures are to participate in His world of loving acts...
...So rich were the sounds...
...I asked, "Just what was it My Hero did that approached the Divine...
...Genesis 2:8) So, too, states the Midrash, when you enter the Land of Israel, you must begin by planting, as it says, "Wheri you come into the Land, you shall plant every kind of fruit tree...
...I call to mind the comforting shoulders offered at funerals, the cheering-up laughter in hospital wards, the meshuggine antics and dances at weddings, and thereby more easily see the relationship between God and Adam's offspring, down to our last generations...
...It is to be found in an interweaving of texts...
...Leviticus Rabbah 25:3, Leviticus 19:23) Every one of these mitzvahs is so tangible, so real and eminently imitable...
...At first, I was very taken by the term—more than by the concept...
...as He is graciously loving, so, too, must you do the same"—was too hazy...
Vol. 4 • October 1979 • No. 9
