Where God Was Born - Part 2

Bruce Feiler's journey in his book took him from Israel to Iraq. As he points out the Bible is filled with condemnation and curses for Bablyonia. Babylon destroyed the First Temple of Jerusalem in 586 BCE. Yet, he points out, that in Mesopotamia Jews became settled, prosperous and content. Exile is a part of the journey of life and recovery hopefully is too. The Jewish community of the Tigris and Euphrates multiplied and became affluent. It would produce a dynamic Jewish culture that would generally flourish from 500 BCE until 1950 when Jews began to leave for Israel in large numbers. The Babylonian (authoritative) Talmud was produced there. The Gaonim of the yeshivot unified Rabbinic Judaism in liturgy, practice and thought that still unites Jews around the world. Further, despite the violence of the Empire, Babylon and its predecessors (Sumer, Assyria) give the world fundamental approaches to life: writing, calendar, gardens, imagination and the idea of freedom. Their philosophy created a world view where a person and community does have some control of their environment. A chunk of our world view today was developed in ancient Bablyon.
Everyone loves the story of the Tower of Babel. Human beings try to emulate God and reach the heavens and God scrambles their language and sets them apart to never threaten Him/Her. Feiler points out that the story is a fundamental statement about God's desire for diversity. Leaders who have tried to make everyone the same - are filled with human arrogance that leads to their own end. Only God is one ... and the Creation story and The Tower story demonstrate (in the Jewish mind,) God's love of a diverse world. Many kinds of species. Many cultures and quests for the truth. Many paths of spirituality. God created a world with different life - the richness of creation is a true gift which we should appreciate.
Finally (with High Holidays not so far away) Feiler spends several pages on Jonah. Everyone loves Jonah because he's swallowed and escapes the great fish and offers a message of universal hope for forgiveness and improvement. Jonah is not heroic: he runs away, he's frequently angry. But in the depths of the sea, he senses and verbalizes God's compassion and has a moment of true humility. The story affirms that change is possible even if Jonah himself has a tough time understanding that truth. The story teaches the importance of ethical behavior as the means to saving our lives spiritually and literally. For all the physical power of Nineveh it is their humble changes of interpersonal behavior and quest for compassion that enables them to survive. The Assyrians destroyed the Ten Tribes and almost destroyed Jerusalem in the 7th Century BCE, but their legacy is a mixed bag, as also for Babylon: Great violence, but also great prosperity and hope for the human condition.