The rather peculiar story of Elijah struck me today, as he turns up to tell Rabbi Yossi that he shouldn't have gone in to a ruin to pray but should have stayed on the road and prayed an abbreviated amidah. We are then told that there are 3 reasons not to go into a ruin - falling masonry, suspicion that one might be meeting a woman there, and demons.
It seemed strange to me that Elijah comes to teach something so apparently mundane - there are no enormous revelations here - so I started thinking about a possible deeper understanding. I came to the idea that the three dangers listed might cover more than just entering a ruin - that these three dangers, representing the physical, spiritual and social dangers, run the gamut of what threatens us as people living in society.
With the Talmud's short discussion afterwards, we know that no single one of these categories cover all of human experience, but all three are separate and necessary to explain the things that threaten who we are. Physical, spiritual and social dangers may come at any time, but we might think that we are particularly vulnerable at night, when the world is dark, and we don't know what's out there.
So perhaps we've learnt something more than why we should be careful about entering a ruin - for the world is dark and full of terrors.
This is also what stuck out to me. (Great minds...) I like you're reading of the three things one might find in a ruin. Which is the spiritual though - Mazikim or Chashad? I thought a lot about what significance 'ruins' took on in pre-modern society that they wouldn't today. At least in America, where normative history spans a grand 2 hundred and some change years, there's really no 'ruins' per se.
ReplyDeleteWhat is it about a space that's been destroyed that leads someone to be in doubt of sexual impropriety? I can understand the attraction of demons to ruins, and of course loose stones and whatnot seems to only be a smart precaution - but the first warning didn't immediately make sense for me.
Roni, I love the way you put this in terms of the physical, the spiritual, and the social. It's reminiscent of our three spheres of existence, bein adam latzmo, lmakom, ul-hvaero.
ReplyDeleteWhat stood out me about this (yes, seemingly mundane) story was the suspicion of prostitution. Adam, I don't think this is so much a statement about the space being occupied, but rather about the common suspicions of people. The warning I read in this is "be careful lest you fall under suspicion. Period." Our actions are scrutinized, especially if we are so lucky to join the ranks of those to whom Elijah might speak. Being "known" in a community may lead people to know things that aren't true.
Bear in mind that the gemara talks about a 'new ruin', perhaps a recently abandoned building, which one can perhaps more easily imagine a prostitute going to.
ReplyDeleteOh good point. I suppose the equivalence is far more clear then. Recently abandoned buildings = drug den. Perhaps demons as well.
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