Jewish Family Identity Forum

A look at the Holy Book series

By Candace R. Kwiatek, The Dayton Jewish Observer

One of the most basic skills of perception is the ability to differentiate an object or shape from its background, described as positive and negative space or figure-ground.

You are likely familiar with this psychological concept from faces-vase optical illusions or Escher’s birds-fish images in which the same part of the drawing can be seen as either the image or the background.

This idea of figure-ground perception came to mind when I came across Simeon ben Lakish’s teaching that the Torah was written in black fire upon white fire.

The black fire forms the figures, the letters and words, the information content. The white fire is the empty negative space, the background. Or is it?

Perhaps the Torah, too, is like an optical illusion in which the figure and background can switch places.

Traditionally, we look for the Bible’s message contained in the written words, the black fire. What if we look at the white fire, the negative spaces where there is no text, where words appear to be missing? What might we learn from what is not there?

Missing beginnings
Besides his being married to Sarah and moving with his father Terah from Ur to Haran, the text says nothing about Abraham before God’s command to go forth.

But Abraham is not alone. The Torah is similarly silent about the early years of other key characters in biblical history. The text picks up Joseph’s tale when he is already 17: a shepherd, a tattletale, and the recipient of an ornamented tunic.

We’re all familiar with Moses’ beginnings: saved by his mother, guarded by his sister, rescued by Pharaoh’s own daughter, and raised in Pharaoh’s court. But there’s nothing more about him until he sees an Egyptian beating an Israelite slave. And Joshua appears in the biblical text for the first time fully grown, leading the battle against Amalek.

And yet, Abraham became the progenitor of the Jewish people and a new concept of God, and the inspiration for Christianity and Islam. Joseph saved his extended family from famine, reconciled with his estranged brothers in Egypt, and set the scene for the Exodus. Moses addressed endless challenges, from plagues to insurrections, led the Israelites from slavery to the Promised Land, and became the universal symbol of a liberator and lawgiver. And Joshua fulfilled God’s promise to Abraham by bringing the Israelites into the Land, setting the stage for self-rule under God’s laws.

What is the lesson in the negative space, the missing early years of these four biblical figures who become men of integrity and legendary accomplishment?

We learn that, in terms of character and achievement, one’s background, education, color, upbringing, birth order, life conditions, and peers are irrelevant. It is from the missing texts we learn that our choices as adults and not fate or circumstance determine who we become: who in terms of our character and who in terms of what impact we have on our world.

Missing conversations
Did you ever wonder what Cain and Abel talked about in the field just before Cain struck and killed his brother? Or what Sarah heard as Ishmael laughed or teased, implying an interaction with Isaac? Or what the brothers said as they threw Joseph into the pit?

Likely they would have uttered one-way accusations, pent-up expressions of the extreme jealousy that ultimately led to murder, exile, and deception.

Nowhere in the text is there a record of any conversations among these sets of characters.

The anti-jealousy message of the written texts is clear, but what is the lesson in the empty negative spaces, in the missing conversations between the participants in these three relationships?

We learn that relationships are ultimately broken without deep and honest two-way conversation. Successful relationships are built over time by sharing both positive and painful ideas, information, feelings, and challenges.

While such conversations may not lead to love, friendship, or even acceptance, they are likely to lead to an understanding of one another that will encourage more positive outcomes than those in the text.

Missing voices
The modern challenge that women’s voices are largely absent in the biblical story is magnified by texts in which women had ample opportunity to speak, but their voices were silent.

Noah’s wife was silent about the impending flood. Sarah was silent in the face of the binding of her son, Isaac. Rachel was silent over the fraud involved in her sister Leah’s marriage. Dinah was silent regarding her rape.

What is the lesson in the empty negative spaces, in these missing female voices of protest against tragedy, sacrifice, injustice, and wrongdoing?

We learn that the silence of women is not good for society. In the Bible, it allowed destruction, estrangement, bitterness, and death to prevail, and we see the same results in some modern societies.

By contrast, it was the upraised voices of Miriam on behalf of her infant brother in the bulrushes and the daughters of Zelophehad who brought righteousness into the world. Women must not be silent in the face of tragedy and injustice.

It is said that the Torah was written with black fire on white: the black fire as the letters and the white fire as the spaces in between, together constituting the whole Torah.

But perhaps the black letters are what is actually written, while the white spaces are what is not written but still must be understood, like the missing early years, the missing conversations, and the missing voices. To understand the whole message of the Torah, we must read both what is written and what is not.

Family Discussion: Where in the Torah text do you see patterns of missing information, the white fire between the black letters? What message can you glean from what is not written?

Literature to share

The Blessing Cup by Patricia Polacco: This award-winning author’s new illustrated book, designed as a prequel to her earlier memoir, The Keeping Quilt, shares the tale of her great-grandmother’s life in Russia before immigrating to America. Woven through with family, values, traditions, and history, this book and its later companion tale are perfect for sharing between grandparents and grandchildren, and should be found in every Jewish home.

The Secret Knowledge: On the Dismantling of American Culture by David Mamet: A Pulitzer Prize winner and Academy Award nominee, Mamet is perhaps best known for his play Glengarry Glen Ross and film Wag the Dog. Described throughout his career as controversial and intellectual, Mamet continues in that tradition in Secret Knowledge, in which he addresses politics, economics, and culture in America today. No matter where you fall on the political spectrum, this book is worth serious consideration.

To view the print version of the November 2013 Observer, click here.