Most people think about truth as something which is honest or accurate. But when religions talk about "truth", it does not relate to honesty or accuracy. The "truth" that religions talk about relates to insights about the world and one’s place in it.
In honor of my Bat-Mitzvah, my parents have donated a new set of Torah covers for Adat Shalom’s torahs. The covers were designed and made by Adina Gatt of Nahariah, Israel. The theme of the art work on these covers is the Jewish search for truth.
On the bottom of all three covers is embroidered the word Emet, the Hebrew word for truth. In larger lettering on each cover are written three other hebrew words —Da’at, Binah, and Chochma— which are different Jewish approaches to truth.
The Torah on the right displays the word Da’at. Da’at means knowledge The first appearance of the word da’at in the Bible is in Genesis 2:9. Everyone knows the story of Adam and Eve. In the story, God creates "etz ha-da’at tov v’ra", "the tree of knowledge of good and evil". When Adam and Eve eat from the tree, which God forbade them to eat from, they become aware of their nakedness. In covering their nakedness at that time, Adam and Eve become different from the animals around them. Unlike animals, people have the ability to learn about the world and everything in it. When acquiring knowledge, you are learning the facts of life.
Adam and Eve didn’t have the chance to learn the facts of life from their parents; they pick it up on the street after they eat from the forbidden tree and suddenly realize that they are starring in an R-rated movie!
The Talmud tells us that without knowledge we can not make distinctions, whether between being clothed or naked, being good or evil, or knowing right from wrong.
The Torah on the left displays the word Binah. Binah means understanding. It is the kind of truth that goes beyond the knowledge of basic things, using one’s insight or hearing one’s inner voice. The book of Daniel relates binah to the ability to have visions or prophecy (10:1). According to Isaiah, binah is the knowledge that comes from within—a kind of "heart-knowledge" (29:24; 9:10). The Kabbalah associates binah as feminine intuition or as knowledge of feelings. Take a moment and think about the word "in-sight". It means to see inside of people and to behave accordingly.
For example: Everyone has been in the situation when someone has been excluded within a group of friends, whether it has been at camp, at school or even at work. Think about how you acted in these situations? Did you reach out to that person or did you ignore that person’s feelings simply becuase you were in the "in-group" at that time? If you have Binah, you would know how to act sympathetically. What good is it to have a lot of da’at, knowledge, but not enough binah to be sensitive to how people are feeling.?
The Torah in the middle displays the word Chochma. Chochma means wisdom. Now if da’at comes from our heads, and binah comes from our hearts, then where might chochma come from? One cannot associate chochma with any physical part of our bodies. Chochma includes binah and da’at but has the added ingredient of time and experience. The book of Proverbs (13:20) tells us that one becomes wise when they associate with other people who are wise. Pirke Avot (4:1) tells us: "Ayzeh-hu chacham? Halomed mekol adam", "Who is wise? The one who learns from every person".
No-one is born wise. And some people never become wise. According to Sholomo ibn Gabirol, a medieval Spanish-Jewish philosopher, anyone who thinks that they are done acquiring wisdom is a fool. Moshe ben Ezra, an 11th century rabbi, gives us a four point game plan for how to become wise: First, comes silence ; second comes hearing; third comes memory; and fourth, comes action. One must be silent to listen to the words of the wise. But hearing the lessons of the wise is not enough unless you remember the words and then act accordingly.
Acquiring wisdom is a never-ending life quest. How appropriate it is that the Torah cover with the word Chochma is placed on Adat Shalom’s Holocaust Torah. This Torah is over 500 years old and has been through an important part of our Jewish history. Imagine this Torah as holding all the wisdom that it has witnessed. Pretty awesome — isn’t it? Every Jew has the opportunity to stand on the shoulders of the generations that came before them. This is a gift.
I think that becomming a Bat-Mitzvah is about realizing what a great gift it is to be able to learn from the generations that came before me. Even though Judaism says I am now an adult, I am too young to imagine that I fully understand all the truth in the Torah. But I do benefit from the wisdom of Jewish history and experience. For that I am grateful.