Smells and Bells

During the week of February 5, we finished A Natural History of the Senses by Diane Ackerman, read excerpts of Authors of the Impossible by Jeffrey Kirpal, and hosted a TuBishvat Seder, the first class activity of the semester. The seder was a way for the group to experience a religious ritual that engages the senses in a celebratory context. About three weeks later, we read Rabbenu Bahya on how to elevate the dining experience by incorporating holy texts at the table. I saw the connection with TuBishvat, and for this reason I am incorporating the two weeks’ of responses into one. T he other senses may be enjoyed in all their beauty when one is alone, but taste is largely social. Humans rarely choose to dine in solitude…As Brillat-Savarin says, “every…socialibulity…can be found assembled around the same table: love, friendship, business, speculation, power, importunity, patronage, ambition, intrigue…” If an event is meant to matter emotionally, symbolically, or mystically,...

In class we discussed different definitions of the universal purpose of religion. One idea presented was that religion teaches us how to behave with human and non human beings. While others claimed that religion is not about teaching people ethics that this is more a realm of cultural context and part of human nature. Therefore the definition that seemed the most reasonable to me is that religion is about cultivating cosmic sensitivity. The text  Shulhan Shel Arba  by Rabbenu Bahya ben Asher a medieval Jewish mystic and translated by Jonathan Brumberg-Kraus presents its readers with a guide to cultivating cosmic sensitivity with the alter of the table. He presents four gates of knowledge. These gates work to explain 1) the blessings over the table and other obligations, 2) an explanation of the nature of eating and how this prepares one for their life purpose 3) ethics and table etiquette and 4) an explantation of the meal to come. Throughout the text Rabbenu Bahya ben Asher...