A beshert is the Yiddish notion of a soul mate. Beshert means destiny or your predestined spouse.
To dismiss the Shoah as a gift from a dime store Santa
& Enbiggen that petite mort in locker room banter
Is an Imitatio Dei, commendable for its thrift
To whom did Christ pray that Death be swift?
Envoi-
Prince! Shulamite the Sabbath's own yi-ud beshert
Darkness its dawn, His hug all hurt.
Note- Yi-ud could also mean a type of marriage of a Master to a maid-servant bought from her father. However, this must be with consent and proper nuptial rites.
Whatever we may stipulate as the purpose of a marriage, it is a mutuality which subverts 'Master-Slave' dialectics. Rambam knew Ahmed Ghazzali's Sawaneh. If Destiny is a 'mission' or 'telos', its own Destiny is obliteration in Love. I may mention, Goethe learnt Yiddish and Bulgakov's 'Master' is merely a Yi-ud.
As for Christ, his marriage was everybody's marriage at Cana where, as Crashaw tells us, the waters blushed glimpsing their Maker's face. Seductions often work that way. Thus, God too is found in A.A.
Do u watch Curb?
ReplyDeleteLove me my Curb. I was watching the latest episode when I paused to look up 'beshert' on Google. Ever since 'Broadway Danny Rose', Mussar ethics as the proper basis for New York Jewish comedy has been firmly established. In 'Seinfeld', there is still a contemptuous attitude to Shtetl culture. Granny who came over from Poland couldn't have had a pony because only WASP shiksas have ponies. But, by the time 'Curb' began, it was fashionable to go to Synagogue and drop Hebrew words into your conversation.
ReplyDelete'Beshert' is interesting because Jewish comedy shared the Jain conception of one's loved ones being ones 'karmic obstructors' through the cycle of reincarnation.
Unlike Brahmanism, where rituals only have efficacy if both husband and wife participate, Judaism is congregational and based on Minyan in which women don't count. Indeed, in Judaism, some prominent women- e.g Ruth- are of Gentile origin.
Madhavan, a deracinated Tambram, did quite a good 'Curb' type comedy serial.
I thought I'd done a blog post on all this but it appears I haven't. Getting old, dude.