Heading Towards Dreams
There are approximately 7,000 languages spoken throughout the world. I speak one very well and another not as well as I would like. And yet it is the Hebrew language that conjures my devotion and summons my tireless efforts. It is our language. It contains the words that orient our Jewish faith. Other languages offer different orientations.
There is an Aboriginal language that has a unique way of directing its speakers. In English I might say, “Susie is standing in front of me” or “My tequila is on my left.” In Kuuk Thaayorre, the answers are structured around the cardinal directions of north, south, east and west. And so, Susie might be standing west, and my tequila south.
This fascinating language orients its speakers around these cardinal directions. In fact, in Kuuk Thaayorre one does not say, “Hello” but instead “Which way are you going?” And the answer might be, “I am heading northeast.” The cognitive scientist, Lera Boroditsky, who studies how languages shape our thinking, argues that people who speak languages such as these rarely if ever get lost. They always know in which direction they are traveling.
I wonder how my wandering and meandering might be different if my language provided me such an extraordinary internal compass. I can tell you one thing for sure. I would have less stories to tell. Why? Because most begin with something like I turned left when I was supposed to go right. Or I took a wrong turn and discovered this wonderful new restaurant or my phone’s battery died and I was completely lost and bumped into a long-lost friend.
In between leaving and arriving a great deal can happen. Some of it depends on right turns. More often it is influenced by what appears to be wrong turns.
Jacob leaves Beersheva. He is running away from his brother Esau who wants to kill him after Jacob stole the birthright. Jacob sets out for Haran. The Torah opens with these words, “Jacob left Beersheva and set out for Haran.” (Genesis 28) His trickery and deception set his path. Jacob never arrives at his intended destination. He is heading north.
Somewhere in between he dreams of a ladder with angels going up and coming down from heaven on it. God stands by his side. God promises never to leave him. When he awakes, he exclaims, “Surely the Lord is present in this place, and I did not know it. How awesome is this place!” But he should have known this. He is standing on the promised land.
It is this very land around which our language orients. It is the center of our world. It is the place that sets our direction.
Even the cardinal directions of north, south, east and west are imbued with meaning in the Hebrew language. In the Torah the words for west and south are based on locations familiar to people living in land of Israel. Yama means towards the Sea, namely the Mediterranean. And Negbah is more exactly translated as towards the Negev. Tzafon suggests more than north. It derives from the word meaning hidden. And Kedmah implies more than east. It suggests moving forward or going toward the beginning.
Our language always takes us back east. There we were born. There our dreams are centered.
When we were exiled from this land our language kept us oriented. We never forgot about the land whose places were embedded in how we conversed and prayed. We meandered throughout other lands. We picked up other languages and their directions infused our spirits. Our thoughts meandered away from its biblical orientation.
Rather than saying, Mah shlomcha which is usually translated as “How are you?” but conveys the more profound meaning of “Are you whole?” we say, “What’s up?” whose origins may hearken not to ancient scripture but instead Bugs Bunny’s well-known “What’s up Doc” or even that Budweiser commercial from years ago.
As I look to the east, I am wondering how we might reorient our lives and reclaim our language’s direction. Instead of asking such nonchalant questions such as “How are you?” and expecting only the perfunctory response of “I’m ok,” we should ask, “Which way are you heading? What are your dreams?”
“And Jacob dreamed; a ladder was set on the ground and its top reached to the heavens.” (Genesis 28)