Abstract
This chapter examines one of the only rabbinic passages that attributes the act of smiling to God. The passage is presented as an exegesis of Genesis 49:12, Jacob’s blessing to his son Judah, though the interpretation departs significantly and subversively from the meaning of Scripture. Though relatively brief, the passage yields significant theological and philosophical implications, all focused on the importance of a simple facial gesture, designed to communicate relationship and approval. We suggest that this emphasis reflects a valuing of emotional generosity over transactional relationships and perhaps even for the repair of a ruptured relationship between God and the Jewish people.
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Notes
- 1.
See Rashi’s comments on this verse.
- 2.
See Yehoram Bitton, “Ki ata Rav Dimi—bein historia la-‘arikha,” Millin Havivin (Beloved Words) 3 (2007/5767): 42–53.
- 3.
Perhaps the most famous is the image of God laughing and saying “My children have triumphed over Me” in Bava Metzia 59b.
- 4.
This is made more subversive by the seemingly editorial introduction to R. Dimi’s appearance, asking, “About what is the plain meaning of the verse written?” Clearly, R. Dimi’s gloss does not actually provide the plain meaning of the verse. If anything, it undermines that very meaning.
- 5.
Based on the homily, me-ḥalav, means “more than” milk.
- 6.
The Torah Temimah points out that both giving a smile and giving milk can be considered acts of love.
- 7.
R. Yohanan is not the first to use this terminology to mean embarrassing someone. Pirke Avot (Ethics of the Fathers) 3:11 cite R. Elazar ha-Moda’i that one who “whitens the face of their fellow in public” has not share in the World-to-Come.
There is another attribution of a similar statement to R. Yohanan regarding embarrassing one’s fellow in public, namely that one should throw oneself into a fiery furnace rather than shame someone. This is based on the Tamar and Judah story in Genesis 38. However, that attribution is debated within the Talmud itself. (Berakhot 43b)
- 8.
As my son Azzan pointed out to me, committing (possible) adultery might embarrass someone as well. This is why the context of this passage is important. The statement refers to a story in which King David complains of embarrassment when is taunted by the rabbis about sleeping with Bathsheba (II Samuel 11), who was technically still married at the time. He claims that his own sin of adultery is less egregious than their sin of embarrassing him in public. See Bava Metzia 59a and Sanhedrin 107a.
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Stein Hain, E. (2023). Show Me Those Pearly Whites: Divine and Human Smiling. In: Brown, E., Weiss, S. (eds) An Ode to Joy. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-28229-4_14
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