Parashat Bereshit - Version 1.0

 Dedicated to my grandfather R’ Yechezkel Shraga ben R’ Moshe zl, whose Yartzheit is today

I wrote this Drasha on Isru Chag, the day following Simchat Torah. 

A new year has begun and we are returning, as I wrote last year, ‘to our roots’.

You might be interested to note some technical details about the production of this sermon.  I am using Windows 10 Version 22H2 which is the brand-spanking-new update to the Operating System.  The edition of Microsoft Word I am utilising is Version 2209 which is the very latest one available to the non-beta-testing public. 

Do you remember the early versions of Windows and Word?

They were very different, weren’t they?  I still recall my first computer which my parents purchased for me to complete assignments for my Undergraduate Degree at the start of the 1990s.  It ran Windows 3.1 alongside the Disk Operating System (otherwise known as DOS).  It was only with the introduction of Windows 95, if you recall, that the entire operating system became functional in a way that we recognise it today.

Word, as part of the Microsoft Office suite, also went through numerous iterations and had I been writing this Drasha two decades ago, I would have probably been using Word ‘97, which is markedly different from the application I have before me.

The software manufacturers keep on trying to convince us that we need to upgrade our systems to benefit even more from their creations.  Not only that, we find ourselves eventually having no choice but to conform, as our computers and tablets become gradually unusable as the newer offerings take over the consumer market.  The relatively recent introduction of Windows 11 is a case in point.  I know for a fact that my current laptop is unable to run it, due to the operating system’s requirements and specifications.

In case you’re not familiar with all of this technical gobbledygook, I’ll cite the case of audio formats (in an abridged format)

·         Vinyl records

·         Reel to reel magnetic tapes

·         Compact cassettes (or ‘tapes’ as we call them)

·         8-track

·         Micro and Mini cassettes

·         Laserdiscs (does anyone remember those?)

·         Compact Disks (CDs)

·         Digital Audio Tapes (DAT)

·         Minidisks

·         And now, MP3 files which aren’t’ even physical entities!

You could theoretically listen to the same recording on each of these media… if you can find the devices to play them!

I have nothing against technology and the quest by its innovators to constantly modernise our world and bring us the ‘perfect sound’ as the marketing managers would have us believe.  To an extent, they are not entirely wrong.  If you compare the quality of recording on a 33^1/3 vinyl disk with the latest remastered (and sometimes remixed) version on CD, you will definitely notice the difference – particularly on the best sound system available.  My other job is teaching IT whose curriculum is constantly changing and evolving.  I joke that the textbooks that our students are using are probably out-of-date by the time they make the transition from an electronic file to the hard copy we hold in our hands!

It appears that each new version, whether it be software or hardware, or the latest TV set (Sky Glass anyone?) and so on...only whets our insatiable appetite to demand more.

Not forgetting the famous quote from ‘Oliver Twist’:

He rose from the table; and advancing to the master, basin and spoon in hand, said: somewhat alarmed at his own temerity: “Please, sir, I want some more.”

And we know the result!

So, here’s the thing.

In the Ark sit a number of Torah scrolls.  If you open them up, you’ll be greeted with exactly the same text as the one that is printed in your Chumashim.  In fact, were you to lay your hands on the Codex Leningradensis or the ‘Leningrad Book’ which was written in Cairo in either 1008 or 1009, you would be holding the oldest complete Hebrew manuscript in existence.  A codex is a bound book as opposed to a scroll like Megillat Esther.

Not version 2209, 11 or 360 (as in Xbox) – version 1.0!

Every year, we literally rewind our Torah scrolls to the very first word – ‘Bereshit’, in the very first column of the very first parchment leaf in our Sifrei Torah.  We open our Chumashim, which although they may be a later edition than the original, still contain the same Hebrew text and we start again from the beginning.  Reading the identical words that we heard a year ago (barring the initial recitals on Simchat Torah).

Next week, Apple Records are going to be releasing yet another version of The Beatles classic ‘Revolver’ album which has been remastered and remixed by Giles Martin, son of the late George.  I’ve heard the first track, ‘Taxman’ and it sounds fab! The vocals are clear and the instrumentation is so meticulously rendered that you could almost be sitting in the recording studio with John, Paul, George and Ringo.  It is a marvel of modern sound engineering.  Yet, something is not quite right.

A few years ago, Apple achieved the same feat with the famous Red and Blue albums (1962-1966 and 1967-1970) which were originally released in 1973.

A friend of mine bought the two sets (as did I, of course!) and when he’d listened to them, he told me something I’ve never forgotten:

“The sound is extraordinary.  The vocals are clear and the instruments are pitch perfect.  The one problem is that it doesn’t sound like The Beatles and the songs don’t sound like they used to on Vinyl.  They lack the warmth that those original albums had.”

My friend was making a valid point.  In our quest to always improve on almost everything, we have forsaken our ability to appreciate the original product.  The very imperfections of those records made them so special.  Does a Yamaha electronic piano sound better than a Bösendorfer Grand?  In terms of the pitch-perfect accuracy of the sound that emanates from the synthesiser’s speaker, the answer is probably ‘yes’.  Given the opportunity to play the former over the latter, I would have no hesitation in opting for the Bösendorfer precisely because of its immutable pedigree.  In the same way that I would choose a Stradivarius violin over any modern electronic clone.

The Torah has never needed to be re-written or updated.  Version 1.0 is a classic that could not be improved upon.  Many have commentated and others have provided translations into a myriad of tongues, but its innate beauty lies in the very language it employs, which comes directly from Gd Himself.  A Divine Gift does not need returning to the great Amazon in the sky!

Is Windows 11 better than 10?  Possibly.  Is it better than Vista?  Absolutely!  However, if Microsoft had ‘called it a day’ with Windows 7, would anyone have complained?  I doubt it.

Let us appreciate and value the Torah in all its ‘Version 1.0’ glory and perhaps look around us and wonder how much of the updated copies of the things we buy, we really need.  It’s nice to feel that we’re ahead of the pack by having the latest technology, but do we really give ourselves a chance to appreciate it?

Bereshit reminds us that Adam and Eve’s role was not to shop around for the latest deals on the finest technology on comparison websites.  All they had to do was take care of the Garden of Eden.  Had they done so, I believe that our lives would have been more fulfilling and meaningful.  Version 1.0 can often be timeless.

Could you ever improve on Casablanca or Gone with The Wind?

Shavuah Tov