Friday, June 10, 2016

Are You a Synesthete? A Shavuot Challenge

Do you have synesthesia?

Synesthesia is a neurological phenomenon in which stimulation of one sensory or cognitive pathway leads to automatic, involuntary experiences in a second sensory or cognitive pathway.  People who report a lifelong history of such experiences are known as synesthetes.

“Four percent of the population, when seeing the number five, also see color red.  Or hear a C-sharp when seeing blue.  Or even associate orange with Tuesdays.  And among artists, the number goes to 20-25 percent!  This neurologically-based condition is called synesthesia, in which people involuntarily link one sensory percept to another.  The colors, sounds, numbers, etc. differ among people (for example, you might see five in red, while someone else sees it in orange), but the association never varies within a person (that is, if five for you is red, it will always be red).”  - See the full article here.

I am not a synesthete, but our ancestors were at Sinai.

The Torah states (Shemot 20:15):

וְכָל הָעָם רֹאִים אֶת הַקּוֹלֹת וְאֶת הַלַּפִּידִם וְאֵת קוֹל הַשֹּׁפָר וְאֶת הָהָר עָשֵׁן וַיַּרְא הָעָם וַיָּנֻעוּ וַיַּעַמְדוּ מֵרָחֹק:

And all the people saw the voices and the torches, the sound of the shofar, and the smoking mountain, and the people saw and trembled; so they stood from afar.

What does it mean that the people SAW voices and the sound of the shofar?  Rashi quotes the Midrash that the Jews “saw what was audible, which is impossible to see elsewhere.”

My understanding is that the revelation at Sinai was on overwhelming sensory experience.  It cannot be captured the way we usually describe what we see and hear.  Receiving the Torah was an experience of synesthesia. 

It was AWESOME!

There is a mitzvah to “remember the experience at Sinai.”  How can this be accomplished?  The simple way is to remember the Torah, to study it, to live it.

I think remembering Sinai also means recapturing the emotional and sensory experience.  How is this to be accomplished?  We don’t generally see sounds or hear sights these days?  After all, most of us are not synesthetes?

Use your imagination.

Let me give you an example.

What do you see in the circled portions of this picture?


This is the part of the scagliola pillar in front of which I daven in KJ’s Main Synagogue.  When I look up during prayers, I see that patch.  On the top right, I think it looks like Harry Truman.  On the lower left, it looks like a lion.

Now, maybe it doesn’t, but that’s what I see.

We each find different things in all that is around us using our individual imaginations.  The same is true within our Jewish experience. 

Remembering the Sinai experience is a call to use our imagination and creativity in living passionate and meaningful Jewish lives.  We study Torah and practice Jewish law.  What else can we find in our religious lives that generates excitement?  Where are your Harry Truman’s and lions on your patch of scagliola?

Some people are synesthetes. 

Our ancestors had an uncommon sensory experience at Sinai.

Using our imagination and creativity, what will we find that keeps the Sinai experience alive for us and our children?

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