Nadene Goldfoot
From Adam to Yered, these men lived lives of over 900 years apiece. That includes Adam, Seth, Enosh, Kenan, Mahalalel, and Yered; 6 eras over almost 1,000 years each. Then Enoch was born and he only lived for 365 years! What happened?
We Jews don't hear about Enoch very much, only as we read in Genesis 5:18-24, the biblical account of this man. Enoch's father was Jared who lived for 162 years when Enoch was born. Jared lived for 962 years. Enoch was only 65 when his son, Methuselah was born. "Enoch walked with G-d for 300 years after begetting Methuselah; and he begot sons and daughters. All the days of Enoch were 365 years. And Enoch walked with G-d; then he was no more, for G-d had taken him. " Also-comment from (- Milik, Jazef. T., ed. The Books of Enoch: Aramaic Fragments of Qumran Cave 4)
"חנוך הלך עם ה' 300 שנה לאחר שהוליד את מתושלח, והוא הוליד בנים ובנות. כל ימי חנוך היו 365 שנה. וילך חנוך עם ה', אז לא היה עוד, כי ה' לקח אותו."
This biblical account from (5:1) is the genealogy of mankind. A new narrative had begun, enumerating the generations from Adam to Noah. The genealogy begins with Seth, for it was through him that the human race survived. Abel died without issue, and Cain's descendants perished in the flood. My Tanach has a chart showing this, with a time-line showing a change with Enoch who only lived for 365 years; born 622-died 987, not BCE or BC but showing that Adam, our 1st man, who lived for 930 years, was born from 1 to 930. So Enoch was born 622 years after Adam. (I'm not alone in my interest in genealogy !)
The Gregorian calendar, also called New Style calendar, solar dating system is now in general use. It was proclaimed in 1582 by Pope Gregory XIII as a reform of the Julian calendar. 365 Days make one year, by hook or by crook. The Earth revolves around the sun in 365 days, 5 hours, 59 minutes and 16 seconds. The time a planet takes to revolve around the sun is called a year.
(He was no more) This was a form of speaking about death. After all, when you see a person that just died, it is as if he is no more; no more breathing, moving, speaking. He/she becomes rigid. The writer hadn't a word such as "died."מת (Met) then, evidently. This biblical account was traditionally interpreted to mean that he did not die naturally but was transported to heaven in his lifetime on account of his righteousness. (I'm not sure of the biblical commentator on this one, perhaps Rashi.)
What did Rashi read to come to such a conclusion? (Gen 5:16-24) And Cain knew his wife and she conceived and then bore Enoch. He became a city-builder, and he named the city after his son, Enoch. To Enoch was born Irad, and Irad begot Mehujael, and Mehujael begot Methushael, and Methushael begot Lamech. Lamech took to himself 2 wives; the name of one was Adah, and the name of the 2nd was Zillah. And Adah bore Jabal; he was the 1st of all who dwell in tents and breed cattle. (This is an explanation of mankind's going from hunters to gatherers, etc as explained in DNA historians of how man progressed.) The text of the Book of Genesis says Enoch lived 365 years before he was taken by God. The text reads that Enoch "walked with God: and he was no more; for God took him" (Gen 5:21–24), which is interpreted as Enoch's entering heaven alive in some Jewish and Christian traditions, and interpreted differently in others. (page 13 in my Tanakh).
According to Rashi [from Genesis Rabbah], "Enoch was a righteous man, but he could easily be swayed to return to do evil. Therefore, the Holy One, blessed be He, hastened and took him away and caused him to die before his time.
Rashi is the most well read and used biblical commentator we have had, born in 1040 in Troyes, France, died in 1105. His commentaries served as the basis for later scholars such as Nahmanides and Ibn Ezra in their interpretation of the Torah- Pentateuch. Rashi was also aware of the importance of genealogy as the court of law requested a genealogy leading to King David, which he had.
Several apocalyptic books centered around his decease, while the early Christians used the accepted views on Enoch to expound the immortality of Jesus.
Isn't this circular thinking?
This led to a reaction among the rabbis, some of whom even denied Enoch's righteousness.
Metatron (Hebrew: מֶטָטְרוֹן Meṭāṭrōn, מְטַטְרוֹן Məṭaṭrōn, מֵיטַטְרוֹן Mēṭaṭrōn, מִיטַטְרוֹן Mīṭaṭrōn) or Mattatron (מַטַּטְרוֹן Maṭṭaṭrōn) is an angel in Judaism mentioned three times in the Talmud in a few brief passages in the Aggadah and in mystical Kabbalistic texts within Rabbinic literature. The figure forms one of the traces for the presence of dualist proclivities in the otherwise monotheistic visions of both the Tanakh and later Christian doctrine. The name Metatron is not mentioned in the Torah nor the Bible and how the name originated is a matter of debate. In Islamic tradition, he is also known as Mīṭaṭrūn (Arabic: ميططرون), the angel of the veil. In folkloristic tradition, he is the highest of the angels and serves as the celestial scribe or "recording angel". Well, this is all new to me, as I haven't been into Kabbalah, etc. Is this old
Jewish folklore? Certainly not New Age Judaism, Ha!
Only after the Christians had become quite distinct from the Jews did Enoch regain his popularity in Jewish lore, being identified with the angel Metatron, and a mystical literature grew up around his personality.
Some modern critics maintain that Enoch's 365 years of life corresponded to the 365 days of the Babylonian calendar and that the story of Enoch was originally a Babylonian sun-myth.
"According to Sumerian chronicles of the earlier times, it was at Eridu's temple that Enki, as guardian of the secrets of all scientific knowledge, kept the ME's - tabletlike objects on which the scientific data were inscribed. One of the Sumerian texts details how the goddess Inanna (later known as Ishtar), wishing to give status to her 'cult center' Uruk (the biblical Erech), tricked Enki into giving her some of those divine formulas. Adapa, we find, was also nicknamed NUN.ME, meaning "He who can decipher the ME's'. Even unto millennia later, in Assyrian times, the saying 'Wise as Adapa' meant that someone was exceedingly wise and knowledgeable....The 'wide knowledge' imparted by Enki to Adapa included writing, medicine, and - according to the astronomical series of tablets UD.SAR.ANUM.ENLILLA ('The Great Days of Amu and Enlil') - knowledge of astronomy and astrology."
"...It is almost certain that the biblical 'Enoch' was the equivalent of the Sumerian first priest, EN.ME.DUR.AN.KI ('High Priest of the ME's of the Bond Heaven-Earth'), the man from the city Sippar taken heavenward to be taught the secrets of Heaven and Earth, of divination, and of the calendar. It was with him that the generations of astronomer-priests, of Keepers of the Secrets, began."
- Zecharia Sitchin, When Time Began
To solve this problem, it was the Egyptians who invented a schematized civil year of 365 days divided into three seasons, each of which consisted of four months of 30 days each. To complete the year, five intercalary days were added at its end, so that the 12 months were equal to 360 days plus five extra days.
This civil calendar was derived from the lunar calendar (using months) and the agricultural, or Nile, fluctuations (using seasons); it was, however, no longer directly connected to either and thus was not controlled by them. The civil calendar served government and administration, while the lunar calendar continued to regulate religious affairs and everyday life. Jews also use the lunar calendar, no doubt carried over by Moses, born and raised in Egypt, who wanted us to continue.
The Abyssinians came up with their own Book of Enoch which is an apocryphal work in 108 chapters attributed to Enoch, but was probably composed during the Hasmonean Period (2nd-1st centuries), the same period of the caves holding the Dead Sea Scrolls. Abyssinian civilization has its roots in the pre-Aksumite culture. An early kingdom to arise was that of D'mt in the 8th century BC. The Kingdom of Aksum, one of the powerful civilizations of the ancient world, was based there from about 150 BC to the mid of 12th century AD. Spreading far beyond the city of Aksum, it molded one of the earliest cultures of Ethiopia and Eritrea.
Much of their book contains apocalyptic visions, messianic yearnings, and moral discourses. The original, which must have been in Hebrew or Aramaic, is lost. the Abyssinian translation, probably made in the 6th century from the Greek version, was found in 769 CE and subsequently, parts of the Greek text were discovered.
The Slavonic Version is also an apocryphal work first discovered at Belgrade in 1886. Old-Church-Slavonic was also mostly used as liturgical language, so it is well preserved, there is a lot of archaic forms. In Polish there is no difference between Slavic and Slavonic, we translate both words as słowiański. Old-Church-Slavonic language is staro-cerkiewno-słowiański in Polish.
It describes Enoch's ascent, his journey through the Seven Heavens, his return to earth, his address to his son, and his 2nd ascent. It is thought to have been written in Hebrew in Palestine during the 2nd-1st centuries BCE, again the Hasmonean period that includes the Dead Sea Scrolls in the caves. It must have been translated into Greek in the 1st-2nd centuries CE.
Though Rashi was born 982 years ago, he was a brilliant analyst of the Torah and our other writings. Rabbis of today study his methods. I also think he must have had a photographic memory as well. "Rashi’s commentary spread rapidly far beyond his home in Northern France. In his recent magisterial book, Rashi’s Commentary on the Torah, Eric Lawee, Professor of Bible at Bar Ilan University, demonstrates how the commentary stood at the center of Jewish attention throughout most of the Jewish world beginning almost immediately after its composition. It became “canonical,” in the sense that many Jews venerated it, even saying that Rashi wrote his commentary with divine inspiration(רוח הקודש). Those few Jews who did not like it could not simply ignore it, and it was soon subject to multiple, often vastly different, interpretations."
Every child in 'Cheder' knows the name Rashi. How much all the little Jewish children look forward to the happy day when they will begin to learn Chumash with Rashi! The very script of Rashi is fascinating! Once Chumash with the Rashi commentary is begun, the children know they have reached a new milestone on their wonderful and enchanting road to scholarship and wisdom.
The rabbis attending these study groups should be commended as they made their life work in studying and understanding to great depths the Torah and other related works. They had reached the level of PhD's in their field. Otherwise, we see what uneducated translators have done with the writings of Moses.
I shudder when I read that a non-Jew has learned the Hebrew alphabet and can read a few words, then thinks he can translate some of the scrolls found in in the caves of Qumran. Rashi and his followers spent years in discussion and debate about the Hebrew, it being their 2nd language, as Yiddish was more likely their 1st. They also most likely were fluent in French and German as well. With a background like that, they were familiar with the growth of etomology, how words are constructed and develop. That's even more than translation. They knew of the history, being students of the Bible-all of it.
Resource
The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia, Enoch
Tanakh (Torah/Prophets/writing of the 24 books of the bible, The Stone Edition, Mesorah Publications, Ltd, The Artscroll Series.
http://www.faculty.umb.edu/gary_zabel/Courses/Phil%20281b/Philosophy%20of%20Magic/Arcana/Kabbalah/enoch.html
https://forum.wordreference.com/threads/slavic-and-slavonic.47289/
https://www.britannica.com/science/calendar/The-Egyptian-calendar
https://www.thetorah.com/article/rashi-on-the-torah-what-kind-of-commentary-is-it
https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/111831/jewish/Rashi-Rabbi-Shlomo-Yitzchaki.htm
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