- What is the secret of social construction that is buried
in myths and in rituals? Outside of the nuclear family and
those modest sized social groups where each member is vested
with the authority to voice his own personal opinion and
whose membership is small in number, it is not possible
to maintain internal social adhesion without using methods
that adequately substitute intimate personal recognition.
This type of personal recognition is the basis for the sense
of belonging and of feeling closely bound up, a sense that
develops within man at a very tender age and which continues
to play a role into adulthood and especially among his own
group of peers towards whom this particular man feels a
sense of intimacy. Familiarity is the "mother"
of all human relationships. Human social life is built on
familiarity; familiarity with those things that are close
to us, at its very core, is something that accompanies memories
of childhood or other intimate memories. Familiarity is
also the basis for strengthening human solidarity. For example,
when many women of various cultural backgrounds have a common
familiarity with what it means to experience a menstrual
cycle and where each has bitter and shared memories of being
cast off into the margins of society by the more dominant
men folk, it is possible that a certain feminist solidarity
may even tie two women who hail from cultural milieus where
the lingua franca is different, where the national interest
and professions of each are at variance with the other,
and whose fields of interest are totally unconnected. This
is a case of solidarity that arises out of shared memories.
A similar theme was employed by the playwright who penned
the Greek drama Lysistrata where women from enemy camps
cooperate with one another since their matter of cooperation
fulfils a task that reflects the common feminine point of
view on war, a point of view that despises war which for
them acts as a bitter reminder of the maternal pain that
is suffered when these women lose a son or husband on the
battlefield. When it comes to the formation of a society,
as opposed to the examples of solidarity and sympathetic
understanding between women who hail from different societies
and which very societies are oftentimes at conflict with
one another, there must be a varied and multilayered relationship
between the parties in which each shares the finest and
most personal chartraits and which relationship in turn
creates a network of feelings of solidarity and a desire
to assist in the forming of a group to the extent that the
said group feels a sense of alienation towards anyone who
is not part of the same network. A strong closeness within
the group, when its foundations are embroidered together
by feelings of mutuality, strengthens the sense of alienation
and difference that is felt towards others who are not part
of that group's network. Closeness and alienation are two
sides of the same coin; an intimate collective feeling of
closeness is the cause of a feeling of alienation towards
anyone who does not belong to that group. In order that
these feelings of alienation towards this outsider are annulled,
the latter must first and foremost be accepted as a member
of that group. The value of the myth and ritual rests on
the above mentioned foundations. Year in, year out Jewish
children coming from different backgrounds all enjoy the
same Passover Seder experience, even if these selfsame children
never meet each other and even if the ceremonies are not
all alike. Each participant asks the same "four questions",
each, in a pseudo- ritual way, "steals" the afikoman
that the father or other central male figure in the family
has hidden, and each receives gifts for their agreement
"to return safely the stolen afikoman". Each Seder
experience places the ceremonial at centre stage and thus
raises the importance of each member of the family who are
thrown into the centre by virtue of the fact that without
their active participation the ceremony will not be properly
performed. The story of the Israelites' exodus from Egypt
which is retold during that ceremonial occasion is a grand
myth that is shared by Jews the world over; and this myth
still attaches itself to those Jews who are no longer children
and who are unable to still be "stealing the afikoman"
. This is just a minor but telling example that goes to
demonstrate the "Jewish bond" that ties together
Jews who speak different languages, who in the normal course
of events would have trouble understanding one another,
and yet because they are of the same religion and of the
same unique nationality, grouped together they may be set
apart from all other nations and religions. A mutual relationship
is thus formed by means of the story of the exodus from
Egypt, which takes its tangible form on the Seder night
that takes place at the very beginning of Passover, and
which Festival continues for seven days. All of us Jews
went out of Egypt. We did this together. This is our common
experience. We look upon anyone who is not Jewish as if
he were in the same category as an (ancient) Egyptian, an
alien and cruel pursuer. We regard ourselves as the pursued,
who, by joining forces, managed to escape servitude and
experience liberation. Together we were all there at the
time of the departure from Egypt, and it is really unimportant
that in reality the event took place 3,300 years ago. We
were there. All of us together experienced the going out
of Egypt, we all crossed the sea while walking on dry land,
and the Egyptians who chased us and who tried to return
us to slavery drowned and perished at sea. After going through
a shared experience such as this what importance can be
attached to the fact that the Jew placed in front of me
appears alien in my eyes, dressed in strange clothes and
speaking a language that I am not able to understand? Bearing
in mind such a history it becomes perfectly clear why and
how it is that Jews who had never set foot in Europe felt
that they were being pursued during the time that the Nazis
under Hitler were placing European Jews into gas chambers
until they suffocated to death, everyone, men, women, and
children. We all suffocated. These feelings of being pursued
were experienced by the Jews alone, not the Turks, not the
Christian Americans, not the Spanish, not the Argentineans,
and not even the Chinese, Japanese, Indians, or Arabs. Bearing
this in mind it becomes obvious why so many Jews were prepared
to fight for the establishment of the State of Israel, including
those Jews who personally had no desire to live in a Jewish
State or to be that state's citizens. It explains why these
Jews viewed the Arabs as their enemies, and why in turn
the Arabs who came from different countries to join in the
war felt such a strong sense of solidarity with their Palestinian
brothers who were fighting the Jews. This solidarity on
the hand, and desire to fend off others on the other, in
this instance, like in all similar instances in history,
form two sides of the same coin. All the Jews who fought
in that war felt as if they had grown up in the same home
and had suckled from the same mother's breast. The closeness
between with them was wholly and tangibly felt, in the same
way as their feeling of enmity was expressed towards the
opposing side, a side peopled by those they had never seen
and against whom, on the face of it, they had no good reason
to fight. This fact also needs no further elucidation. Obviously
similar myths exist among various societies and nationalities,
but the interpretation accorded these similar figments of
the imagination take on very different and unique meanings
among the various cultures and societies. Identical motifs
in myths that vary with one another, with each myth being
attributed to a separate society, proves nonetheless that
there is a mutual influence and that there is in reality
one root cause for the developments of a myth within a culture
and amongst various cultures. The various interpretations
that each culture places upon the same motif, as in the
case of the various societies, is a sign however that the
society in question has distinguished itself and has created
for itself a sense of uniqueness that is felt by each of
the separate group's members. Myths play a socio- cultural
role. Mythology facilitates the construction or preservation
of a cultural grouping which in turn fosters a unique cultural
society. This is not to say that it is solely due to myths
that cultural societies are formed. One of the characteristics,
signs, and symbols of a specific cultural society is the
fact that it makes no difference whether the myth in question
is that of a story that in actuality took place, whether
it is the product of the imagination, or whether it was
merely a work of literature or the lyrics of a poem. Amongst
the various types of myths, those myths that are especially
powerful and whose impact is greatly felt are those which
retell the story of the founders of the religion or nation
that it deals with. The strength of this myth is especially
felt, since, expressed within it, is a unique worldview
or special values that are attributed to the founding fathers
and which are related also to the group since their founders
bequeathed these qualities to those who follow in their
path. A myth such as this, constructs, deepens, and promotes,
in a very significant way, both the group identity, and
the power of the messages or values entailed therein. A
myth may take the form of a narrative, it may also take
the form of a poem, and it may even be encompassed within
a dramatic presentation, or anything else that effectively
conveys moral tidings to the members of a certain group
for a period of generations. The more emotional the mythological
story, the more captivating and influential it is. Philosophical
doctrines that have no storyline cannot be classified as
myths (in the sense of their relationship towards their
society) even if they quite possibly act towards the formation
of a society. This may occur when the philosophical teachings
are transmitted within the framework of a learning experience
or when it imparts a special value to the group that meditates
upon these philosophical ideas. Jews, who from their childhood
sat and learnt religious laws and discussed intricate discussions
from the Talmud, a book that contains ideas and laws that
have to do with the correct behavior that a Jew is obliged
to stringently follow, certainly managed to acquire thereby
a uniquely Jewish collective heritage that strengthens thefeelings
of Jewish solidarity. Since this type of study is closely
connected with the Jewish religion it intensifies the sense
of specialness amongst the Jewish groups, and may even be
responsible for bestowing a unique sense of self esteem.
There is then a certain element of socio- religious formation;
and it is even possible that this type of study contributes
towards national feelings; however it has nothing to do
with mythology and certainly cannot be classified as a ritual.
A storyline without any spiritual, ideological or normative
message and one which has no unique cultural atmospheric
element also fails to qualify as a myth, even if from a
literary perspective it is possible to refer to it by such
description. This qualifies as a story and nothing further.
That said, a storyline that deals with the plotting of the
gods and which strengthens a certain religious belief does
qualify as a myth for that group of believers that believe
in that specific religion, since it plays a role in strengthening
their religious collectivity. This perspective of viewing
myths does not necessarily conform to the definition put
forward by the various philosophers who over the ages have
tried to come to grips with mythology, and the reason for
this can be found in the fact that not everyone related
to this topic from its social standpoint. A literary standpoint
may very well include very different definitions of this
concept, but insofar as this book is concerned this literary
definition will not determine what is or what is not mythological.
In the next chapter a number of philosophers and their philosophical
teachings that have a bearing on the mythological discourse,
and which grapple with its essential features, will be surveyed.
