Alienation from Creation
“With the increasing value of the world of things proceeds in direct proportion the devaluation of the world of men.”
This beautiful sentence was written by the young Karl Marx (1818-1883.)
It is a part of his "Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844." He was only 26 years old when he wrote it.
Personally I like the writings of the young Karl Marx better than his later and heavier Capital for example. His early writings were more philosophical in nature and less economically-focused. He explored human psyche, nature, psychology and spirituality and his original way of thinking in those writings which revolutionized human thought from that point forward.
Today I’m not going to get into an overview of Marxism but rather focus on one idea which relates to our Torah portion today, and that is, Marx’ concept of Alienation.
Our Torah portion this week Vayakhel, opens with the following verses:
וַיַּקְהֵ֣ל מֹשֶׁ֗ה אֶֽת־כׇּל־עֲדַ֛ת בְּנֵ֥י יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל וַיֹּ֣אמֶר אֲלֵהֶ֑ם אֵ֚לֶּה הַדְּבָרִ֔ים אֲשֶׁר־צִוָּ֥ה יְהֹוָ֖ה לַעֲשֹׂ֥ת אֹתָֽם׃
“Moses then convoked the whole Israelite community and said to them: These are the things that יהוה has commanded you to do:”
שֵׁ֣שֶׁת יָמִים֮ תֵּעָשֶׂ֣ה מְלָאכָה֒ וּבַיּ֣וֹם הַשְּׁבִיעִ֗י יִהְיֶ֨ה לָכֶ֥ם קֹ֛דֶשׁ שַׁבַּ֥ת שַׁבָּת֖וֹן לַיהֹוָ֑ה כׇּל־הָעֹשֶׂ֥ה ב֛וֹ מְלָאכָ֖ה יוּמָֽת׃
“On six days work may be done, but on the seventh day you shall have a sabbath of complete rest, holy to יהוה; whoever does any work on it shall be put to death. “
Here we can find the very explicit negative commandment to not do any work on the shabbat.
Rabbi David Menahem, a contemporary Israeli Mizrahi Rabbi, suggests taking a look at the positive commandment of the same verse: “Six days of work may be done.”
I have a problem with the translation above. “May” implies suggestion, whereas according to Menahem it does not. Humans are commanded to do work. And not just work — they are commanded to create.
Menahem explains that the act of creation was partial. In creating the universe, God did not create something which was complete or perfect but rather something which needed human ability to create.
The Shabbat prayer which we recite every Friday night, “Asher Barah Elohim La’asot - means, “that God created for us to do.”
According to the Torah, we were made to create, made to work.
This takes us back to Marx and to his concept of Alienation in labor.
Simply put, Marx claims that the capitalist system alienates human beings in four aspects: alienation from nature, alienation from work, alienation from each other and alienation from ourselves.
Let’s unpack this as it appears in his 1844 writings:
(Self) Alienation from the Product of Labor: Before industrial capitalism, humans got to keep the products of their labor, or alternatively exchange it with another product of the same value. The relationship to one’s creation is important for self worth, pride and connection to purpose. When a worker labors to make, let's say, a garment that is then taken away and shipped off, a garment that the same worker would never be able to afford themselves, they become alienated from their own creation, they put all of their creative forces into something that ends up not being reciprocal.
(Labor) Alienation from the Process of Labor: This second type of alienation happens in the process of labor. As workers under capitalism, the sole purpose of a human is to sell their labor cheap enough so as to generate surplus value (clean profit); as such they are treated according to their productivity per hour. They are reduced to mere machines. All other aspects of their humanity are irrelevant; that of course builds upon the fact that they are already alienated from the product that they make, as we have seen in my first example. This leads to a phenomenon which contradicts human nature, that of people feeling more like themselves during hours of leisure (when they are not productive) rather than when they are.
(Other people) Alienation from Other Workers: This needs very little explanation. The competitive nature of Capitalism does not only pits workers against each other, but also industrial capitalists against each other within their own class, and finally workers against capitalist in a class war.
(Nature) Alienation from Species-Being: Humans are disconnected from their creative, purposeful essence (what Marx calls "species-being"), reducing labor to mere survival.
This point astonishingly communicates with the message of the Torah. We were made to create, we were made to become participants in the act of creation. The modern process of alienation in labor took it away from us.
In Marx’s own words:
“Man’s species being, both nature and his spiritual species property, into a being alien to him, into a means to his individual existence. It estranges man from his own body, from nature as it exists outside him, from his spiritual essence, his human being.”
