{"id":135,"date":"2015-10-25T10:15:34","date_gmt":"2015-10-25T10:15:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/liipetti.net\/erratic\/?p=135"},"modified":"2018-05-07T11:50:18","modified_gmt":"2018-05-07T11:50:18","slug":"hevel-havalim-the-pain-of-getting-there","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/liipetti.net\/erratic\/2015\/10\/25\/hevel-havalim-the-pain-of-getting-there\/","title":{"rendered":"Hevel havalim, the pain of getting there"},"content":{"rendered":"

In August 2012 I was almost ready with my Ph.D. thesis. The preliminary reviews had been quite positive. I was content and confident about my research as well as about the thesis in its written form. Then the reality of the formalities in waiting struck me. It was not at all easy to find out exactly how the process would go, what exactly was required and how to proceed with everything. Still, the goal was to defend the thesis before the end of the year. I was close to giving up, to release my work in internet and forget about it.<\/p>\n

The anxiety of this situation found expression in a song that I wrote in Hebrew. Actually the text consists of phrases and allusions rather than being really original. Even if I am not fluent in Hebrew, Hebrew was a natural choice for this song, as my thesis was essentially an analysis of a medieval Hebrew work from early 12th century.<\/p>\n

The practical difficulties then got sorted out and I managed to defend my thesis in December, 2012. Still, the song remained, and found its first visual form in a graphic print by Saara Mesterton<\/a> and Johanna T\u00f6yryl\u00e4. The print contains, in the upper part, a cloud of Hebrew letters, in a somewhat chaotic arrangement, alluding to the chaotic state in the beginning of creation. The creation of what? Myths as well as mystical thought often refer to chaos as the early phase in the creation of the world. But every creative person will probably agree to that human creativity, too, must go through a phase of chaos.<\/p>\n

Then the lower part of the print contains my small Hebrew poem. \u00a0Vanity of vanities, in the heart of matters, above the dark waters. How did the well dry up like this? What is there to drink? \u00a0From where will the rain ever come? The rain from the nothingness. From where can you find the rain? From where can you find the nothingness?<\/p>\n

(The English translation misses the ambiguities and allusions in the original Hebrew, where for instance\u00a0me-ayin<\/em> can mean both\u00a0from where\u00a0<\/em> and\u00a0from nothingness,<\/em> a fact that has been used in the interpretations of Job 28:12.)<\/p>\n

\"hevel-graf-rajattu\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The song itself existed in two versions, both recorded in August 2012. Aside of the Hebrew version, I recorded it also in colloquial Finnish with a flavor of Me\u00e4nkieli. The text of this version, Turhuuksitten turhuus, has been published in Me\u00e4nmaa Aviisi 03\/2012.<\/p>\n

I had for a long time been thinking of making a video of the song. I had collected materials and I had shot some video as material. But it took more than three years before I suddenly felt now is a suitable time to make this video. The video was cut using the original Hebrew version of the song.<\/p>\n