It would be fruitful to examine the two main words we have been using in their Hebrew version: “screen,” masach (מסך), and “movie,” seret (סרט), as they are reflected in the mirror Torah’s imagery.
The Hebrew word masach comes from the root n-s-ch, meaning “pouring,” “covering,” and also “libation.” One of the words derived from this root is massechah, which means “mask,” possibly since masks were originally made from molten metals that were poured onto a face or mold and covered them (in fact, the English word “mask” derives from the Hebrew massechah).
Now, interestingly, massechah is one of the words used in the Bible to refer to idolatrous images: “You shall not make for yourselves molten gods [elokei massechah].” It turns out that in some mysterious way, the modern screen culture is related to the idols of the Biblical era. In fact, the first time the word massechah appears in the Torah is in the making of the Golden Calf, the epitome of the degeneration of the imaginative faculty: “And he made it into a molten calf [egel massechah].”
Today’s screens, one could argue, are the modern reincarnations of the massechah gods of old. They gaze at us from all directions like temples on the side of the road, offering sparkling promises of happiness and abundance, drawing the eye and captivating the heart. Of the idols, it is written, “They have eyes but cannot see; they have ears but cannot hear... Those who make them will be like them, and so will all who trust in them.” In the same way, the gods of the screen fashion their viewers in their own image, gradually casting upon them hollow mask-like expressions. This is especially true for the younger generation, who on the one hand “have eyes”—their eyes have seen everything, more than any generation before them; but on the other hand, precisely because of this, “cannot see”—their eyes are dull to seeing anything, and they become indifferent and apathetic.
The Hebrew word seret (film) is a modern one. It is, however, identical in sound to an ancient verb which appears several times in the Bible, which means “scratch,” “gash,” or “incision.” It appears in the verses “You shall not make any gashes for the dead [seret la-nefesh] in your flesh,” and “in their flesh they shall not make gashes [yisretu saratet].”
The idea arising from the juxtaposition of these cognate terms is that too many movies tear metaphorical gashes in our heart. Indeed, the term “flesh” in both verses can also be understood in the sense of a “heart of flesh,” a term appearing in the book of Ezekiel as the opposite of a “heart of stone”:
I will sprinkle pure waters upon you, and you will be pure; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.
The tearing of the heart of flesh from too many negative films scars it and hardens it, turning it to stone. Against this bleak fate, Ezekiel’s prophecy promises that there are “pure waters” capable of reviving the heart and making it beat again.
