Mishkans and Mishugas: the Power of Acacia

A mountain of acacia chips (source).

Just to lighten the mood a bit...Ha'aretz reports that the former head of the psychology department at Hebrew University has just published an article in the philosophy journal Time and Mind suggesting that ancient Israelites used "psychotropic materials" in ritual. The theory creates a certain naturalistic explanation for the Torah's story of Moses at Sinai. In other words, Moses was tripping. Get this, Prof. Benny Shanon's idea germinated in the Amazon rain forest, where he first ingested the hallucinogenic plant ayahuasca when he participated in a ritual in 1991. Since then, the man has used the drug hundreds of times. I wonder how many other articles he's written since then. But where would the Israelites have found ayahuasca in the Negev or Sinai Deserts? They wouldn't have. And that's where the acacia wood comes in, the same material the Israelites made their tabernacle (mishkan) from. It too has psychotropic properties. Chew on that (maybe).