{"id":37234,"date":"2018-08-08T09:16:03","date_gmt":"2018-08-08T06:16:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=37234"},"modified":"2022-03-01T12:44:39","modified_gmt":"2022-03-01T10:44:39","slug":"the-birth-of-jewish-continuity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/the-birth-of-jewish-continuity\/","title":{"rendered":"The Birth of Jewish Continuity"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[418,433,437],"acf":{"old_id":"37234","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":33859,"related_cahpter":"20","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Jewish continuity can also be ensured by turning outwards and beyond ourselves","content":"

A mundane story of misunderstandings seems to hold the key to Jewish continuity. God promised Abraham the child who will continue his mission a full five chapters ago. So what’s the hold up? <\/span><\/p>\n

The rabbis have a fascinating insight. The birth of Isaac is immediately preceded by chapter 20’s story of the encounter with Abimelech, reminiscent of the story with Pharaoh in chapter 12, but with some significant differences. Most striking, perhaps, is that in chapter 12, people speak to each other, but there is no real conversation. Abraham speaks to Sarah, Pharaoh to Abraham, but we never hear any response. <\/span><\/p>\n

In Chapter 20, on the other hand, there is real dialogue. God warns Abimelech, Abimelech responds with his own criticism, and God explains Himself. Abimelech criticizes Abraham, but also questions him, and Abraham responds. The dialogue begins harshly, but gradually softens, culminating with Abraham turning in prayer to God on behalf of Abimelech and his family. <\/span><\/p>\n

The midrash teaches suggests that it was this prayer, this ability to empathize with the suffering of an Other, and even one who caused great anguish, is what opens the door for Abraham and Sarah’s own prayers for a child to be answered. <\/span><\/p>\n

We often feel that the key to Jewish continuity needs to be a turn inwards, and even a certain closing off from the outside, and certainly there is truth and wisdom in this stance. But Abraham teaches us that, paradoxically, Jewish continuity can also be ensured by the confidence and faith that it takes to transcend our own needs and to turn outwards and beyond ourselves in prayer and action. <\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":52336,"id":52336,"title":"dt32-chain","filename":"dt32-chain.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt32-chain.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/keeping-a-creative-tension-between-past-and-future\/dt32-chain\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"dt32-chain","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":52335,"date":"2019-03-27 21:19:42","modified":"2022-03-01 10:44:35","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1920,"height":1002,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt32-chain-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt32-chain-300x157.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":157,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt32-chain-768x401.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":401,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt32-chain-1024x534.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":534,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt32-chain.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":802,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt32-chain.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1002,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt32-chain-1200x626.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":626,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt32-chain-805x420.jpg","home_baner-width":805,"home_baner-height":420}},"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":"

Isaac Isaacsz, Pharaoh Returns Sarah to Abraham (Abimelech, King of Gerar, Restores Sarah to Abraham), 1640. Oil on canvas, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. Accessed at: https:\/\/www.bibleodyssey.org\/en\/tools\/image-gallery\/a\/abraham-sarah-pharaoh<\/p>\n"},"tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"The Birth of Jewish Continuity","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"Jewish continuity can also be ensured by turning outwards and beyond ourselves","preview_embedded":"","preview_image":{"ID":52336,"id":52336,"title":"dt32-chain","filename":"dt32-chain.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt32-chain.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/keeping-a-creative-tension-between-past-and-future\/dt32-chain\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"dt32-chain","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":52335,"date":"2019-03-27 21:19:42","modified":"2022-03-01 10:44:35","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1920,"height":1002,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt32-chain-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt32-chain-300x157.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":157,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt32-chain-768x401.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":401,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt32-chain-1024x534.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":534,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt32-chain.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":802,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt32-chain.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1002,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt32-chain-1200x626.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":626,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt32-chain-805x420.jpg","home_baner-width":805,"home_baner-height":420}},"preview_video":"","external_link":"","link_for_pay":false,"tile_gallery_items":false,"credits":"Isaac Isaacsz, Pharaoh Returns Sarah to Abraham (Abimelech, King of Gerar, Restores Sarah to Abraham), 1640. Oil on canvas, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. Accessed at: https:\/\/www.bibleodyssey.org\/en\/tools\/image-gallery\/a\/abraham-sarah-pharaoh"},"alternate_tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"","hide_media":false},"tile_group":{"preview_image_url":false,"main_caption":"","sub_caption":"","":null,"popup_package_extra_content":"","read_time":""},"home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo":{"seo_title":"","seo_description":"","seo_default_title":"","seo_default_description":""},"old_create_date":"","links":false,"send_noty":false},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37234"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37234"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37234\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":102549,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37234\/revisions\/102549"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37234"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37234"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37234"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}