{"id":38095,"date":"2018-08-19T00:03:27","date_gmt":"2018-08-18T21:03:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=38095"},"modified":"2022-03-11T14:29:56","modified_gmt":"2022-03-11T12:29:56","slug":"same-old-song-and-dance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/same-old-song-and-dance\/","title":{"rendered":"Same Old Song and Dance?"},"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":[418,366,485,477],"acf":{"old_id":"38095","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":38057,"related_cahpter":"26","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Isaac returning to his father\u2019s wells is akin to the countless commentators that have poured over our sacred text in search of new meanings and understandings","content":"

The twenty sixth chapter of Genesis brings with it a hefty dose of d\u00e9j\u00e0 vu. From the outset, we encounter Isaac both literally and figuratively following in the footsteps his father, Abraham. The text begins with sense of self-awareness by stating, \u201cNow there was a famine in the land <\/span>besides<\/b> the previous famine in the days of Abraham\u201d (Gen 26:1). Instantly, we realize that the subsequent narrative will draw a clear parallel to the previous sister-wife episodes found in chapters 12 and 20, but with significant differences. Each iteration of the narrative presents the same central conflict (i.e. taboo of sexual relations outside of marriage) as well as the same outcome (i.e. the acquisition of wealth by both Isaac and Abraham). If this is the case, then why do we come across this narrative not once, not twice, but THREE times in Genesis? What can we learn from the totality of the three versions that may have escaped us if just one had been included?<\/span><\/p>\n

We may ask a similar question of the scene that follows. In verse 18 we read, \u201cThen Isaac again dug the wells of water that had been dug in the days of his father Abraham\u201d. Here, the connection between Isaac and Abraham transitions from the thematic to the physical. Rather than figuratively walk in the steps of his father, Isaac goes a step further in physically reconnecting with the land and language of his father\u2019s time. The question might be asked, in different phrasing: why Isaac would go through such trouble to follow the path of his father so closely?<\/span><\/p>\n

Understood at the broadest level, Isaac\u2019s physical and figurative repetition of his father\u2019s actions could be likened to the generations upon generations of Jews who have continually re-discovered and re-interpreted the merits, and perhaps the mistakes, of our ancestors. Isaac returning to his father\u2019s wells is akin to the countless commentators and interpreters that have poured over our sacred text in search of new meanings and understandings.<\/span><\/p>\n

We continue this act of digging in our engagement with our sacred texts. The work is often tedious and repetitive, but we can find solace in the fact that after centuries of digging, we can still find streams of <\/span>mayyim hayyim<\/span><\/em>, \u201cliving waters,\u201d the life and soul of our tradition.<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":65123,"id":65123,"title":"is8-talmud","filename":"is8-talmud.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is8-talmud.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/and-as-for-me-whither\/is8-talmud\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"is8-talmud","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":65121,"date":"2019-11-03 11:43:14","modified":"2022-03-11 12:29:51","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":409,"height":635,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is8-talmud-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is8-talmud-193x300.jpg","medium-width":193,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is8-talmud.jpg","medium_large-width":409,"medium_large-height":635,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is8-talmud.jpg","large-width":409,"large-height":635,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is8-talmud.jpg","1536x1536-width":409,"1536x1536-height":635,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is8-talmud.jpg","2048x2048-width":409,"2048x2048-height":635,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is8-talmud.jpg","post_full_size-width":409,"post_full_size-height":635,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is8-talmud-271x420.jpg","home_baner-width":271,"home_baner-height":420}},"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"Same Old Song and Dance?","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"Isaac returning to his father\u2019s wells is akin to the countless commentators that have poured over our sacred text in search of new meanings and understandings","preview_embedded":"","preview_image":{"ID":65123,"id":65123,"title":"is8-talmud","filename":"is8-talmud.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is8-talmud.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/and-as-for-me-whither\/is8-talmud\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"is8-talmud","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":65121,"date":"2019-11-03 11:43:14","modified":"2022-03-11 12:29:51","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":409,"height":635,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is8-talmud-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is8-talmud-193x300.jpg","medium-width":193,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is8-talmud.jpg","medium_large-width":409,"medium_large-height":635,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is8-talmud.jpg","large-width":409,"large-height":635,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is8-talmud.jpg","1536x1536-width":409,"1536x1536-height":635,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is8-talmud.jpg","2048x2048-width":409,"2048x2048-height":635,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is8-talmud.jpg","post_full_size-width":409,"post_full_size-height":635,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is8-talmud-271x420.jpg","home_baner-width":271,"home_baner-height":420}},"preview_video":"","external_link":"","link_for_pay":false,"tile_gallery_items":false,"credits":""},"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\/38095"}],"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=38095"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38095\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":102903,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38095\/revisions\/102903"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38095"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38095"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38095"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}