{"id":43358,"date":"2018-11-04T19:26:29","date_gmt":"2018-11-04T17:26:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=43358"},"modified":"2022-05-31T09:07:09","modified_gmt":"2022-05-31T06:07:09","slug":"gods-presence-is-on-the-margins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/gods-presence-is-on-the-margins\/","title":{"rendered":"God\u2019s Presence Is On The Margins"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":50634,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[695,459,400,699],"acf":{"old_id":"43358","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":43209,"related_cahpter":"83","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"A response to stiff-necked rebelliousness, and the desire for closeness","content":"

The Yom Kippur confessional prayer begins, \u201cWe are no so brazen or stiff-necked to say to you, \u2018We are righteous and have not sinned.\u2019\u201d This preamble is surprising: we could easily launch into the litany of sins without first noting our refusal to profess innocence.<\/span><\/p>\n

Responding to this question, Rabbi Nathan Sternhartz of Nemirov (1780-1845), a disciple of Rabbi Nachman of Breslov, distinguishes between those who deny God altogether, and therefore \u201csay that they are righteous and have not sinned at all, since they reject all of the commandments of the Torah\u201d and those who \u201cfeel the deep pain of sin, such that we still ask for <\/span>teshuvah <\/span><\/i>and forgiveness,\u201d and for whom hope remains. (<\/span>Likkutei Halakhot Orach Chaim<\/span><\/i>, Laws of Tachanun, Chapter 5:5)<\/span><\/p>\n

No matter how severe human transgressions may be, those who are willing to do <\/span>teshuvah<\/span><\/i>, and to seek closeness with the Divine, always have the chance for a better future.<\/span><\/p>\n

Thus, following the Israelites\u2019 greatest act of rebellion to date\u2014the sin of the golden calf\u2014God responds with the most brutal of punishments: the absence of Godself from the community. In contrast to the posture of those who confess on Yom Kippur, the people here <\/span>are <\/span><\/i>so stiff-necked as to have denied God and the divine commandments.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI will not go in your midst, for you are a stiff-necked people, lest I destroy you on your way.\u201d (Exodus 33:3)<\/span><\/p>\n

This decision aims to protect the people from divine anger. The commentator Sforno (1475-1550) explains, \u201cIf I dwell among you, the punishment for your sins will be greater.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Even so, the total absence of God turns out to be a burden too difficult to bear. Just a chapter later, Moses begs, \u201cIf I have gained Your favor, O Lord, pray, let the Lord go in our midst, even though this is a stiffnecked people.\u201d (Exodus 34:9) The risk of harsh punishment proves less frightening than the absence of the divine presence.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the meantime, Moses discovers a way to maintain the people\u2019s access to God:<\/span><\/p>\n

Now Moses would take the Tent and pitch it outside the camp. . . whoever sought the LORD would go out to the Tent of Meeting that was outside the camp. (33:7)<\/span><\/p>\n

The divine presence may not be readily visible among the people, but remains available on the margins, for those who seek it.<\/span><\/p>\n","image":false,"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"God\u2019s Presence is on the Margins","main_caption":"The total absence of God turns out to be a burden too difficult to bear: the risk of harsh punishment proves less frightening than the absence of the divine presence.","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"","preview_embedded":"","preview_image":false,"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\/43358"}],"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\/50634"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43358"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43358\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":105272,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43358\/revisions\/105272"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43358"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43358"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43358"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}