{"id":45814,"date":"2018-12-16T22:17:07","date_gmt":"2018-12-16T20:17:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=45814"},"modified":"2022-07-10T17:05:55","modified_gmt":"2022-07-10T14:05:55","slug":"wisdom-beyond-the-mountains-of-darkness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wisdom-beyond-the-mountains-of-darkness\/","title":{"rendered":"Wisdom Beyond The Mountains Of Darkness"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"entry-content\"><\/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":[774,391,363,600],"acf":{"old_id":"45814","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":33877,"related_cahpter":"112","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"A surprising midrash on the council of women, the nature of justice, the value of animals - and Alexander the Great!?","content":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Leviticus 22:27 \u201cWhen an ox or a sheep or a goat is born, it shall stay seven days with its mother, and from the eighth day on it shall be acceptable as an offering by fire to the Lord\u201d has been the beginning of a Torah reading since Talmudic times (see Rashi to Megillah). In expounding this verse, the Midrash (Leviticus Rabbah 27:1) somewhat surprisingly includes two stories about what Alexander of Macedon learned when he ventured beyond the \u201cMountains of Darkness\u201d. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It turns out that a midrashic interpretation of our Torah verse is presented only at the conclusion of these two entertaining and instructive narratives. First, Alexander comes to a land inhabited only by women. \u201cThey meet him saying: \u2018If you vanquish us you will be known as having defeated women. But if we are victorious, you will be known as having been defeated by women.\u2019 He inscribed on their city gate, \u2018I, Alexander of Macedon, was ignorant until I came to the land of women and learned counsel from women.\u2019 <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He then continued on to [North] Africa\u2026He announced: \u2018I have come to learn of your laws.\u2019 Just then two men came before the African king for judgement. One related that in a carob-tree he had purchased he found a treasure which he wanted to return to the seller. The seller replied that when he sold the carob-tree he relinquished possession of all in it. The African king resolved the problem by having the buyer\u2019s son marry the seller\u2019s daughter so that both families should benefit from the treasure. Alexander replied that where he ruled both men would be beheaded, and the king would take the treasure. The African king exclaimed that where people behave like that, the sun must shine and the rain must fall only for the sake of their cattle.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The African king\u2019s comment is reflected in what now follows \u2013 a midrashic interpretation of the verse, \u201cMan and beast You save, O Lord\u201d (Psalms 36:7). From this we learn that the laws of man and beast are similar. Of man it says, \u201cOn the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised (Leviticus 12:3), while about the beast is says, \u201cWhen an ox or a sheep or a goat is born, it shall stay seven days with its mother, and from the eighth day on it shall be acceptable as an offering by fire to the Lord\u201d (Leviticus 22:27).<\/span><\/p>\n<p>image:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Alexander_the_Great#\/media\/File:Alexander_the_Great_mosaic.jpg\">Alexander the Great mosaic,\u00a0\u00a0circa 100 BC\u00a0 \/ wikipedia<\/a><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":45815,"id":45815,"title":"Alexander_the_Great_mosaic","filename":"Alexander_the_Great_mosaic.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Alexander_the_Great_mosaic.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wisdom-beyond-the-mountains-of-darkness\/alexander_the_great_mosaic\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"alexander_the_great_mosaic","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":45814,"date":"2018-12-16 20:16:50","modified":"2021-09-29 12:25:36","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1024,"height":614,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Alexander_the_Great_mosaic-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Alexander_the_Great_mosaic-300x180.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":180,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Alexander_the_Great_mosaic-768x461.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":461,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Alexander_the_Great_mosaic-1024x614.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":614,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Alexander_the_Great_mosaic.jpg","1536x1536-width":1024,"1536x1536-height":614,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Alexander_the_Great_mosaic.jpg","2048x2048-width":1024,"2048x2048-height":614,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Alexander_the_Great_mosaic.jpg","post_full_size-width":1024,"post_full_size-height":614,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Alexander_the_Great_mosaic-700x420.jpg","home_baner-width":700,"home_baner-height":420}},"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"Wisdom Beyond The Mountains Of Darkness","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"A surprising midrash on the council of women, the nature of justice, the value of animals - 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