{"id":50155,"date":"2019-02-24T22:40:04","date_gmt":"2019-02-24T20:40:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=50155"},"modified":"2022-09-14T15:36:00","modified_gmt":"2022-09-14T12:36:00","slug":"are-we-seeing-the-big-picture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/are-we-seeing-the-big-picture\/","title":{"rendered":"Are We Seeing The Big Picture?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Chapter 9 opens with Moses admonishing the Israelites to not think that their inheritance of the land of Israel has much, if anything, to do with their own righteousness, and in more than one instance in this chapter reminds them that God has acknowledged that they are a \u201cstiff-necked\u201d people. Moses then proceeds to remind them of all the occasions on which they demonstrated this trait, beginning with the episode of the golden calf. In these contexts \u201cstiff-necked\u201d is applied as a negative characteristic, worthy on many occasions of God\u2019s wrath. Sforno equates being stiff-necked with stubbornness, people who follow their hearts and personal opinions first and foremost, while rejecting perspectives that, despite their worthiness, stand in conflict to their own preconceived ideas of what\u2019s true for themselves.<\/span><\/p>\n

Rashi provides a physical description of a stiff-necked person – one who cannot turn their head to the right or left – as a metaphor for someone who is incapable of considering others\u2019 opinions and unable to see the big picture.<\/span><\/p>\n

But, although God points to the stiff-necked characteristic specifically, He nevertheless does not hold it as an obstacle to our inheritance. Instead, in close literary proximity to the accusation of stiff-neckedness, Moses reminds the Israelites that they are receiving the land in the merit of their forefathers to whom God promised it. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, were, in their own right, stiff-necked, but in a positive way, refusing to divert their gaze from the big picture of acceptance of and service to God in the face of innumerable obstacles and prevailing social norms.<\/span><\/p>\n

Perhaps this juxtaposition of two kinds of stubbornness is best explained by the 14th century commentator, Ralbag, who summarized \u201cstiff-necked\u201d by positing that \u201ca stubborn people may be slow to acquire faith, but once they do they never relinquish it.\u201d Was Moses possibly reminding the Israelites that their predominant character trait could serve them well in the long run if they harness it for the right purposes? If so, it\u2019s a lesson that persists in all generations, and is particularly applicable to today\u2019s society of polarization and stiff-necked attitudes, when a failure to consider other opinions and see the big picture seems to have become the norm.<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":108011,"id":108011,"title":"-6321ca8eba13c--6321ca8eba13edeut8-life-jacket.png","filename":"6321ca8eba13c-6321ca8eba13edeut8-life-jacket.png.png","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2019\/02\/6321ca8eba13c-6321ca8eba13edeut8-life-jacket.png.png","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/are-we-seeing-the-big-picture\/6321ca8eba13c-6321ca8eba13edeut8-life-jacket-png\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"6321ca8eba13c-6321ca8eba13edeut8-life-jacket-png","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":50155,"date":"2022-09-14 12:35:26","modified":"2022-09-14 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