{"id":51340,"date":"2019-03-13T18:29:40","date_gmt":"2019-03-13T16:29:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=51340"},"modified":"2022-10-04T15:29:25","modified_gmt":"2022-10-04T12:29:25","slug":"help-your-enemy-and-his-donkey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/help-your-enemy-and-his-donkey\/","title":{"rendered":"Help Your Enemy – And His Donkey"},"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":[395,436,433,354],"acf":{"old_id":"51340","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":33923,"related_cahpter":"175","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Pain, distress, difficulty should transcend the language of difference","content":"

The Sermon on the Mount tells us to love our enemies. That is a supremely beautiful idea, but it is not easy. Moses offers a more liveable solution. Help your enemy. You don\u2019t have to love him but you do have to assist him. That is the basis of the simple command in Exodus: \u201cIf you see your enemy\u2019s donkey sagging under its burden, you shall not pass by. You shall surely release it with him.\u201d (Exod. 23:5)<\/span><\/p>\n

Behind this law is a simple idea: your enemy is also a human being. He has a problem. Besides which, his donkey is suffering. Hostility may divide you, but something deeper connects you: the covenant of solidarity. Pain, distress, difficulty \u2013 these transcend the language of difference. A decent society will be one in which enemies do not allow their rancour or animosity to prevent them from coming to one another\u2019s aid when they need help. If someone is in trouble, act. Do not stop to ask whether they are friend or foe. Do as Moses did when he saw shepherds roughly handling the daughters of Jethro, or as Abraham did when he prayed for the people of the cities of the plain.<\/span><\/p>\n

The rabbis noted that in Deuteronomy (22:4) a similar law appears, but this time in relation to friend, not foe: it speaks of \u2018your brother\u2019s donkey\u2019. The Talmud rules that in a case of conflict, where your brother and your enemy both need your help \u2018you should first help your enemy \u2013 in order to suppress the evil inclination\u2019. Both may be equally in distress, but in the case of an enemy, there is more at stake: the challenge of overcoming estrangement, distance and ill-will. Therefore, it takes precedence. The ancient Aramaic translations (<\/span>Targum Onkelos<\/span><\/i>, and more explicitly <\/span>Targum Yonatan<\/span><\/i>) say something fascinating at this point. They take the phrase \u2018You shall surely release\u2019 to mean not just the physical burden weighing on the donkey, but also the psychological burden weighing on you. They translate the verse as: \u2018You shall surely <\/span>let go of the hate you have in your heart<\/em> <\/span>towards him.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n

From: <\/span>Not in God\u2019s Name<\/span><\/em>, p.257-258<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":51341,"id":51341,"title":"donkey","filename":"donkey.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/donkey.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/help-your-enemy-and-his-donkey\/donkey\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"donkey","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":51340,"date":"2019-03-13 16:29:24","modified":"2019-03-13 16:29:35","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":425,"height":328,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/donkey-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/donkey-300x232.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":232,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/donkey.jpg","medium_large-width":425,"medium_large-height":328,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/donkey.jpg","large-width":425,"large-height":328,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/donkey.jpg","1536x1536-width":425,"1536x1536-height":328,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/donkey.jpg","2048x2048-width":425,"2048x2048-height":328,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/donkey.jpg","post_full_size-width":425,"post_full_size-height":328,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/donkey.jpg","home_baner-width":425,"home_baner-height":328}},"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"Help Your Enemy - And His Donkey","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"Pain, distress, difficulty should transcend the language of difference","preview_embedded":"","preview_image":{"ID":51341,"id":51341,"title":"donkey","filename":"donkey.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/donkey.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/help-your-enemy-and-his-donkey\/donkey\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"donkey","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":51340,"date":"2019-03-13 16:29:24","modified":"2019-03-13 16:29:35","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":425,"height":328,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/donkey-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/donkey-300x232.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":232,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/donkey.jpg","medium_large-width":425,"medium_large-height":328,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/donkey.jpg","large-width":425,"large-height":328,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/donkey.jpg","1536x1536-width":425,"1536x1536-height":328,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/donkey.jpg","2048x2048-width":425,"2048x2048-height":328,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/donkey.jpg","post_full_size-width":425,"post_full_size-height":328,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/donkey.jpg","home_baner-width":425,"home_baner-height":328}},"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":""},"links":false,"send_noty":false},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51340"}],"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=51340"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51340\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":108387,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51340\/revisions\/108387"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51340"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51340"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51340"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}