{"id":51660,"date":"2019-03-19T22:49:59","date_gmt":"2019-03-19T20:49:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=51660"},"modified":"2022-10-11T15:38:24","modified_gmt":"2022-10-11T12:38:24","slug":"a-cure-for-affluenza","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/a-cure-for-affluenza\/","title":{"rendered":"A Cure For Affluenza"},"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":[542,520,448],"acf":{"old_id":"51660","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":37918,"related_cahpter":"179","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Preserving gratitude perpetuates generosity","content":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Deuteronomy portrays God as a gracious giver of gifts. Yet Deuteronomy worries that these gifts<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">could easily become snares, that the people will feel entitled to God\u2019s bounty instead of being grateful for it and that they will come to forget the God who has given them so much. The first-fruits ceremony prescribed in chapter 26 is a liturgical attempt to keep gratitude from dissipating in the face of affluence and abundance.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Israelite farmer bringing his first fruits to the Temple is also instructed to recite a liturgical formula situating the bounty before him the context of God\u2019s long history of gracious involvement with the people, from<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> 26:5-10.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The biblical memory deliberately blurs the line between past and present. The ritual conflates the farmer\u2019s ancestors, the contemporary community, and the individual farmer himself. The pilgrim starts out talking about his ancestors (\u201cMy father was a fugitive Aramean, etc.\u201d) but soon shifts, almost imperceptibly, to the first person plural: \u201cThe Egyptians dealt harshly with us and oppressed us, etc.\u201d). This subtly transforms the distant memory of the salvation of the farmer\u2019s forebears into his own generation\u2019s story. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The formula goes further, this time shifting from the plural to the singular: \u201cWherefore I now bring the first fruits of the soil which you, O Lord, have given me.\u201d Now, the experience of those who came before him becomes the pilgrim\u2019s own life-story. Not only has the farmer\u2019s own generation gone through that transformation; but so also has he personally.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The first eleven verses of the chapter emphasize that the land is a gift, repeating the verb <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">n-t-n<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">(give) no fewer than seven times (26:1,2,3, 6, 9,10,11). In a book that wants to instill an enduring sense of gratitude, the Israelite is charged to acknowledge again and again just how much has been given <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><em>to<\/em> <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">him rather than (just) accomplished <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><em>by<\/em> <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">him.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Deuteronomy instructs the pilgrim to enjoy the bounty God has given him \u201ctogether with the Levite and the stranger in your midst\u201d (26:11). Deuteronomy\u2019s teaching is clear: If you remember how much has been given to you, you will be receptive both to God\u2019s command and to the needs of the downtrodden. But if you assume that you have single-handedly earned every last thing you have, you will forget both God and your neighbor. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So Deuteronomy repeatedly bids us: Remember how much you have been given, and never forget to be grateful.<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":51661,"id":51661,"title":"dt26-grateful","filename":"dt26-grateful.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt26-grateful.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/a-cure-for-affluenza\/dt26-grateful\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"dt26-grateful","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":51660,"date":"2019-03-19 20:49:41","modified":"2019-03-19 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