{"id":52168,"date":"2019-03-26T15:49:29","date_gmt":"2019-03-26T13:49:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=52168"},"modified":"2022-10-18T16:21:44","modified_gmt":"2022-10-18T13:21:44","slug":"re-enacting-the-relation-of-redemption-and-revelation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/re-enacting-the-relation-of-redemption-and-revelation\/","title":{"rendered":"Re-Enacting The Relation Of Redemption And Revelation"},"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":[426,413,494,645,438,410],"acf":{"old_id":"52168","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":37918,"related_cahpter":"184","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Once every seven years, the Torah beckons us back to Sinai, and returns us to the essence of communal living","content":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Some moments are so powerful that we yearn to keep them alive even long after they have passed. The Jewish people\u2019s two most fundamental \u201corienting events\u201d (the term is Yitz Greenberg\u2019s) are the Exodus<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">from Egypt and the revelation at Mount Sinai. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Moses mandated a periodic public reading of these events: \u201cEvery seventh year&#8230; Gather (<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">hak\u2019hel<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">) the people\u2014men, women, children, and the strangers in your communities\u2014that they may hear and so learn to revere the Lord your God and to observe faithfully every word of this Teaching\u201d (Deuteronomy 31:10-12). This mitzvah is supposed to represent a recurrent reenactment of the revelation and sense of unity experienced at Sinai.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Why is the reenactment held during the <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">shemitah <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">year, the year of \u201crelease\u201d? Every seventh year, the Israelites are commanded to cancel debts and (crucially) to release all debt slaves (15:1-3, 12-15). Every seven years, therefore, some Israelites will have just been liberated from slavery, enabling the people as a whole to remember the central event which precedes Sinai\u2014God\u2019s redemption of Israel from bondage. If the public reading reenacts Sinai, its timing aims to re-create the totality of Israel\u2019s foundational story\u2014the freeing of the slaves leading to the revelation at Mount Sinai. The memory of revelation thus remains permanently entwined with the experience of redemption.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Further, in presenting the laws of <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">shemittah<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, Deuteronomy emphasizes that people who are poor are \u201cyour brothers\u201d (15:2, 3, 7, 9, 11, 12). Differences in economic status, which ordinarily drive such deep wedges between people, are here overridden by a deeper truth. \u201cAmong members of this community, economic realities are not definitional; rather, what is definitional is a common memory of the Exodus; a common blessing in the land; and a common allegiance to the God of Exodus and land\u201d (Walter Brueggemann, <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Deuteronomy <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">(2001). In a year when economic competition is put on hold, when generosity and a commitment to sharing are actively cultivated, real peace between people becomes more possible (Keli Yakar to Deuteronomy 31:12). And this peace enables an authentic return to Sinai.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Once every seven years, the Torah beckons us back to Sinai. In the process, it reminds us of\u2014 it actively <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">enacts <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">for us\u2014the essence of communal living. Despite the illusions fostered by social and economic inequality, we are all brothers and sisters in the covenant. That realization makes it possible to acknowledge both the depth our debt to God and the profundity of our connection to each other.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Image by Abby Haukongo from Pixabay<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":52171,"id":52171,"title":"dt31-seven","filename":"dt31-seven.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt31-seven.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/re-enacting-the-relation-of-redemption-and-revelation\/dt31-seven\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"dt31-seven","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":52168,"date":"2019-03-26 13:49:15","modified":"2019-03-26 13:49:21","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1920,"height":1280,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt31-seven-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt31-seven-300x200.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt31-seven-768x512.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt31-seven-1024x683.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":683,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt31-seven.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1024,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt31-seven.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1280,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt31-seven-1200x800.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":800,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt31-seven-630x420.jpg","home_baner-width":630,"home_baner-height":420}},"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"Re-Enacting The Relation Of Redemption And Revelation","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"Once every seven years, the Torah beckons us back to Sinai, and returns us to the essence of communal living","preview_embedded":"","preview_image":{"ID":52171,"id":52171,"title":"dt31-seven","filename":"dt31-seven.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt31-seven.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/re-enacting-the-relation-of-redemption-and-revelation\/dt31-seven\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"dt31-seven","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":52168,"date":"2019-03-26 13:49:15","modified":"2019-03-26 13:49:21","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1920,"height":1280,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt31-seven-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt31-seven-300x200.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt31-seven-768x512.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt31-seven-1024x683.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":683,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt31-seven.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1024,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt31-seven.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1280,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt31-seven-1200x800.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":800,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt31-seven-630x420.jpg","home_baner-width":630,"home_baner-height":420}},"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\/52168"}],"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=52168"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52168\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":108696,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52168\/revisions\/108696"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52168"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52168"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52168"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}