{"id":53411,"date":"2019-04-08T17:15:42","date_gmt":"2019-04-08T14:15:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=53411"},"modified":"2022-11-01T09:52:27","modified_gmt":"2022-11-01T07:52:27","slug":"healthy-obesity-then-and-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/healthy-obesity-then-and-now\/","title":{"rendered":"Healthy Obesity? \u2013 Then and Now"},"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":[660,806],"acf":{"old_id":"53411","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":33877,"related_cahpter":"193","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Weighty midrashic elaborations of the prodigious character of Joshua","content":"

Our chapter tells of the miraculous conquest of Jericho by Joshua and the Israelite forces. At the command of Joshua: \u201cSo the people shouted when the horns were sounded. When the people heard the sound of the horns, the people raised a mighty shout and the wall collapsed. The people rushed into the city, every man straight in front of him, and they captured the city\u201d (Joshua 6:20). <\/span><\/p>\n

One source (cited by Ginzberg, Legends of the Jews, \u201c[Joshua\u2019s] War with the Armenians\u201d), tells that Joshua was of impressive stature, standing five cubits (roughly seven and a half feet) tall, in his royal apparel, with his crown on which was engraved the ineffable Name of God. Another remarkable midrashic tradition, found in a somewhat questionable source, describes Joshua at the time of his greatest triumph. This is recorded among a series of strange questions, in an early medieval work known as the Alpha-Beta of Ben Sira, that Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon in the 12<\/span>th<\/span> century BCE, is said to have asked Ben Sira who lived in the 2<\/span>nd<\/span> century BCE. <\/span><\/p>\n

Clearly, we are dealing here with a pseudepigraphical work, intended perhaps for entertainment purposes rather than historical reportage: Nebuchadnezzar asked Ben Sira: \u201cWhy does the bull not have hair on its snout? Ben Sira told the King: Because when the Children of Israel and Joshua were going around Jericho, Joshua was very heavy [Hebrew: \u201cbari\u2019\u201d, which normally means \u201chealthy\u201d]. They first brought him a donkey to ride on, but it collapsed under him. Then they brought him a horse and it too collapsed under him. Every other beast that was brought for Joshua to ride on also collapsed under Joshua\u2019s excessive weight. Finally, they brought him a bull, on which he was able to ride around Jericho, until its walls fell down. \u00a0When Joshua saw that the bull was able to bear his great weight, he raised the head of that bull and kissed it under its snout. And in that place no hair ever grew, neither for that bull nor for any of its descendants.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Until recent times, there have been those who claimed that a limited level of obesity, which does not produce metabolic complications, might be considered \u201chealthy\u201d. This view has now been largely disputed. So, Joshua\u2019s excessive weight, termed \u201chealthy\u201d (bari\u2019) in our midrashic tradition, would not be considered healthy in our day. But still the bull continues to benefit from Joshua\u2019s gratitude for its being able to bear his legendary obesity.<\/span><\/p>\n

Image: Adad astride a bull – http:\/\/www.mesopotamiangods.com\/adad\/<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":53412,"id":53412,"title":"jo6-Adad on bull","filename":"jo6-Adad-on-bull.jpeg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo6-Adad-on-bull.jpeg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/healthy-obesity-then-and-now\/jo6-adad-on-bull\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"jo6-adad-on-bull","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":53411,"date":"2019-04-08 14:15:25","modified":"2019-04-08 14:15:36","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":227,"height":500,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo6-Adad-on-bull-150x150.jpeg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo6-Adad-on-bull-136x300.jpeg","medium-width":136,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo6-Adad-on-bull.jpeg","medium_large-width":227,"medium_large-height":500,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo6-Adad-on-bull.jpeg","large-width":227,"large-height":500,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo6-Adad-on-bull.jpeg","1536x1536-width":227,"1536x1536-height":500,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo6-Adad-on-bull.jpeg","2048x2048-width":227,"2048x2048-height":500,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo6-Adad-on-bull.jpeg","post_full_size-width":227,"post_full_size-height":500,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo6-Adad-on-bull-191x420.jpeg","home_baner-width":191,"home_baner-height":420}},"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"\"Healthy\" Obesity? \u2013 Then and Now","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"Weighty midrashic elaborations of the prodigious character of Joshua","preview_embedded":"","preview_image":{"ID":53412,"id":53412,"title":"jo6-Adad on bull","filename":"jo6-Adad-on-bull.jpeg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo6-Adad-on-bull.jpeg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/healthy-obesity-then-and-now\/jo6-adad-on-bull\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"jo6-adad-on-bull","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":53411,"date":"2019-04-08 14:15:25","modified":"2019-04-08 14:15:36","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":227,"height":500,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo6-Adad-on-bull-150x150.jpeg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo6-Adad-on-bull-136x300.jpeg","medium-width":136,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo6-Adad-on-bull.jpeg","medium_large-width":227,"medium_large-height":500,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo6-Adad-on-bull.jpeg","large-width":227,"large-height":500,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo6-Adad-on-bull.jpeg","1536x1536-width":227,"1536x1536-height":500,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo6-Adad-on-bull.jpeg","2048x2048-width":227,"2048x2048-height":500,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo6-Adad-on-bull.jpeg","post_full_size-width":227,"post_full_size-height":500,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo6-Adad-on-bull-191x420.jpeg","home_baner-width":191,"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\/53411"}],"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=53411"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53411\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":108951,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53411\/revisions\/108951"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53411"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53411"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53411"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}