{"id":55237,"date":"2019-05-10T08:34:26","date_gmt":"2019-05-10T05:34:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=55237"},"modified":"2022-12-04T15:51:26","modified_gmt":"2022-12-04T13:51:26","slug":"seeing-beyond","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/seeing-beyond\/","title":{"rendered":"Seeing Beyond"},"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":[392,402,808],"acf":{"old_id":"55237","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":34245,"related_cahpter":"216","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Try not to look at the world only through the window of your expectations...","content":"

In the Bible Lands Museum in Jerusalem, a grave-looking woman is looking through a window.<\/span><\/p>\n

Neither she nor the window are real, though. She is but the image of a face, framed by the image of a window, staring at us from an ivory tablet which was carved in the 8th century BCE. <\/span><\/p>\n

In Judges 5, another woman looks out through a window: Sisera\u2019s mother, as she awaits her son\u2019s return from battle. She, too, is a work of art: we never meet the actual woman. We only see her fictional representation in Deborah\u2019s song.<\/span><\/p>\n

Why does the song include this particular fictional representation? What is Deborah trying to say?<\/span><\/p>\n

Perhaps Deborah is using Sisera\u2019s mother to emphasize the miraculous nature of the Israelite victory. \u201cWhy is his vehicle so long in coming,\u201d Sisera\u2019s mother frets, surprised by her son\u2019s tardiness. She must have assumed that he could squash the Israelites easily, and expected a swift, victorious return. Her attendants share her confidence, concluding that Sisera must be occupied with the aftermath of victory: \u201c\u2026are they not dividing the spoil? A damsel, two damsels to every man\u2026\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Yet we, Deborah\u2019s audience, know that the \u2018squashable\u2019 Israelites have defeated the mighty Sisera, and that instead of allotting captive women to his soldiers, Sisera is lying dead, and by a woman\u2019s hands. The contrast between our knowledge and the Canaanite women\u2019s<\/span> suppositions reminds us of the odds Barak and Deborah faced, and thus of the surprising nature of their victory.<\/span><\/p>\n

But perhaps Deborah is making an argument that goes beyond her own victory. Perhaps she is warning the Israelites against a particular way of looking at the world.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sisera\u2019s mother is looking at the world through the window of her expectations, and they limit what she is able to see. In the world as she sees it, the mighty can\u2019t fail, the weak can\u2019t succeed, and women can do naught but wait and look or be despoiled. Women like Deborah and Yael are beyond this world\u2019s imagination. Within it, weaker parties can\u2019t expect to beat the odds.<\/span><\/p>\n

If the Israelites were to accept this worldview, they wouldn\u2019t have had the courage to pursue a way of life that was bound to put them at odds with other people. They wouldn\u2019t have had the courage to fight against oppressors in Judges, rebel against king Antiochus centuries later, or become refuseniks in the USSR. The Jewish journey always required us to have the courage to punch above our weight. <\/span><\/p>\n

Through her portrayal of Sisera\u2019s mother and her mistaken expectations, Deborah reminds us that such courage can be rewarded with success. <\/span><\/p>\n

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