{"id":55282,"date":"2019-05-11T23:39:29","date_gmt":"2019-05-11T20:39:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=55282"},"modified":"2022-12-04T15:56:34","modified_gmt":"2022-12-04T13:56:34","slug":"devorah-and-barak-bees-and-lightning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/devorah-and-barak-bees-and-lightning\/","title":{"rendered":"Devorah And Barak, Bees And Lightning"},"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":[660,402,786,802],"acf":{"old_id":"55282","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":55199,"related_cahpter":"216","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"What did their song sound like?","content":"

Bees can detect subtle electrical charges around them. They fly through life aware of their surroundings with the help of a sense that we human beings lack\u2014the negative electrical field that surrounds each bee responds to its electrically-charged environment. This helps bees find positively-charged pollen and it also helps them predict the weather.<\/span><\/p>\n

Devorah (literally \u201cbee\u201d), like her winged namesake, has a sixth sense. Prophets are tuned in to additional levels of awareness of their world which allows them to hear and respond to things the rest of us cannot perceive. When bees retreat to their hives well before the first lightning strikes, they spread the news of impending calamity with their loved ones.<\/span><\/p>\n

Barak (literally \u201clightning\u201d) is the lightning Devorah senses best. She calls to him first with her prophecy, saying that The Eternal will deliver Israel again from the hand of her enemies. For the last several generations her people have turned away from their promise to God and in turn they have suffered and lost their autonomy. For a bee, this is unacceptable. Their insular communities provide the protection they need from an outside world that is hostile to its most gentle pollinator. Devorah and Barak are the perfect pair to lead the Israelites to victory because of their desire to protect the people they love, but what makes them such a powerful pair is their electric connection.<\/span><\/p>\n

Judges 5 is the song Devorah and Barak sing after their enemies are \u201csubdued.\u201d Early editors of the text believed their joyous song was an immediate reaction to victory. If so, what does it mean to celebrate before your enemies have been buried? What of the blood still pouring from Sisera\u2019s head in Yael\u2019s tent? How can a bee (or a modern Jewish leader) celebrate in the midst of such destruction?<\/span><\/p>\n

I believe we are challenged to view this text as more than a hymn of praise. It recounts victories in battle that saved the Israelites, but behind the celebration is the reminder that we as Jews have always faced hostility and we have endured ugly violence. When Devorah and Barak sang to God, there was no hiding this difficult truth. And yet, because they are leaders who serve their community and their Creator, they looked out at the devastation of battle and sang for joy.<\/span><\/p>\n

What did their song sound like? Had Tanakh come with sheet music, I imagine this text would accompany <\/span>Adon Olam<\/span><\/em> and <\/span>Yigdal<\/span><\/em> in the hymnal. The student cantor in me yearns for the melody that celebrates moments of complicated (and perhaps guilty) pleasure. What is the song that gives a leader like Devorah that special sixth sense to lead her people and praise God in the face of such dark times?<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":55283,"id":55283,"title":"jud5-bee","filename":"jud5-bee.png","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud5-bee.png","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/devorah-and-barak-bees-and-lightning\/jud5-bee\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"jud5-bee","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":55282,"date":"2019-05-11 20:38:57","modified":"2022-12-14 16:35:24","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/png","type":"image","subtype":"png","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1172,"height":1280,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud5-bee-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud5-bee-275x300.png","medium-width":275,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud5-bee-768x839.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":839,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud5-bee-938x1024.png","large-width":938,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud5-bee.png","1536x1536-width":1172,"1536x1536-height":1280,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud5-bee.png","2048x2048-width":1172,"2048x2048-height":1280,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud5-bee-1099x1200.png","post_full_size-width":1099,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud5-bee-385x420.png","home_baner-width":385,"home_baner-height":420}},"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"Devorah and Barak, Bees and Lightning","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"What did their song sound like?","preview_embedded":"","preview_image":{"ID":55283,"id":55283,"title":"jud5-bee","filename":"jud5-bee.png","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud5-bee.png","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/devorah-and-barak-bees-and-lightning\/jud5-bee\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"jud5-bee","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":55282,"date":"2019-05-11 20:38:57","modified":"2022-12-14 16:35:24","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/png","type":"image","subtype":"png","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1172,"height":1280,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud5-bee-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud5-bee-275x300.png","medium-width":275,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud5-bee-768x839.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":839,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud5-bee-938x1024.png","large-width":938,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud5-bee.png","1536x1536-width":1172,"1536x1536-height":1280,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud5-bee.png","2048x2048-width":1172,"2048x2048-height":1280,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud5-bee-1099x1200.png","post_full_size-width":1099,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud5-bee-385x420.png","home_baner-width":385,"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\/55282"}],"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=55282"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55282\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":109636,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55282\/revisions\/109636"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55282"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55282"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55282"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}