{"id":55563,"date":"2019-05-15T14:18:27","date_gmt":"2019-05-15T11:18:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=55563"},"modified":"2022-12-07T18:52:49","modified_gmt":"2022-12-07T16:52:49","slug":"yotams-parable-is-a-cartoon-not-an-op-ed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/yotams-parable-is-a-cartoon-not-an-op-ed\/","title":{"rendered":"Yotam\u2019s Parable is a Cartoon, Not an Op-Ed"},"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":[402,704,423],"acf":{"old_id":"55563","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":52019,"related_cahpter":"220","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Yotam\u2019s parable is routinely invoked to compare almost any politician, of any ideology, to a worthless bramble, with the same lack of success","content":"

The upshot of Yotam\u2019s parable to the people of Shekhem appears to be this: All the good, sincere, talented people have declined to enter the realm of politics and to lead the people of Israel to a brighter future. Instead, we are left with the lowly bramble Avimelekh, a man with nothing to offer but his own conviction that he must have power, and his word that any alternative to his own leadership puts the people at grave risk.<\/span><\/p>\n

The assembled listeners, in thrall to Avimelekh, apparently don\u2019t follow Yotam\u2019s allegory. We know this from the way that Yotam must proceed to explain the allegory to them, identifying Avimelekh as the bramble. They still don\u2019t buy it. Yotam flees and is never (biblically) heard from again, while Avimelekh reigns as king for three years.<\/span><\/p>\n

Yotam\u2019s parable was not well-designed to convert his opponents. Rather than give some sense of why Avimelekh is especially dangerous or of what alternatives the people have, Yotam simply sketches a caricature of his brother as the most worthless tree. This argumentative style is recognizable to us today as a cartoon or meme, shared among those who already agree, rather than as an op-ed that attempts to persuade. Accordingly, the people of Shekhem were not moved, and Yotam spoiled his opportunity.<\/span><\/p>\n

The malleability of this cartoonish message is on full display in contemporary Israeli politics, as Yotam\u2019s parable is routinely invoked to compare almost any politician, of any ideology, to the bramble Avimelekh.<\/span> At least<\/span><\/a> two<\/span><\/a> Haaretz<\/span><\/i> authors have used it against the Netanyahu administration,<\/span> another<\/span><\/a> used it against the Labor Party leadership in 2009, and<\/span> another<\/span><\/a> used it against the Labor leadership in 2019. <\/span><\/p>\n

In 2006, peace activist Uri Avnery used the parable to<\/span> express his skepticism<\/span><\/a> about the incoming prime minister Ehud Olmert. And in 2005, in a passionate Knesset floor colloquy involving members of multiple parties, Rabbi Yitzchak Cohen of the Shas Party (most recently the Deputy Minister of Finance)<\/span> read Yotam\u2019s parable aloud and accused<\/span><\/a> the Ariel Sharon administration (then of the Kadima Party) of \u201ctaking shelter in the shade of the bramble.\u201d Presumably, no one\u2019s opponents were convinced.<\/span><\/p>\n

After all, it didn\u2019t work the first time, either. <\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":55565,"id":55565,"title":"jud9-news","filename":"jud9-news.png","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud9-news.png","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/yotams-parable-is-a-cartoon-not-an-op-ed\/jud9-news\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"jud9-news","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":55563,"date":"2019-05-15 11:18:00","modified":"2023-10-19 12:53:52","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/png","type":"image","subtype":"png","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1280,"height":1102,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud9-news-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud9-news-300x258.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":258,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud9-news-768x661.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":661,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud9-news-1024x882.png","large-width":1024,"large-height":882,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud9-news.png","1536x1536-width":1280,"1536x1536-height":1102,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud9-news.png","2048x2048-width":1280,"2048x2048-height":1102,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud9-news-1200x1033.png","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":1033,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud9-news-488x420.png","home_baner-width":488,"home_baner-height":420}},"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"Yotam\u2019s Parable is a Cartoon, Not an Op-Ed","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"Yotam\u2019s parable is routinely invoked to compare almost any politician, of any ideology, to a worthless bramble, with the same lack of success","preview_embedded":"","preview_image":{"ID":55565,"id":55565,"title":"jud9-news","filename":"jud9-news.png","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud9-news.png","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/yotams-parable-is-a-cartoon-not-an-op-ed\/jud9-news\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"jud9-news","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":55563,"date":"2019-05-15 11:18:00","modified":"2023-10-19 12:53:52","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/png","type":"image","subtype":"png","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1280,"height":1102,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud9-news-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud9-news-300x258.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":258,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud9-news-768x661.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":661,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud9-news-1024x882.png","large-width":1024,"large-height":882,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud9-news.png","1536x1536-width":1280,"1536x1536-height":1102,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud9-news.png","2048x2048-width":1280,"2048x2048-height":1102,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud9-news-1200x1033.png","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":1033,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud9-news-488x420.png","home_baner-width":488,"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\/55563"}],"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=55563"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55563\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":109749,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55563\/revisions\/109749"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55563"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55563"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55563"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}