{"id":58747,"date":"2019-07-03T17:06:12","date_gmt":"2019-07-03T14:06:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=58747"},"modified":"2023-01-26T06:41:37","modified_gmt":"2023-01-26T04:41:37","slug":"radical-friendship-enduring-love","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/radical-friendship-enduring-love\/","title":{"rendered":"Radical Friendship, Enduring Love"},"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":[381,468],"acf":{"old_id":"58747","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":56118,"related_cahpter":"255","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Can you imagine two leading political rivals prioritizing friendship and humanity over personal political gain?","content":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Sages characterized the relationship between Jonathan and David as \u201clove that is not contingent on another end\u201d (<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ethics of the Fathers<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> 5:15), and therefore a model of a relationship that will endure. Certainly, the loyalty the two protagonists show toward one another is extraordinary in the annals of biblical history. But what precisely drove the Rabbis to utilize this precise formulation of love that is not contingent on another end?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The answer seems clear. David and <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Jonathan <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">were the leading candidates to take the throne after Saul, <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Jonathan<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2019s father. Their relationship called for rivalry, not intimate friendship. Consider such a scenario today. Can anyone imagine two leading political rivals, in America, Israel, or otherwise, prioritizing friendship and humanity over personal political gain? In our cynical age, even when rivals collaborate, it is generally for the sake of mutual political or economic expediency. Yet David and <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Jonathan<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, despite their entanglements and the enormously high stakes, prized their personal relationship above and beyond that of personal gain.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Rabbi Shimon ben Tzemach Duran (Spain, North Africa 14th-15th century), in his commentary to <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ethics of the Fathers<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, put it this way: \u201cAnyone who establishes a friendship for access to power, money, or sexual relations; when these ends are not attainable, the friendship ceases\u2026love that is not dependent on selfish ends is true love of the other person since there is no intended end.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Throughout Jewish history, such relationships have often been idealized in different terms. For the famed German philosopher and Bible scholar Martin Buber, it was the distinction between an I-it relationship and I-thou. For the great Talmudist-philosopher Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik, it was the difference between the utilitarian relationships forged by Adam I, the Adam of the first chapter in Genesis, and the intimate, vulnerable bonds formed by Adam II. Yet, then and now, particularly in the political and public sphere, such idyllic relationships are most often maintained in the breach.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Looking toward the public sphere today, we might come away with the impression that such deep-seated, non-utilitarian relationships are all-but-impossible to achieve in the \u201creal world.\u201d Yet David and <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Jonathan<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> offer a radical, alternative model. And inspiring, countercultural models such as theirs is one of the key reasons we continue to study the Bible today.<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":58748,"id":58748,"title":"isam23-backstabber","filename":"isam23-backstabber.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/isam23-backstabber.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/radical-friendship-enduring-love\/isam23-backstabber\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"isam23-backstabber","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":58747,"date":"2019-07-03 14:06:00","modified":"2020-11-28 20:59:53","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":480,"height":360,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/isam23-backstabber-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/isam23-backstabber-300x225.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":225,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/isam23-backstabber.jpg","medium_large-width":480,"medium_large-height":360,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/isam23-backstabber.jpg","large-width":480,"large-height":360,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/isam23-backstabber.jpg","1536x1536-width":480,"1536x1536-height":360,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/isam23-backstabber.jpg","2048x2048-width":480,"2048x2048-height":360,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/isam23-backstabber.jpg","post_full_size-width":480,"post_full_size-height":360,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/isam23-backstabber.jpg","home_baner-width":480,"home_baner-height":360}},"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"Radical 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