{"id":58912,"date":"2019-07-07T09:10:46","date_gmt":"2019-07-07T06:10:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=58912"},"modified":"2023-01-30T16:30:08","modified_gmt":"2023-01-30T14:30:08","slug":"bound-up-in-the-bundle-of-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/bound-up-in-the-bundle-of-life\/","title":{"rendered":"Bound Up In The Bundle of Life"},"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":[383,405,363],"acf":{"old_id":"58912","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":33877,"related_cahpter":"257","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"From Abigail\u2019s blessing to contemporary memorials","content":"

Our chapter relates the narrative of Abigail, who saves Nabal, her husband from the wrath of David by giving him and his men the provisions David had asked for but not received from Nabal (25:2-27). Abigail astutely addresses David in an apologetic and complimentary tone: \u201cPlease pardon your maid\u2019s boldness. For the Lord will grant my lord an enduring house, because my lord is fighting the battles of the Lord, and no wrong is ever to be found in you\u201d (verse 28). She continues with a prophetic promise: \u201cAnd if anyone sets out to pursue you and seek your life, the life of my lord will be bound up in the bundle of life in the care of the Lord; but He will fling away the lives of your enemies as from the hollow of a sling\u201d (verse 29).<\/span><\/p>\n

Abigail\u2019s beautifully poetic expression \u201cthe life of my lord will be bound up in the bundle of life with the Lord your God\u201d (“ve-haytah nefesh \u2018adoni tzrurah bi-tzror ha-hayim \u2018et ha-shem \u2018elohekha<\/em>\u201d) reverberates in Jewish life until this day.<\/span><\/p>\n

The 19<\/span>th<\/span> century Biblical commentator Malbim offers a peshat<\/em> (straight-forward, contextual) interpretation: Abigail assures David that his life will be protected from death like something bound-up in a protective bundle.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, from early Rabbinic times this pregnant expression was interpreted to suggest the promise of eternal life \u2013 \u201cGod will gather unto Him the souls of the righteous, as Abigail says to David, with divine inspiration \u201c\u2018the life of my lord will be bound up in the bundle of life with the Lord your God\u2019\u201d (Sifre Zuta\u2019 to Numbers 27:12). A later rabbinic text (Tanna\u2019 De-Bey \u2018Eliyahu 4:1) promises this eternal reward to those who study Torah. According to the Talmud (Shabbat 152b), the souls of the righteous are hidden beneath the divine Throne of Glory in heaven, as it says: \u201cthe life of my lord will be bound up in the bundle of life with the Lord your God\u201d. Similarly, this verse suggests that the Holy One, blessed be He, cares for the souls of the righteous, as He does for their bodies, as it says: \u201c\u2026peacefully they shall rest in their resting-place, whoever walks in his uprightness\u201d (Isaiah 57:2).<\/span><\/p>\n

These two verses are incorporated in the prayer El Male\u2019 Rahamim<\/em> (\u201cGod, Full of Mercy\u201d) composed to memorialize those Jews martyred in the Crusades and other pogroms: \u201c\u2026May the Merciful One bind up the soul of the deceased in the bundle of life\u2026to rest in peace on his\/her\/their resting-place. And let us say Amen.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This prayer continues to be recited at individual burial services and in public commemorations honoring the dead.<\/span><\/p>\n

Jewish gravestones (matzevot<\/em>) are often inscribed with the Hebrew letters T-N-Tz-B-H<\/em>, which stand for the words Tehe\u2019 Nishmato\/Nishmatah Tzrurah Be-tzror Ha-hayyim,<\/em> \u201cMay his\/her soul be bound up in the bundle of life\u201d, recalling Abigail\u2019s blessing that David\u2019s soul should be \u201cbound up in the bundle of life\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

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