{"id":64230,"date":"2019-10-10T15:43:51","date_gmt":"2019-10-10T12:43:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=64230"},"modified":"2022-10-19T22:50:25","modified_gmt":"2022-10-19T19:50:25","slug":"dont-leave-it-empty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/dont-leave-it-empty\/","title":{"rendered":"Don\u2019t Leave It Empty"},"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":[854,368,412],"acf":{"old_id":"64230","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":36663,"related_cahpter":"1065","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"The text is something to fill, and to fulfill","content":"<p>There is a limit to what even the greatest of leaders can do.\u00a0 This week\u2019s portion Haazinu has a variety of metaphors for God in its poem as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thetorah.com\/article\/exploring-the-multiple-metaphors-for-god-in-shirat-haazinu\">Rabbi Andrea Weiss points out in TheTorah.com<\/a>.\u00a0 We see God as a protective rock (32: 4, 15), a father (32:6), an eyelid (32:10), an eagle (32:11), a nursing mother feeding the people with honey from the crags of rocks (32:13), and a mother who has labored for the people (32: 18). Weiss suggests that this plurality of images means that humans need a variety of ways to connect to God.<\/p>\n<p>I would take this in a different direction and suggest also that one leader will never be sufficient but each individual has to cultivate and develop a relationship with the text and Jewish tradition to ensure a healthy and ongoing Jewish life.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>When the poem is finished (32:46) God tells Moses that he will now be ascending the mount of Avarim (literally mountain of passing over) to mount Nebo, probably a day\u2019s walk, as it had been the last encampment (Numbers 33:47-48) before the current one.\u00a0 Moses is told \u201cYou may view the land from a distance but you shall not enter it (Deut 32: 52); Israel\u2019s greatest teacher, who still carries the appellation \u201cMoses our teacher\u201d is unable to continue his teachings after this point.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>But he does leave the people with a thought about the Torah that he has taught them that will carry them through, \u201cit is not an empty thing for you, for it is your life\u201d (32:47).\u00a0 The midrash Sifre Deuteronomy 336:1 says about this \u201cThere is nothing empty in the Torah, for which, if you fulfill it, you will not be rewarded in this world, with the principal remaining for the world to come.\u201d\u00a0This text is conveying that it is up to us to fill the Torah with meaning, as a necessary thing in order to function in the world.\u00a0No leader can do that for us, only each of us, with whatever metaphors or other ways to understand the text make sense to us, are capable of filling the text with meaning.<\/p>\n<p>It is no accident then that multiple metaphors, the finale of Moses&#8217; role as teacher and the injunction to fill the text with meaning are in the same portion.\u00a0Each of us has the capacity to fill the text with meaning.\u00a0Leaders guide us and suggest things to us but the ultimate responsibility, Parshat Ha\u2019azinu is suggesting, is our own.\u00a0<\/p>\n","image":{"ID":58892,"id":58892,"title":"isam24-Intertextuality","filename":"isam24-Intertextuality.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/isam24-Intertextuality.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/echoes-of-the-stories-of-jacob-and-sons\/isam24-intertextuality\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"isam24-intertextuality","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":58889,"date":"2019-07-07 04:29:00","modified":"2022-12-21 09:48:30","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":695,"height":526,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/isam24-Intertextuality-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/isam24-Intertextuality-300x227.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":227,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/isam24-Intertextuality.jpg","medium_large-width":695,"medium_large-height":526,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/isam24-Intertextuality.jpg","large-width":695,"large-height":526,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/isam24-Intertextuality.jpg","1536x1536-width":695,"1536x1536-height":526,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/isam24-Intertextuality.jpg","2048x2048-width":695,"2048x2048-height":526,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/isam24-Intertextuality.jpg","post_full_size-width":695,"post_full_size-height":526,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/isam24-Intertextuality-555x420.jpg","home_baner-width":555,"home_baner-height":420}},"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"Parashat Haazinu 5780","main_caption":"Don\u2019t Leave It Empty","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"The text is something to fill, and to fulfill","preview_embedded":"","preview_image":{"ID":58892,"id":58892,"title":"isam24-Intertextuality","filename":"isam24-Intertextuality.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/isam24-Intertextuality.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/echoes-of-the-stories-of-jacob-and-sons\/isam24-intertextuality\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"isam24-intertextuality","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":58889,"date":"2019-07-07 04:29:00","modified":"2022-12-21 09:48:30","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":695,"height":526,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/isam24-Intertextuality-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/isam24-Intertextuality-300x227.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":227,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/isam24-Intertextuality.jpg","medium_large-width":695,"medium_large-height":526,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/isam24-Intertextuality.jpg","large-width":695,"large-height":526,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/isam24-Intertextuality.jpg","1536x1536-width":695,"1536x1536-height":526,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/isam24-Intertextuality.jpg","2048x2048-width":695,"2048x2048-height":526,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/isam24-Intertextuality.jpg","post_full_size-width":695,"post_full_size-height":526,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/isam24-Intertextuality-555x420.jpg","home_baner-width":555,"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\/64230"}],"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=64230"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64230\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":108739,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64230\/revisions\/108739"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64230"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64230"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64230"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}