{"id":64271,"date":"2019-10-13T00:20:04","date_gmt":"2019-10-12T21:20:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=64271"},"modified":"2023-05-05T16:55:33","modified_gmt":"2023-05-05T13:55:33","slug":"squandering-opportunities-is-a-grave-offense","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/squandering-opportunities-is-a-grave-offense\/","title":{"rendered":"Squandering Opportunities Is A Grave Offense"},"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":[460,466,402],"acf":{"old_id":"64271","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":46656,"related_cahpter":"326","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Hoshea may have opened the door, but he didn\u2019t lead the people over the threshold","content":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In 17:2 we learn of Hoshea\u2019s ascension to the throne, and like many underperforming kings before him we read that \u201che was evil in God\u2019s eyes\u201d, but this time there\u2019s a qualifier: \u201cbut not like the kings of Israel that came before him.\u201d Our sages explain that many generations before Hoshea, King Jeroboam, in his quest to make the Israelites worship at his own shrines, set guards along the road to prevent travelling to Jerusalem for worship. No king after Jeroboam acted to change the status quo until Hoshea, who removed those guards and granted free access to Jerusalem and the Temple.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The notion of travelling to the Temple for those outside of Jerusalem was a new and unnatural idea to the people, and they did not rush to do so. Although Temple worship was a requirement for the Jewish people, failure to do so because they were prevented from it meant they were not held responsible. But, as Eleanor Roosevelt said, \u201cwith freedom comes responsibility.\u201d Now the people were free to fulfil their obligation but chose not to do so. And that, as it turns out, was as close to unforgiveable as God was willing to tolerate, and consequently the people were condemned to be exiled.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Perhaps even more serious than the people\u2019s failure to seize an opportunity to fulfill their duty was Hoshea\u2019s failure to order them to do so. Me\u2019am Lo\u2019ez offers this explanation. Yes, Hoshea opened the roads and that was a great thing, but his obligation was to go further. He had the wherewithal to then order, or at the very least encourage the people to raise themselves up and begin to fulfil their new responsibility. Instead, he in essence opened the door but didn\u2019t show the people how to cross the threshold, and that was a failure of his leadership.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As it says in Pirkei Avot (2:16), \u201c<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is not incumbent upon you to finish the task, but neither are you free to absolve yourself from it.\u201d Hoshea may or may not have succeeded in leading the people back to Jerusalem had he tried, but as a leader in the position he held, it was incumbent on him to at least make the attempt. Instead he stopped short, and squandered not only an opportunity to lead but an opportunity to fully realize his own potential.<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":64274,"id":64274,"title":"2kings17-threshold","filename":"2kings17-threshold.png","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/2kings17-threshold.png","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/squandering-opportunities-is-a-grave-offense\/2kings17-threshold\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"2kings17-threshold","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":64271,"date":"2019-10-12 21:19:51","modified":"2019-10-12 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