{"id":66269,"date":"2019-11-27T16:07:20","date_gmt":"2019-11-27T14:07:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=66269"},"modified":"2023-06-19T18:17:38","modified_gmt":"2023-06-19T15:17:38","slug":"keep-the-faith","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/keep-the-faith\/","title":{"rendered":"Keep The Faith!"},"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":[375,451,403],"acf":{"old_id":"66269","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":34250,"related_cahpter":"360","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"But what does that mean?","content":"

\u201cIn that day, this song shall be sung in the land of Judah\u2026 \u2018Open the gates, and let a righteous nation enter, [a nation] that keeps faith!\u2019\u201d (Isaiah 26:2)<\/span><\/p>\n

After the enemy falls, says the prophet, Judah\u2019s gates will be thrown open in a fit of triumphant glee at the city\u2019s newfound security \u2013 but who is it that will then be allowed to enter? \u201cA righteous nation, that keeps faith.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Ibn Ezra explains that \u201cit is only appropriate to open the gates of this country\u2026for the righteous\u201d \u2013 but how righteous does one have to be? Does entry require complete and total faith? Is it only those who never once doubted God\u2019s own faithfulness, despite and throughout a lengthy exile, who will merit to see that redemption?<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c<\/span>Shomer emunim<\/span><\/em>\u201d \u2013 only those people who keep faith. What does it mean to keep faith?<\/span><\/p>\n

Several commentaries relate the word \u201c<\/span>shomer<\/span><\/em>\u201d (keep) in this verse to an apparently very different instance of the same Hebrew root. After Joseph shares his dreams with his brothers, provoking an increase in their ill will towards him, we are told \u201cand his father <\/span>shamar<\/span><\/em> the matter\u201d (Genesis 37:11). What does that <\/span>shamar<\/span><\/em> mean, and how might it shed light on our verse?<\/span><\/p>\n

Though Joseph\u2019s father rebukes him for his dream \u2013 whether for harboring delusions of grandeur, or for the mistake of sharing them with his brothers, is unclear \u2013 the verse informs the reader that in fact, he took the dream seriously. Jacob didn\u2019t dismiss the idea, but \u201ckept\u201d it \u2013 though commentaries differ in the degrees of certainty they ascribe to him about his son\u2019s destiny: perhaps he \u201cknew\u201d the dreams would come true (Chizkuni); maybe he was simply \u201cconcerned\u201d they might (Radak); or he might have \u201cthought\u201d it was possible and \u201cdesired\u201d that outcome (Seforno). As Abarbanel puts it in his comment on Isaiah, <\/span>sh\/m\/r<\/span><\/em> in both contexts could indicate \u201choping and waiting.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

And \u201choped\u201d does not have quite the same ring as \u201cknew.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Inclusion in God\u2019s final redemption of His people may not require the certainty of perfect, unwavering faith. The righteous who may enter the city \u201con that day\u201d are then not limited to those who <\/span>knew<\/span><\/em>, who never doubted they would be redeemed, but to those who <\/span>sh\/m\/r<\/em> <\/span>the prophecies of redemption, who didn\u2019t dismiss them. To those who, despite the long exile and even the uncertainties it brought, always held on to hope.<\/span><\/p>\n

Image: Temple Shomer Emunim, Sylvania, Ohio<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":66270,"id":66270,"title":"is26-shomer2","filename":"is26-shomer2.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is26-shomer2.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/keep-the-faith\/is26-shomer2\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"is26-shomer2","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":66269,"date":"2019-11-27 14:07:00","modified":"2019-11-27 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