{"id":67002,"date":"2019-12-16T11:45:02","date_gmt":"2019-12-16T09:45:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=67002"},"modified":"2023-07-11T11:38:06","modified_gmt":"2023-07-11T08:38:06","slug":"when-is-a-dream-not-a-dream","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/when-is-a-dream-not-a-dream\/","title":{"rendered":"When Is A Dream Not A Dream?"},"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":[439,898,412],"acf":{"old_id":"67002","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":34250,"related_cahpter":"373","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"When it is either less, or more, than a dream\u00a0","content":"

My daughter has a book (<\/span>Just a Dream<\/span><\/i>, by Chris Van Allsburg) about a boy named Walter who litters, doesn\u2019t recycle, and can\u2019t understand why the girl next door planted a tree for her birthday \u2013 until a series of sobering dreams shows him how the future might turn out if we don\u2019t take care.<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s ironic for a book to teach children the importance of building a better future for <\/span>their<\/span><\/em> children; shouldn\u2019t their parents be modeling that already?<\/span><\/p>\n

But it\u2019s hard to think ahead to a future we will never see. Even King Hezekiah \u2013 one of the good guys! \u2013 seems bizarrely nonchalant when told of a bitter future for his descendants. \u201cYour sons, your own issue, whom you have fathered, will be taken to serve\u2026 Hezekiah declared to Isaiah, \u2018The word of the LORD that you have spoken is good.\u2019 And he said, \u2018For there will be peace and truth in my days\u2019\u201d (39:7-8).<\/span><\/p>\n

Is Hezekiah, like Walter at the beginning of the story, too secure in the present to worry about the future?<\/span><\/p>\n

Metzudat David\u2019s reading offers one possible insight: \u201cSince there will be peace in my days, and God will fulfill my promise [to survive illness], I am not worried what will be after my death.\u201d In a sense, we can understand the practical outlook that leads one to say \u201cwell, I can\u2019t do anything about what happens when I\u2019m not here!\u201d (He may also feel he\u2019s not in a position to ask more favors \u2013 or perhaps his healing inspires him with optimism despite the prophecy.)<\/span><\/p>\n

And yet, this is the king we\u2019re talking about. Shouldn\u2019t he take <\/span>some<\/em> <\/span>responsibility? Even Walter comes to realize his responsibility to do what he can \u2013 and in many views, negative prophecies can be changed by changes in behavior. Like the scenes in Walter\u2019s dream, this prophecy was not set in stone. Was there no metaphorical tree Hezekiah could plant for his descendants? Could he not be bothered to <\/span>try<\/span><\/em>, or even to sound upset if he couldn\u2019t think of something?<\/span><\/p>\n

Other commentators suggest various ways to read Hezekiah\u2019s reaction as less callous than it seems. For instance \u2013 maybe we\u2019re reading it wrong:\u00a0<\/span>Is \u201cpeace and truth will be in my days\u201d a comfortable descriptive statement, or a commitment to create a reality?<\/span><\/p>\n

Chomat Anach writes, \u201cFor the world stands on three things: justice, truth, and peace [Avot 1:18]. Now that the attribute of justice [\u201cthe word of God\u201d in verse 8] has been decreed, is it not good to grab onto the other two pillars?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Maybe Hezekiah isn\u2019t settling into his own peaceful life before harsh justice comes to others. True, he accepts that divine justice is out of his hands \u2013 but there is something he can do. He can grab onto \u2013 pursue \u2013 \u201cpeace and truth in his days.\u201d Maybe he hopes that by holding up what he can of the world, he can even change the decree, making a better future for his children more than <\/span>just a dream<\/span><\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":67004,"id":67004,"title":"is39-dream","filename":"is39-dream.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/is39-dream.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/when-is-a-dream-not-a-dream\/is39-dream\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"is39-dream","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":67002,"date":"2019-12-16 09:44:46","modified":"2019-12-16 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