{"id":67346,"date":"2019-12-19T18:01:53","date_gmt":"2019-12-19T16:01:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=67346"},"modified":"2023-07-16T09:59:22","modified_gmt":"2023-07-16T06:59:22","slug":"shining-a-light-outward","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/shining-a-light-outward\/","title":{"rendered":"Shining A Light Outward"},"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":[648,652,629,458],"acf":{"old_id":"67346","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":46656,"related_cahpter":"376","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Realizing our own destiny will in turn lift up the entire world\u00a0","content":"

A great deal of ink and angst has been spilled over the concept of Jews being \u201ca light unto the nations\u201d as expressed, among other places in Tanach, in this chapter of Isaiah:<\/span><\/p>\n

I the LORD, in My grace, have summoned you, And I have grasped you by the hand. I created you, and appointed you A covenant people, <\/span>a light of nations (42:6).<\/span><\/p>\n

Rashi questions who \u201cthe light\u201d and \u201cthe nations\u201d are referring to in this instance. Where popular thought revolves around the light being the Jewish people and the nations being the rest of the world, Rashi, among others, posits that God is referring to Isaiah\u2019s leadership of the twelve tribes, each considered a nation unto themselves. Regardless of who is enlightening who, the subject of enlightenment is agreed to be the universal belief in a singular God.<\/span><\/p>\n

Rabbi Yaakov Bieler, in a 2015 blog post entitled \u201cThe Chosen People \u2013 Parsing a Morally Challenging Concept\u201d, references the distinction made by Rabbi Jonathan Sacks between Judaism as a particularistic religion, compared to most other universalistic ones. Judaism is not, nor has ever been, focused on missionary work outside of our own people. We know what our responsibilities are (613 in fact) and what the nations of the world are responsible for (the seven Noachide laws), and not only do we make no effort to bring other nations in line with us, we are obligated to discourage those seeking to convert. It\u2019s not so much a \u201cstay in your own lane\u201d mentality as a \u201cfulfill your own obligations before looking to take on someone else\u2019s.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

So, what do we make of this notion of a light unto the nations, whether it means Jews to the world or Isaiah to the Jews? Remember how King Solomon built the Holy temple with windows that were small on the inside and large on the outside (1 Kings 6:4)? The purpose of that was to let the light of the Temple spirituality out to the rest of the world.\u00a0 If we as individuals and a nation concern ourselves with realizing our own proscribed destiny instead of with what others are doing or think of us, the outcome will be a natural uplifting of the world that is watching (and they always are), resulting in the Messianic universal acceptance of one God.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

That\u2019s how we shine our light outward.<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":67347,"id":67347,"title":"is42-light","filename":"is42-light.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/is42-light.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/shining-a-light-outward\/is42-light\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"is42-light","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":67346,"date":"2019-12-19 16:01:38","modified":"2022-07-28 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