{"id":68049,"date":"2020-01-01T16:50:02","date_gmt":"2020-01-01T14:50:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=68049"},"modified":"2023-07-27T08:55:00","modified_gmt":"2023-07-27T05:55:00","slug":"want-some-tips-on-connecting-with-god","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/want-some-tips-on-connecting-with-god\/","title":{"rendered":"Want Some Tips On Connecting With God?"},"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":[418,433,573,427],"acf":{"old_id":"68049","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":34250,"related_cahpter":"385","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Go! And don\u2019t be afraid of being \u201cother\u201d\u00a0\r\n","content":"

Listen to Me, you who pursue justice, you who seek the LORD: Look to the rock you were hewn from, to the quarry you were dug from. Look back to Abraham your father and to Sarah who brought you forth. For he was only one when I called him, but I blessed him and made him many (Isaiah 51:1-2).<\/span><\/p>\n

Though the preceding prophecy addressed those who are uninterested, here we find that some people are searching for good \u2013 for tzedek<\/em> (justice, or righteousness; an idealized state of interpersonal relationships) and for God (presumably, to strive for an idealized state of spiritual relationship) \u2013 and the prophet tells them where to look.<\/span><\/p>\n

Look to your origins, \u201cto Abraham your father, and to Sarah who brought you forth.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

What is it about Abraham and Sarah that can guide their descendants\u2019 quest towards those elusive targets, human righteousness and the divine?<\/span><\/p>\n

On one level, they can serve as role models.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWant to know how to be righteous?\u201d asks the prophet. \u201cWant some tips on connecting with God? Follow the examples of Abraham and Sarah.\u201d After all, God Himself attests that transmitting the ways of God and tzedek to his children is a defining characteristic of Abraham\u2019s, apparently central to his chosenness: \u201cFor I know him, that he will instruct his children and his house to keep the way of the Lord, to do what is just (tzedakah<\/em>) and right\u201d (Genesis 18:19).<\/span><\/p>\n

But there is more. As Isaiah continues in the second half of 51:2, he alludes to the first step in Abraham\u2019s own quest: \u201cfor I called him as one.\u201d God singled Abraham out and called upon him to single himself out, leaving his family and all he\u2019d known to travel to Canaan and become ha\u2019Ivri, the Other.<\/span><\/p>\n

The first step in any pursuit, when seeking any object, is to go \u2013 like Abraham and Sarah did.<\/span><\/p>\n

Even alone, to go. To take that step towards the values one knows to be true and right, though no one else sees it.<\/span><\/p>\n

Beyond holding up Abraham and Sarah as models of righteous commitment to others and to God, the prophet offers another tip here as well: Look to them as models of maintaining commitment against all odds, a tiny minority outnumbered by a vast majority with completely different ideas.<\/span><\/p>\n

If you feel overwhelmed, look to your source, says the prophet. Don\u2019t be afraid of being \u201cother.\u201d See what your ancestors stood for, and how they stood for it. You were hewn from that rock \u2013 a chip off the old block \u2013 and their example tells you it\u2019s possible. Their example says you can do it too.<\/span><\/p>\n

And the prophet\u2019s words offer reassurance to his tiny audience that they, too, may yet find blessing through their quest. \u201cAnd I blessed him and made him many.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":68052,"id":68052,"title":"is51-other","filename":"is51-other.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is51-other.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/want-some-tips-on-connecting-with-god\/is51-other\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"is51-other","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":68049,"date":"2020-01-01 14:49:41","modified":"2022-02-20 10:15:55","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1920,"height":1361,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is51-other-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is51-other-300x213.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":213,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is51-other-768x544.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":544,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is51-other-1024x726.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":726,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is51-other.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1089,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is51-other.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1361,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is51-other-1200x851.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":851,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is51-other-593x420.jpg","home_baner-width":593,"home_baner-height":420}},"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"Want Some Tips On Connecting With God? 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