{"id":69088,"date":"2020-01-25T15:48:25","date_gmt":"2020-01-25T13:48:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=69088"},"modified":"2023-08-21T16:22:34","modified_gmt":"2023-08-21T13:22:34","slug":"how-spiritual-failings-defile-the-land","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/how-spiritual-failings-defile-the-land\/","title":{"rendered":"How Spiritual Failings Defile The Land"},"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":[437,448,616,407],"acf":{"old_id":"69088","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":46656,"related_cahpter":"402","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"The interconnections of soul and body, spirit and land\r\n","content":"

At the beginning of Chapter 2 of the book of Jeremiah God decries, \u201cI brought you to this country of farmland to enjoy its fruit and its bounty, but you came and defiled My land and made My possession abhorrent\u201d (2:7). The focus of much of the remaining verses in this chapter is on the people\u2019s abandonment of God and their propensity for idol-worship. How do these spiritual failings become a defilement of the physical land?<\/span><\/p>\n

The Jewish idea of the connection between physicality and spirituality is part of our daily lives. Kippot<\/em> (skullcaps) and tzitzit<\/em> (fringes) are a reminder that God is ever-present; modest clothing elevates our spiritual awareness; a tallit<\/em> (prayer shawl) helps to focus prayer. Shabbat and holiday candles bring light to the world and wine for kiddush sanctifies our holy days. We refrain from wearing leather on Yom Kippur, and we use food we to symbolize and remember our relationship with God and take care in ensuring the kashrut<\/em> of what we put in our bodies.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Evidence of the relationship between physicality and spirituality permeate almost every aspect of Jewish life.<\/span><\/p>\n

Likewise, many studies have indicated the direct positive relationship between spiritual and physical health. In fact, neurotheologists began showing us, over a decade ago, how prayer rewires the brain and improves cognitive function in multiple ways. Similarly, the connection between physical and mental health is universally recognized in the medical world.<\/span><\/p>\n

But this complaint from God goes much further. \u201cYou defiled My land\u201d by worshipping idols implies that our spiritual activity has a tangible impact not just on our bodies and minds, but on the physical space in which we dwell.\u00a0 To make the point even more clear, the consequence of turning away from God and toward idols is prophesied as eviction from the land and devastation of the land itself.<\/span><\/p>\n

When we speak of our obligation for \u201ctikkun olam \u2013 repairing the world\u201d we mean both spiritual and physical restoration. At the conclusion of our daily prayers in the Aleinu<\/em> prayer, we beseech God to bring us to the time where we will behold banishing idolatry from the earth (<\/span>leha’avir gilulim min ha’aretz<\/span><\/em>), and false gods will be utterly exterminated (<\/span>ve’haelilim karot yikaretun<\/span><\/em>), to perfect the world (<\/span>letaken olam<\/span><\/em>.) We need to remember that the spiritual and physical are intertwined attributes of perfection, and attention needs to be paid to our bodies, our souls and the physical world around us.<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":69089,"id":69089,"title":"jer2-land","filename":"jer2-land.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer2-land.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/how-spiritual-failings-defile-the-land\/jer2-land\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"jer2-land","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":69088,"date":"2020-01-25 13:48:06","modified":"2022-07-13 10:30:47","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":1280,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer2-land-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer2-land-300x200.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer2-land-768x512.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer2-land-1024x683.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":683,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer2-land.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1024,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer2-land.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1280,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer2-land-1200x800.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":800,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer2-land-630x420.jpg","home_baner-width":630,"home_baner-height":420}},"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"How Spiritual Failings Defile The Land","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"The interconnections of soul and body, spirit and land","preview_embedded":"","preview_image":{"ID":69089,"id":69089,"title":"jer2-land","filename":"jer2-land.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer2-land.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/how-spiritual-failings-defile-the-land\/jer2-land\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"jer2-land","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":69088,"date":"2020-01-25 13:48:06","modified":"2022-07-13 10:30:47","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":1280,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer2-land-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer2-land-300x200.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer2-land-768x512.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer2-land-1024x683.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":683,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer2-land.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1024,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer2-land.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1280,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer2-land-1200x800.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":800,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer2-land-630x420.jpg","home_baner-width":630,"home_baner-height":420}},"preview_video":"","external_link":"","link_for_pay":false,"tile_gallery_items":false,"credits":""},"alternate_tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"","hide_media":false},"tile_group":{"preview_image_url":false,"main_caption":"","sub_caption":"","":null,"popup_package_extra_content":"","read_time":""},"home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo":{"seo_title":"","seo_description":"","seo_default_title":"","seo_default_description":""},"links":false,"send_noty":false},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69088"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=69088"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69088\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":69090,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69088\/revisions\/69090"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69088"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69088"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69088"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}