{"id":70292,"date":"2020-02-17T18:51:04","date_gmt":"2020-02-17T16:51:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=70292"},"modified":"2023-09-14T14:00:23","modified_gmt":"2023-09-14T11:00:23","slug":"from-mud-to-masterpiece","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/from-mud-to-masterpiece\/","title":{"rendered":"From Mud To Masterpiece"},"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":[437,760],"acf":{"old_id":"70292","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":37561,"related_cahpter":"418","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"We flip the script on the potter metaphor\r\n","content":"

As Jews gather on the eve of Yom Kippur, preparing at Kol Nidre for the spiritual journey of the Day of Atonement, we sing a piyyut<\/em>, a liturgical poem, whose inspiration and opening line comes from Jeremiah. \u201cLike clay in the hands of the potter, so too are we in front of God\u201d, ready to be molded and reshaped at God\u2019s will. The rest of the prayer compares humanity to other materials that are manipulated by a master artisan, who turns their unattractive and useless original form into functional works of beauty, such as glass and silver.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In this chapter of Jeremiah, the metaphor does not turn positive for the Israelites. There are no promises of beautiful vessels to hold precious liquids. Like clay at a potter\u2019s studio that is discarded or reworked beyond recognition, God promises in this chapter to destroy the Israelites. Only if the people repent will they not be smashed like an unwanted jug. Jeremiah is tasked with bringing this horrific message to the Israelites, and he correctly anticipates that they will not enjoy hearing it. Unsurprisingly, the Israelites do not respond to the threat from God that they are disposable like clay, and they do not change their behavior.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But the prayer at Kol Nidre flips the script. Where the metaphor in Jeremiah comes to teach the Israelites about their fragile state and how close they are to destruction, the metaphor in the piyyut<\/em> turns towards re-imagination. \u201cUse us for good,\u201d the piyyut<\/em> proclaims to God. \u201cWe submit ourselves as raw material, and call upon You to remember our relationship and help us become something better than we are.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

When faced with our own fragility, we can give up like the Israelites in the time of Jeremiah and, or we can lean in to this vulnerability, and seek to be malleable. Yom Kippur is the day of judgement, but it is also the day of atonement. God may decide our fate, but we are not unchangeable in the face of our circumstances. Rather, we accept that we always can improve. It will take patience and perhaps it will be uncomfortable, but the best outcome we can hope for is to live our lives like a piece of clay in the hands of the master potter, investing the time and energy to go from a piece of mud to a vessel for beauty.<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":70293,"id":70293,"title":"Jer18-mud","filename":"Jer18-mud.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Jer18-mud.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/from-mud-to-masterpiece\/jer18-mud\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"jer18-mud","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":70292,"date":"2020-02-17 16:50:46","modified":"2020-02-17 16:51:00","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":1920,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Jer18-mud-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Jer18-mud-300x300.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Jer18-mud-768x768.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":768,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Jer18-mud-1024x1024.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Jer18-mud.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Jer18-mud.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1920,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Jer18-mud-1200x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Jer18-mud-420x420.jpg","home_baner-width":420,"home_baner-height":420}},"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"The Potter and the Clay - 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