{"id":70604,"date":"2020-02-23T17:18:59","date_gmt":"2020-02-23T15:18:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=70604"},"modified":"2023-10-16T16:49:29","modified_gmt":"2023-10-16T13:49:29","slug":"like-a-hammer-on-the-rock","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/like-a-hammer-on-the-rock\/","title":{"rendered":"Like A Hammer On The Rock"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"entry-content\"><\/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":[363],"acf":{"old_id":"70604","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":33877,"related_cahpter":"423","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"But which shatters which?\u00a0","content":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In our chapter, in the midst of Jeremiah\u2019s prophecy against the false prophets of his time (Jeremiah 23:9-34), God declares: \u201cBehold, My word is like fire\u2014declares the Lord\u2014and like a hammer that shatters rock!\u201d (Jeremiah 23:29). This verse has become the quintessential Scriptural description of the power of Midrash.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Mekhilta de-Rabbi Yishmael (a product of the School of Rabbi Yishmael) on Exodus 15:11 preserves an interpretation of \u201cWho is like You among the gods, O Lord?\u201d \u2013 among those who others call \u201cgods\u201d, but who have no substance. For of them it is said: \u201cThey have mouths but speak not\u201d (Psalms 115:5). This is in total contrast to the One who spoke the world into existence. God, who can say two things in one act of speech, which no human being can do, as it is said: \u201cOne thing God has spoken; two things have I heard\u201d (Psalms 62:12). And as God says: \u201cBehold, My word is like fire\u2014declares the Lord\u2014and like a hammer that shatters rock!\u201d (Jeremiah 23:29).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Mekhilta de-Rabbi Yishmael on Exodus 20:8 continues this line of interpretation: \u201cRemember the Sabbath day to keep it holy\u201d. \u201cRemember\u201d and \u201cObserve\u201d (Deuteronomy 5:12), were both spoken by God in one act of speech\u2026This manner of speech is impossible for human beings. But of God, it is said: \u201c\u201cOne thing God has spoken; two things have I heard\u201d (Psalms 62:12). And as God says: \u201cBehold, My word is like fire\u2014declares the Lord\u2014and like a hammer that shatters rock!\u201d (Jeremiah 23:29).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Significantly, Talmud Bavli Sanhedrin 34a cites a similar teaching as coming from \u201cthe Academy of Rabbi Yishmael \u2013 de-vey Rabbi Yishmael\u201d. Here our verse from Jeremiah is again cited, but with a significant twist in meaning: \u201cBehold, My word is like fire\u2014declares the Lord\u2014and like a hammer that rock shatters!\u201d (Jeremiah 23:29) \u2013 just as an iron hammer striking an unbreakable rock may shatter into many pieces, so too one verse may yield many meanings.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A related teaching of the Academy of Rabbi Yishmael is recorded in Talmud Bavli Sukkah 52b. The school of R. Ishmael taught: If this evil one (the \u201cEvil Inclination \u2013 Yetzer Ha-Ra\u201d) accosts you, drag him to the Study House. If he is of stone, he will dissolve, as it is written: \u201cHo, all who are thirsty, come for water!\u201d (Isaiah 55:1). If he is of iron, he will shatter into fragments, as it is written: \u201cBehold, My word is like fire\u2014declares the Lord\u2014and like a hammer that rock shatters!\u201d (Jeremiah 23:29).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Talmud Bavli Taanit 4a relates our verse in Jeremiah to the world of the Rabbinic Sages. Raba said: If a young scholar gets angry, it must be the Torah that inflames him, as it says: \u201cBehold, My word is like fire\u2014declares the Lord\u201d (Jeremiah 23:29). Rav Ashi said: Any scholar who is not as hard as iron is not yet a real scholar, as it says: \u201c\u2026and like a hammer that shatters rock!\u201d (Jeremiah 23:29).<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":70605,"id":70605,"title":"jer23-hammer","filename":"jer23-hammer.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer23-hammer.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/like-a-hammer-on-the-rock\/jer23-hammer\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"jer23-hammer","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":70604,"date":"2020-02-23 15:18:49","modified":"2020-04-12 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