{"id":70615,"date":"2020-02-23T18:18:47","date_gmt":"2020-02-23T16:18:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=70615"},"modified":"2023-10-16T16:58:12","modified_gmt":"2023-10-16T13:58:12","slug":"words-like-fire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/words-like-fire\/","title":{"rendered":"Words Like Fire"},"content":{"rendered":"
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In today’s chapter, Jeremiah delivers one of his longest diatribes against the false prophets of his day. These were the frauds and fakers who plied the people with soothing messages that all would be well, when Jerusalem was about to be ravaged, and the Temple burned.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But how were you supposed to know who was a real prophet and who was a phoney? In this chapter, Jeremiah gives a number of outward criteria, (discussed in an article by Rabbi David Sabato). The false prophets stood for the status quo. They encouraged complacency, assured people that God was still with them and enjoined everyone to just carry on as before. They were also bad characters – liars, adulterers and hypocrites. And they all sounded the same; using near identical language, with no original, personal voice, imitating generic prophetic phraseology.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What of the would-be prophet’s experience? If you underwent a prophecy-like event, how could you know it was real? Jeremiah’s answer is that the shattering power of genuine prophecy is unmistakable. “How can straw be compared to grain – says the Lord. behold, my word is like fire – declares the Lord – and like a hammer that smashes rock” (verses 28-9). You will know real prophecy from its overwhelming inner force.<\/span><\/p>\n

The verse “my word is like fire,” is quoted ten times in the Babylonian Talmud to illuminate aspects of Torah study. One of the most poignant, in Ta’anit 7a, not only reflects beautifully on Torah learning, but is also sheds light on our chapter.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Rabba Bar Bar Chana said, ‘why is Torah likened to fire? As it says. “my word is like fire.” It is to teach you that just as a fire cannot light on its own (without pieces of wood.) so too Torah cannot endure in a solitary person.’<\/span><\/p>\n

Torah is compared to fire, the Talmud says, to teach us something about the essentially communal nature of Torah study. Without the social ecosystem of study partners, teacher and students, the warming fire of Torah cannot burn.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This is also a profound reading of Jeremiah’s pathos in our chapter. His tragedy is loneliness. He is the sole real prophet of his generation, surrounded by swarms of false imitators. The Talmud may be suggesting that this is why he failed to avert disaster. One solitary individual speaking God’s fiery truth amidst a sea of lies could not ignite the fire of God’s word in a way that it would endure and spread.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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