{"id":71191,"date":"2020-03-04T14:18:58","date_gmt":"2020-03-04T12:18:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=71191"},"modified":"2020-03-04T14:18:58","modified_gmt":"2020-03-04T12:18:58","slug":"like-a-woman-in-labor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/like-a-woman-in-labor\/","title":{"rendered":"Like A Woman In Labor"},"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":[],"acf":{"old_id":"71191","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":33877,"related_cahpter":"430","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"The pain and panic of men, and of God\u00a0\r\n","content":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In our Chapter Jeremiah is commanded by God: \u201cWrite down in a book [or scroll] all the words that I have spoken to you\u201d (verse 2).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Midrash Sifre Devarim (Pisqa\u2019 1) questions whether indeed \u201call the words\u201d (<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">kol ha-devarim<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">) spoken by God to Jeremiah were written down in one document. Indeed, the continuation: \u201cThese are the words that the Lord spoke to Israel and Judah\u201d (v. 4) raises the question: Did Jeremiah prophesy only these words?&#8230;Rather, the expression \u201cthese are the words\u201d (<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">eleh ha-devarim<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">) foretells that what follows are \u201cwords of rebuke\u201d. Compare <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">eleh ha-devarim <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2013 Deuteronomy 1:1 and following \u2013 Moses\u2019 \u201crebuke\u201d of Israel according to Rabbinic interpretation. Indeed, what follows in our Chapter may also be seen as \u201cwords of rebuke\u201d: \u201cThus said the Lord: We have heard cries of panic, terror without relief. Ask and see if a male gives birth! Why then do I see every man with his hands on his loins like a woman in labor?\u201d (verses 5-7).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Note that in the verses cited above the impossibility of a male giving birth is emphasized. Compare this to God\u2019s promising Abram an inheritor \u201cwho will come forth from your innards\u201d (Genesis 15:4, for similar expressions see 2 Samuel 7:12, 16:11; Isaiah 48:19 and 2 Chronicles 32:21).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sifre Devarim (Pisqa\u2019 319) continues its interpretation of our Chapter. \u201cYou forgot the Rock that gave birth to you\u201d (Deuteronomy 32:18). The Holy One, blessed be He said to Israel: You treated Me like a male trying to give birth! Now, a woman giving birth, straining on her birthing-stool, would she not be in pain?&#8230; So, a man, who cannot give birth, but seems trying to do so, would not his pain be doubled and re-doubled? As it says: \u201cAsk and see if a male gives birth! Why then do I see every man with his hands on his loins like a woman in labor?\u201d (verse 6).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In contrast to Jeremiah\u2019s presentation of a man straining to give birth, Talmud Bavli Sanhedrin 98b derives a different message from Jeremiah\u2019s prophecy: \u201cAsk and see if a male gives birth! Why then do I see every man with his hands on his loins like a woman in labor?\u201d Surprisingly, \u201cEvery man\u201d (kol gever) is interpreted as an oblique reference to God Himself, \u201cwith whom is all mightiness (gevurah)\u201d. Rashi adds that the Holy One, blessed be He, has pain &#8212; like a woman giving birth &#8212; particularly when He destroys idolaters for the sake of Israel, saying: How can I destroy these for the sake of those?!<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Biblical and Rabbinic depictions of males acting out pregnancy, labor and the act of giving birth may preserve a dim reflection of \u201ccouvade\u201d, the term used since the 19<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">th<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> century in Western scientific circles to describe such behavior. In some cultures, such male &#8220;sympathetic pregnancy&#8221; seems intended to ward off evil spirits from the mother or to seek the protection of supernatural beings for the newborn.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Image: Giulio Bonasone, A woman in labor imploring the aid of Lucina set within a decorative cartouche, from the &#8216;Loves, Rages and Jealousies of Juno,&#8217; 16th C. \/ wikimedia<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":71192,"id":71192,"title":"Jer30-A_woman_in_labor_imploring_the_aid_of_Lucina","filename":"Jer30-A_woman_in_labor_imploring_the_aid_of_Lucina.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Jer30-A_woman_in_labor_imploring_the_aid_of_Lucina.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/like-a-woman-in-labor\/jer30-a_woman_in_labor_imploring_the_aid_of_lucina\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"jer30-a_woman_in_labor_imploring_the_aid_of_lucina","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":71191,"date":"2020-03-04 12:18:41","modified":"2020-03-04 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