{"id":71619,"date":"2020-03-14T06:55:43","date_gmt":"2020-03-14T04:55:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=71619"},"modified":"2020-03-14T06:55:43","modified_gmt":"2020-03-14T04:55:43","slug":"when-the-marx-brothers-meet-jeremiah","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/when-the-marx-brothers-meet-jeremiah\/","title":{"rendered":"When The Marx Brothers Meet Jeremiah\u00a0"},"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":[],"acf":{"old_id":"71619","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":46658,"related_cahpter":"436","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Letters fly freely\u00a0\r\n\r\n","content":"

In the Marx Brothers movie <\/span>A Night At The Opera, <\/span><\/i>there\u2019s a scene with a contract. Each party to the contract objects in turn to a particular clause. Their solution is simply to tear off that part of the contract and keep reading. Eventually nothing is left of the contract except a single clause.<\/span><\/p>\n

The scene is hilarious – in stark contrast to the scene described in today\u2019s chapter.\u00a0 Jeremiah\u2019s scribe, Baruch, has painstakingly written down in a scroll all that Jeremiah has prophesied to date. At Jeremiah\u2019s bidding, Baruch reads the scroll before the people who have gathered to fast and, we assume, to repent. Word reaches the palace: palace officials urge Barukh and Jeremiah to hide as the scroll is brought to king Jehoiakim, who has it read before him only to slice it into pieces as column after column is read to him. He throws the pieces on the fire.<\/span><\/p>\n

This is not the only time in our tradition that a scroll comes into contact with flame at the hands of a ruling power. Years later, Rabbi Hananiah ben Teradyon will defy a Roman edict and continue to teach Torah to his students. For this, he is sentenced to be wrapped in a Torah scroll and burned to death. When asked by his students what he sees, he replies, \u201cThe parchment is burning, but the letters are flying free! (BT <\/span>Avodah Zarah <\/span><\/i>18a).\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The moral of the two stories is really the same. The tearing up of scrolls or the burning of words cannot destroy their meaning. The letters of the Torah scroll outlast their temporary home. In the same way, Jeremiah\u2019s words continue to exist in his mind long enough for him to re-dictate them to Baruch. In addition, the final line of our chapter records that <\/span>more of the like was added<\/span><\/i>, as if to drive home the message that any attempt to destroy words only brings them back in greater number. It\u2019s only in the world of comedy that they can be obliterated.<\/span><\/p>\n

Image: David Rakia, \u201cOtot,\u201d 2002. <\/span>\u00a9 <\/span>By courtesy of the artist\u2019s family and estate.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":71620,"id":71620,"title":"jer36-silver - letters","filename":"jer36-silver-letters.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer36-silver-letters.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/when-the-marx-brothers-meet-jeremiah\/jer36-silver-letters\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"jer36-silver-letters","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":71619,"date":"2020-03-14 04:55:30","modified":"2022-08-31 19:11:29","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1000,"height":815,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer36-silver-letters-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer36-silver-letters-300x245.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":245,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer36-silver-letters-768x626.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":626,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer36-silver-letters.jpg","large-width":1000,"large-height":815,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer36-silver-letters.jpg","1536x1536-width":1000,"1536x1536-height":815,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer36-silver-letters.jpg","2048x2048-width":1000,"2048x2048-height":815,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer36-silver-letters.jpg","post_full_size-width":1000,"post_full_size-height":815,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer36-silver-letters-515x420.jpg","home_baner-width":515,"home_baner-height":420}},"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"When The Marx Brothers Meet Jeremiah\u00a0","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"Letters fly freely\u00a0","preview_embedded":"","preview_image":{"ID":71620,"id":71620,"title":"jer36-silver - 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