{"id":73249,"date":"2020-04-13T10:16:00","date_gmt":"2020-04-13T07:16:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=73249"},"modified":"2020-04-13T10:33:09","modified_gmt":"2020-04-13T07:33:09","slug":"aha-is-it-good-or-bad-for-the-jews","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/aha-is-it-good-or-bad-for-the-jews\/","title":{"rendered":"Aha! Is it Good or Bad for the Jews?"},"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":"73249","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":34243,"related_cahpter":"458","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Perhaps comforted by a sense of purpose for the suffering\r\n\r\n","content":"

In this chapter, we encounter a word that is interpreted in opposite ways by different exegetes. God instructed Ezekiel: \u201cStrike your hands together and stamp your feet and cry: Aha! over all the vile abominations of the House of Israel who shall fall by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence (11).\u201d We already identified the sword, famine, and pestilence (see Chapter 5) as the quintessential instruments of God\u2019s punishment; the question here is: What kind of cry is \u201cAha!\u201d (<\/span>ach<\/span><\/i>)? Rashi and Yosef Kara identified it as a cry of anguish (Rashi: <\/span>yagon<\/span><\/i>) and wailing (Kara: <\/span>nehi<\/span><\/i>), and Radak treated it, onomatopoeically, as <\/span>oy vavoy<\/span><\/i>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Malbim, on the other hand, said \u201cit pertains to joy\u201d (<\/span>simchah<\/span><\/i>).<\/span><\/p>\n

These exegetes are consistent in their treatment of this interjection when it appears later in Ezekiel 21:20; however, when it assumes the slightly different form of <\/span>he\u2019ach<\/span><\/i>, the consistency seems to dissolve, and all adopt Malbim\u2019s definition. Likewise, in Isaiah 44:16, Rashi explained it as \u201ca word one says upon experiencing pleasure,\u201d Eliezer of Beaugency interpreted it as \u201can expression of jocularity and the satisfaction of desire,\u201d and Radak even used the word <\/span>simchah, <\/span><\/i>joy.<\/span><\/p>\n

The exegetical onus, in the case of our chapter, seems to fall on Malbim whose interpretation of <\/span>ach<\/span><\/i> as joy not only contradicts that of his medieval predecessors, but seems to fly in the face of the straightforward meaning of the verse. What kind of joy can evolve from a situation in which the House of Israel is suffering?<\/span><\/p>\n

The surprising answer, to use Malbim\u2019s own words, is \u201cthat God was punishing them.\u201d Since time immemorial, people have experienced war, famine, and pestilence. (I write these comments as the corona virus grows more menacing daily.) If they are merely accidents of history or of nature, then they are fearsome because they serve no purpose and seemingly have no end. However, if I view them as acts of God, they assume moral purpose and clarity, and I have confidence that once they have served their purpose they will cease.<\/span><\/p>\n

How sure am I of this? As sure as one can be who regularly recites the opening line of <\/span>tachanun<\/span><\/i> (drawn from 2 Samuel 24:14): \u201c[King] David said to [the prophet] Gad: I am greatly distressed; let me fall into the arms of God whose compassion is manifold and not fall into the hands of man.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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