{"id":73408,"date":"2020-04-17T13:35:45","date_gmt":"2020-04-17T10:35:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=73408"},"modified":"2020-04-17T13:35:45","modified_gmt":"2020-04-17T10:35:45","slug":"x-marks-the-spot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/x-marks-the-spot\/","title":{"rendered":"X Marks the Spot"},"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":"73408","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":34243,"related_cahpter":"461","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"The ancient Hebrew letter \u201ctav\u201d\r\n\r\n","content":"

Continuing with the scenario of the previous chapter\u2019s vision, Ezekiel now saw six executioners approaching Jerusalem, armed with the clubs with which they were to slay its inhabitants (1-2). God next instructed another of them\u2014who was equipped with \u201ca scribe\u2019s kit at his waist\u201d: \u201cPass through the city, through Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who moan and groan because of all the abominations that are committed in it\u201d (4).<\/span> In other words, those who took exception to the abominations were to be spared and the mark (<\/span>tav<\/span><\/i>) was to distinguish them so they would not be slain indiscriminately.<\/span><\/p>\n

What was this sign? Rashi stated blandly, \u201ca sign (<\/span>roshem<\/span><\/i>) of some sort.\u201d Eliezer of Beaugency elaborated further and compared it to the blood that was placed about the doorways in Egypt prior to the Exodus to prevent the plague from entering. Kara stipulated that the mark was the Hebrew letter <\/span>tav<\/span><\/i> but gave no further explanation of it. Radak, however, cited a rabbinic tradition to the following effect:<\/span><\/p>\n

Our Sages explained that the <\/span>tav<\/span><\/i> was the letter <\/span>tav.<\/span><\/i> God told Gabriel: \u201cInscribe on the foreheads of the righteous a <\/span>tav<\/span><\/i> of ink, and on the foreheads of the wicked a <\/span>tav<\/span><\/i> of blood. Why a <\/span>tav<\/span><\/i>? Rav said, <\/span>tav<\/span><\/i> for \u201cyou shall live\u201d (<\/span>tichyeh<\/span><\/i>) and <\/span>tav<\/span><\/i> for \u201cyou shall die\u201d (<\/span>tamut<\/span><\/i>).<\/span><\/p>\n

Curiously, the letter tav of the ancient Hebrew alphabet (the one it shared with the Phoenicians and that, subsequently, was adopted, with some variation, by the Greeks and Romans) had the shape of an X.<\/span><\/p>\n

A subject not addressed by these early medievals is whether the scribe found any righteous people whose foreheads he could mark for survival. However, Don Yitzhak Abrabanel (15-16<\/span>th<\/span> centuries, Spain and Italy) inferred from v. 8 (\u201cAh, Lord God, are you going to annihilate all that is left of Israel?\u201d) that no one was going to be spared.<\/span><\/p>\n

A final, rueful thought, is that some Christian commentators identified the X as the sign of the cross and took a malicious delight in explaining that righteous Jews were being saved by having a cross inscribed on their foreheads, which may actually account for Abrabanels\u2019 insistence that there were to be no survivors, in which case the sign of the cross was the mark of death.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","image":{"ID":73409,"id":73409,"title":"ez9-paleo-hebrew","filename":"ez9-paleo-hebrew.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez9-paleo-hebrew.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/x-marks-the-spot\/ez9-paleo-hebrew\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"ez9-paleo-hebrew","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":73408,"date":"2020-04-17 10:35:33","modified":"2020-04-17 10:35:42","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":718,"height":790,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez9-paleo-hebrew-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez9-paleo-hebrew-273x300.jpg","medium-width":273,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez9-paleo-hebrew.jpg","medium_large-width":718,"medium_large-height":790,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez9-paleo-hebrew.jpg","large-width":718,"large-height":790,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez9-paleo-hebrew.jpg","1536x1536-width":718,"1536x1536-height":790,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez9-paleo-hebrew.jpg","2048x2048-width":718,"2048x2048-height":790,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez9-paleo-hebrew.jpg","post_full_size-width":718,"post_full_size-height":790,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez9-paleo-hebrew-382x420.jpg","home_baner-width":382,"home_baner-height":420}},"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"X Marks the Spot","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"The ancient Hebrew letter \u201ctav\u201d","preview_embedded":"","preview_image":{"ID":73409,"id":73409,"title":"ez9-paleo-hebrew","filename":"ez9-paleo-hebrew.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez9-paleo-hebrew.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/x-marks-the-spot\/ez9-paleo-hebrew\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"ez9-paleo-hebrew","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":73408,"date":"2020-04-17 10:35:33","modified":"2020-04-17 10:35:42","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":718,"height":790,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez9-paleo-hebrew-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez9-paleo-hebrew-273x300.jpg","medium-width":273,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez9-paleo-hebrew.jpg","medium_large-width":718,"medium_large-height":790,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez9-paleo-hebrew.jpg","large-width":718,"large-height":790,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez9-paleo-hebrew.jpg","1536x1536-width":718,"1536x1536-height":790,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez9-paleo-hebrew.jpg","2048x2048-width":718,"2048x2048-height":790,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez9-paleo-hebrew.jpg","post_full_size-width":718,"post_full_size-height":790,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez9-paleo-hebrew-382x420.jpg","home_baner-width":382,"home_baner-height":420}},"preview_video":"","external_link":"","link_for_pay":false,"tile_gallery_items":false,"credits":""},"alternate_tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"","hide_media":false},"tile_group":{"preview_image_url":false,"main_caption":"","sub_caption":"","":null,"popup_package_extra_content":"","read_time":""},"home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo":{"seo_title":"","seo_description":"","seo_default_title":"","seo_default_description":""},"links":false},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73408"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73408"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73408\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":73410,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73408\/revisions\/73410"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73408"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73408"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73408"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}