{"id":74407,"date":"2020-05-06T14:45:22","date_gmt":"2020-05-06T11:45:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=74407"},"modified":"2020-05-06T14:45:22","modified_gmt":"2020-05-06T11:45:22","slug":"the-death-of-desire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/the-death-of-desire\/","title":{"rendered":"The Death Of Desire"},"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":"74407","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":72765,"related_cahpter":"475","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Wedded to God in a match without love\r\n\r\n","content":"

The closest parallel to our chapter in prophetic literature is the story of Gomer, the adulterous wife of the prophet Hosea.<\/span><\/p>\n

There is one crucial difference. There, Hosea, representing God, is commanded to take his wife back with the immortal formula \u201cAnd I will betroth you unto Me for ever\u2026\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Here, there is no second betrothal. Although they begin life as God\u2019s possession (\u201c\u2026and they became Mine\u201d, v.4), there is no indication that Oholah and Oholibah remain \u201cMine\u201d after their tribulations are over. Ezekiel ends the chapter abruptly with his cold and ubiquitous refrain: \u201c\u2026and you shall know that I am the Lord God.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Ezekiel is difficult for the modern reader because he focuses on idolatry (presented here as adultery). We don\u2019t relate.<\/span><\/p>\n

There is no idolatry today because we have no desire for it.<\/span><\/p>\n

What happened to the Jewish people\u2019s desire for idolatry? A clue is offered in verse 27: \u201cI will put an end to your wantonness (i.e., idolatry).\u201d While being exiled from Israel to Babylonia, the Jewish people underwent a transformation that excised the urge for idolatry from their psyches.<\/span><\/p>\n

According to the Talmud the Men of the Great Assembly prayed that the yearning for idolatry should be removed from the Jewish people. And proof of their success was that by the time of the Maccabees, Jews were willing to die rather than worship idols.<\/span><\/p>\n

Buoyed by their success, the Men of the Great Assembly then prayed that the yearning for sexual immorality also be removed! Then something went terribly wrong: chickens stopped laying eggs. The Men of the Great Assembly had gone too far.<\/span><\/p>\n

Could it be that their first prayer also had unintended consequences, that something essential had been lost?<\/span><\/p>\n

Adultery is an overflowing of the banks of desire. Absent desire, there is no adultery\u2026and no love. Have we lost not only the yearning for idolatry, but also the yearning for closeness to God?<\/span><\/p>\n

The Pew Study has revealed us to be, by and large, the one religion most devoid of any attachment to God. Even among the Orthodox, we feel more comfortable talking about Jewish law than about God.<\/span><\/p>\n

When an evangelist approaches us in Times Square and says to us \u201cJesus loves you\u201d, we are discomfited and don\u2019t know how to reply. When we see a Muslim prostrate himself on his prayer rug in public, we are embarrassed\u2026and slightly envious.<\/span><\/p>\n

As Amos Oz quotes S.Y. Agnon in \u201cA Tale of Love and Darkness\u201d: \u201cI fear God but I don\u2019t love God.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

After 2000 years of persecution culminating in the Holocaust, can any Jew say with a straight face that God loves us\u2026or that we love God?<\/span><\/p>\n

In chapter 16, verse 25, Ezekiel accused us of \u201copening (our) legs to every passerby.\u201d Yet, after 2000 years, it is fair to say that we have been more loyal to God than God has been to us. So, we remain wedded to God\u2026in a match without love.<\/span><\/p>\n

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