{"id":75633,"date":"2020-06-07T12:55:13","date_gmt":"2020-06-07T09:55:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=75633"},"modified":"2020-06-07T12:55:13","modified_gmt":"2020-06-07T09:55:13","slug":"oops-the-prophet-forgot-a-holiday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/oops-the-prophet-forgot-a-holiday\/","title":{"rendered":"Oops, The Prophet Forgot A Holiday"},"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":"75633","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":64462,"related_cahpter":"497","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"But he gets the last word anyway\r\n\r\n","content":"

I remember my Bible teachers in elementary school. They emphasized the importance of\u00a0 all the holidays mentioned in the Torah, among them of course, Pesach, Shavuot and Sukkot. My teachers highlighted the historical-theological and agricultural meaning of each holiday and the sense of community stressed in these three moments of Pilgrimages, when the people of Israel ascended to Jerusalem to bring their offerings to the Temple. Passover was my favorite holiday to spend with family and its innovative food. Sukkoth was a glorious time of the year to sleep in the booth while our eyes looked at the stars but it was Shavuot where the competition energized us.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Which competition you might ask? On Shavuot we created original baskets, we decorated them and filled them with the seven species of the Land of Israel, we brought them to school, as Bikkurim<\/em>-first fruits-gifts to the Temple\/school. Whoever carried the most beautified of all the baskets would receive the first prize. We dedicated so much time and effort to build the baskets that in my childhood memories, it is imprinted: Shavuot, the greatest holiday of all!<\/span><\/p>\n

Once in High School, skimming through the pages of the Book of Ezekiel, I found disappointment. The Prophet forgot this magnificent holiday. Wait! What? Well, read:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOn the fourteenth day of the first month you shall have the Passover sacrifice; and during a festival of seven days unleavened bread shall be eaten. 22 On that day, the prince shall provide a bull of sin offering on behalf of himself and of the entire population; 23 and during the seven days of the festival, he shall provide daily\u2014for seven days\u2014seven bulls and seven rams, without blemish, for a burnt offering to the Lord, and one goat daily for a sin offering….25 So, too, during the festival of the seventh month, for seven days from the fifteenth day on, he shall provide the same sin offerings, burnt offerings, meal offerings, and oil (Ezek. 45:21-25)<\/span><\/p>\n

Shavuot was observed as the festival of the wheat harvest, <\/span>chag hakatzir<\/em> <\/span>(Exodus 23:16) or a day for bringing first-fruits to the Temple, <\/span>yom habikkurim<\/em> <\/span>(Numbers 28:26). Shavuot is about the agriculture of the Holy Land, and thus not a holiday connected to Ezekiel since he was outside of the Land, in Exile, in Babylon. The earliest source even hinting at a connection between Shavuot and the revelation at Sinai is in 2 Chronicles (15:10-14). Ezekiel was not aware of that, and actually the explicit connection between Shavuot and the giving of the Torah , is only made explicit in late Talmudic times.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

From the point of view of historiography, the Prophet is depicting a reality that is not connected to the Land. Ironically, the haftarah portion we read on Shavuot is from the Book of Ezekiel!\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Image: Henri Vidal, Tuileries Garden, Paris, 1896 \/ wikipedia<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":75635,"id":75635,"title":"Head in Hands","filename":"ez45-Paris_Tuileries_Garden_Facepalm_statue.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/ez45-Paris_Tuileries_Garden_Facepalm_statue.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/oops-the-prophet-forgot-a-holiday\/head-in-hands\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"head-in-hands","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":75633,"date":"2020-06-07 09:55:01","modified":"2021-09-10 12:46:36","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1024,"height":683,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/ez45-Paris_Tuileries_Garden_Facepalm_statue-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/ez45-Paris_Tuileries_Garden_Facepalm_statue-300x200.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/ez45-Paris_Tuileries_Garden_Facepalm_statue-768x512.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/ez45-Paris_Tuileries_Garden_Facepalm_statue-1024x683.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":683,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/ez45-Paris_Tuileries_Garden_Facepalm_statue.jpg","1536x1536-width":1024,"1536x1536-height":683,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/ez45-Paris_Tuileries_Garden_Facepalm_statue.jpg","2048x2048-width":1024,"2048x2048-height":683,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/ez45-Paris_Tuileries_Garden_Facepalm_statue.jpg","post_full_size-width":1024,"post_full_size-height":683,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/ez45-Paris_Tuileries_Garden_Facepalm_statue-630x420.jpg","home_baner-width":630,"home_baner-height":420}},"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"Oops, The Prophet Forgot A Holiday","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"But he gets the last word anyway","preview_embedded":"","preview_image":{"ID":75635,"id":75635,"title":"Head in Hands","filename":"ez45-Paris_Tuileries_Garden_Facepalm_statue.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/ez45-Paris_Tuileries_Garden_Facepalm_statue.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/oops-the-prophet-forgot-a-holiday\/head-in-hands\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"head-in-hands","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":75633,"date":"2020-06-07 09:55:01","modified":"2021-09-10 12:46:36","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1024,"height":683,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/ez45-Paris_Tuileries_Garden_Facepalm_statue-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/ez45-Paris_Tuileries_Garden_Facepalm_statue-300x200.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/ez45-Paris_Tuileries_Garden_Facepalm_statue-768x512.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/ez45-Paris_Tuileries_Garden_Facepalm_statue-1024x683.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":683,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/ez45-Paris_Tuileries_Garden_Facepalm_statue.jpg","1536x1536-width":1024,"1536x1536-height":683,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/ez45-Paris_Tuileries_Garden_Facepalm_statue.jpg","2048x2048-width":1024,"2048x2048-height":683,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/ez45-Paris_Tuileries_Garden_Facepalm_statue.jpg","post_full_size-width":1024,"post_full_size-height":683,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/ez45-Paris_Tuileries_Garden_Facepalm_statue-630x420.jpg","home_baner-width":630,"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\/75633"}],"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=75633"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75633\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":75636,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75633\/revisions\/75636"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75633"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=75633"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75633"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}