{"id":77553,"date":"2020-07-16T14:39:23","date_gmt":"2020-07-16T11:39:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=77553"},"modified":"2020-07-16T14:39:23","modified_gmt":"2020-07-16T11:39:23","slug":"answering-todays-call-for-spiritual-nourishment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/answering-todays-call-for-spiritual-nourishment\/","title":{"rendered":"Answering Today\u2019s Call For Spiritual Nourishment"},"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":"77553","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":33988,"related_cahpter":"526","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Weathering the crisis with body and soul intact\r\n\r\n","content":"

Much of Amos’s prophecy rails against the well-heeled and indulgent, who “are not concerned about the food\/ruin (<\/span>shever<\/span><\/em>) of Joseph\u201d (6:6). Yet in Amos\u2019s climactic prophecy, he shifts his focus from the starving poor to spiritual nourishment: \u201cA time is coming\u2014declares my Lord GOD\u2014when I will send a famine upon the land: not a hunger for bread or a thirst for water, but for hearing the words of the LORD\u201d (8:11).\u00a0 Amos\u2019 shift is shocking: how can he worry about the spirit when the poor are being crushed by debt and lack their daily bread?<\/span><\/p>\n

This dilemma is strikingly resonant now.\u00a0 Alongside the tragic loss of life, COVID-19 has blazed a trail of economic destruction.\u00a0 Yet in its wake, this pandemic has also unleashed a storm of intellectual content– Zoom conferences, webinars, podcasts, and more. It is clear that this wave of content is meeting a groundswell of demand. One example: the Pardes Institute where I teach has had hundreds join weekly virtual classes, our summer program has unprecedented participation, and applications for the fall are pouring in. The Jewish world is clearly thirsty for Torah.<\/span><\/p>\n

And yet, what about the economic distress and physical want? Rabbi Yisrael Salanter\u2019s (1810-1883) critique is relevant: we worry too much about our own stomachs and other people\u2019s souls, rather than worrying about other people\u2019s stomachs and our souls. In addition to demanding that our governments provide relief, we can heed Jewish law\u2019s call that a person give <\/span>tzedakah<\/span><\/i> to the extent possible (Shulchan Arukh YD 249:1). Rabbi Moses Isserles (1530-1572) even adds that <\/span>tzedakah<\/span><\/i> not be used \u201cfor anything else like candles for the synagogue, etc. It should be given to the poor.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Indeed, the community should buckle down on the luxuries of the spirit for everyone to be able to provide their basic needs in these tough times. Each of us who possibly can should give more, perhaps with some of our sadly unused entertainment or vacation budgets.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Jewish community, however, is also stepping up to relieve the thirst of which Amos speaks. The Pardes Institute is offering major scholarships including living stipends to eligible students to spend the coming year studying Torah in Jerusalem.<\/span><\/p>\n

Rabbi Meir of Rothenberg (1215-1293) helped relieve the spiritual thirst of which Amos speaks. He permitted using a portion of one\u2019s <\/span>tzedakah<\/span><\/i> for books (as long as they are lent to others). More recently, Rabbi Eliezer Waldenburg (1915-2006, Tzitz Eliezer 706:2) justified this for we must provide \u201cwhatever is lacking to the poor person\u201d (Deut. 15:8). Spiritual nourishment is no less important than physical nourishment.<\/span><\/p>\n

Given the contemporary crisis of meaning, it is not surprising that the Jewish world is crying out for spiritual nourishment. We still must also provide physical nourishment. But we must help future Jewish leaders quench their thirst for Torah, and by doing so, help us weather this crisis with both body and soul intact.\u00a0 This is the call of the prophet Amos.<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":77554,"id":77554,"title":"amos8-flour torah","filename":"amos8-flour-torah.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/amos8-flour-torah.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/answering-todays-call-for-spiritual-nourishment\/amos8-flour-torah\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"amos8-flour-torah","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":77553,"date":"2020-07-16 11:38:57","modified":"2023-11-05 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