{"id":78058,"date":"2020-07-26T13:12:22","date_gmt":"2020-07-26T10:12:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=78058"},"modified":"2020-07-26T13:12:22","modified_gmt":"2020-07-26T10:12:22","slug":"tend-your-plants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/tend-your-plants\/","title":{"rendered":"Tend Your Plants!"},"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":"78058","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":64875,"related_cahpter":"532","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"And all the other important things in life\r\n\r\n","content":"

This chapter in the Book of Jonah tells the famous tale of the prophet and his beloved plant.<\/span><\/p>\n

God grants Jonah a plant as a gift, to be \u201ca shadow over his head and save him from discomfort\u201d (Jonah 4:6), serving as protection from the beating sun of the desert in which he is hiding, as he shirks his duty to redeem the town of Nineveh.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, Jonah fails to care for the plant, and God sends a worm to eat the plant, and a blistering wind to wither it. The shade which Jonah was not only grateful for, but dependent upon for his safety, was no more.<\/span><\/p>\n

In reading and studying this story, which we recite as the Haftarah on Yom Kippur, perhaps we can glean the following lessons:<\/span><\/p>\n

Firstly, nothing good comes easy. When Jonah is distraught about his plant and complains to God, God tells him: \u201cYou cared so much about this plant, but did not toil over it and did not nurture it\u201d (Jonah 4:10). Jonah does not work nor care for this plant, and, as a result, is unable to benefit from it anymore. The same goes for our own lives; if there is something that we really want (a job, a good grade in school, a relationship), then we must tend to it, and, just like a plant which needs water and sunlight to survive, give it the love and attention it deserves to thrive.<\/span><\/p>\n

Secondly, we can learn from Jonah not to take our blessings for granted. The reason he becomes so distressed – even telling God that he would rather die than live, he was so deeply grieved over the plant (Jonah 4:9) – is that Jonah assumed it would always be there. In the world of uncertainty we are living in today, we know this to be patently untrue, and this story serves as a poignant reminder to (safely) show our appreciation for those things in our lives which we hold dear, whether that be our families, our friends, our pets, our education, and, of course, our health.<\/span><\/p>\n

As we both battle the ongoing health crisis and also look towards a new Jewish year, may Jonah remind us of the values of hard work and gratitude, and may we and those we love stay safe and healthy.<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":78059,"id":78059,"title":"jon4-hands-plant","filename":"jon4-hands-plant.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/jon4-hands-plant.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/tend-your-plants\/jon4-hands-plant\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"jon4-hands-plant","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":78058,"date":"2020-07-26 10:12:10","modified":"2022-02-07 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