{"id":78916,"date":"2020-08-17T16:54:26","date_gmt":"2020-08-17T13:54:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=78916"},"modified":"2020-08-17T16:54:26","modified_gmt":"2020-08-17T13:54:26","slug":"saving-the-cripples","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/saving-the-cripples\/","title":{"rendered":"Saving the Cripples"},"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":"78916","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":72765,"related_cahpter":"548","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Towards an Old-New Jew?\r\n\r\n","content":"

This is the penultimate verse of the chapter:<\/span><\/p>\n

Behold, at that time I will deal with all them that afflict thee;<\/span>
\n<\/span>And I will save her that is lame,<\/span>
\n<\/span>And gather her that was driven away;<\/span>
\n<\/span>And I will make them to be a praise and a name,<\/span>
\n<\/span>Whose shame hath been in all the earth.<\/span><\/p>\n

How do cripples (\u201cthe lame\u201d) suddenly limp into this passage dealing with the end of the Exile?<\/span><\/p>\n

Is Zephaniah a miracle worker like Billy Graham who tells us: \u201cThrow away your crutches!\u201d?<\/span><\/p>\n

Metzudat Tzion draws our attention to the fact that the word for \u201clame\u201d here is the same as that used for Father Jacob back in Genesis after his nighttime struggle with the angel: \u201cThe sun rose for him as he passed Penuel and he was limping on his hip\u201d (Gen. 32:32).<\/span><\/p>\n

Samson Raphael Hirsch explains the symbolism of Jacob\u2019s limping:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe spirit of Esau will not be able to conquer Jacob nor to throw him down throughout the whole fight against him during the long ages of darkness on earth, but will be able to hamstring him, to prevent him standing firmly on both feet; without a firm stand and walk, does Jacob go through history.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

After 2000 years in exile, we are damaged goods, physically. Generations of trauma, persecutions, poor nutrition, being driven from country to country, living cooped up in ghettos, have sapped our natural vigor. The Jew, always at physical disadvantage, had to survive by his wits.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Nazis called us \u201cUntermenschen\u201d (subhumans)\u2014and had calipers to prove it. They compared us unfavorably to the Aryan ideal.<\/span><\/p>\n

The reason we are so offended by antisemitic cartoons is that the physical stereotypes contained in them\u2014the bald, hook-nosed, sweating, hunch-backed, pot-bellied Jews\u2014so often conform to reality.<\/span><\/p>\n

Consider the many great diaspora-born Jews who were remarkable for brainpower and will alone: Moses Mendelssohn, Jabotinsky, Menachem Begin, Sharansky, et al. Contrast these with the biblical figures from the classical period (Samson, Saul, David, Absalom) whose physical prowess and attractiveness were highlighted.<\/span><\/p>\n

The dichotomy between cerebral and physical is thus not native to the Jew. We see that from the Bible. It is rather a condition of Galut (Exile) and will disappear when the Galut disappears.<\/span><\/p>\n

Then we will once again be \u201cwhole\u201d, just as Jacob became \u201cwhole\u201d, cured of his limp, when he returned to Shechem (Genesis 33:18).<\/span><\/p>\n

This is what Zephaniah promises us. He links the \u201cgathering her that was driven away\u201d with the \u201csaving her that is lame.\u201d Together, these will remove the \u201cshame that has been in all the earth.\u201d Jewish physical prowess, springing from its native soil, will once again be \u201ca praise and a name.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

And that indeed has always been a key element in the appeal of Zionism. The New Jew\u2014bronzed by the sun, clad in khaki shorts, proudly muscled\u2014re-enters the stage of history, striding purposefully and vigorously into the future, in charge of his own destiny. The New-Old Jew!<\/span><\/p>\n

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