{"id":79223,"date":"2020-08-24T22:56:55","date_gmt":"2020-08-24T19:56:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=79223"},"modified":"2020-08-24T22:56:55","modified_gmt":"2020-08-24T19:56:55","slug":"a-brand-plucked-from-the-fire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/a-brand-plucked-from-the-fire\/","title":{"rendered":"A Brand Plucked From The Fire"},"content":{"rendered":"
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In Zechariah\u2019s vision, the high priest Joshua stands before an angel of God wearing \u201cfilthy garments\u201d (3:3), an apparent reference to his personal imperfections. \u2018The Satan\u2019 is there to highlight Joshua\u2019s flaws and undermine his authority. God\u2019s shocking response is to rebuke the Satan who, we assume, is only doing his job: \u201cGod rebuke you, Satan!\u2026for this is a brand plucked from fire.\u201d (3:2). Joshua was \u201cplucked from [the] fire\u201d of the destruction of the First Temple and has survived long enough to see the rebuilding, and this is enough to absolve him of his sins and purify him for renewed service.<\/span><\/p>\n

Why should Joshua\u2019s previous survival matter if the Satan is focused on his current flaws, his apparently still-filthy garments? Rashi emphasizes the merit Joshua must have accrued to earn him survival: \u201cdon\u2019t come to accuse this tzaddik who was worthy enough to be saved from the fire.\u201d In other words, his garments are not as filthy as they look. Ibn Ezra interprets God\u2019s response as a command to the Satan to show some mercy: \u201cthey [the survivors] have suffered enough and escaped from exile.\u201d Rabbi Mosheh Lichtenstein places this mercy in the context of a broader theology: \u201cThe prophecy of Zechariah expresses a principle found in several places in the Prophets, namely that there are situations in which Israel is redeemed on account of pain and distress, even if their actions are not worthy.\u201d (<\/span>Netivei Nevuah<\/span><\/em>, p. 329, my translation).<\/span><\/p>\n

But none of these readings fully captures the sentiment. God does not simply refute the Satan; He \u201crebukes\u201d him, as if Joshua is off limits for criticism. I see this vision as a compelling source for a Jewish consensus that I learned as a child: we don\u2019t criticize survivors. Rabbi Benjamin Blech<\/span> explained<\/span><\/a> it this way: \u201cI would never criticize Holocaust survivors. Even if I disagreed with them I would choose silence over disapproval. Their pain trumps my judgment. Their anguish overrides my feelings.\u201d The logic is not even that non-survivors lack the perspective to understand survivors, not necessarily. It\u2019s that something outside the realm of logic\u2014unimaginable pain\u2014so clearly refutes logic.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In the fire, Joshua earned his right to continue standing before God.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":79224,"id":79224,"title":"zech3-fire","filename":"zech3-fire.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/zech3-fire.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/a-brand-plucked-from-the-fire\/zech3-fire\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"zech3-fire","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":79223,"date":"2020-08-24 19:56:28","modified":"2023-09-14 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