{"id":79743,"date":"2020-09-08T21:01:13","date_gmt":"2020-09-08T18:01:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=79743"},"modified":"2020-09-08T21:01:13","modified_gmt":"2020-09-08T18:01:13","slug":"where-a-one-eyed-sheep-is-average","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/where-a-one-eyed-sheep-is-average\/","title":{"rendered":"Where A One-eyed Sheep Is Average"},"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":"79743","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":64450,"related_cahpter":"565","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Some surprising connections\r\n\r\n","content":"

In chapter 1, Malachi criticizes the way the sacrifices are brought in the Temple. However, unlike the first Temple, where the prophets condemned the focus on sacrifice over morality, Malachi denounces the priests for not bringing sacrifices properly. He says they would never give such an offering to their human governor:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYou offer defiled food on My altar. But you ask, \u2018How have we defiled You?\u2019 By saying, \u2018The table of the LORD can be treated with scorn.\u2019 When you present a blind animal for sacrifice\u2014it doesn\u2019t matter! When you present a lame or sick one\u2014it doesn\u2019t matter! Just offer it to your governor: Will he accept you? Will he show you favor? \u2014 said the LORD of Hosts. And now implore the favor of God! Will He be gracious to us? …\u201d (Malachi 1:7-9)<\/span><\/p>\n

Bringing a blind, lame, or blemished animal is a sign of disrespect, and is forbidden in the Torah: \u201cBut if [the animal] has a defect, lameness or blindness, any serious defect, you shall not sacrifice it to the LORD your God.\u201d (Deuteronomy 15:21)<\/span><\/p>\n

If sacrifices are a way of expressing closeness to God (the Hebrew word for sacrifice, <\/span>korban<\/span><\/em>, derives from the root <\/span>k-r-v<\/span><\/em>, \u201cclose\u201d), then the best animals should be chosen. To bring \u201cdamaged goods\u201d to the altar, while keeping the choicest animals for personal use, is contrary to the entire idea behind the Temple service.<\/span><\/p>\n

As it happens, the concept of a blind animal considered as damaged goods, is behind a very familiar word in English. The Hebrew word for blind is <\/span>ivver<\/span><\/em>. The word has cognates in many Semitic languages, including Arabic, where the related <\/span>awira<\/span><\/em>\u00a0means \u201cone-eyed.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Because a one-eyed (or blind) animal is blemished, <\/span>awar<\/span><\/em>\u00a0came to mean \u201cdamaged\u201d as well. In the Middle Ages, the Europeans would trade goods with the Arabs around the Mediterranean. These Italian and French traders borrowed the Arabic word for damaged to describe the cost of damage the merchandise incurred during transit (<\/span>avarie<\/span><\/em>\u00a0in French and <\/span>avaria<\/span><\/em>\u00a0in Italian.) Since that damage wasn\u2019t fully the responsibility of either the exporters or the importers, both parties would share the loss equally.<\/span><\/p>\n

The calculation of what this loss was expected to be eventually entered English as the word \u201caverage.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Even though \u201caverage\u201d doesn\u2019t have the connotation of \u201cdamaged\u201d today, it\u2019s still not what we should aspire to in our service of God.<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":79744,"id":79744,"title":"mal1-pirate sheep","filename":"mal1-pirate-sheep.gif","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/mal1-pirate-sheep.gif","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/where-a-one-eyed-sheep-is-average\/mal1-pirate-sheep\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"mal1-pirate-sheep","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":79743,"date":"2020-09-08 17:59:48","modified":"2020-09-08 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