{"id":81806,"date":"2020-10-20T16:40:11","date_gmt":"2020-10-20T13:40:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=81806"},"modified":"2020-10-20T16:40:11","modified_gmt":"2020-10-20T13:40:11","slug":"the-divine-adoption-agency","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/the-divine-adoption-agency\/","title":{"rendered":"The Divine Adoption Agency"},"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":"81806","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":34243,"related_cahpter":"594","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"For wayward psalmists, and other afflicted parties\r\n\r\n","content":"

This psalm is familiar to many through its daily recitation for nearly two months, beginning on the first of Elul and concluding at the end of Sukkot. Despite its familiarity\u2014or, perhaps, on account of it\u2014we may yet discover in it new dimensions of meaning.<\/span><\/p>\n

I would like to call attention to two consecutive verses: \u201cThough my father and mother abandon me, the LORD will take me in. Show me Your way, O LORD, and lead me on a level path because of my watchful foes\u201d (10-11). The psalmist compares himself to an abandoned child who has, fortunately, been given shelter by God. In gratitude, he expresses his desire to be shown God\u2019s ways so that he can continue to enjoy His protection.<\/span><\/p>\n

Without challenging this basic understanding, a closer reading of the Hebrew text can make it even more compelling. The Hebrew for \u201cabandon\u201d is `<\/span>azavuni<\/span><\/em>, from the verbal root `-Z-V, whose simple meaning is to leave. \u201cTake me in,\u201d at the end of v.10, is <\/span>ya\u2019asfeini<\/span><\/em>, from the root \u2018-S-F, to gather or collect. In rabbinic Hebrew, however, it yields the singular form \u2018<\/em><\/span>asufi<\/span><\/em>, which is the legal term for a foundling. God has not merely given temporary shelter to this child whose parents have either died or neglected him; God has performed a legal act of adoption, taking the child as His own.<\/span><\/p>\n

This interpretation can heighten our appreciation of the opening word of the following verse. \u201cShow me Your way\u201d is <\/span>horeini<\/span><\/em>, the imperative of the verb Y-R-H, to give direction. (Which is why to shoot an arrow, or a gun, for that matter is <\/span>liyrot<\/span><\/em>, because it is essentially an act of aiming.) However, it is also a homonym for the verb H-R-H, to conceive or bear a child. Our psalmist, orphaned or abandoned by his natural father and mother (his <\/span>horim<\/span><\/em>) and offered legal adoption by God, now acknowledges that God is truly his new parent.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Image: David the Psalmist, Die Bibel in Bildern [Picture Bible] von Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld. 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